there was to be a limit to the amount of ‘English zeal’ acceptable to the Irish
suffragists.^38 Then she returned to London and, after a few days rest, began a
speaking tour of North Wales on 11 April. That day, while staying at the Castle
Hotel, Ruthin, she wrote to Ada Flatman, the WSPU Organiser for the forth-
coming Cheltenham by-election, since she planned to be there shortly, and
made it clear the kinds of meetings she wanted organised for her. ‘I’m not much
use for open air work but can take any number of indoor meetings in halls small
or large. You know I attach great importance to women’s afternoon meetings for
you get after results from them.’^39 Two days later, Emmeline wrote a hurried
note to Ada explaining that she could not now come to Cheltenham. ‘I have
had an urgent call to London for Wednesday & shall be engaged over the week
end. Will try to come to you before the end of the election, say the 26th.’^40
Why Emmeline was suddenly to be in London for Wednesday, 19 April, we do
not know. But it was the day that Sylvia was due to return from her American
tour and it is possible that she wished to greet her daughter on her return.
What Emmeline did not know was that the lonely Sylvia, travelling on her
own during her time in the USA, had been writing love letters and poems to
Hardie. In one of these letters, Sylvia hoped that she and Hardie could develop
extrasensory perception as a way of communicating with each other. ‘[W]hen
people have discovered the full power of thought transference ... we shall just
sit back and look at each other ... as much as I love my Darling’s arms about
me, sweet as kisses are, I rather think it would tend to make us less dependent
on those kinds of things.’^41 Hardie, who was interested in spiritualism and had
attended seances, as Emmeline had once done, replied to ‘my little sweetheart’
that while he agreed with her in some respects, ‘without the touch & actual
presence there could not be the same satisfaction’. He also informed Sylvia,
‘Have not seen your Mother this week. She has got her motor & the weather
has been good & I presume the two things have combined to keep her busy.’^42
Emmeline would have been horrified if she had known about the contents of
these letters since there was ‘a strong puritan streak’ in her nature.^43
Furthermore, there must be no sexual scandal for WSPU members, especially
for a member of her own family and certainly not now, when the second reading
of the Second Conciliation Bill was near.
Emmeline gave a stirring speech in support of the bill at a Queen’s Hall
meeting on 23 April. She stressed the extreme urgency for women to have the
vote now, in order to prevent ‘worse mistakes and worse blunders’ being made
in legislation in the future, as in regard to the new insurance scheme the
government was going to introduce. As a feminist who put women’s issues first,
she asked – what share were women going to have in this scheme? The most
pressing need, she suggested, was insurance for maternity:
It seems to me that if we are to have insurance schemes at all (and I
have no objection whatever, in fact I think it would be a very desirable
thing that the working class, who form the bulk of the population,THE TRUCE RENEWED