Scene I
The scene is the same as in Act I. The room is empty when MILDRED enters with EDWARD MELVIN. She is dressed in a short white serge dress with green sash and purple band over the left shoulder, draped like the garter ribbon. Melvin carries a large white banner on which is painted in green and purple letters, “Daughters of the Danaïdes.”
MILDRED. (Half hysterical.) You have been so kind to me, I shall never forget it. I do not know what I should have done without your help. I thought I was going to faint right there in the street, and the crowd was jeering so. Then you suddenly appeared like a Lohengrin and seized the standard and assisted me down the side street. I could never have reached home if you had not hailed the taxicab and brought me back. I should have been afraid to take a street taxicab myself. One hears such awful stories about kidnapping.
MR. MELVIN. Yet you were not afraid to go with me—a perfect stranger!
MILDRED. I knew the Club on the corner out of which you ran, what nice men belong to it. Those in the window were all joking you when you left them, but you didn’t care. You came and helped me in spite of everything. When you were beside me and I could see your eyes, I felt sure you were to be trusted. I didn’t think anything more about it.
MR. MELVIN. (Slightly embarrassed.) How heavy this banner is. They should not have given it to a child like you to carry. It would be a weighty burden for a man.
MILDRED. I am not a child! It is this short skirt that makes me look like one. I am over eighteen years old. The members of the Society chose me as standard bearer because it is a great honor. They said that I had done so much for the cause both in contributions and personal service that it was my right to carry the banner.
MR. MELVIN. So you contribute to the Campaign Funds. Well, that is an important thing to do, the most important perhaps.
MILDRED. Oh, I didn’t mean to give the impression that I have given so much. I really only give what I ought, because you see most of the members are factory girls and typewriters, self-supporting women who have all they can do to pay their monthly dues of ten cents.
MR. MELVIN. (Reading from the banner.) “Daughters of the Danaïdes.” So that is the name of your society, is it?
MILDRED. Yes. Mrs. Dunstan chose it. She is so clever and has read everything. She says it is an alliteration worthy of Henry James.
MR. MELVIN. Do you know what the Danaïdes did?
MILDRED. (Solemnly.) They murdered their husbands.
MR. MELVIN. Is that the purpose of your Society? Have you all vowed to murder your husbands?
MILDRED. I don’t think we shall any of us ever marry.
MR. MELVIN. How about Mrs. Dunstan?
MILDRED. Oh, she divorced hers.
MR. MELVIN. Don’t you think a man ought to be afraid of you when you belong to such a murderously named society?
MILDRED. Mrs. Dunstan explained to us that ours was symbolic, that we must kill figuratively by destroying the peace of every man who does not believe in Woman Suffrage.
MR. MELVIN. Are you going to begin by destroying mine?
MILDRED. Don’t you believe in Woman Suffrage?
MR. MELVIN. Not for you.
MILDRED. Why not for me?
MR. MELVIN. Because you are too pretty.
MILDRED. How ridiculous! What has looks to do with it? Homely men vote.
MR. MELVIN. (Looking up at the painting.) Is that your mother’s portrait?
MILDRED. Yes, how did you know it? Everyone says I don’t look a bit like her.
MR. MELVIN. Your smile is the same.
MILDRED. I wish the portrait were mine.
MR. MELVIN. Isn’t it?
MILDRED. No. My mother willed it to my father. She left everything else to me, but I would rather have had the portrait and not so much money.
MR. MELVIN. Do you remember your mother?
MILDRED. Yes. She only died six years ago. I often come down here in the evenings when my father and stepmother are out and curl up in that corner of the sofa and try to recall what she said to me when I was a little girl and to imagine how she would advise me now, when I am puzzled what to do.
MR. MELVIN. Was she a supporter of votes for women too?
MILDRED. When mother was alive, Woman Suffrage was not so prominent. Of course, there were societies and clubs but they were composed more of professional women, doctors, and lawyers. Society women had not taken it up and I don’t suppose mother ever thought anything about the subject.
MR. MELVIN. Wise woman. That is the best way to treat it. You would be much happier if you didn’t think anything about it.
MILDRED. But those poor girls, they have to struggle so hard to get a living. I must help them.
MR. MELVIN. Helping them is a different proposition, but would the vote help them so much at present?
MILDRED. It is a great power.
MR. MELVIN. So great a power that if your girls had the vote, there are plenty of people who would try to control it for them. Try to improve the ideals of your girls, in dress and in way of living. Try to bring about an improvement in the conditions of their work, but don’t mix them up in politics. Not just yet anyway.
MILDRED. Mrs. Thom says it is the only way.
MR. MELVIN. Who is Mrs. Thom?
MILDRED. She is one of our greatest leaders.
MR. MELVIN. Did you ever wonder what your mother would have said to all this tomfoolery? Don’t you care more for your mother’s opinion than for that of Mrs. Thom?
MILDRED. Why do you call it tomfoolery?
MR. MELVIN. Can you call it anything else? These parades and platform speeches, these huge badges and conspicuous standards? Daughters of the Danaïdes! Do you know what punishment was inflicted upon the Danaïdes?
MILDRED. No.
MR. MELVIN. They were condemned to carry water in a sieve.
MILDRED. (After a slight pause.) You mean that my efforts in the cause of Woman Suffrage are futile? That I am trying to carry water in a sieve?
MR. MELVIN. Are you getting any results?
MILDRED. We increased our membership last year from two hundred to over a thousand.
MR. MELVIN. Statistics. Have you gained anything? Made any real advance? Do your members really want to vote?
MILDRED. How can you talk to me in this way! There are a great many nice and clever women in our Society who believe in the enfranchisement of women sincerely, and would make any sacrifice to accomplish it. Look at my stepmother. She is naturally fond of art and fond of society, but she has neglected both to work in the cause. We are not trying to carry water in a sieve.
MR. MELVIN. Forgive me. I did not mean to annoy you. You are so tired too. Run and lie down now, and forget all about women’s rights and wrongs for a while. I am going to ask you to let me call again sometime and you shall try to convert me. Here is my card. Your father will know who I am.
MILDRED. (Taking card.) Thank you. I do feel rather done up. Thank you again for seeing me home.
(MELVIN leaves by one door. MILDRED goes over to the banner which he has left on a chair, rolls it up and puts it in a corner. Then she leaves the room by the other door.)