rmany--"

MITCHENER (flying into a transport of rage). How dare you repeat
that infamous slander? (He rings the bell violently.) If this is the
alternative to votes for women, I shall advocate giving every woman in
the country six votes.

The Orderly comes in.

Remove that woman. See that she leaves the building at once.

The Orderly forlornly contemplates the iron front presented by Mrs.
Banger.

THE ORDERLY (propitiatorily). Would you av the feelin art to step out,
madam.

MRS. BANGER. You are a soldier. Obey your orders. Put me out. If I got
such an order, I should not hesitate.

THE ORDERLY (To Mitchener). Would you mind lendin me a and, Guvner?

LADY CORINTHIA (raising her revolver). I shall be obliged to shoot you
if you stir, General.

MRS. BANGER (To the Orderly). When you are ordered to put a person out
you should do it like this. (She hurls him from the room. He is heard
falling headlong downstairs and crashing through a glass door.) I shall
now wait on General Sandstone. If he shows any sign of weakness, he
shall share that poor wretch's fate. (She goes out.)

LADY CORINTHIA. Isnt she magnificent?

MITCHENER. Thank heaven shes gone. And now, my dear lady, is it
necessary to keep that loaded pistol to my nose all through our
conversation?

LADY CORINTHIA. Its not loaded. Its heavy enough, goodness knows,
without putting bullets in it.

MITCHENER (triumphantly snatching his revolver from the drawer). Then I
am master of the situation. This IS loaded. Ha, ha!

LADY CORINTHIA. But since we are not really going to shoot one another,
what difference can it possibly make?

MITCHENER (putting his pistol down on the table). True. Quite true. I
recognize there the practical good sense that has prevented you from
falling into the snares of the Suffragets.

LADY CORINTHIA. The Suffragets, General, are the dupes of dowdies. A
really attractive and clever woman--

MITCHENER (gallantly). Yourself, for instance.

LADY CORINTHIA (snatching up his revolver). Another step and you are a
dead man.

MITCHENER (amazed). My dear lady!

LADY CORINTHIA. I am not your dear lady. You are not the first man who
has concluded that because I am devoted to music and can reach F flat
with the greatest facility--Patti never got above E flat--I am marked
out as the prey of every libertine. You think I am like the thousands of
weak women whom you have ruined--

MITCHENER. I solemnly protest--

LADY CORINTHIA. Oh, I