Free The Lorimer Legacy by Anne Melville Page A

which you analyse my motives suggests that you are fit to have the vote without any change being necessary. I think it wrong that half our nation should be encouraged to be feather-headed by the lack of consideration given to their views. And this state of affairs seems to me particularly unfortunate when the care of our children is so largely entrusted to these same silly women. My opinion is that women are as capable of acting responsibly as men are. But they are unlikely to display their abilities while they are more apt to be criticized than praised for initiative. The meetings which are held in my London home are attended by women, and I can find no fault with either their reasoning power or their determination.’
    Alexa puzzled over the problem. She still did not completely understand why Lord Glanville should have chosen the right to vote as the main point of his campaign.
    â€˜Will it not be difficult to change a state of affairs which has remained undisturbed for so long?’ she asked tentatively.
    â€˜Very difficult indeed,’ he agreed. ‘But you are not quite right in suggesting that nothing has changed. For many years in our country the right to vote has depended on the possession of property. Property was owned mainly by men, and thereofre it was to men that the vote was given. But recently there has been a movement to extend voting rights, separating them from the ownership of property – but still confined only to men. And so, you see, the principle has changed. Where once the franchise excluded those who did not own property, now it excludes those who are not men. You understand the difference?’
    Alexa understood, but was less sure that she thought it important. She was flattered, however, that a noblemanlike Lord Glanville should try to convince her. He was not only an aristocrat, but almost old enough to be her father, yet he was willing to converse with her as though she were a friend instead of a mere dependant. As though he sensed her lack of interest, he changed the subject.
    â€˜I must return to England within a day or two,’ he said. ‘The Parliamentary session has already begun, and I should be in London. But Lady Glanville must remain here. The cold and damp of an English winter can do her no good. Are you happy to stay here with her?’
    â€˜Oh yes, my lord!’ For a moment she was alarmed lest he intended to take her away from Baden-Baden and La Becattini; but it seemed that he was merely reassuring himself, for he nodded to accept her contentment.
    â€˜And you have been in communication with your connections in England since your arrival here?’
    This time Alexa was more reluctant to answer. He interpreted her silence correctly.
    â€˜I know you felt that you had been ill-used,’ he said. ‘Nevertheless, it’s necessary for me to consider my own part in the affair. You are not yet twenty-one. I ought to have your guardian’s approval of your presence here. I wrote to Mr Lorimer, as you know, but he has not favoured me with the courtesy of an answer. It’s hardly likely that he will accuse me of abducting you, but I think, all the same, that you should write a letter of reassurance. I could post it in England after my return. I have no wish to interfere in your affairs. But if you were suddenly to disappear from my care, I know what distress I should feel. I hardly like to be responsible for the same unhappiness in anyone else.’
    He had looked at her with the same grave kindness at the time of their first meeting. Alexa remembered: she had not understood his expression then and she did not now. But she recognized the validity of what he said, andwas ashamed that she had delayed. The next day she wrote to Margaret.
    Long as the letter was, it did not contain the whole truth about her disappearance. She described where she was, and who had befriended her. She explained her ambitions and the progress she was making in her