LADY MOGTON. Was that you they were yelling at? JANET. No, it’s Mr. Sigsby. (_Another yell is heard_. _Out of it a shrill female voice_—“_Mind ’is fice_; _yer spoiling it_!”) The Woman’s Laundry Union have taken such a strong dislike to him. (_A final yell_. _Then a voice_: “_That’s taken some of the starch out of him_!” _followed by a shriek of laughter_.) JAWBONES. ’E only suggested as ’ow there was enough old washerwomen in Parliament as it was. LADY MOGTON. A most unnecessary remark. It will teach him— (SIGSBY _enters_, _damaged_. _His appearance is comic_. LADY MOGTON _makes no effort to repress a grim smile_.) SIGSBY. Funny, ain’t it? LADY MOGTON. I am sorry. SIGSBY. (_He snarls_.) “The Mother’s Hand shall Help Us!” One of your posters, I think. LADY MOGTON. You shouldn’t have insulted them—calling them old washerwomen! SIGSBY. Insult! Can’t one indulge in a harmless _jeu d’esprit_—(_he pronounces it according to his own ideas_)—without having one’s clothes torn off one’s back? (_Fiercely_.) What do you mean by it—disgracing your sex? LADY MOGTON. Are you addressing me? SIGSBY. All of you. Upsetting the foundations upon which society has been reared—the natural and lawful subjection of the woman to the man. Why don’t you read St. Paul? LADY MOGTON. St. Paul was addressing Christians. When men behave like Christians there will be no need of Votes for Women. You read St. Paul on men. (_To_ JANET.) I shall want you! (_She goes out_, _followed by_ JANET.) (SIGSBY _gives vent to a gesture_.) JAWBONES. Getting saucy, ain’t they? SIGSBY. Over-indulgence. That’s what the modern woman is suffering from. Gets an idea on Monday that she’d like the whole world altered; if it isn’t done by Saturday, raises hell! Where’s the guv’nor? JAWBONES. Hasn’t been here. SIGSBY. (_Hands_ JAWBONES _his damaged hat_.) See if they can do anything to that. If not, get me a new one. (_He forks out a sovereign_.) Sure to be some shops open in the High Street. (LAMB _and_ ST. HERBERT _enter_.) LAMB. Hallo! have they been mauling you? SIGSBY. (_He snatches the damaged hat from_ JAWBONES, _to hand it back the next moment_; _holds it out_.) Woman’s contribution to politics. Get me a collar at the same time—sixteen and a half. (JAWBONES _takes his cap and goes out_. _The men hang up their overcoats_.) SIGSBY. Where’s it all going to end? That’s what I want to know! ST. HERBERT. Where most things end. In the millennium, according to its advocates. In the ruin of the country, according to its opponents. In mild surprise on the part of the next generation that ever there was any fuss about it. SIGSBY. In amazement, you mean, that their fathers were so blind as not to see where it was leading. My boy, this is going to alter the whole relationship between the sexes! ST. HERBERT. Is it so perfect as it is?