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The Master Of Mrs. Chilvers
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Amazing, especially for its times.
Introduction to the play, a description of characters, is quite illuminating, about not only the general idea of the play but also the author and his times.
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GEOFFREY CHILVERS, M.P. [President Men’s League for the Extension of the Franchise to Women] A loving husband, and (would-be) affectionate father. Like many other good men, he is in sympathy with the Woman’s Movement: “not thinking it is coming in his time.”
ANNYS CHILVERS [nee Mogton, Hon. Sec. Women’s Parliamentary Franchise League] A loving wife, and (would-be) affection mother. Many thousands of years have gone to her making. A generation ago, she would have been the ideal woman: the ideal helpmeet. But new ideas are stirring in her blood, a new ideal of womanhood is forcing itself upon her.
LADY MOGTON [President W.P.F.L.] She knows she would be of more use in Parliament than many of the men who are there; is naturally annoyed at the Law’s stupidity in keeping her out.
PHOEBE MOGTON [Org. Sec. W.P.F.L.] The new girl, thinking more of politics than of boys. But that will probably pass.
JANET BLAKE [Jt. Org. Sec. W.P.F.L.] She dreams of a new heaven and a new earth when woman has the vote.
MRS. MOUNTCALM VILLIERS [Vice-President W.P.F.L.] She was getting tired of flirting. The Woman’s Movement has arrived just at the right moment.
ELIZABETH SPENDER [Hons. Treas. W.P.F.L.] She sees woman everywhere the slave of man: now pampered, now beaten, but ever the slave. She can see no hope of freedom but through warfare.
MRS. CHINN A mother. JAWBONES A bill-poster. Movements that do not fit in with the essentials of life on thirty shillings a week have no message so far as Jawbones is concerned.
GINGER Whose proper name is Rose Merton, and who has to reconcile herself to the fact that so far as her class is concerned the primaeval laws still run.
DORIAN ST. HERBERT [Hon. Sec. M.L.E.F.W.] He is interested in all things, the Woman’s Movement included.
BEN LAMB, M.P. As a student of woman, he admits to being in the infants’ class. SIGSBY An Election Agent. He thinks the modern woman suffers from over-indulgence. He would recommend to her the teachings of St. Paul.
HAKE A butler. He does not see how to avoid his wife being practically a domestic servant without wages.
A DEPUTATION It consists of two men and three women. Superior people would call them Cranks. But Cranks have been of some service to the world, and the use of superior people is still to be discovered.
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"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."
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"ST. HERBERT Deplorable; but of course not your fault. I mention it because of its importance to the present matter. Under Clause A of the Act for the Better Regulation, &c., &c., all persons “mentally deficient” are debarred from becoming members of Parliament. The classification has been held to include idiots, infants, and women."
"ST. HERBERT A leader of the Orange Party was opposed by a Nationalist, and the proceedings promised to be lively. They promised for a while to be still livelier, owing to the nomination at the last moment of the local lunatic.
"PHOEBE [To ANNYS.] This is where we come in.
"ST. HERBERT There is always a local lunatic, who, if harmless, is generally a popular character. James Washington McCaw appears to have been a particularly cheerful specimen. One of his eccentricities was to always have a skipping-rope in his pocket; wherever the traffic allowed it, he would go through the streets skipping. He said it kept him warm. Another of his tricks was to let off fireworks from the roof of his house whenever he heard of the death of anybody of importance. The Returning Officer refused his nomination — which, so far as his nominators were concerned, was intended only as a joke — on the grounds of his being by common report a person of unsound mind. And there, so far as South-west Belfast was concerned, the matter ended.
"PHOEBE Pity.
"ST. HERBERT But not so far as the Returning Officer was concerned. McCaw appears to have been a lunatic possessed of means, imbued with all an Irishman’s love of litigation. He at once brought an action against the Returning Officer, his contention being that his mental state was a private matter, of which the Returning Officer was not the person to judge.
"PHOEBE He wasn’t a lunatic all over.
"ST. HERBERT We none of us are. The case went from court to court. In every instance the decision was in favour of the Returning Officer. Until it reached the House of Lords. The decision was given yesterday afternoon — in favour of the man McCaw.
"ELIZABETH Then lunatics, at all events, are not debarred from going to the poll."
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"PHOEBE It’s awfully rough on you, Geoffrey. I can see it from your point of view. But one can’t help remembering the things that you yourself have said.
"GEOFFREY I know; I know. I’ve been going up and down the country, excusing even your excesses on the ground that no movement can force its way to the front without treading on innumerable toes. For me, now, to cry halt merely because it happens to be my own toes that are in the way would be — ridiculous — absurd — would be monstrous. [Nobody contradicts him.] You are perfectly justified- -if this case means what you say it does — in putting up a candidate against me for East Poplar. Only, naturally, it cannot be Annys. [He reaches out his hand to where ANNYS stands a little behind him, takes her hand.] Annys and I have fought more than one election. It has been side by side.
"ELIZABETH The lady a little behind.
"GEOFFREY [He moves away with an expression of deep annoyance.]
"JANET [She comes forward. She holds forth her hands with a half- appealing, half-commanding gesture. She almost seems inspired.] Would it not be so much better if, in this first political contest between man and woman, the opponents were two people honouring one another, loving one another? Would it not show to all the world that man and woman may meet — contend in public life without anger, without scorn? [There is a pause. They stand listening.] I do not know, but it seems to me that if Mr. Chilvers could bring himself to do this it would be such a big thing — perhaps the most chivalrous thing that a man has ever done to help women. If he would put aside, quite voluntarily, all the man’s privilege — just say to the people, “Now choose — one of us two to serve you. We stand before you, equal, my wife and I.” I don’t know how to put it, but I feel that by merely doing that one thing Mr. Chilvers would solve the whole problem. It would prove that good men are ready to give us of their free accord all that we claim. We should gain our rights, not by warfare, but through love and understanding. Wouldn’t that be — so much better? [She looks — her hands still appealing — from one to the other.]"
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"ANNYS Do you know how long we have been married? Eight years. And do you know, sir, that all that time we have never had a difference? Don’t you think it will be good for you?
"GEOFFREY Do you know WHY we have never had a difference? Because you have always had your own way.
"ANNYS Oh!
"GEOFFREY You have got so used to it, you don’t notice it.
"ANNYS Then it will be good for me. I must learn to suffer opposition. [She laughs.]
"GEOFFREY You won’t like it.
"ANNYS Do you know, I’m not at all sure that I shan’t. [Unconsciously they let loose of one another.] You see, I shall have the right of hitting back. [Again she laughs.]
"GEOFFREY [Also laughingly.] Is woman going to develop the fighting instinct?
"ANNYS I wonder. [A moment’s silence.]
"GEOFFREY The difficulty in our case is there seems nothing to fight about.
"ANNYS We must think of something. [Laughs.]
"GEOFFREY What line are you going to take — what is your argument: why they should vote for you in preference to me?
"ANNYS Simply that I am a woman.
"GEOFFREY My dear child, that won’t be enough. Why should they vote for you merely because you’re a woman?
"ANNYS [Slightly astonished.] Because — because women are wanted in public life.
"GEOFFREY Who wants them?
"ANNYS [More astonished.] Who? Why — [it doesn’t seem too clear.] Why, all of us — you, yourself!
"GEOFFREY I’m not East Poplar. ANNYS [Is puzzled a moment, then valiantly.] I shall ask them to send me to Parliament to represent the interests of their women — and therefore of themselves — the interests of their children.
"GEOFFREY Children! What do you know about children? [Another silence.]
"ANNYS Personally — no. We have had no children of our own, of course. But [hopefully] it is a woman’s instinct.
"GEOFFREY Oh, Lord! That’s what the lady said who had buried seven.
"ANNYS [Her mouth is growing hard.] Don’t you believe in the right of women to share in the government of the country? GEOFFREY Some women. Yes. I can see some capable -
"ANNYS [Winces.]
"GEOFFREY — elderly, motherly woman who has brought up a dozen children of her own — who knows the world, being of some real use.
"ANNYS If it comes to that, there must be — I don’t say more “capable,” but more experienced, more fatherly men than yourself. [He turns, they look at one another. His tone almost touched contempt — hers was veiled anger.]
"GEOFFREY THAT’S the danger. It may come to a real fight."
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"GINGER Was talking to old Dot-and-carry-one the other d’y. You know who I mean — chap with the wooden leg as ‘as ‘is pitch outside the “George.” “Wot do you wimmen want worrying yourselves about things outside the ‘ome?” ‘e says to me. “You’ve got the children,” ‘e says. “Oh,” I says, “and whose fault’s that, I’d like to know? You wait till we’ve got the vote,” I says, “we’ll soon show you—”"
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"SIGSBY Look here. What I want to know is this: am I being asked to regard Lady Mogton as my opponent’s election agent, or as my principal’s mother-in-law? That point’s got to be settled. [His vehemence deepens.] Look at all these posters. Not to be used, for fear the other side mayn’t like them. Now Lady Mogton writes me that my candidate’s supporters are not to employ a certain argument she disapproves of: because, if they do, she’ll tell his wife. Is this an election, or is it a family jar?"
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"SIGSBY What have you been doing?
"JAWBONES Clinging to a roof for the last three hours.
"SIGSBY Clinging to a roof! What for?
"JAWBONES [He boils over.] Wot for? ‘Cos I didn’t want to fall off! Wot do you think: ‘cos I was fond of it?
"SIGSBY I don’t understand -
"JAWBONES You find yourself ‘alf way up a ladder, posting bills as the other side ‘as took objection to — with a crowd of girls from Pink’s jam factory waiting for you at the bottom with a barrel of treacle, and you WILL understand. Nothing else for me to do, o’ course, but to go up. Then they took the ladder away.
"SIGSBY Where are the bills? JAWBONES Last I see of them was their being put into a ‘earse on its way to Ilford Cemetery.
"SIGSBY This has got to be seen into. This sort of thing can’t be allowed to go on. [He snatches up his hat.]
"JAWBONES There’s another suggestion I’d like to make.
"SIGSBY [Pauses.]
"JAWBONES That is, if this election is going to be fought fairly, that our side should be provided with ‘at-pins."
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"GEOFFREY [He leans back in his chair.] Do you remember Tommy the Terrier, as they used to call him in the House — was always preaching Socialism?
"ST. HERBERT Quite the most amusing man I ever met!
"GEOFFREY And not afraid of being honest. Do you remember his answer when somebody asked him what he would do if Socialism, by any chance, really became established in England? He had just married an American heiress. He said he should emigrate. I am still convinced that woman is entitled to equal political rights with man. I didn’t think it was coming in my time. There are points in the problem remaining to be settled before we can arrive at a working solution. This is one of them. [He takes up the letter and reads.] “Are you prepared to have as your representative a person who for six months out of every year may be incapacitated from serving you?” It’s easy enough to say I oughtn’t to allow my supporters to drag in the personal element. I like it even less myself. But what’s the answer?"
"ST. HERBERT The answer, I should say, would be that the majority of women will continue to find something better to do. The women who will throw themselves into politics will be the unattached women, the childless women. [In an instant he sees his mistake, but it is too late.]
"GEOFFREY [He rises, crosses to the desk, throws into a waste- paper-basket a piece of crumpled paper that was in his hand; then turns. The personal note has entered into the discussion.] The women who WANT to be childless — what about them?
"ST. HERBERT [He shrugs his shoulders.] Are there any such?
"GEOFFREY There are women who talk openly of woman’s share in the general scheme being a “burden” on her — an “incubus.”
"ST. HERBERT A handful of cranks. To the normal woman motherhood has always been the one supreme desire.
"GEOFFREY Because children crowned her with honour. The barren woman was despised. All that is changing. This movement is adding impulse to it.
"ST. HERBERT Movements do not alter instincts.
"GEOFFREY But they do. Ever since man emerged from the jungle he has been shedding his instincts — shaping them to new desires. Where do you find this all-prevailing instinct towards maternity? Among the women of society, who sacrifice it without a moment’s hesitation to their vanity — to their mere pleasures? The middle- class woman — she, too, is demanding “freedom.” Children, servants, the home! — they are too much for her “nerves.” And now there comes this new development, appealing to the intellectual woman. Is there not danger of her preferring political ambition, the excitement of public life, to what has come to be regarded as the “drudgery” of turning four walls into a home, of peopling the silence with the voices of the children? [He crosses to the table- -lays his hand again upon the open letter.] How do you know that this may not be her answer—”I have no children. I never mean to have children”?"
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"MR. PEEKIN We propose, Mr. Chilvers, to come to the point at once. [He is all smiles, caressing gestures.]
"GEOFFREY Excellent.
"PEEKIN If I left a baby at your door, what would you do with it?
"GEOFFREY [For a moment he is taken aback, recovers himself.] Are you thinking of doing so?
"PEEKIN It’s not impossible.
"GEOFFREY Well, it sounds perhaps inhospitable, but do you know I really think I should ask you to take it away again.
"PEEKIN Yes, but by the time you find it there, I shall have disappeared — skedaddled.
"HOPPER Good. [He rubs his hands. Smiles at the others.]
"GEOFFREY In that case I warn you that I shall hand it over to the police.
"PEEKIN [He turns to the others.] I don’t myself see what else Mr. Chilvers could be expected to do.
"MISS BORLASSE He’d be a fool not to.
"GEOFFREY Thank you. So far we seem to be in agreement. And now may I ask to what all this is leading?
"PEEKIN [He changes from the debonnair to the dramatic.] How many men, Mr. Chilvers, leave their babies every year at the door of poverty-stricken women? What are they expected to do with them?
"[A moment. The DEPUTATION murmur approval.]
"GEOFFREY I see. But is there no difference between the two doors? I am not an accomplice.
"PEEKIN An accomplice! Is the ignorant servant-girl — first lured into the public-house, cajoled, tricked, deceived by false promises — the half-starved shop-girl in the hands of the practised libertine — is she an accomplice?
"MRS. PEEKIN [A dowdily-dressed, untidy woman, but the face is sweet and tender.] Ah, Mr. Chilvers, if you could only hear the stories that I have heard from dying lips.
"GEOFFREY Very pitiful, my dear lady. And, alas, only too old. But there are others. It would not be fair to blame always the man.
"ANNYS [Unnoticed, drawn by the subject, she has risen and come down.] Perhaps not. But the punishment always falls on the woman. Is THAT quite fair?
"GEOFFREY [He is irritated at ANNYS’S incursion into the discussion.] My dear Annys, that is Nature’s law, not man’s. All man can do is to mitigate it.
"PEEKIN That is all we ask. The suffering, the shame, must always be the woman’s. Surely that is sufficient.
"GEOFFREY What do you propose?
"MISS BORLASSE [In her deep, fierce tones.] That all children born out of wedlock should be a charge upon the rates.
"MISS RICKETTS [A slight, fair, middle-aged woman, with a nervous hesitating manner.] Of course, only if the mother wishes it.
"GEOFFREY [The proposal staggers him. But the next moment it inspires him with mingled anger and amusement.] My dear, good people, have you stopped for one moment to consider what the result of your proposal would be?
"PEEKIN For one thing, Mr. Chilvers, the adding to the populace of healthy children in place of the stunted and diseased abortions that is all that these poor women, out of their scanty earnings, can afford to present to the State.
"GEOFFREY Humph! That incidentally it would undermine the whole institution of marriage, let loose the flood-gates that at present hold immorality in check, doesn’t appear to trouble you. That the law must be altered to press less heavily upon the woman — that the man must be made an equal sharer in the penalty — all that goes without saying. The remedy you propose would be a thousand times worse than the disease.
"ANNYS And meanwhile? Until you have devised this scheme [there is a note of contempt in her voice] under which escape for the man will be impossible?
"GEOFFREY The evil must continue. As other evils have to until the true remedy is found.
"PEEKIN [He has hurriedly consulted with the others. All have risen — he turns to GEOFFREY.] You will not support our demand?
"GEOFFREY Support it! Do you mean that you cannot yourselves see that you are holding out an indemnity to every profligate, male and female, throughout the land — that you would be handicapping, in the struggle for existence, every honest man and woman desirous of bringing up their children in honour and in love? Your suggestion is monstrous!
"PEEKIN [The little man is not without his dignity.] We apologise, Mr. Chilvers, for having taken up your time.
"GEOFFREY I am sorry the matter was one offering so little chance of agreement.
"PEEKIN We will make only one slight further trespass on your kindness. Mrs. Chilvers, if one may judge, would seem to be more in sympathy with our views. Might we — it would be a saving of time and shoe leather [he smiles] — might we take this opportunity of laying our case before her?
"GEOFFREY It would be useless.
"[A short silence. ANNYS, with ELIZABETH and PHOEBE a little behind her, stands right. LAMB, SIGSBY, and ST. HERBERT are behind GEOFFREY centre. The DEPUTATION is left.]
"HOPPER Do we gather that in this election you speak for both candidates?
"GEOFFREY In matters of common decency, yes. My wife does not associate herself with movements for the encouragement of vice. [There is another moment’s silence.]
"ANNYS But, Geoffrey, dear — we should not be encouraging the evil. We should still seek to find the man, to punish him. The woman would still suffer -
"GEOFFREY My dear Annys, this is neither the time nor place for you and me to argue out the matter. I must ask you to trust to my judgment.
"ANNYS I can understand your refusing, but why do you object to my -
"GEOFFREY Because I do not choose for my wife’s name to be linked with a movement that I regard as criminal. I forbid it.
"[It was the moment that was bound to come. The man’s instincts, training, have involuntarily asserted themselves. Shall the woman yield? If so, then down goes the whole movement — her claim to freedom of judgment, of action, in all things. All watch the struggle with breathless interest.]
"ANNYS [She speaks very slowly, very quietly, but with a new note in her voice.] I am sorry, but I have given much thought to this matter, and — I do not agree with you.
"MRS. PEEKIN You will help us?
"ANNYS I will do what I can.
"PEEKIN [He takes from his pocket a folded paper.] It is always so much more satisfactory when these things are in writing. Candidates, with the best intentions in the world, are apt to forget. [He has spread the paper on a corner of the table. He has in his hand his fountain-pen.]
"ANNYS [With a smile.] I am not likely to forget, but if you wish it — [She approaches the table.]
"GEOFFREY [He interposes. His voice is very low, almost a whisper.] My wife will not sign.
"ANNYS [She also speaks low, but there is no yielding in her voice.] I am not only your wife. I have a duty also to others."
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"GEOFFREY [He is writing.] Sigsby.
"SIGSBY Hallo!
"GEOFFREY That poster I told young Gordon I wouldn’t sanction, “The Woman spouting politics, the Man returning to a slattern’s home.”
"[SIGSBY enters.]
"SIGSBY I have countermanded them.
"GEOFFREY Countermand them again. We shall want a thousand.
"SIGSBY [Can hardly believe his ears.]
"GEOFFREY [With a gesture round the room.] All of them. “A Man for Men!” “Save the Children!” “Guard your Homes!” All the damned collection. Order as many as you want.
"SIGSBY [His excitement rising.] I can go ahead. You mean it?
"GEOFFREY [He looks at him.] It’s got to be a fight! [A moment. He returns to his writing.] Telephone Hake that I shall be dining at the Reform Club."
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"LADY MOGTON I am sorry.
"SIGSBY [He snarls.] “The Mother’s Hand shall Help Us!” One of your posters, I think.
"LADY MOGTON You shouldn’t have insulted them — calling them old washerwomen!
"SIGSBY Insult! Can’t one indulge in a harmless jeu d’esprit — [he pronounces it according to his own ideas] — without having one’s clothes torn off one’s back? [Fiercely.] What do you mean by it — disgracing your sex?
"LADY MOGTON Are you addressing me?
"SIGSBY All of you. Upsetting the foundations upon which society has been reared — the natural and lawful subjection of the woman to the man. Why don’t you read St. Paul?
"LADY MOGTON St. Paul was addressing Christians. When men behave like Christians there will be no need of Votes for Women. You read St. Paul on men. [To JANET.] I shall want you!"
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"GEOFFREY So this is only the beginning? You have decided to devote yourself to a political career?
"ANNYS Why not?
"GEOFFREY If I were to ask you to abandon it, to come back to your place at my side — helping me, strengthening me?
"ANNYS You mean you would have me abandon my own task — merge myself in you?
"GEOFFREY Be my wife.
"ANNYS It would not be right. I, too, have my work.
"GEOFFREY If it takes you away from me?
"ANNYS Why need it take me away from you? Why cannot we work together for common ends, each in our own way? GEOFFREY We talked like that before we tried it. Marriage is not a partnership; it is a leadership.
"ANNYS [She looks at him.] You mean — an ownership. GEOFFREY Perhaps you’re right. I didn’t make it. I’m only — beginning to understand it.
"ANNYS And I too. It is not what I want.
"GEOFFREY You mean its duties have become irksome to you.
"ANNYS I mean I want to be the judge myself of what are my duties.
"GEOFFREY I no longer count. You will go your way without me?
"ANNYS I must go the way I think right.
"GEOFFREY [He flings away.] If you win to-night you will do well to make the most of it. Take my advice and claim the seat.
"ANNYS [Looks at him puzzled.]
"ELIZABETH Why?
"GEOFFREY Because [with a short, ugly laugh] the Lord only knows when you’ll get another opportunity.
"ELIZABETH You are going to stop us?
"GEOFFREY To stop women from going to the poll. The Bill will be introduced on Monday. Carried through all its stages the same week.
"ELIZABETH You think it will pass?
"GEOFFREY The Whips assure me that it will. ANNYS But they cannot, they dare not, without your assent. The — [The light breaks in upon her.] Who is bringing it in?
"GEOFFREY I am.
"ANNYS [Is going to speak.]
"GEOFFREY [He stops her.] Oh, I’m prepared for all that — ridicule, abuse. “Chilvers’s Bill for the Better Regulation of Mrs. Chilvers,” they’ll call it. I can hear their laughter. Yours won’t be among it.
"ANNYS But, Geoffrey! What is the meaning? Merely to spite me, are you going to betray a cause that you have professed belief in — that you have fought for?
"GEOFFREY Yes — if it is going to take you away from me. I want you. No, I don’t want a friend—”a fellow-worker” — some interesting rival in well doing. I can get all that outside my home. I want a wife. I want the woman I love to belong to me — to be mine. I am not troubling about being up to date; I’m talking what I feel — what every male creature must have felt since the protoplasmic cell developed instincts. I want a woman to love — a woman to work for — a woman to fight for — a woman to be a slave to. But mine — mine, and nothing else. All the rest [he makes a gesture] is talk. [He closes the window, shutting out the hubbub of the crowd.]
"ANNYS [A strange, new light has stolen in. She is bewildered, groping.] But — all this is new between us. You have not talked like this for — not since — We were just good friends — comrades.
"GEOFFREY And might have remained so, God knows! I suppose we’re made like that. So long as there was no danger passion slept. I cannot explain it. I only know that now, beside the thought of losing you, all else in the world seems meaningless. The Woman’s Movement! [He makes a gesture of contempt.] Men have wrecked kingdoms for a woman before now — and will again. I want you! [He comes to her.] Won’t you come back to me, that we may build up the home we used to dream of? Wasn’t the old love good? What has this new love to give you? Work that man can do better. The cause of the women — the children! Has woman loved woman better than man? Will the world be better for the children, man and woman contending? Come back to me. Help me. Help me to fight for all good women. Teach me how I may make the world better — for our children.
"ANNYS [The light is in her eyes. She stands a moment. Her hands are going out to him.]
:ELIZABETH [She comes between them.] Yes, go to him. He will be very good to you. Good men are kind to women, kind even to their dogs. You will be among the pampered few! You will be happy. And the others! What does it matter?
"[They draw apart. She stands between them, the incarnation of the spirit of sex war.]
"The women that have not kind owners — the dogs that have not kind masters — the dumb women, chained to their endless, unpaid drudgery! Let them be content. What are they but man’s chattel? To be honoured if it pleases him, or to be cast into the dust. Man’s pauper! Bound by his laws, subject to his whim; her every hope, her every aspiration, owed to his charity. She toils for him without ceasing: it should be her “pleasure.” She bears him children, when he chooses to desire them. They are his to do as he will by. Why seek to change it? Our man is kind. What have they to do with us: the women beaten, driven, overtasked — the women without hope or joy, the livers of grey lives that men may laugh and spend — the women degraded lower than the beasts to pander to the beast in man — the women outraged and abandoned, bearing to the grave the burden of man’s lust? Let them go their way. They are but our sisters of sorrow. And we who could help them — we to whom God has given the weapons: the brain, and the courage — we make answer: “I have married a husband, and I cannot come.” [A silence.]
"GEOFFREY Well, you have heard. [He makes a gesture.] What is your answer?
"ANNYS [She comes to him.] Don’t you love me enough to humour me a little — to put up with my vexing ways? I so want to help, to feel I am doing just a little, to make the world kinder. I know you can do it better, but I want so to be “in it.” [She laughs.] Let us forget all this. Wake up to-morrow morning with fresh hearts. You will be Member for East Poplar. And then you shall help me to win Manchester. [She puts her hands upon his breast: she would have him take her in his arms.] I am not strong enough to fight alone.
"GEOFFREY I want you. Let Manchester find some one else.
"ANNYS [She draws away from him.] And if I cannot — will not?
"GEOFFREY I bring in my Bill on Monday. We’ll be quite frank about it. That is my price — you. I want you!"
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The two were reunited despite her win, partly because her news of expecting changed him, but the more fundamental change was due to his beginning of comprehension due to his talk with his office cook who was a widow, of what women go through as mothers, often supporting large number of children alone.
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September 20, 2020 - September 21, 2020.
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