“Your mother’s English,” said Penny, after Miss Wu had ordered for her in Chinese at the impeccably clean and colourful restaurant Miss Wu had led her to.
Penny, who had been hoping for a den of smugglers and opium addicts, was secretly disappointed, though she was heartened by the fact that the other patrons were mainly Asiatic sailors in flat caps and sober black coats, intent on consuming very long noodles or smoking cigarettes.A few of them stubbed theirs out on seeing ladies enter, a gallantry that surprised her.
“Actually, mum was born in China,” said Miss Wu.“Her parents came back to England when she was a child, but she never felt really comfortable among only English people.That’s why she ended up here.And met Father, fresh off a boat from Shanghai, looking for a Methodist chapel service.They met at the Mission.”
“And which one of them doesn’t approve of your political activities?”Penny asked.
Miss Wu sighed.“That’s my father.”
Penny made a sympathetic sound.
“It’s just because he’s worried about me,” Miss Wu said.
“These men!”Penny exclaimed.“We’d be a lot safer if they’d just stand upwithus instead of worrying about us.”
“It’s a bit different for people like us,” Miss Wu said.“Have you heard of Qiu Guijin?”
“I don’t think so, but all your names sound awfully alike to me.”
“She was a Chinese suffragist.”
“Was?”
“She was arrested and tortured, and then she was beheaded—three years ago, by the Qing Imperial Army.”
“Beheaded?“ Penny exclaimed.She knew suffragettes who had been assaulted, and they’d all been harassed.Some came out of prison quite changed.But she didn’t know of any who haddiedfor the Cause!
“Well!Thatwould never happen in England,“ said Penny, sitting up straighter.
“Perhaps, and that’s the reason my father came here.But—it’s still not the same for people like me, Penny, not even in England,” Miss Wu said gently.
“But your mother’s an Englishwoman!”Penny objected.
“And my father’s a Chinaman,” countered Miss Wu.
“That’s why you wear those glasses in public,” said Penny.
“It makes things a little simpler.”She smiled thinly.“Especially if I’m painting a target on myself in purple and green already.”
“You oughtn’t to do that alone, you know,” Penny said.“Are you NUWSS or WSPU?Or WFL?”Seeing irritation spark in her new friend’s eyes, Penny rushed to reassure her.“I don’t think it matters a jot which you join!Only you should come to meetings.”
“Do you think I haven’t tried?”Miss Wu said tightly.“They peered at my feet and asked if I’d taken off the bindings myself.Qiu Guijin and her friends were training revolutionaries, Penny—teaching people to makebombs!The people she trained are changing the world!Your friends wanted to pat me on the head for my excellent English.Excuse me if I don’t want to join any of your clubs.”
“It’s not as if you are the only foreigner!”protested Penny.She’d been accustomed to thinking of her circle as exquisitely radical, and Miss Wu made it seem rather dull all of a sudden.“There’s the Princess Sophia Duleep Singh—she’s very vocal for suffrage and shows up practically everywhere.The police don’t touch her!”
Miss Wu made a sound in her throat.“Probably because her godmother was Queen Victoria!Do you think the police would treat me like her, a maharajah’s daughter?Do you think I’d even get the same treatment as Penny Fairweather of Bloomsbury, whose brother works at the Colonial Office?”
“I didn’t ask for special treatment,” Penny replied, stung.Now was definitely not the time to confess to a family member at the War Office as well.
“No, I’m sure you didn’t.”Miss Wu sighed.“And I don’t want to take it from you, Penny.Of course I don’t.Just—use it.Use every last bit of it.And don’t expect those of us who can’t rely on it to take the same risks you do.”
They were interrupted by the arrival of a plate of food for Penny and a steaming cup of black tea for Miss Wu.
The waiter discreetly placed a fork near Penny’s right hand.There was no fork in sight for Miss Wu, she noted.
“What is this, exactly?”Penny asked, after he disappeared again.“It’s quite delicious.”
“Do you want it to be something shocking?”
