GINGER[Cowed, but simmering.]Chivalry![A shrill snort.] JAWBONESYus.And don't you put a strain upon it neither.
Because I tell you straight, it's weakening.
GINGER[His sudden fierceness has completely cowed her.] JAWBONESYou wimmin -[There re-enters Mrs. CHINN with a tray.He is between them.] That's old Sigsby's chop?
MRS. CHINNYes.He hasn't gone out again, has he?
JAWBONESI'll 'ave it.Get 'im another.Guess 'e won't be back for 'alf an hour.
MRS. CHINNHe's nasty when his food ain't ready.
JAWBONES[He takes the tray from her.]Not your fault.Tell'im I took it from you by brute force.
MRS. CHINN[She acquiesces with her usual even absence of all emotion.]
JAWBONESYou needn't stop.Miss Rose Merton will do the waiting.
GINGER[Starts, then begins to collect her etceteras.] MRS. CHINNPerhaps there'll be time to cook him another. [She goes out.]
JAWBONESTake off that cover.
GINGER[She starts on a bolt for the door.]
JAWBONES[He is quite prepared.In an instant he is in front of her.]No, yer don't.
[A pause.]
Take off that cover.
GINGER[She still hesitates.]
JAWBONESIf yer don't do what I tell yer, I'll 'ide yer.I'm in the mood.
GINGER[She takes off the cover.]
JAWBONES[He seats himself and falls to.]Now pour me out a cup of tea.
GINGER[Is pouring it out.] JAWBONESKnow why yer doing it?
GINGER[With shrill indignation.]Yus.Becos yer got me 'ere alone, yer beast, with only that cracked image of a Mrs. Chinn -JAWBONESThat'll do.
GINGER[It is sufficient.She stops.]
JAWBONES None of your insults agen a lady as I 'olds in 'igh respect. The rest of it is all right. Becos I've got yer 'ere alone. You wimmin, you think it's going to pay you to chuck law and order. You're out for a fight, are yer?
GINGERYus, and we're going to win.Brute force 'as 'ad its d'y. It's brains wot are going to rule the world.And we've got 'em.
[She has become quite oratorical.]
JAWBONES Glad to 'ear it. Take my tip: you'll use 'em. Meanwhile I'll 'ave another cup o' tea.
GINGER[She takes the cup--is ****** for the window.] JAWBONES[Fierce again.]I said tea.
GINGER All right, I was only going to throw the slops out of window. There ain't no basin.
JAWBONES I'll tell yer when I want yer to open the window and call for the p'lice. You can throw them into the waste-paper basket.
GINGER[She obeys.]
JAWBONES Thank you. Very much obliged. One of these d'ys, maybe, you'll marry.
GINGERWhen I do, it will be a man, not a monkey.
JAWBONESI'm not proposing.I'm talking to you for your good. GINGER[Snorts.]
JAWBONES You've been listening to a lot of toffs. Easy enough for them to talk about wimmen not being domestic drudges. They keep a cook to do it. They don't pity 'e for being a down-trodden slive, spending sixteen hours a d'y in THEIR kitchen with an evening out once a week. When you marry it will be to a bloke like me, a working man . . .
GINGERWorking![She follows it with a shrill laugh.]
JAWBONES Yus. There's always a class as laughs when you mention the word "work." Them as knows wot it is, don't. I've been at it since six o'clock this morning, carrying a ladder, a can of paste weighing twenty pounds, and two 'undred double royal posters. You try it! When 'e comes 'ome, 'e'll want 'is victuals. If you've got 'em ready for 'im and are looking nice--no reason why you shouldn't--and feeling amiable, you'll get on very well together. If you are going to argue with 'im about woman's sphere, you'll get the worst of it.
GINGERYou always was a bully.
JAWBONES Not always. Remember last Bank 'oliday? [He winks.]
GINGER[She tries not to give in.]
JAWBONES'Ave a cup of tea.[He pours it out for her.]
GINGER[The natural woman steals in--she sits.] JAWBONES'Ow are they doing you, fairly well? GINGEROh!Well, nothing to grumble at. JAWBONESYou can do a bit o' dressing on it.
GINGER [She meets his admiring eye. The suffragette departs.] Dressing don't cost much--when you've got tyste.
JAWBONESWot!Not that 'at? GINGERMade it myself. JAWBONESNo!
GINGERHonour bright!Tell yer -
[GEOFFREY and ST. HERBERT enter.JAWBONES and GINGERmake to rise. GINGER succeeds.]
GEOFFREY All right, all right. Don't let me disturb the party. Where's Mr. Sigsby?
JAWBONES Gone to look up the police, I think, sir. [Having finished, he rises.] Some of those factory girls been up to their larks again.
GEOFFREYUmph!What's it about this time? JAWBONESThey've took objection to one of our posters.
GEOFFREY What, another! [To ST. HERBERT.] Woman has disappointed me as a fighter. She's willing enough to strike. If you hit back, she's surprised and grieved.
ST. HERBERTShe's come to the game rather late.
GEOFFREY She might have learned the rules. [To JAWBONES.] Which particular one is it that has failed to meet with their approval?
JAWBONES It's rather a good one, sir, from our point of view: "Why she left her 'appy 'ome."GEOFFREYI don't seem to remember it.Have I seen it? JAWBONESI don't think you 'ave, sir.It was Mr. Sigsby's idea.
On the left, the ruined 'ome, baby crying it's little 'eart out-- eldest child lying on the floor, scalded--upset the tea-kettle over itself--youngest boy in flames--been playing with the matches, nobody there to stop 'im. At the open door the father, returning from work. Nothing ready for 'im. Onthe other side--'ER, on a tub, spouting politics.
GEOFFREY[To ST. HERBERT.]Sounds rather good.
JAWBONES Wait a minute. There was a copy somewhere about--a proof. [He is searching for it on the desk--finds it.] Yus, 'ere 'tis. [To GINGER.] Catch 'old.
[JAWBONES and GINGER hold it displayed.]That's the one, sir. ST. HERBERTWhy is the working man, for pictorial purposes,always a carpenter?
GINGERIt's the skirt we object to.
GEOFFREYThe skirt!What's wrong with the skirt?
GINGER Well, it's only been out of fashion for the last three years, that's all.
GEOFFREY Oh! I see. [To ST. HERBERT.] We've been hitting them below the belt. What do you think I ought to do about it?
ST. HERBERT What would you have thought yourself, three weeks ago?
