finance, foreign affairs, and concerns of state are utterly hopeless. Neither nature nor the Lord designed us to meddle in such things, and we rob ourselves and our daughters of our proper place, and the respect and protection due us from men, if we try to go contrary to it!'
There were more murmurs of approval, and a sprinkling of tentative applause.
26
The woman on the platform was exasperated at the irrelevance of the argument. There were spots of color high on her thin cheeks.' 'I am not suggesting you become a Minister of State!' she said sharply. 'Only that you have as much right as your butler or your poulterer has to choose who shall represent you in the Parliament of your country! And that your judgment of character is probably just as competent as theirs!'
' 'Oh! You impertinent creature!'' The woman in plum was quite outraged; her face colored darkly and her rather heavy jowls shook as she raced through her mind for words scalding enough to satisfy the occasion.
'You are quite right!' Suddenly the woman who had drawn Charlotte's attention broke the silence. Her voice was husky and pleasant; both her diction and her poise revealed she was of considerable breeding. 'Women's judgment of character is quite as good as men's; on the whole, I think very often rather better. And that is all that is required to have a useful opinion as to who should represent one in Parliament!'
Everyone in the cramped hall swung round to look at her, and she blushed with slight self-consciousness, but it did not prevent her continuing.
'We are bound by the laws; I think it is only proper that we should have some say as to what they shall be. I-'
'You are quite wrong, madame!' A deeper voice cut across her, the rich contralto of a very large woman with jet beads across her bosom and a fine mourning brooch on her lapel. 'The law, framed by men whom you so despise, is our finest protection! As a woman you are guarded by your husband, or should you be single, your father; he provides for your needs both spiritual and temporal; he exercises his wisdom to gain what is best for you, without the least exertion on your part; he undertakes your well-being; should you transgress or fall into debt, it is he, not you, who answers
27
the magistrates and must satisfy your creditors. It is only just that he should also frame the laws, or elect those who do!'
'Stuff and nonsense!' Charlotte said loudly. She could contain herself no longer. 'If my husband falls into debt, I shall be just as hungry as he is; if I commit a crime, the general public may look down upon him, but it is assuredly I who shall go to prison, not he! And if I kill someone, it is I who will hang!'
There was a sharp collective intake of breath and a little hiss of surprise at such unnecessary coarseness of reference.
Charlotte was not deterred: she had intended to shock, and the feeling of success was quite exhilarating.
'I agree with Miss Wutherspoon-women's judgment of character is easily as good as men's. What could be more important in your life than who you marry? And upon what basis does a man choose, if left to himself?'
'A pretty face!' someone answered sourly.
Someone else gave a reply a good deal less refined, and raised a loud laugh.
'Beauty, charm, a winning way,' Charlotte answered her own question before the purpose of it was lost. ' 'Often upon flattery, and the color of her eyes, or the way she has of laughing. A woman chooses a man who can provide for her and her children.'' Here she winced at her duplicity, she who had chosen Pitt entirely because he intrigued her, charmed her, frightened her with his directness, made her laugh, fired her with his anger at injustice, and because she both loved and trusted him. The fact that he was socially and financially a disaster, and likely to remain so, had not weighed an ounce with her. But she knew unquestionably that most women had more sense. She sailed on regardless both of that, and of her earlier infatuation with her brother-in-law Dominic, for which she did blush, but it was lost under the high color of her zeal. The principle was right.
'Men may go on all manner of adventures and brave the result, come what may, but most women will look to the
28
