They had eaten their first course while he had been speaking, now their waiter arrived with the galantine and side dishes they had ordered.
The conversation was light and inconsequential for the rest of the meal. In truth, they both felt somewhat overwhelmed at the direction the day had taken, but when Kane dropped her off at the theatre later that afternoon they both knew their relationship had undergone a subtle change. Kane drove away in the cab elated, feeling he was a step nearer to achieving his goal of persuading Sophy to see him in a different light, that of suitor rather than friend. Sophy was disturbed and confused. Kane’s revelations had highlighted the conundrum at the heart of her association with him, the impossible task of reconciling her heart and her head.
Chapter 24
Harriet’s baby was born at the end of the second week of a blazing hot September when the newspapers were buzzing with the fact that Lord Northcliffe, the owner of The Times, had claimed that Germany was rapidly preparing for war with Britain. The furore caused by Kaiser Wilhelm’s II interview with the Daily Telegraph the previous year, in which he expressed more than usually indiscreet opinions on foreign affairs, mentioning the secret talks which had apparently taken place between Russia, France and Germany on finding a way to end the Boer War and to ‘humiliate England to the dust’, had just calmed down. King Edward VII, in full German military uniform and accompanied by Queen Alexandra, had enjoyed an official visit to Berlin at the beginning of the year, during which he and the Kaiser had reaffirmed their friendship and pledged to work for lasting good relations between their countries. Great Britain didn’t want to hear anything to the contrary. The Kaiser was the King’s nephew, after all, and everyone knew blood was thicker than water.
The occupants of the house overlooking Berkeley Square were not concerned with the political situation between England and Germany on the morning of 11 September. Harriet had gone into labour just after midnight, and when Sophy had sent Sadie for the midwife at three in the morning, the birth had been imminent. So imminent, in fact, that Sophy had delivered the baby herself. Not that little Josephine Sophy was any the worse for the experience. Weighing in at a chunky nine pounds, she was the epitome of a bouncing baby girl with a shock of black hair and bright black eyes. Sophy had been terrified when she’d realised the baby was coming, but there’d been no complications, and as she gazed at Josephine, still covered in blood and mucus but bellowing for her mother, she acknowledged that nothing in life thus far had been so rewarding. Harriet was radiant, and as she cuddled the baby to her breast she instinctively began to suck. Harriet and Sophy were still dewy-eyed when Sadie and the midwife arrived ten minutes later.
Josephine was a contented baby and Harriet an excellent mother, and by the time Sophy undertook her next part as her current play finished, a happy routine had been established at home. And having a baby in the house had made it so much more of a home.
The new play, a spectacular event, involved many stars of the West End stage, and all the national newspapers had reviewed the production. It was entitled A Pageant of Great Women by Cicely Hamilton, and Sophy had known she had to be involved in it as soon as a part was offered to her. It was first performed in the Scala Theatre on 10 November, two months after Gladstone had instructed the prison doctors to forcibly feed suffragette hunger strikers. The main character in the Pageant was Woman, who demands freedom from Justice, while Prejudice – a man – argues against her. Prejudice’s objection to Woman’s case is that her innate stupidity makes her incapable of mature thought.
Written and directed by two women, the Pageant paraded an array of women warriors, artists, scholars, monarchs and saints who show the physical, intellectual, creative and ethical strength of womankind. It was powerful stuff, giving fifty-two actresses the opportunity to stand up for what they believed in.