He turned back to the fireplace, looked down at his feet, one resting on the brass fender, then he turned back.

‘And do you not think—’ he paused, appeared to be searching for the right words, and went on ‘—that for the wife of a pro-Federation minister to attend a vehemently and very public anti-Federation demonstration might be highly compromising and extremely embarrassing? That it might, in fact, be considered an act of disloyalty, of betrayal? That it might harm, irreparably, your husband’s career?’

‘No, I had not considered that. I do not consider it now.’

‘Indeed!’ He threw back his head, disbelieving, it seemed, her calm denial.

How had he found out, and so quickly, before she was even returned? Someone had seen her at the meeting (the reporter perhaps—Peters of the Mail, or some other). She realised she had not intended to tell him, or perhaps that she might wait until the referendum was over and done with and then she might reveal it, amusingly, triumphantly, over breakfast. But Alasdair had found out and it was somehow not amusing, it was not triumphant.

‘Alasdair, you did not wish me to accompany you to your meeting tonight so I went, instead, to my own. Is that so very wrong?’

His head swung around and he stood over her. ‘You did this to spite me? Do you think this is a game, then? All that I have strived for, that this colony has strived for, democracy, the Federation—is it merely a child’s game to you?’

‘Until I am allowed to have my say in the new nation, yes, I rather think it is.’

‘Your say?’ And he laughed. ‘So now you are a suffragist? Good God, this is not about votes for women, it is about building a nation! It is bad enough that these foolish women choose to appropriate the Federation for their own ends, but to have my own wife fall under their spell, to publicly throw in her support for them—it is intolerable!’

‘I did no such thing! I merely sat in a chair—’

‘Do not pretend to such naivety, Eleanor. You are a minister’s wife and when you attend a meeting like that it will be assumed you support it. And you were seen, make no mistake about that.’ ‘And tomorrow I intend to attend the pro-Federation league at the town hall. Surely that—’

‘No! You will not attend any meeting, for or against. You will remain in this house and receive no callers. You will speak to no one until the referendum is over.’

She gasped, half laughing. ‘You are not serious, Alasdair? I am to remain here, a prisoner in my own home, for—for ten days? Do not be absurd. It is monstrous! Preposterous!’

‘It is my will. If you have engagements, you may send word that you are indisposed. I will not be challenged on this.’