KATY. Can I speak with you for a moment, ma’am?
MRS. TILSBURY. What is it, Katy?
KATY. Helma says it is getting so late that she can’t wait to dish up the dinner.
MRS. TILSBURY. Helma can’t wait to dish up the dinner? But Mr. Tilsbury hasn’t come in yet. Why can’t she wait. Where is she going?
KATY. She is going to speak at a meeting at eight o’clock. Here she is herself. She will explain it all to you.
(Enter Helma.)
MRS. TILSBURY. You are going to a meeting, Helma?
HELMA. Yes, a meeting for the advancement of the cause of Woman Suffrage.
MRS. TILSBURY. Can’t you wait and go right after dinner? You needn’t stop to wash the dishes. I don’t see how you can go now. We are expecting Mr. Tilsbury every minute, and as soon as he comes we will go right into the dining-room and begin.
HELMA. I can’t wait another minute. I am down as first speaker on the programme, and the ladies would never forgive me if I was late. I am to speak on “How it feels to vote.” I am the only lady in the Society who has ever voted, for in Norway the women are as good as men. No other member of the Society has had any experience and can speak instead of me.