Part 9

PHOEBE. We’ve got some news for you. Have you heard—

GEOFFREY. (He stays her.) May I claim man’s privilege for the first word? It is news, I am sure, you will all be delighted to hear. A friend of yours has been appointed to an office where—it is quite possible—he may be of service to you.

PHOEBE. Governorship of Holloway Gaol?

GEOFFREY. Not a bad guess. Very near it. To the Under-Secretaryship for Home Affairs.

LADY MOGTON. Who is it?

GEOFFREY. (He bows.) Your affectionate and devoted servant.

ANNYS. You!

PHOEBE. (Genuinely delighted. She is not a quick thinker.) Bravo! Congratulations, old boy! (She has risen—she slaps him on the back.)

ANNYS. Geoffrey! (She puts her arms about him.) You never told me anything.

GEOFFREY. I know, dear. I was afraid. It mightn’t have come off. And then you would have been so disappointed.

ANNYS. (There are tears in her eyes. She still clings to him.) I am so glad. Oh, I am so glad!

GEOFFREY. It is all your doing. You have been such a splendid help. (He breaks gently away from her. Turns to ST. HERBERT, with a lighter tone.) Haven’t you anything to say to a fellow? You’re not usually dumb.

ST. HERBERT. It has all been so sudden—as the early Victorian heroine was fond of remarking!

GEOFFREY. (Laughs.) It has been sudden. We had, none of us, any idea till yesterday that old Bullock was thinking of resigning.

ELIZABETH. (She has risen and moved towards the fire.) Won’t it necessitate a bye-election?

(LADY MOGTON and ST. HERBERT have been thinking it out. On the others the word falls like a bombshell.)

GEOFFREY. (He turns to her. He does not see their faces.) Yes. But I don’t anticipate a contest. The Conservatives are without a candidate, and I am on good terms with the Labour Party. Perhaps Mr. Hunnable—(He laughs, then, turning, catches sight of his wife’s face. From ANNYS he looks to the others.)

LADY MOGTON. (She has risen.) You haven’t heard, then, of McCaw versus Potts?

GEOFFREY. “McCaw versus Potts!” What the—

ST. HERBERT. Was decided in the House of Lords late yesterday afternoon. Briefly stated, it confers upon women the right of becoming Parliamentary candidates.

GEOFFREY. (He is staggered.) You mean—

LADY MOGTON. Having regard to which, we have decided to bring forward a woman candidate to contest the next bye-election.

GEOFFREY. Um! I see.

ANNYS. But we never thought—we never anticipated it would be Geoffrey’s.

LADY MOGTON. I really cannot admit that that alters the case. Geoffrey himself would never dream, I am sure, of asking us to sacrifice our cause to his convenience.

GEOFFREY. No. Of course not. Certainly not.

LADY MOGTON. It is perhaps unfortunate that the candidate selected—

ANNYS. It is quite impossible. Such a dilemma was never dreamed of.