PHOEBE. (_Shakes her head_.) No; it’s all right. I have seen her. Let
her know we are here the moment she comes in.
HAKE. Yes, miss.
(_He has finished the arrangements_. _The table has been placed in the
centre of the room_, _six chairs round it_, _one of them being a large
armchair_. _He has placed writing materials and a large silver gravy
spoon_. _He is going_.)
PHOEBE. Why aren’t you sure your wife wasn’t at the meeting last night?
Didn’t she say anything?
HAKE. Well, miss, unfortunately, just as she was starting, Mrs.
Comerford—that’s the wife of the party that keeps the shop
downstairs—looked in with an order for the theatre.
PHOEBE. Oh!
HAKE. So I thought it best to ask no questions.
PHOEBE. Thank you.
HAKE. Thank you, miss.
(_He goes out_.)
ELIZABETH. Can nothing be done to rouse the working-class woman out of
her apathy?
PHOEBE. Well, if you ask me, I think a good deal has been done.
ELIZABETH. Oh, what’s the use of our deceiving ourselves? The great
mass are utterly indifferent.
JANET (_She is seated in an easy-chair near the fire_.) I was talking to
a woman only yesterday—in Bethnal Green. She keeps a husband and three
children by taking in washing. “Lord, miss,” she laughed, “what would we
do with the vote if we did have it? Only one thing more to give to the
men.”
PHOEBE. That’s rather good.
ELIZABETH. The curse of it is that it’s true. Why should they put
themselves out merely that one man instead of another should dictate
their laws to them?
PHOEBE. My dear girl, precisely the same argument was used against the
Second Reform Bill. What earthly difference could it make to the working
men whether Tory Squire or Liberal capitalist ruled over them? That was
in 1868. To-day, fifty-four Labour Members sit in Parliament. At the
next election they will hold the balance.
ELIZABETH. Ah, if we could only hold out _that_ sort of hope to them!
(ANNYS _enters_. _She is in outdoor costume_. _She kisses_ PHOEBE,
_shakes hands with the other two_. ANNYS’S _age is about twenty-five_.
_She is a beautiful_, _spiritual-looking creature_, _tall and
graceful_, _with a manner that is at the same time appealing and
commanding_. _Her voice is soft and caressing_, _but capable of
expressing all the emotions_. _Her likeness to her younger sister_
PHOEBE _is of the slightest_: _the colouring is the same_, _and the
eyes that can flash_, _but there the similarity ends_. _She is simply
but well dressed_. _Her soft hair makes a quiet but wonderfully
effective frame to her face_.)
ANNYS. (_She is taking off her outdoor things_.) Hope I’m not late. I
had to look in at Caxton House. Why are we holding it here?
PHOEBE. Mamma’s instructions. Can’t tell you anything more except that
I gather the matter’s important, and is to be kept secret.
ANNYS. Mamma isn’t here, is she?
PHOEBE. (_Shakes her head_.) Reaches St. Pancras at two-forty. (_Looks
at her watch_.) Train’s late, I expect.
(HAKE _has entered_.)
ANNYS. (_She hands_ HAKE _her hat and coat_.) Have something ready in
case Lady Mogton hasn’t lunched. Is your master in?
HAKE. A messenger came for him soon after you left, ma’am. I was to
tell you he would most likely be dining at the House.
ANNYS. Thank you.
(HAKE _goes out_.)
ANNYS. (_To_ ELIZABETH.) I so want you to meet Geoffrey. He’ll alter
your opinion of men.
ELIZABETH. My opinion of men has been altered once or twice—each time
for the worse.
ANNYS. Why do you dislike men?
ELIZABETH. (_With a short laugh_.) Why does the slave dislike the
slave-owner?
PHOEBE. Oh, come off the perch. You spend five thousand a year provided
for you by a husband that you only see on Sundays. We’d all be slaves at
that price.
ELIZABETH. The chains have always been stretched for the few. My
sympathies are with my class.
ANNYS. But men like Geoffrey—men who are devoting their whole time and
energy to furthering our cause; what can you have to say against them?
ELIZABETH. Simply that they don’t know what they’re doing. The French
Revolution was nursed in the salons of the French nobility. When the
true meaning of the woman’s movement is understood we shall have to get
on without the male sympathiser.
(_A pause_.)
ANNYS. What do you understand is the true meaning of the woman’s
movement?
ELIZABETH. The dragging down of man from his position of supremacy.
What else can it mean?
ANNYS. Something much better. The lifting up of woman to be his
partner.
ELIZABETH. My dear Annys, the men who to-day are advocating votes for
women are doing so in the hope of securing obedient supporters for their
own political schemes. In New Zealand the working man brings his female
relations in a van to the poll, and sees to it that they vote in
accordance with his orders. When man once grasps the fact that woman is
not going to be his henchman, but his rival, men and women will face one
another as enemies.
(_The door opens_. HAKE _announces_ LADY MOGTON _and_ DORIAN ST.
HERBERT. LADY MOGTON _is a large_, _strong-featured woman_, _with a
naturally loud voice_. _She is dressed with studied carelessness_.
DORIAN ST. HERBERT, K.C., _is a tall_, _thin man_, _about thirty_. _He
is elegantly_, _almost dandily dressed_.)
ANNYS. (_Kissing her mother_.) Have you had lunch?
LADY MOGTON. In the train.
PHOEBE. (_Who has also kissed her mother and shaken hands with_ ST.
HERBERT.) We are all here except Villiers. She’s coming. Did you have
a good meeting?
LADY MOGTON. Fairly. Some young fool had chained himself to a pillar
and thrown the key out of window.
PHOEBE. What did you do?
LADY MOGTON. Tied a sack over his head and left him there.
(_She turns aside for a moment to talk to_ ST. HERBERT, _who has taken
some papers from his despatch-box_.)
ANNYS. (_To_ ELIZABETH.) We must finish out our talk some other time.
You are quite wrong.
ELIZABETH. Perhaps.
LADY MOGTON. We had better begin. I have only got half an hour.
JANET. I saw Mrs. Villiers. She promised she’d come.
LADY MOGTON. You should have told her we were going to be photographed.
Then she’d have been punctual. (_She has taken her seat at the table_.
ST. HERBERT _at her right_.) Better put another chair in case she does
turn up.
JANET. (_Does so_.) Shall I take any notes?
LADY MOGTON. No. (_To_ ANNYS.) Give instructions that we are not to be
interrupted for anything.
(ANNYS _rings bell_.)
ST. HERBERT. (_He turns to_ PHOEBE, _on his right_.) Have you heard the
latest?
_There was an old man of Hong Kong_,
_Whose language was terribly strong_.
(_Enter_ HAKE. _He brings a bottle and glass_, _which he places_.)
ANNYS. Oh, Hake, please, don’t let us be interrupted for anything. If
Mrs. Mountcalm-Villiers comes, show her up. But nobody else.
HAKE. Yes, ma’am.
(HAKE _goes out_.)