SCENE:—_Liberal Central Committee Rooms_, _East India Dock Road_,
_Poplar_. _A large_, _high room on the first floor of an old-fashioned
house_. _Two high windows right_. _A door at back is the main
entrance_. _A door left leads to other rooms_. _The walls are papered
with election literature_. _Conspicuous among the posters displayed is_
“_A Man for Men_.” “_No Petticoat Government_.” “_Will you be
Henpecked_?” _A large_, _round table centre is littered with papers and
pamphlets_. _A large desk stands between the windows_. _A settee is
against the left wall_.
(_When the curtain rises_, ROSE MERTON (_otherwise_ “GINGER”) _is
discovered seated_, _her left arm resting on the table_. _She is a young
lady typical of the Cockney slavey type_, _dressed according to the ideas
of her class as regards the perfect lady_. _Her hat is characteristic_.
_Her gloves_, _her reticule_, _her umbrella—the latter something rather_
“_saucy_”—_are displayed around her_. _She is feeling comfortable and
airing her views_. MRS. CHINN _is laying the cloth over a portion of the
table_, _with some tea-things_. MRS. CHINN _is a thin_, _narrow-chested
lady with thin hands and bony wrists_. _No one since her husband died
has ever seen her without her bonnet_. _Its appearance suggests the
possibility that she sleeps in it_. _It is black_, _like her dress_.
_The whole figure is decent_, _but dingy_.)