They had only seemed on that
side because other people were so utterly alien to it, and because
of their friendship with the really zealous Mrs. Duncombe.
The sanitary cause which had become mixed with it was, however,
brought strongly before their minds by Mrs. Tallboys' final lecture,
at which she impressed on the ladies' minds with great vehemence
that here they might lead the way. If men would not act as a body,
the ladies should set the example, and shame them, by each doing her
very utmost in the cleansing of the nests of disease that reeked in
the worn-out civilization of the cities of the old country. The
ladies listened: Lady Tyrrell, with a certain interest in such an
eager flow of eloquence; Eleonora, with thoughts far away. Bessie
Duncombe expressed a bold practical determination to get one
fragment, at least, of the work done, since she knew Pettitt, the
hair-dresser, was public-spirited enough to allow her to carry out
her ideas on his property, and Cecil, with her ample allowance, as
yet uncalled for, in the abundance of her trousseau, promised to
supply what the hair-dresser could not advance, as a tangible proof
of her sincerity.
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