ealand woman his heroine. One might as well be romantic about New
Zealand mutton. Look at the suffragets themselves. The only ones who are
popular are the pretty ones, who flirt with mobs as ordinary women flirt
with officers.

MITCHENER. Then I understand you to hold that the country should be
governed by the women after all.

LADY CORINTHIA. Not by all the women. By certain women. I had almost
said by one woman. By the women who have charm--who have artistic
talent--who wield a legitimate, a refining influence over the men.
(She sits down gracefully, smiling, and arranging her draperies with
conscious elegance.)

MITCHENER. In short, madam, you think that if you give the vote to the
man, you give the power to the women who can get round the man.

LADY CORINTHIA. That is not a very delicate way of putting it; but I
suppose that is how you would express what I mean.

MITCHENER. Perhaps youve never had any experience of garrison life.
If you had, you'd have noticed that the sort of woman who is clever at
getting round men is sometimes rather a bad lot.

LADY CORINTHIA. What do you mean by a bad lot?

MITCHENER. I mean a woman who would play the very devil if the
other women didnt keep her in pretty strict order. I dont approve of
democracy, because its rot; and Im against giving the vote to women
because Im not accustomed to it and therefore am able to see with an
unprejudiced eye what infernal nonsense it is. But I tell you plainly,
Lady Corinthia, that there is one game that I dislike more than either
Democracy or Votes For Women: and that is the game of Antony and
Cleopatra. If I must be ruled by women, let me have decent women and
not--well, not the other sort.

LADY CORINTHIA. You have a coarse mind, General Mitchener.

MITCHENER. So has Mrs. Banger. And by George! I prefer Mrs. Banger to
you!

LADY CORINTHIA (bounding to her feet.) You prefer Mrs. Banger to me!!!

MITCHENER. I do. You said yourself she was splendid.

LADY CORINTHIA. You are no true man. You are one of those unsexed
creatures who have no joy in life, no sense of beauty, no high notes.

MITCHENER. No doubt I am, Madam. As a matter of fact, I am not clever at
discussing public questions, because, as an English gentleman, I was not
brought up to use my brains. But occasionally, after a number of remarks
which are perhaps sometimes rather idiotic, I get certain convictions.
Thanks to you, I have now got a conviction that this woman questi