第18章 THE THIRD ACT(4)
MRS. MOUNTCALM-VILLIERS Well, if it's really -PHOEBE [To the others.] Shall see you again. [She winks. Then to MRS. MOUNTCALM-VILLIERS.] We mustn't keep them waiting. They are giving us a whole page.
[PHOEBE takes MRS. MOUNTCALM-VILLIERS out. ELIZABETH has followed to the door; she closes it. ANNYS has reseated herself, facing the fire.]
ELIZABETH When did you see your husband last?
ANNYS Not since--Tuesday, wasn't it, that we went round to his rooms. Why?
ELIZABETH I'm thinking about Manchester. What was it he said to you?
ANNYS Oh, we were, both of us, a little over-excited, I suppose.
He has--[she hesitates, finally answers]--he has always been so eager for children.
ELIZABETH Yes. So many men are; not having to bear the pain and inconvenience themselves.
ANNYS Oh, well, they have to provide for them when they do come.
That's fair enough division, I su- [Suddenly she turns fiercely.]
Why do you talk like that? As if we women were cowards. Do you think if God sent me a child I should grudge Him the price!
ELIZABETH Do you want Him to?
ANNYS I don't know; prayed Him to, once.
ELIZABETH [She lays her hand upon her.] It isn't a few more mothers that the world has need of. It is the women whom God has appointed--to whom He has given freedom, that they may champion the cause of the mothers, helpless by reason of their motherhood.
[A moment. GEOFFREY enters.]
GEOFFREY Good evening.
ANNYS [Rises; a smile struggles for possession. But he only shakes hands, and it dies away.]
ELIZABETH Good evening.
[They shake hands.]
GEOFFREY You are not interested in the counting?
ANNYS The room is rather crowded. Mamma thought I would be better out here. How have you been?
GEOFFREY Oh, all right. It's going to be a very near thing, they tell me.
ANNYS Yes, I shall be glad when it's over.
GEOFFREY It's always a trying time. What are you going to do, if you win?
[LADY MOGTON looks in.]
LADY MOGTON [Seeing GEOFFREY.] Oh, good evening.
GEOFFREY Good evening.
LADY MOGTON Chilvers, 2,960--Annys Chilvers, 2,874.
[She disappears--closes door.]
ANNYS Perhaps I'm not going to win. [She goes to him, smiling.]
I hope you'll win. I would so much rather you won.
GEOFFREY Very kind of you. I'm afraid that won't make it a certainty.
ANNYS [His answer has hardened her again.] How can I? It would not be fair. Without your consent I should never have entered upon it. It was understood that the seat, in any case, would be yours.
GEOFFREY I would rather you considered yourself quite free. In warfare it doesn't pay to be "fair" to one's enemy.
ANNYS [Still hardening.] Besides, there is no need. There will be other opportunities. I can contest some other constituency. If I win, claim the seat for that.
[A moment.]
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.