Part 10

LADY MOGTON. And if not? Is the solidarity of woman—

GEOFFREY. (Beginning to guess.) Forgive my impatience; but whom have you selected?

ELIZABETH. (When she likes she can be quite sweet.) Your wife. (He expected it.) We rather assumed (she appeals to the others with a gesture), I think, that the president of the Man’s League for the Extension of the Franchise to Women would regard it as a compliment.

GEOFFREY. (His dislike of her is already in existence.) Yes. Very thoughtful.

ANNYS. You must choose some one else.

PHOEBE. But there is no one else.

ANNYS. There’s mamma.

PHOEBE. Mamma’s too heavy.

ANNYS. Well, then, there’s Elizabeth—there’s you!

GEOFFREY. Yes. Why not you? You and I could have a jolly little fight.

LADY MOGTON. This is not a laughing matter. If I could think of any one to take Annys’s place I should not insist. I cannot.

PHOEBE. You see, it mustn’t be a crank.

GEOFFREY. (He is losing his temper.) Yes, I suppose that does limit you.

ELIZABETH. And then—thanks to you—Mrs. Chilvers has had such excellent training in politics. It was that, I think, that decided us.

GEOFFREY. (Convention forbids his strangling her.) Will somebody kindly introduce me to this lady?

ST. HERBERT. Ah, yes, of course. You don’t know each other, do you? Mr. Geoffrey Chilvers—Mrs. Joseph Spender. Mrs. Spender—Mr. Chilvers, M.P.

ELIZABETH. (Sweetly.) Delighted!

GEOFFREY. (Not.) Charmed.

LADY MOGTON. (To ANNYS.) I am not indifferent to your difficulty. But the history of woman, my dear Annys, is a history of sacrifice. We give our sons—if necessary, our husbands.

MRS. MOUNTCALM-VILLIERS. (Affected.) How true!

ANNYS. But you are not asking me to give him. You are asking me to fight him. I can’t.

LADY MOGTON. You mean you won’t.

ANNYS. You can put it that way if you like. I won’t.

(A pause.)

JANET. I thought Mrs. Chilvers had pledged her word.

ELIZABETH. Yes. But without her husband’s consent. So, of course, it doesn’t count.

GEOFFREY. (He turns on her.) Why not you—if there must be a fight? Or would it be against your principles?

ELIZABETH. Not in the least.