Lady Corinthia.  And men are slaves.

Mrs. Banger.  What women need is the right to military service.  Give me a well-mounted regiment of women with sabres, opposed to a regiment of men with votes.  We shall see which will go down before the other. (rises) No:  we have had enough of these gentle pretty creatures who merely talk and cross-examine ministers in police courts, and go to prison like sheep, and suffer and sacrifice themselves.  This question must be solved by blood and iron, as was well said by Bismarck, whom I have reason to believe was a woman in disguise.

Mitchener.  Bismarck a woman?

Mrs. Banger.  All the really strong men of history have been disguised women.

Mitchener (remonstrating).  My dear lady!

Mrs. Banger.  How can you tell?  You never knew that the hero of the charge at Kassassin was a woman:  yet she was:  it was I, Rosa Carmina Banger.  Would Napoleon have been so brutal to women, think you, had he been a man?

Mitchener.  Oh, come, come!  Really!  Surely female rulers have often shown all the feminine weaknesses.  Queen Elizabeth, for instance.  Her vanity, her levity.

Mrs. Banger.  Nobody who has studied the history of Queen Elizabeth can doubt for a moment that she was a disguised man.

Lady Corinthia (admiring Mrs. Banger).  Isnt she splendid?

Mrs. Banger (rising with a large gesture).  This very afternoon I shall cast off this hampering skirt for ever; mount my charger; and with my good sabre lead the Anti-Suffragets to victory. (She strides to the other side of the room, snorting.)

Mitchener.  But I cant allow anything of the sort, madam.  I shall stand no such ridiculous nonsense.  Im perfectly determined to put my foot down.

Lady Corinthia.  Dont be hysterical, General.

Mitchener.  Hysterical!

Mrs. Banger.  Do you think we are to be stopped by these childish exhibitions of temper.  They are useless; and your tears and entreaties—­a man’s last resource—­will avail you just as little.  I sweep them away, just as I sweep your plans of campaign “made in Germany—­”

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.