ELIZABETH It's what our friends have been telling us--for the last fifty years.

PHOEBE Look here, if it was only the usual sort of thing mamma wouldn't want it kept secret. I'm inclined to think it's a new departure altogether.

[The door opens. There enters JANET BLAKE, followed by HAKE, who proceeds with his work. JANET BLAKE is a slight, fragile-looking creature, her great dark eyes--the eyes of a fanatic--emphasise the pallor of her childish face. She is shabbily dressed; a plain, uninteresting girl until she smiles, and then her face becomes quite beautiful. PHOEBE darts to meet her.] Good girl. Was afraid--I say, you're wet through.

JANET It was only a shower. The 'buses were all full. I had to ride outside.

PHOEBE Silly kid, why didn't you take a cab?

JANET I've been reckoning it up. I've been half over London chasing Mrs. Mountcalm-Villiers. Cabs would have come, at the very least, to twelve-and-six.

PHOEBE Well -

JANET [To ELIZABETH.] Well--I want you to put me down as a contributor for twelve-and-six. [She smiles.] It's the only way I can give.

PHOEBE [She is taking off JANET'S cloak; throws it to HAKE.] Have this put somewhere to dry. [She pushes JANET to the fire.] Get near the fire. You're as cold as ice.

ELIZABETH All the seats inside, I suppose, occupied by the chivalrous sex.

JANET Oh, there was one young fellow offered to give me up his place, but I wouldn't let him. You see, we're claiming equality. [Smiles.]

ELIZABETH And are being granted it--in every direction where it works to the convenience of man.

PHOEBE [Laughs.] Is she coming--the Villiers woman?

JANET Yes. I ran her down at last--at her dress-maker's. She made an awful fuss about it, but I wouldn't leave till she'd promised. Tell me, it's something quite important, isn't it?

PHOEBE I don't know anything, except that I had an urgent telegram from mamma this morning to call a meeting of the entire Council here at three o'clock. She's coming up from Manchester on purpose. [To HAKE.] Mrs. Chilvers hasn't returned yet, has she?

HAKE Not yet, miss. Shall I telephone -

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.