"What?"

"Certainly. It has been in force now for three years."

"Then what do you mean by saying that the Church isn't established?"

"I mean that no religious test is demanded of officers of state,
and that bishops and abbots have no seat in Parliament. It was the
enfranchisement of women that turned the tide once and for all."

"Do you mean that all women have the vote?"

"They are under the same conditions as men. There's a severe
educational test now, of course. Not more than about one in
seventy adults ever get the vote at all. But the result is that
we're governed by educated persons."

"Stop. Is it a Monarchy?"

"Certainly. Edward IX--a young man--is on the throne."

"Go on."

"Christianity, then, holds the field. Of course there are
infidels left, who write letters to the newspapers sometimes, and
hold meetings, and so on. But they are practically negligible. As
regards Church property, practically everything has finally been
given back to us;--I mean in the way of buildings, and, very
largely, revenues too. All the cathedrals are ours, and all