not that I would criticise Madame Rosamund, who
has genius. Nevertheless her genius causes her to commit errors of which
others would be incapable.... So she has captured you, too."

"Captured me!" Audrey protested--and she was made stronger by the
flattering reference to her distinguished talent. "I've never seen her from
that day to this!"

"No. But she has captured you. You are going."

"Going where?"

"To London, to take part in these riots."

"I shan't have anything to do with riots."

"Within a month you will have been in a riot, Madame ... and I shall
regret it."

"And even if I am, Madame! You are a friend of Rosamund's. You must be in
sympathy."

"In sympathy with what?"

"With--with all this suffragism, feminism. I am anyway!" Audrey sat up
straight. "It's horrible that women don't have the Vote. And it's horrible
the things they have to suffer in order to get it. But they _will_ get it!"

"Why do you say 'they'?"

"I mean 'we.'"

"Supposing you meant 'they,' after all? And you did, Madame. Let me tell
you. You ask me if I sympathise with suffragism. You might as well ask me
if I sympathise with a storm or with an earthquake, or with a river running
to the sea. Perhaps I do. But perhaps I do not. That has no importance.
Feminism is a natural phenomenon; it was unavoidable. You Englishwomen will
get your vote. Even we in France will get it one day. It cannot be
denied.... Sympathy is not required. But let us suppose that all women
joined the struggle. What would happen to women? What would happen to the
world? Just as nunneries were a necessity of other ages, so even in this
age women must meditate. Far more than men they need to understand
themselves. Until they understand themselves how can they understand men?
The function of women is to understand. Their function is also to
preserve. All the beautiful and luxurious things in the world are in the
custody of women. Men would never of themselves keep a tradition. If there
is anything on earth worth keeping, women must keep it. And the tradition
will be lost if every woman listens to Madame Rosamund. That is what she
cannot see. Her genius blinds her. You say I am a friend of Madame
Rosamund. I am. Madame Rosamund was educated in Paris, at the same school
as my aunt and myself. But I have never helped her in her mission. And I
never will. My vocation is elsewhere. When she fled over here from the
English police, she came to me. I received her.