supposing he replied that you had just forestalled him, as he had gone out with a similar intention to look for the first man in a fur waistcoat.—What would you say?" The millionaire hesitated. "Well, I shouldn't like to insult the man," he said slowly. "You see!" cried Lillie triumphantly. "Well, then, dear," said he, after much pondering, "the only thing for it is to marry a man you don't love." "Father!" said Lillie in terrible tones. The millionaire hung his head shamefacedly at the outrage his suggestion had put upon his daughter. "Forgive me, Lillie," he said; "I shall never interfere again in your matrimonial concerns." So Lillie wiped her eyes and founded the Old Maids' Club. She said it was one of her matrimonial concerns, and so her father could not break his word, though an entire suite of rooms in his own Kensington mansion was set aside for the rooms of the Club. Not that he desired to interfere. Having read "The Bachelors' Club," he thought it was the surest way of getting her married. [pg 15] The object of the Club was defined by the foundress as "the depolarization of the term 'Old Maid'; in other words, the dissipation of all those disagreeable associations which have gradually and most unjustly clustered about it; the restoration of the homely Saxon phrase to its pristine purity, and the elevation of the enviable class denoted by it to their due pedestal of privilege and homage." [pg 15] The conditions of membership, drawn up by Lillie, were: CONTENTS 1. Every candidate must be under twenty-five. 2. Every candidate must be beautiful and wealthy, and undertake to continue so. 3. Every candidate must have refused at least one advantageous offer of marriage. The rationale of these rules was obvious. Disappointed, soured failures were not wanted. There was no virtue in being an "Old Maid" when you had passed twenty-five. Such creatures are merely old maids—Old Maids (with capitals) were required to be in the flower of youth and the flush of beauty. Their anti-matrimonial motives must be above suspicion. They must despise and reject the married state, though they would be welcomed therein with
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