mrs. winstone had put on her new intellectual expression. her lids were slightly drooped, thus banishing the young stare of wonder; her brows were almost intimate, and she had powdered her nose with an art that elevated the bridge.
when julia and tay arrived at the house in tilney street she was standing beside a table at the end of the drawing-room. one hand rested lightly upon it, the other held a slip of paper. on her left sat mrs. maundrell and lady dark, on her right mrs. flint, a working woman from the slums of bloomsbury, and an eminent leader in the militant ranks of her own class. the room was well filled with charmingly gowned women, some mildly but financially sympathetic with the cause of suffrage, others as mildly adverse. all looked mildly expectant.
“aunt maria said nothing about this,” whispered julia to tay. “we’ll sit at the back until it’s over—that is, if you think you can stand it.”
“i’ll do my best. like you, i can detach my mind.”
“ladies,” began mrs. winstone, in a deep grave voice, and not seeing julia, wondering who on earth the attractive-looking stranger could be, “we all know too much of the great cause which brings us together to-day for me to waste any words on its history. suffice it to say that—a—” (she referred to the slip in her hand) “it is now a cause which no woman that respects herself can afford to ignore, a cause that for the first time in history has united all classes of women in one indissoluble bond. it originated in the great middle or manufacturing class, eloquently known as the backbone of england, and quickly spread to what is in our generation the most powerful of all, the working class. thirty members of this great class sit in the house of commons, but their better part is still clamoring at the gates. i refer, of course, to the thousands of working women now enrolled in the militant army. one of these, the most—a—distinguished of its leaders, has kindly consented to talk to us to-day. she has her scars of battle. she has stormed the house of the prime minister, both when he lived in cavendish square, and after he was elevated to the more historic downing street. she has six times fought with the police guarding the house of commons, and three times served a term in holloway. her recruits are numberless—ladies, allow me to introduce mrs. flint.”
she sat down and spread out her train. mrs. flint rose amidst the pleasant impact of kid, and julia murmured to tay:?—
“a fine bluffer, my aunt, if you like. but all englishwomen seem to speak well, by instinct.”
tay was groaning in spirit, but soon gave his ear to mrs. flint, who made a short pointed and effective speech. her restraint and simplicity alone would have commanded attention. she began by remarking with grim humor that she had not been at all worried by the punching and kicking of the police, as her husband had beaten her every saturday night for ten years until he disappeared, leaving her to support and bring up seven children as best she might. but although she had long since forgiven him for all this, it being quite in the nature of things, she had enjoyed kicking the policemen back and clawing when she got her chance, as they belonged to that sex which had ruined the lives of two of her girls: one had flung herself into the thames, and the other come home with her child, shattered in body and mind. then, dismissing her personal affairs, she went on to speak of the wrongs of working women in general, their miserable wages for men’s work, and the new hope that filled their lives at the prospect of women being able to force men to keep their election promises and command a fixed and adequate wage for women’s work, shorter hours, and improved social conditions; conditions at present beyond the efforts of women on the municipal boards or even of the friendly societies. there was no ranting against man. mrs. flint recognized that he couldn’t help himself, having been born that way, and incapable of understanding the limited endurance, and the needs, of women and children. she paid a just tribute to the few humane and enlightened men that had improved conditions in the past, but added that she saw no disciples among the present men in power. the only men that seemed to give any thought to the improvement of the poor were the socialists, and they did nothing but talk and write pamphlets. they showed nothing of the life and the fighting spirit of the women now engaged in a war which would cease only when they were either all dead or victorious. when she had illustrated her address with a number of brief but terrible anecdotes, she finished with an eloquent appeal to her hearers to take part in the next raid on the house of commons, should the government fail to keep its tacit promise; and sat down amid a lively applause, as sincere as her speech.
“by jove!” said tay. “a working woman! wish you could see ours. but we have the scum of europe. mrs. flint is the undiluted british article. after all, it doesn’t speak so badly for your men that such women have been allowed to breed in this country—also your own lot. ever think of that?”
“rather, and they must take the consequences. we prove ourselves the more logical sex inasmuch as we demand the logical result. now! bridgit!”
mrs. maundrell spoke like a fiery torrent, re?nforcing mrs. flint’s personal experiences with several of her own, garnered when she had worked in the slums; and impressing her audience with their duty to go out and fight to mitigate the lot of the poor, even if they had not sufficient self-respect to demand the ballot because it was their right on general principles.
ishbel followed, speaking with her usual calm practical sense, and her appeal was to the immediate pocket. the funds of the unions must constantly be replenished, and she asked all present, in the soft accents of one unaccustomed to denial, and with her most enchanting smile, to subscribe liberally to the union represented by mrs. flint. she herself would distribute the promise cards.
“when i go back,” said tay, “i’ll drum up all the useless beauties i know and start a class for their education in public speaking, and in thinking of something besides themselves. no wonder these women hit the bull’s-eye every time.”
and he cheerfully parted with five pounds when the distracting ishbel told him how she had longed to meet this old friend of her own dear friend, and begged him to dine with her on the following evening.
“and you really must take advantage of this truce, dear,” she said to julia, “and see a bit of the lighter side of life once more. we’ll be just a family party—like old times!”
“nigel? is he in town?” asked julia, in alarm.
“no, he’s in syria; writes from some hotel on mount carmel. i believe you suggested?—”
“ah! at last! i feared he never really would care for the idea.” but the relief in her voice was not in the cause of the bahai religion.
here mrs. maundrell bore down on them, and her eyes flashed from tay’s face to julia’s with an expression of angry misgiving. but julia was cool and smiling, and tay shook her hand heartily and protested that he had long thought of her as another old friend. mrs. maundrell liked him so spontaneously that she was more alarmed than ever.
“come and meet my aunt,” said julia, hastily, and bore him off.
mrs. winstone, who knew nothing of the correspondence, almost betrayed her surprise as the two approached her, and wondered if julia really were going to turn out a woman. at all events she had shown taste in her sudden departure from sixteen years of inhuman indifference. the hostess greeted the one man present with warmth.
“so glad you could come, and so sorry i’m goin’ away. it would have been too jolly to know charlotte’s brother. but i’m startin’ for my old home in the west indies on wednesday.”
“what?” cried julia. “you never told me.”
“how very odd. but my nerves need a rest. hannah and pirie are goin’ with me.”
“to visit my mother?” gasped julia.
“rather not. bath house has been rebuilt, in part. they are goin’ to take the baths for their gout. any message for your mother?”
“give her my love, of course.”
“why not come along?”
“well, you see, aunt maria, i am not quite casual enough, if i am english, to leave my party on a day’s notice.”
“so glad i’m not a leader. i always do what i want, without botherin’ about anybody else. makes life so simple. how do, hannah? have you survived it?”
tay had been swept off into a vortex of suffragists and antis, all arguing with determination. julia sought out ishbel and had a talk in a corner with that ever soothing friend.
