ANNYS. (_She is taking off her outdoor things_.) Hope I’m not late. I had to look in at Caxton House. Why are we holding it here? PHOEBE. Mamma’s instructions. Can’t tell you anything more except that I gather the matter’s important, and is to be kept secret. ANNYS. Mamma isn’t here, is she? PHOEBE. (_Shakes her head_.) Reaches St. Pancras at two-forty. (_Looks at her watch_.) Train’s late, I expect. (HAKE _has entered_.) ANNYS. (_She hands_ HAKE _her hat and coat_.) Have something ready in case Lady Mogton hasn’t lunched. Is your master in? HAKE. A messenger came for him soon after you left, ma’am. I was to tell you he would most likely be dining at the House. ANNYS. Thank you. (HAKE _goes out_.) ANNYS. (_To_ ELIZABETH.) I so want you to meet Geoffrey. He’ll alter your opinion of men. ELIZABETH. My opinion of men has been altered once or twice—each time for the worse. ANNYS. Why do you dislike men? ELIZABETH. (_With a short laugh_.) Why does the slave dislike the slave-owner? PHOEBE. Oh, come off the perch. You spend five thousand a year provided for you by a husband that you only see on Sundays. We’d all be slaves at that price. ELIZABETH. The chains have always been stretched for the few. My sympathies are with my class. ANNYS. But men like Geoffrey—men who are devoting their whole time and energy to furthering our cause; what can you have to say against them? ELIZABETH. Simply that they don’t know what they’re doing. The French Revolution was nursed in the salons of the French nobility. When the true meaning of the woman’s movement is understood we shall have to get on without the male sympathiser. (_A pause_.) ANNYS. What do you understand is the true meaning of the woman’s movement? ELIZABETH. The dragging down of man from his position of supremacy. What else can it mean? ANNYS. Something much better. The lifting up of woman to be his partner. ELIZABETH. My dear Annys, the men who to-day are advocating votes for women are doing so in the hope of securing obedient supporters for their own political schemes. In New Zealand the working man brings his female relations in a van to the poll, and sees to it that they vote in accordance with his orders. When man once grasps the fact that woman is not going to be his henchman, but his rival, men and women will face one another as enemies. (_The door opens_. HAKE _announces_ LADY MOGTON _and_ DORIAN ST. HERBERT. LADY MOGTON _is a large_, _strong-featured woman_, _with a naturally loud voice_. _She is dressed with studied carelessness_. DORIAN ST. HERBERT, K.C., _is a tall_, _thin man_, _about thirty_. _He is elegantly_, _almost dandily dressed_.) ANNYS. (_Kissing her mother_.) Have you had lunch? LADY MOGTON. In the train.