Chilvers, if you could only hear the
stories that I have heard from dying lips.
GEOFFREY Very pitiful, my dear lady. And, alas, only too old.
But there are others. It would not be fair to blame always the
man.
ANNYS [Unnoticed, drawn by the subject, she has risen and come
down.] Perhaps not. But the punishment always falls on the woman.
Is THAT quite fair?
GEOFFREY [He is irritated at ANNYS'S incursion into the
discussion.] My dear Annys, that is Nature's law, not man's. All
man can do is to mitigate it.
PEEKIN That is all we ask. The suffering, the shame, must always
be the woman's. Surely that is sufficient.
GEOFFREY What do you propose?
MISS BORLASSE [In her deep, fierce tones.] That all children born
out of wedlock should be a charge upon the rates.
MISS RICKETTS [A slight, fair, middle-aged woman, with a nervous
hesitating manner.] Of course, only if the mother wishes it.
GEOFFREY [The proposal staggers him. But the next moment it
inspires him with mingled anger and amusement.
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