The mating impulse

In Short

This narrative follows the collision of two privileged, competitive Americans: Andy Farnham and the militant suffragette Roberta Leigh. Their lifelong rivalry, rooted in childhood dares and transatlantic pursuits, culminates on a voyage across the Atlantic. When Andy attempts to shield Roberta from arrest for her arson in England, his chaotic schemes lead to a false distress signal that inadvertently imperils two ocean liners. It is a sharp, period-specific comedy of manners that examines how personal obsession and gender dynamics can dangerously warp political conviction and individual responsibility.

The Story

The story opens in the rolling, sun-drenched hills of northern England, where Andy Farnham, a wealthy and restless American, is traveling with an English hunting party. Despite his comfortable surroundings, Andy is consumed by a single goal: tracking down Roberta Leigh, a childhood friend and fellow American who has reinvented herself as a radical, militant suffragette. Roberta has been burning down English property to strike a blow against the patriarchy. Andy, convinced that her militancy is merely a misplaced manifestation of the "mating impulse"—a desperate, subconscious bid for his attention—tracks her to a small inn.

After a tense encounter, Roberta burns down a local armory. Though she initially worries she has caused fatalities, she eventually learns the individuals she thought were inside are safe. Andy, acting as an impetuous protector, spirits her away. He buys her passage on a steamship, the Cumberland, while he arranges for a decoy to be arrested in her place on a rival ship, the Corinthian. As the two vessels race toward New York, the Corinthian identifies the decoy as a fraud and turns its attention back to catching Roberta.

Determined to outrun the law, Andy concocts a reckless plan: he bribes a wireless operator to send a false S.O.S. from a non-existent sinking ship, the Wellington, hoping to lure the pursuing Corinthian away from the Cumberland. The scheme succeeds in diverting the Corinthian, but in the ensuing panic in the wireless cabin, a fire breaks out on the Cumberland. The ship becomes a genuine death trap.

With the wireless equipment broken and the ship burning, the passengers panic. Roberta, showing the same daring she used for arson, helps the ship’s officers keep order by using sandpaper blocks to mimic the sound of a working wireless, buying time to find a rescue ship. They successfully signal the German liner Elbe, which saves the passengers before the Cumberland is gutted. Andy and Roberta escape to New York, where they immediately marry and set sail for Brazil. Meanwhile, the British government is left furious by Roberta’s escape, and the suffrage movement brands her a traitor for paying for the damages she caused, dismissing her activism as a mere romantic whim.

How It Unfolds

The hunt begins Andy Farnham, an American socialite, abandons his hunting party to chase Roberta Leigh, a militant suffragette hiding in the English countryside. He believes her political violence is merely a subconscious attempt to attract him after years of childhood competition.

The armory fire Roberta sets fire to a government armory, and Andy helps her escape the immediate aftermath, though she is initially paralyzed by the fear that she has killed innocent bystanders. They manage to secure passage on an American-bound steamship while an unwitting decoy is arrested in Roberta's place.

The wireless deception Desperate to stop the pursuing Corinthian from retrieving Roberta, Andy bribes a wireless operator to transmit a false S.O.S. from a sinking ship. The ruse successfully diverts the pursuers, but the ensuing chaos in the wireless room triggers a fire that turns the Cumberland into a literal inferno.

The rescue at sea As panic consumes the passengers, Roberta uses her quick wit and a pair of sandpaper blocks to fake a working wireless signal, keeping the crowd calm until they can signal a passing German liner. The passengers are saved just before the Cumberland is destroyed, and the lovers flee to a new life in Brazil.

The People

Andy Farnham is a wealthy, impulsive, and supremely confident young man who views the world—and his relationship with Roberta—as a series of challenges to be mastered. He is driven by a patronizing belief that he understands Roberta’s psychology better than she does, a conviction that leads him to take staggering risks with the lives of others.

Roberta Leigh is a firebrand who has channeled her lifelong competitive drive against Andy into the militant suffrage movement. While she is genuinely committed to her "cause," her actions are deeply entwined with her personal history with Andy. By the end, she sheds her revolutionary identity, ultimately admitting that her violence was a reaction to his perceived indifference.

The Wireless Operator serves as the moral and practical pivot point of the drama. His vulnerability to bribery reveals the fragility of safety at sea. He is a man caught between the rules of his trade and the lure of quick cash, eventually suffering the consequences of his complicity when the fire breaks out.

In Its Own Voice

“Those observers who see in the feminist movement a weakening of the mating impulse in the woman,” he repeatedly rehearsed one paragraph, “are grievously mistaken.”

Andy justifies his pursuit of Roberta by analyzing her militancy through a pseudoscientific lens.

“I didn’t do those things for votes for women I’d never seen. I--I did them because you made me so mad, and I wanted to show you I didn’t care a thing about you.”

Roberta finally admits the true, personal motivation behind her public political violence.

What It's Really About

The book is a critique of the intersection between romantic obsession and political fervor. It poses a cynical argument: that for some, revolutionary zeal is not a matter of conviction but a symptom of deep-seated personal insecurity and "the mating impulse." The story suggests that when private desires are projected onto public causes, the consequences can be disastrous. It questions the sincerity of individuals who use grand political gestures to settle private scores, portraying the suffrage movement as a stage for these characters' personal grievances rather than a genuine ideological pursuit.

Why Read It Today

Readers who enjoy early 20th-century social satire will find much to engage with here. The book is written with a brisk, energetic pace that mimics the restlessness of its protagonists. However, it is an unapologetically difficult read for those who expect a sympathetic portrayal of the suffragette movement. The text treats the "cause" with overt skepticism, reflecting the period's dismissive, patriarchal attitudes toward female activism.

The prose is sharp and occasionally witty, but the characterization of Roberta as a woman whose political convictions are merely a mask for romantic pining may frustrate modern readers. It is a relic of a specific, skeptical mindset, and its value lies in its portrayal of that dated perspective. You will likely walk away struck by the sheer recklessness of the leads—a couple who endanger hundreds of lives to satisfy their own egos, yet receive a "happily ever after" ending. It is a cautionary tale, perhaps unintentionally, about how the obsession with "winning" a partner can blind one to the humanity of everyone else.