Peter (_confidently smiling at Margaret_). Oh, Margaret means what she says.
Mrs. G. And more. She doesn't want you to go into Parliament.
Peter (_puzzled, looking at Margaret_). Doesn't what------? (_Slightly pausing._) Speak, Margaret.
Mar. No. I don't want you to go into Parliament.
Mrs. G. (_triumphantly_). What did I tell you?
Peter. But Margaret, why not? Don't you see what a chance it is? Take it, and I go up, up, Fortune, Fame, anything--the prospects are tremendous. Miss it, and I sink baek to obscurity. You can't want me to miss a chance like that.
Mrs. G. That's it, Peter. That's your Margaret all over. All she cares about is herself.
Peter (_ignoring her--to Margaret_). Nothing's going to interfere with that. Nothing on earth. You needn't fear. We're to be married in a month. Exactly as we fixed just now. A month? It'll come in the thick of the fight.
Mar. We can't be married while the election's on.
Peter (_thinking aloud, enthusiastically_). Oh, but we must. We must. I hadn't thought of that. Weddings are always popular. See what an advertisement it will be.
Mar. (_quietly_). We won't use our love to advertise your candidature, Peter.
Mrs. G. To hear you talk, it might be something you're ashamed of.
Peter. It's throwing away a golden opportunity.
Mar. I'm sorry, Peter. But I can't do that.
Mrs. G. Won't, you mean. You want to see him defeated.
Mar. (_with quiet force_). I shall work till I drop to help him on to victory.
Mrs. G. You'll help best by doing what he asks.
Peter. I really think you might, Margaret. It's not a new plan. I'm only asking you to carry out the arrangement you made this very evening. You didn't object then, I can't see what your scruple is now.
Mar. If you can't see for yourself that it's vulgar and hideous and horrible to drag our love into the glare of an election, I'm afraid I can't help you to see it.
Peter. I don't see it. Love's not a hole-and-corner business. Why shouldn't everybody know?
Peter (_arguing hotly_). Except as an advertisement. We shan't have too much money to spend on printers' bills. We ean't buy hoardings like the capitalist parties. And here's a glorious advertisement simply going begging. We can have it at the cost of your forgetting some imaginary scruple of delicacy. Elections aren't delicate affairs.