Whereupon Diana's tongue was loosed and would not be quieted.

She dwelt hotly on the "sniping," the treacheries, the midnight murders which had preceded the expedition, Mrs.Fotheringham listened to her with flashing looks, and suddenly she broke into a denunciation of war, the military spirit, and the ignorant and unscrupulous persons at home, especially women, who aid and abet politicians in violence and iniquity, the passion of which soon struck Diana dumb.

Here was no honorable fight of equal minds.

She was being punished for her advocacy of the night before, by an older woman of tyrannical temper, toward whom she stood in the relation of guest to host.

It was in vain to look round for defenders.