MRS. TILSBURY. About an hour ago. It is a result of your Woman Suffrage Parade. Mr. Melvin saw Mildred home in a taxi cab on that day, you remember.
MRS. THOM. Dear child, I hope you will be happy, but knowing from my own case and from that of many of my friends how unequal are the risks that men and women assume in the married state, I can only tremble for your future. Of course your fiancé believes in the cause, otherwise you would not have accepted him.
MILDRED. Oh, Josephine, how could you! We were not going to announce our engagement just yet.
MRS. TILSBURY. I thought you were announcing it rather emphatically when we came in.
MILDRED. I want to introduce you to Mr. Melvin, Mrs. Thom. He has just finished reading your preface to Sophie’s book and is delighted to have the opportunity to tell you how much he enjoyed it.
MR. MELVIN. I am glad to meet you, Mrs. Thom, but I cannot claim your friendship on false pretences. I regret to say I skipped your preface. It is the one thing I have learned from the Shavian philosophy, but I will ask Mildred to tell me about it sometime.
MRS. THOM. Of course your fiancé has signed the petition, Mildred?
MR. MELVIN. No, Mrs. Thom, I do not believe sufficiently in “the cause” to be willing to sign the petition.
MRS. THOM. Do you know what petition I mean?
MR. MELVIN. Certainly: the petition to the State Legislature for the Enfranchisement of Women Citizens.