The Keepers of the People

1037His vexation at the birth of a daughter was lightened too by a certain joy that the Princess Agnes was not the mother of his heir. Latchimi had severed the last frail thread of affection that bound him to her; and his indifference had grown a hearty dislike. But over and above this he had a vague trust in his heart that the fortune of the Princes of Varandaleel would yet bring him Ruth.

1038The Princess Agnes herself did not share at all the discontent of the others. She was rather filled with joy, not with the joy of a woman at having borne a child: that was weak in her: but with joy that the child was a girl, and therefore an excellent instrument to work out her ends. Every one was very gentle with her: they seemed to have forgotten her petulance and sullenness: and the gatherings round her bed, as she grew stronger, healed somewhat her wounded sense of self-importance. Only one thing marred her new, comforting content, the having to nurse the child herself; it humiliated her, and was contrary to her principles; and she feared lest it should spoil her shape. But for that she lived in a happy dream of the great things she would do in Varandaleel, now that everything was changed by a girl being heir to the throne.

1039The awakening was rude. Prince Ralph was sitting by her bedside; a maid was carrying the child up and down the room: he had never seen it in his wife’s arms: and they had fallen silent.

1040“How it has changed the old order,” she said presently.

1041“What?” said Prince Ralph.

1042“The fact that the rule of the man has passed, and a woman will rule in Varandaleel. Force and its brutality will no longer hold sway; the rule of gentleness will begin. The women will no longer be the playthings, the prizes, or the slaves of the men; they will become their equals; and soon, by the mere power of their greater Moral Fervour, their leaders to the realisation of nobler ideals. In the end I see this favoured country, working out, as it can, its development without the hindrance of international complications, the example of true Progress, of the highest National Life to all the nations of the world — and the glory of the initiation will be mine — ours.”