Georgie eyed her and laughed, “There is always something about men’s politics to go on and on about, but for now, I shall content myself with flaunting them all by riding astride.”
Star laughed, “Well, there is nothing new in that as I do it as well. I will not allow it to be your usual radical self. What has you so quiet, my Georgie?”
“I don’t know. I feel…just a bit confused this morning,” Georgie answered.
“No, impossible. You are never confused,” Star returned half teasingly and slightly in earnest. “Never say you are mellowing with age?”
Georgie shot her a challenging look, “Age? Mellow? Careful my friend.” She sighed then and said, “I have a problem to sort out in my head.”
“Hmm, so do I, but I fancy yours is far more altruistic than mine.”
“Whatever do you mean?” Georgie asked surprised.
“Let me ask you this. Last week you said you look for the day when women would have the same rights as man. You said that you think women should be able to take lovers just as men do, without censure. Do you really believe that it is acceptable for a woman to bed a man whether she means to marry him or not?”
“Ah, a simple question, with a very complicated answer,” Georgie scrunched up her face. “What I believe Star, is that we live in an age where men, even married men, can bed whomever they choose even the household maid right under his poor wife’s nose, for example. You and I even know of such men—Lord Sefton for instance, whose ball we shan’t get to attend tonight. We are not supposed to know, but we hear the rumors and gossip, don’t we? These men, can without impunity go about their business and enjoy romance—lust, where they choose. Very few are held to censure or any consequence that I can see. I believe that it is the consequences of doing the same that women should be freed from. After all, from what I overheard Mama’s friend yesterday, Lady Sefton is carrying on a discreet affair with some young man, much younger than she.”
“Georgie!” Star exclaimed. “I would never have thought so.”
“Precisely, but your reaction to Lady Sefton’s behavior was shock while it was not with regard to his lordship. That is what I object to. I am not saying a lady should bed the butler simply because she has the right. I am saying she should have the right—the same right as a man. Does that make sense to you?”
“Yes, it does, but you know Georgie, that will never happen,” Star answered.
“Ah, perhaps not while we are young…but who knows. I mean honestly, what is wrong—is wrong. We should not be held to a different standard than a man. After all, I think women have the same…romantic desires and needs as men and yet we are trained to control them. Why should we have to control those needs if a man does not?”
Star sighed, “It is different though…somehow.”
“Only because you have been brainwashed into thinking it so. If women like us stand up and demand our rights…well then, who is to say what the future will hold.”
“What about…what about being with a man before one is married…?”
“La, Star…look at Sarah! Did she not run off with that cit last month? They weren’t married for weeks and not until her father found them and forced them to it. Did sh
e not write us that she was happy before she was forced to marry? I think that life has many facets and directions and that one day we will rise above the constraints placed on us by men. One day, we will have the right to conduct business, to vote…to take a lover!” Georgie said and laughed. “I think that a woman shouldn’t abstain from a passion simply because society dictates that she should. Unfortunately, we live in a time where we don’t have the luxury that men enjoy. Thus, if we engage in such a clandestine affair, it must be discreet. We have so much more to lose than a man.”
“Have you ever thought about…being with a man you found…attractive?”
Georgie looked at her sharply, “As a matter of fact, I have. But this isn’t about me, is it? You want the dashing Sir Edward? Is that where these questions come from?”
Star laughed, “You think you know me so well.”
“I do, she-devil, I do.”
Star sighed and detoured her friend’s mind, “You know that Vern thinks you are the air he breathes, right?”
Georgie sighed, “Your brother and I would not suit.”
“Why?” Star asked curiously. “You and Vern get along so well.”
“It isn’t that,” Georgie said. “Of course we get along. His nature is easy and it would be hard to find someone who wouldn’t get along with Vern. The thing is that my heart doesn’t flutter, my body doesn’t quake when I think of Vern.”
“Ah, yes, love. Loving someone is so very different than being in love, isn’t it?” Star said on a heavy sigh. “So then, we are still constrained, are we not? I mean, we think we should be with a man, only if we love him—we constrain ourselves.”
“Well it is an improvement on only being with him if we are married,” Georgie giggled.
Star smiled and then sighed audibly, “Georgie, we are getting older and neither one of us has ever truly been in love.”
“Well, we did think that handsome professor held the stars in his hands…do you remember how we used to watch him and swoon over everything he did?”