have done
anything if the women hadn't allowed us to be packed into the trains, if
they had screamed out that they would never look at us again if we
became murderers. Not a man would have gone if they had sworn never to
give themselves to one who had split open other men's skulls or shot and
bayoneted his fellows. Not one man, I tell you, would have gone. I
didn't want to believe that they could stand it like that. 'They're only
pretending,' I thought. 'They're just holding themselves in. But when
the whistle blows they'll begin to scream, and tear us out of the train,
and rescue us.' That one time they had the chance to protect us. But all
they cared about was to be in the fashion!..."

He broke down, and collapsed once more on to the bench. He began to
weep. A little circle of people had formed round him. The doctor said
gently:

"Come, come, Lieutenant, let's get along to bed. Women are like that,
you know, and we can't help it."

The sick man leapt to his feet in a rage.

"Women are like that? Women are like that? Since when? Since when? Have
you never heard of the suffragettes who boxed the ears of ministers of
state, who set museums on fire, who chained themselves to lamp-posts,
all for the sake of the vote? For the sake of the vote, do you hear? But
for the sake of their men? Nothing!"

He paused to take breath, overwhelmed with a throttling despair. Then,
fighting with sobs, like a hunted beast, he cried out:

"Have you heard of one woman throwing herself in front of the train for
the sake of her husband? Has a single one of them slapped a statesman's
face, or tied herself to the railway lines, for our sake? Not one has
had to be saved from such desperate courses.... The whole world over,
not one of them has moved a finger for us. They drove us forth! They
gagged us! They gave us the spur, like poor Dill. They sent us to
murder, they sent us to die--for their vanity. Are you going to defend
them? No! They must be plucked out. Like weeds, they must be torn up by
the roots! You must pull four at a time, as we had to do with Dill. Four
of you together, then you'll get her up. Are you the doctor? There! Do
it to my head! I don't want a wife! Pull--pull her out!"

He struck himself on the head with his fist. He was dragged into the
house, howling at the top of his voice. Soon the garden was empty. By
degrees the lights were extinguished and the noise was stilled, except
for the distant artillery fire. The pa