during the early weeks of this same year, christabel pankhurst had established in london a branch of the woman’s social and political union founded in manchester in 1903 by mrs. pankhurst. the rooms were in park walk, chelsea, and here were the headquarters of that “militant movement” so execrated by the national union of woman’s suffrage societies, and by society in general. their numbers were few, their funds were almost nil, their years, with one or two exceptions, absurdly young, they were thrown entirely upon one another for sympathy and approval, a goodly proportion had already been severely pummelled by men twice their size, and in the proportion of three or more to one, and several were still in hospital, injured, perhaps for life. but they had made all england talk about them, and a few, a very few, farsighted men had apprehended them as a definite and permanent factor in the politics of the twentieth century.
of these was nigel herbert, and it was from him that julia learned all that she did not know already of their history. bridgit had sent her clippings from newspapers containing references to the opening of the campaign by miss pankhurst and annie kenny, at the first great liberal meeting of the general election in october, which resulted in their arrest and imprisonment. at acca she had heard the movement discussed by english pilgrims; and in english newspapers, read in continental reading-rooms, she had come across many comments—indignant, sarcastic, infuriate—upon the performances of these outrageous females. but from bridgit she had not heard since a few days before that lady’s own battle royal, and it was to nigel that she turned for unimpassioned information. he had told her something in the train, and he gave a concise history of the new movement as soon as he was permitted once more to sun himself in her presence.
“they’re here to stay,” he said. “i know six or eight of them personally; been making a study of them, although they don’t know it. they’re like no other women under the sun—nor any sun that has ever shone. they’ve a new group of brain cells, and something new and big is coming out of it. the only historical analogy i know of is those old martyrs that died in the cause of some new departure in religion; those that make such excellent subjects for stained-glass windows. they’ve got the same look those old leader-martyrs had when chained up to the stake and waiting for the faggot. the same grim patient mouths, the same clairvoyant eyes, as if looking straight at the unborn millions liberated by the martyrdom of the few. their enthusiasm is cold—and eternal. they are as deliberate as death. there are no better brains in the world. precious few as good. they never take a step that isn’t calculated beforehand, and they never take a step backward. discouragement and fear are sensations they have never experienced. when they are hurt they don’t know it. they fear injury or death no more than they fear the brutes that maul them. in short, they’re a new force let loose into the world; and the geese outside put them down as hysterical females. but if this silly old world had always been quick to see and wise to act we’d have no history. so there you are.”
and the next day julia accepted this estimate without reserve. having introduced herself at headquarters, registered, and paid her dues, she sat for a time listening to a quick incisive debate upon all steps to be taken in the house of commons, on the night of the 25th, in case the woman’s suffrage resolution, for which mr. kier hardie had secured a place, should be talked out by its enemies.
after a time julia forgot to listen, being quite convinced that they would act as they purposed to act, and make no misstep. their looks interested her far more than their words. with possibly two exceptions, whose flesh gave them a superficially conventional appearance, they did not look like women at all. they looked pure brain, sexless, selfless, ruthless. most of them had as little flesh as it is possible to carry and live, as if nature herself had sent them into the world trained and hardened for fight and for no other purpose whatever. julia saw not the slightest evidence of personal ambition in those grim set faces, with eyes that were preternaturally keen in debate, and, to use nigel’s word, clairvoyant in repose; merely that stern inflexible purpose which has been the equipment of martyrs since society emerged out of chaos; but directed by a mental power, a modern balance, that saved them from the stupidities of fanaticism. that they were ready to go to the stake, or the hangman, she did not doubt, and it was possible that some of them would, unless the enemy came to its senses in time; but that they would fail in their purpose ultimately was as unthinkable as that they would ever lay down their arms. truly a new force unleashed. were these the immortal women?
julia felt thrilled, exalted. all the iron in her nature, a gift of inheritance which had saved her from degradation and melancholy and the common foolishness of women; which, in a word, had made her stronger than life, rose from its long sleep and exulted. here was a career, and here were associates worth while. the cause of woman in the abstract had left her cold, but when she realized the immense brain power, the unqualified courage, the unhuman endurance, imperative to put the right sort of new life into a great but long moribund cause, and sweep it to a triumphant finish, she felt on fire with enthusiasm; the abilities she had so long played with crystallized suddenly and leapt at their opportunity. some day she should command these women, or their successors, and to do that would be as great a feat as to lead them to victory. she was more than willing to consecrate her personal ambition to the future of her sex, but that she never could lose sight of it would but give her an additional power. she could become as grim, as relentless, as indomitable as they, but she doubted she could ever be as selfless, or if she wished to be. for a moment she envied as much as she admired them, but the personality she once had believed murdered by her husband had long since revived with a double vitality, and the time was not yet when it could dissolve in the crucible of a cause.
when the meeting broke up she asked to be given active work to do, being well aware that one must serve before fit to command. they had been taught to expect her by mrs. herbert, and her offer of service as well as her donation was thankfully accepted. one of their number was told off to instruct her, and she was ordered to hold herself in readiness to go to the midlands and take part in a by-election, working to defeat the liberal candidate if he persisted in his attitude of hostility to woman’s demand for the vote. she and her present instructor, mrs. lime, should heckle him when he spoke, canvass, distribute suffrage literature, and speak against him in the market-place, or at any corner where they could gather a crowd.
the latter part of the program was by no means to julia’s taste, but she had made up her mind to obey orders, and she took them in the same matter-of-fact fashion in which they were delivered. mentally, she shrugged her shoulders. if these women could stand it, she could. there was not a coarse, a vulgar, a hard face among them. and should she not exult in the prospect of a stirring career, the constant outlet for her energies, the lethe for her womanhood? the more adventurous the details, the better!
“she looks like lady macbeth,” said one of the girls as julia departed with an armful of literature, and accompanied by mrs. lime. “cool, calculating, ambitious, intellectual, unscrupulous in the grand manner.”
“h’m,” said another, dubiously. “lady macbeth had her weaknesses, and lost her mind,—something mrs. france must retain if she is to be as useful to this cause as mrs. herbert and lady dark would have us believe.”
“lady macbeth up to date, then. the original was shut up in a castle with too few interests and opportunities; nothing to distract her mind. and remember she accomplished her purpose first.”
