The New Woman Part 14

Then you ought to be ashamed of yourself; there!

VICTORIA.

I only say, I ought to be allowed.

ENID.

And _I_ say that a man, reeking with infamy, ought not to be allowed to marry a pure girl----

 

VICTORIA.

Certainly not! _She_ ought to reek with infamy as well.

ENID.

Victoria!

[_Knock without._

VICTORIA.

What is the difference between man and woman?

ENID.

There is _no_ difference!

_Re-enter WELLS, door in flat._

WELLS.

Dr. Mary Bevan.

[_Exit WELLS._

_Enter DR. MARY BEVAN._

VICTORIA.

Why should a woman have children and a man have none?

ENID.

But a man _has_ children!

DOCTOR.

Only vicariously.

VICTORIA.

Here's Dr. Mary!

[_Rus.h.i.+ng up to DOCTOR. ENID has rushed up to the other side of her._

DOCTOR [_pragmatically_].

But I am not without hope that, when the attention of science is directed to the unequal incidence of the burden of maternity, some method of re-adjustment may be devised.

LADY WARGRAVE [_who has risen_].

Pardon me, ladies; but if you are about to consult your physician, you would no doubt prefer to be alone.

[_They turn and see her for the first time._

VICTORIA.

Pray, don't move.

GERALD.

My aunt, Lady Wargrave. Colonel Cazenove.

DOCTOR.

These matters are best discussed openly. A morbid modesty has too long closed our eyes. But the day of awakening has come. Sylvester, in her "Aspirations after a Higher Morality," Bethune, in her "Man, the Betrayer," Vivash, in her "Foolish Virgins," have postulated the s.e.xual problem from every conceivable point of view; and I have myself contributed to the discussion a modest little treatise----

ENID.

No, no, not modest!

VICTORIA.

Profound!

DOCTOR.

"Naked and Unashamed!"

ENID.

Man has done all the talking up to now----

VICTORIA.

He has had things all his own way----

DOCTOR.