"O my dear madam! you are quite wrong: you are entirely wrong. Women are
the real rulers of the world. They, in reality, rule us men, with a rod of
iron. Their dainty white hands, their rosy smiles, are the real autocrats
of--of the breakfast-table, and of life."

You see, he went on, as men used to went on, to females years ago. He
forgot that that Alonzo and Melissa style of talkin' to wimmen had almost
entirely gone out of fashion. And it was a good deal more stylish now to
talk to wimmen as if they wuz human bein's, and men wuz too.

But Cicely looked at him calm and earnest, and says,--

"Will you do as I wish you to in this matter?"

"Well, really, my dear madam, I don't quite get at your meaning."

"Will you let this store remain as it is, and rent those other saloons to
honest business men for some other purpose than drinking-saloons?"

"O my dear, dear madam! What can you be thinking of? The rent that I get
from those four buildings is equal in amount to any eight of the other
buildings of the same size. I cannot, I cannot, consent to make any
changes whatever."

"You will not, then, do as I wish?"

"I _cannot_, my dear madam: I prefer to put it in that way,--I
cannot. I do not see as you do in the matter. And as the law empowers me
to use my own discretion in renting the buildings, investing money, etc.,
I shall be obliged to do so."