"Yes; but the situation was mishandled. They met by appointment outside
a Lyons' tea-shop--Miss Jennings in a dressy blouse and the Citizen in
the suit which he only wears as a rule on the anniversary of the capture
of the Bastille--and proceeded to a hearty meal of buttered buns. Then,
instead of being taken to see Lewis Waller, as she had secretly hoped,
Miss Jennings found herself at the Court, listening to a brainy
rendering of 'Coriolanus' played by an earnest young repertory company
without scenery or orchestra. I gather that they parted outside the
emergency exit, and went home in different 'buses."
Philip listened to this highly circumstantial narrative in silence.
Finally he said:--
"I'm sorry for Brand. He may not be up to Miss Jennings's standard of
gentility, but he is the best man we have, and I intend to make him
foreman next week. I bet you he finishes high up in the Company's
service."
Tim shook his head.
"We shall see," he said. "Meanwhile, let us go and study the Suffragette
in her natural state. I hear the Cause received a tremendous fillip last
Sunday. Two policemen were jabbed in the eye with hatpins."
But the Suffragettes were not so conspicuous as they had expected. They
did discover a group of intensely respectable and consciously virtuous
females haranguing a small and apathetic audience from a lorry, but
these had wrecked their chances of patronage from the start by labelling
themselves (per banner) "Law-Abiding Suffragists."
"We want Ettes, not Ists," said Tim.
At length their attention was attracted by what looked like a gigantic
but listless football scrimmage, some four or five hundred strong,
slowly and aimlessly circling about upon a wide grassy space. It was
composed mainly of anæmic youths smoking cigarettes. But there was no
sign of the ball. All that indicated the centre of activity of this
peculiar game was the sound of some twenty or thirty male voices
uplifted in song--Timothy explained that the melody was "Let's All Go
Down the Strand and Have a Banana"--somewhere about the middle. A couple
of impassive policemen appeared to be acting as referees.
Timothy addressed a citizen of London who was standing by.
"What is going on inside here?" he asked.
"Sufferingettes, sir," responded the citizen affably. "The police won't
let 'em 'old no meetings now,--not off no waggin, that is,--so they 'as
to just _talk_ to people, standin' about, friendly like, same as me and
you. There's a couple of them in there just now"--indicating the
scrimmage with his pipe. "You'll 'ear 'em arguin', now and then."
He was right. Presently there was a lull among the choristers. A
high-pitched girlish voice became audible, trickling through the press.
"And I ask all of you, if _that_ isn't woman's work, what is?"
The speaker paused defiantly for a reply. It came, at once:--
"Washin', ducky!"
The crowd dissolved into happy laughter, and the choir struck up "Meet
Me in Dreamland Tonight."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account