This is serious business.The next step is, of course -[The door opens; GEOFFREY enters. He is a youngish-looking man of three or four and thirty. LADY MOGTON, at the sound of the door, turns. ST. HERBERT rises. There is a pause.]
LADY MOGTON We've been talking about you. We must apologise for turning your drawing-room -GEOFFREY My dear mother-in-law, it is Providence. [He kisses her.] There is no one I was more longing to see.
ANNYS [She has risen.] Hake told me you would be dining at the House.
GEOFFREY [He comes to her, kisses her, he is in a state of suppressed excitement.] I shall be. I came back to bring you some news.
PHOEBEWe'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.
PHOEBEGovernorship of Holloway Gaol?
GEOFFREY Not a bad guess. Very near it. To the Under- Secretaryship for Home Affairs.
LADY MOGTONWho is it?
GEOFFREY[He bows.]Your affectionate and devoted servant. ANNYSYou!
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.
GEOFFREYUm!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.
GEOFFREYNo.Of course not.Certainly not.
LADY MOGTON It is perhaps unfortunate that the candidate selected -ANNYSIt is quite impossible.Such a dilemma was never dreamedof.
LADY MOGTONAnd if not?Is the solidarity of woman - GEOFFREY[Beginning to guess.]Forgive my impatience; butwhom 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.
ANNYSYou must choose some one else. PHOEBEBut there IS no one else. ANNYSThere's mamma.
PHOEBEMamma's too heavy.
ANNYSWell, 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.
PHOEBEYou 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 MOGTONYou mean you won't.
ANNYSYou can put it that way if you like.I won't. [A pause.]
JANETI 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?
ELIZABETHNot in the least. GEOFFREYAh!
ELIZABETH I would offer myself as a substitute. Only it might seem like coming between husband and wife.
GEOFFREY[He turns away with a grunt of disgust.]
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.