‘Not at all,’ said Rosamund. ‘Self-government is democracy, the ability to choose how your country is run. What’s wrong with that?’
‘You’re saying you’d allow a lot of lazy, illiterate Peruvian peasants to run their own country?’ laughed Neville. ‘They’d never become a developed nation, no matter how rich they are in natural resources.’
‘I think what Rosamund is trying to say—’ began Dominic, but she cut him off with an angry shake of her head.
‘I am perfectly capable of expressing myself,’ she said.
‘Oh, we can see that,’ said Clara, rolling her eyes.
‘Why shouldn’t I be?’ snapped Rosamund. ‘If I’m able to form an opinion, it’s because I am the product of the liberal school system in this country, which says that every child is entitled to an education regardless of background or sex.’
‘Goody, at least we’ve brought sex into it,’ smiled Clara.
‘Why not? Aren’t you glad we have the vote, Clara?’
‘I certainly don’t think we should go around burning our bras.’
‘Oh, I don’t think that’s such a bad thing,’ said Zander, his voice dripping with lechery.
‘Shut up, Zander!’ said Clara and Dominic simultaneously.
‘All right, all right,’ said Jonathon, standing up. ‘No more politics, please. Let’s all retire to the lounge and have another drink, hmm?’
‘I should go,’ said Ros through gritted teeth as she accepted a cup of coffee from the butler.
‘Don’t be silly.’
‘I want to go,’ she said more curtly.
She asked the housekeeper for her coat, whilst Dominic went to make their excuses. Ros gave a genuinely fond farewell to Jonathon – she had liked him – but the others didn’t seem too upset to see her go. Outside, she and Dom stood in silence on the pavement.
‘Go back in if you want to,’ she said, wondering how far they were from the tube.
Dominic still didn’t say anything, but she wasn’t going to let him make her feel guilty.
‘Well, do you think that went well?’ she asked, hovering by the door of his car, unsure he was even going to offer her a lift.
He let out a long breath. ‘Perhaps not the sparkling success I’d hoped, no.’
‘We might have got on better if your stupid friends didn’t insist on sticking to the ignorant, reactionary opinions of their parents,’ replied Ros.
‘Don’t blame it on my friends,’ said Dominic, looking suddenly annoyed. ‘Or their parents.’
Ros huffed.
‘It was only a dinner party, Ros. There was no need to get so hostile or mock my friends or call them stupid.’
‘I wasn’t mocking them. I was trying to correct them.’
‘Correct them?’
He gave a slight shake of the head, and Ros knew that she had crossed a line.
‘Ros, why do people with such fervent views as yourself assume that any political position that isn’t exactly the same as theirs is somehow flawed?’
‘Because it is!’ said Rosamund.
‘Is it? And I suppose your dreamy principles are completely watertight? Do you really think that the socialist states in Russia and Cuba are these glorious idylls free from greed and self-interest? I know you care deeply about what is going on in Vietnam and the Congo. But by your own admission, you haven’t been further east than Margate.’