Vivie:  “Quite so.  In your position no doubt I should do the same; but you see I haven’t any menfolk.  There is my mother, but she prefers to live abroad, and as she is comfortably off she can employ servants to look after her.” (This hint of wealth a little reassured Mrs. Rossiter, who believed most Suffragettes to be adventuresses.) “So, as I have no ties I prefer to give myself up to the service of women in general.  When they have the vote and other privileges of men, then of course I can attend to my private interests and pursuits—­mathematical calculations, insurance risks—­”

Mrs. Rossiter:  “It is extraordinary how like your voice is to your cousin’s.  If I shut my eyes I could think he was back again.  Not,” (she added hastily) “that he has not, no doubt, plenty to do abroad.  Do you ever see him now?  Why does he not marry and settle down?  One never hears of him now as a barrister.  But then he used to feel his cases too much.  The last time he was here he fainted and had to stay here all night.

“And yet he had won his case and got his—­what do you say? client? off—­I dare say you remember it?  She was my husband’s cousin though we hardly liked to say so at the time:  it is so unpleasant having a murder in the family.  Fortunately she was let off; I mean, the jury said ‘not guilty,’ though personally I—­However that is neither here nor there, and since then she’s married Colonel Kesteven—­Won’t you have some pheasant?  No?  I remember your cousin used to have a very poor appetite, especially when one of his cases was on. How he used—­excuse my saying so—­how he used to tire poor Michael—­Mr. Rossiter!  Talk, talk, talk! in the evenings, and I knew the Professor had his lectures to prepare, but hints were thrown away on Mr. David.”

Rossiter broke in: 

“Now what would you like to do in the afternoon, Miss Warren?  And Gardner?  You, by the bye, have the first claim on our hospitality.  You have just arrived from Africa and the only thing we have done for you, so far, is to drag you into a disgraceful row.”

Frank:  “Well, I should like a glimpse of the Zoo.  I’m quite willing to pay my shilling and give no more trouble, but if Vivie is going there too we could all walk up together.  After that I’m going to revisit an old acquaintance of mine and Vivie’s, Praed the architect—­lives somewhere in Chelsea if I remember right—­”

Vivie:  “In Hans Place.  I don’t particularly want to go to the Zoo.  I look so odd I might over-excite the monkeys.  I think I should like to try a restful visit to the Royal Botanic.  I’m so fond of their collection of weird succulent plants—­things that look like stones and suddenly produce superb flowers.”

Mrs. Rossiter:  “We belong to the Botanic as well as to the Zoo. I could take you there after lunch.”

Rossiter:  “You forget, dearie, you’ve got to open that Bazaar in Marylebone Town Hall—­”