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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Samuel the Seeker, by Upton Sinclair
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Samuel the Seeker
+
+Author: Upton Sinclair
+
+
+Release Date: June, 2004  [EBook #5961]
+This file was first posted on October 1, 2002
+Last updated: April 28, 2013
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SAMUEL THE SEEKER ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Franks, Charles Aldarondo, and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+SAMUEL THE SEEKER
+
+By Upton Sinclair
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+"Samuel," said old Ephraim, "Seek, and ye shall find."
+
+He had written these words upon the little picture of Samuel's mother,
+which hung in that corner of the old attic which served as the boy's
+bedroom; and so Samuel grew up with the knowledge that he, too, was one
+of the Seekers. Just what he was to seek, and just how he was to seek
+it, were matters of uncertainty--they were part of the search. Old
+Ephraim could not tell him very much about it, for the Seekers had moved
+away to the West before he had come to the farm; and Samuel's mother had
+died very young, before her husband had a chance to learn more than the
+rudiments of her faith. So all that Samuel knew was that the Seekers
+were men and women of fervor, who had broken with the churches because
+they would not believe what was taught--holding that it was every man's
+duty to read the Word of God for himself and to follow where it led him.
+
+Thus the boy learned to think of life, not as something settled, but as
+a place for adventure. One must seek and seek; and in the end the way of
+truth would be revealed to him. He could see this zeal in his mother's
+face, beautiful and delicate, even in the crude picture; and Samuel
+did not know that the picture was crude, and wove his dreams about it.
+Sometimes at twilight old Ephraim would talk about her, and the tears
+would steal down his cheeks. The one year that he had known her had
+sufficed to change the course of his life; and he had been a man past
+middle life, too, a widower with two children. He had come into the
+country as the foreman of a lumber camp back on the mountain.
+
+Samuel had always thought of his father as an old man; Ephraim had been
+hurt by a vicious horse, and had aged rapidly after that. He had given
+up lumbering; it had not taken long to clear out that part of the
+mountains. Now the hills were swept bare, and the population had found a
+new way of living.
+
+Samuel's childhood life had been grim and stern. The winter fell early
+upon the mountain wilderness; the lake would freeze over, and the roads
+block up with snow, and after that they would live upon what they
+had raised in the summer, with what Dan and Adam--Samuel's
+half-brothers--might bring in from the chase. But now all this was
+changed and forgotten; for there was a hotel at the end of the lake, and
+money was free in the country. It was no longer worth while to reap the
+hay from the mountain meadows; it was better to move the family into the
+attic, and "take boarders." Some of the neighbors even turned their old
+corncribs into sleeping shacks, and advertised in the city papers, and
+were soon blossoming forth in white paint and new buildings, and were on
+the way to having "hotels" of their own.
+
+Old Ephraim lacked the cunning for that kind of success. He was lame
+and slow, tending toward stoutness, and having a film over one eye; and
+Samuel knew that the boarders made fun of him, even while they devoured
+his food and took advantage of him. This was the first bitterness of
+Samuel's life; for he knew that within old Ephraim's bosom was the heart
+of a king. Once the boy had heard him in the room beneath his attic,
+talking with one of the boarders, a widow with a little daughter of whom
+the old man was fond. "I've had a feeling, ma'am," he was saying, "that
+somehow you might be in trouble. And I wanted to say that if you can't
+spare this money, I would rather you kept it; for I don't need it now,
+and you can send it to me when things are better with you." That was
+Ephraim Prescott's way with his boarders; and so he did not grow in
+riches as fast as he grew in soul.
+
+Ephraim's wife had taught him to read the Bible. He read it every night,
+and on Sundays also; and if what he was reading was sublime poetry, and
+a part of the world's best literature, the old man did not know it. He
+took it all as having actual relationship to such matters as trading
+horses and feeding boarders. And he taught Samuel to take it that way
+also; and as the boy grew up there took root within him a great dismay
+and perplexity, that these moral truths which he read in the Book seemed
+to count for so little in the world about him.
+
+Besides the Bible and his mother, Ephraim taught his son one other great
+thing; that was America. America was Samuel's country, the land where
+his fathers had died. It was a land set apart from all others, for the
+working out of a high and wonderful destiny. It was the land of Liberty.
+For this whole armies of heroic men had poured out their heart's blood;
+and their dream was embodied in institutions which were almost as sacred
+as the Book itself. Samuel learned hymns which dealt with these things,
+and he heard great speeches about them; every Fourth of July that he
+could remember he had driven out to the courthouse to hear one, and he
+was never in the least ashamed when the tears came into his eyes.
+
+He had seen tears even in the summer boarders' eyes; once or twice
+when on a quiet evening it chanced that the old man unlocked the secret
+chambers of his soul. For Ephraim Prescott had been through the War.
+He had marched with the Seventeenth Pennsylvania from Bull Run to Cold
+Harbor, where he had been three times wounded; and his memory was a
+storehouse of mighty deeds and thrilling images. Heroic figures strode
+through it; there were marches and weary sieges, prison and sickness and
+despair; there were moments of horror and of glory, visions of blood
+and anguish, of flame and cannon smoke; there were battle flags, torn
+by shot and shell, and names of precious memory, which stirred the deep
+places of the soul. These men had given their lives for Freedom; they
+had lain down to make a pathway before her--they had filled up a bloody
+chasm so that she might pass upon her way. And that was the heritage
+they handed to their children, to guard and cherish. That was what it
+meant to be an American; that one must hold himself in readiness to go
+forth as they had done, and dare and suffer whatever the fates might
+send.
+
+Such were the things out of which Samuel's life was made; besides these
+he had only the farm, with its daily tasks, and the pageant of Nature
+in the wilderness--of day and night, and of winter and summer upon the
+mountains. The books were few. There was one ragged volume which Samuel
+knew nearly by heart, which told the adventures of a castaway upon a
+desert island, and how, step by step, he solved his problem; Samuel
+learned from that to think of life as made by honest labor, and to find
+a thrill of romance in the making of useful things. And then there
+was the story of Christian, and of his pilgrimage; the very book for
+a Seeker--with visions of glory not too definite, leaving danger of
+premature success.
+
+And then, much later, some one left at the place a volume of the "Farm
+Rhymes" of James Whitcomb Riley; and before Samuel's eyes there opened a
+new vision of life. He had been happy; but now suddenly he realized
+it. He had loved the blue sky above him, and the deep woods and the
+sparkling lake; but now he had words to tell about them--and the common
+tasks of his life were transfigured with the glory of song. So one might
+milk the cow with stirrings of wonder, and mow in the meadows to the
+rhythm of "Knee-deep in June."
+
+From which you may divine that Samuel was what is called an Enthusiast.
+He was disposed to take rosy views of things, and to believe what he
+was told--especially if it was something beautiful and appealing. He was
+given to having ideals and to accepting theories. He would be stirred
+by some broad new principle; and he would set to work to apply it with
+fervor. But you are not to conclude from this that Samuel was a fool.
+On the contrary, when things went wrong he knew it; and according to his
+religion, he sought the reason, and he sought persistently, and with all
+his might. If all men would do as much, the world might soon be quite a
+different place.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+Such was Samuel's life until he was seventeen, and then a sad experience
+came to the family.
+
+It was because of the city people. They brought prosperity to the
+country, everyone said, but old Ephraim regretted their coming, none the
+less. They broke down the old standards, and put an end to the old ways
+of life. What was the use of grubbing up stumps in a pasture lot,
+when one could sell minnows for a penny apiece? So all the men became
+"guides" and camp servants, and the girls became waitresses. They wore
+more stylish clothes and were livelier of speech; but they were also
+more greedy and less independent. They had learned to take tips, for
+instance; and more than one of the girls went away to the city to
+nameless and terrible destinies.
+
+These summer boarders all had money. Young and old, it flowed from them
+in a continuous stream. They did not have to plow and reap--they bought
+what they wanted; and they spent their time at play--with sailboats and
+fishing tackle, bicycles and automobiles, and what not. How all this
+money came to be was a thing difficult to imagine; but it came from the
+city--from the great Metropolis, to which one's thoughts turned with
+ever livelier interest.
+
+Then, one August, came a man who opened the gates of knowledge a little.
+Manning was his name--Percival Manning, junior partner in the firm
+of Manning & Isaacson, Bankers and Brokers--with an address which had
+caused the Prescott family to start and stare with awe. It was Wall
+Street!
+
+Mr. Percival Manning was round and stout, and wore striped shirts,
+and trousers which were like a knife blade in front; also, he fairly
+radiated prosperity. His talk was all of financial wizardry by which
+fortunes were made overnight. The firm of Manning & Isaacson was one of
+the oldest and most prosperous in the street, so he said; and its junior
+partner was in the confidence of some of the greatest powers in the
+financial affairs of the country. And, alas! for the Prescott family,
+which did not read the magazines and had never even heard of a
+"bucket-shop"!
+
+Adam, the oldest brother, took Mr. Manning back to Indian Pond on a
+fishing trip; and Samuel went along to help with the carries. And all
+the way the talk was of the wonders of city life. Samuel learned that
+his home was a God-forsaken place in winter--something which had never
+been hinted at in any theological book which he had read. Manning
+wondered that Adam didn't get out to some place where a man had a
+chance. Then he threw away a half-smoked cigar and talked about the
+theaters and the music halls; and after that he came back to the
+inexhaustible topic of Wall Street.
+
+He had had interesting news from the office that day; there was a big
+deal about to be consummated--the Glass Bottle Trust was ready for
+launching. For nearly a year old Harry Lockman--"You've heard of him, no
+doubt--he built up the great glass works at Lockmanville?" said Manning.
+No, Adam confessed that he had never heard of Lockman, that shrewd
+and crafty old multi-millionaire who had gone on a still hunt for
+glass-bottle factories, and now had the country in the grip of the
+fourteen-million-dollar "Glass Bottle Securities Company." No one knew
+it, as yet; but soon the enterprise would be under full sail--"And won't
+the old cormorant take in the shekels, though!" chuckled Manning.
+
+"That might be a good sort of thing for a man to invest in," said Adam
+cautiously.
+
+"Well, I just guess!" laughed the other. "If he's quick about it."
+
+"Do you suppose you could find out how to get some of that stock?" was
+the next question.
+
+"Sure," said Manning--"that's what we're in business for."
+
+And then, as luck would have it, a city man bought the old Wyckman farm,
+and the trustees of the estate came to visit Ephraim in solemn state
+and paid down three crisp one-thousand-dollar bills and carried off the
+canceled mortgage. And the old man sat a-tremble holding in his hands
+the savings of his whole lifetime, and facing the eager onslaught of his
+two eldest sons.
+
+"But, Adam!" he protested. "It's gambling!"
+
+"It's nothing of the kind," cried the other. "It's no more gambling than
+if I was to buy a horse because I knowed that horses would be scarce
+next spring. It's just business."
+
+"But those factories make beer bottles and whisky bottles!" exclaimed
+the old man. "Does it seem right to you to get our money that way?"
+
+"They make all kinds of bottles," said Adam; "how can they help what
+they're used for?"
+
+"And besides," put in Dan, with a master-stroke of diplomacy, "it will
+raise the prices on 'em, and make 'em harder to git."
+
+"There's been fortunes lost in Wall Street," said the father. "How can
+we tell?"
+
+"We've got a chance to get in on the inside," said Adam. "Such chances
+don't happen twice in a lifetime."
+
+"Just read this here circular!" added Dan. "If we let a chance like this
+go we'll deserve to break our backs hoeing corn the rest of our days."
+
+That was the argument. Old Ephraim had never thought of a broken back in
+connection with the hoeing of corn. There were four acres in the field,
+and every spring he had plowed and harrowed it and planted it and
+replanted what the crows had pulled up; and all summer long he had
+hoed and tended it, and in the fall he had cut it, stalk by stalk,
+and stacked it; and then through October, sitting on the bare bleak
+hillside, he had husked it, ear by ear, and gathered it in baskets--if
+the season was good, perhaps a hundred dollars' worth of grain. That
+was the way one worked to create a hundred dollars' worth of Value; and
+Manning had paid as much for the fancy-mounted shotgun which stood in
+the corner of his room! And here was the great fourteen-million-dollar
+Glass Bottle Trust, with properties said to be worth twenty-five
+million, and the control of one of the great industries of the
+country--and stock which might easily go to a hundred and fifty in a
+single week!
+
+"Boys," said the old man, sadly, "it won't be me that will spend this
+money. And I don't want to stand in your way. If you're bent on doing
+it--"
+
+"We are!" cried Adam.
+
+"What do you say, Samuel?" asked the father.
+
+"I don't know what to say," said Samuel. "It seems to me that three
+thousand dollars is a lot of money. And I don't see why we need any
+more."
+
+"Do you want to stand in the way?" demanded Adam.
+
+"No, I don't want to stand in the way," said Samuel.
+
+And so the decision was made. When they came to give the order they
+found themselves confronted with a strange proposition; they did not
+have to buy the whole stock, it seemed--they might buy only the increase
+in its value. And the effect of this marvelous device would be that they
+would make ten times as much as they had expected to make! So, needless
+to say, they bought that way.
+
+And they took a daily paper and watched breathlessly, while "Glass
+Bottle Securities" crept up from sixty-three and an eighth to sixty-four
+and a quarter. And then, late one evening, old Hiram Johns, the
+storekeeper, drove up with a telegram from Manning and Isaacson, telling
+them that they must put up more "margin"--"Glass Bottle Securities" was
+at fifty-six and five eighths. They sat up all night debating what this
+could mean and trying to lay the specters of horror. The next day Adam
+set out to go to the city and see about it; but he met the mail on the
+way and came home again with a letter from the brokers, regretfully
+informing them that it had been necessary to sell the stock, which
+was now below fifty. In the news columns of the paper they found the
+explanation of the calamity--old Henry Lockman had dropped dead of
+apoplexy at the climax of his career, and the bears had played havoc
+with "Glass Bottle Securities."
+
+Their three thousand dollars was gone. It took them three days to
+realize it--it was so utterly beyond belief, that they had to write to
+the brokers and receive another letter in which it was stated in black
+and white and beyond all misunderstanding that there was not a dollar
+of their money left. Adam raged and swore like a madman, and Dan vowed
+savagely that he would go down to the city and kill Manning. As for the
+father, he wrote a letter of agonized reproach, to which Mr. Manning
+replied with patient courtesy, explaining that he had had nothing to
+do with the matter; that he was a broker and had bought as ordered, and
+that he had been powerless to foresee the death of Lockman. "You will
+remember," he said, "that I warned you of the uncertainties of the
+market, and of the chances that you took." Ephraim did not remember
+anything of the sort, but he realized that there was nothing to be
+gained by saying so.
+
+Samuel did not care much about the loss of his share of the money; but
+he did care about the grief of his father, which was terrible to see.
+The blow really killed him; he looked ten years older after that week
+and he failed all through the winter. And then late in the spring he
+caught a cold, and took to his bed; and it turned to pneumonia, and
+almost before anyone had had time to realize it, he was gone.
+
+He went to join Samuel's mother. He had whispered this as he clutched
+the boy's hand; and Samuel knew that it was true, and that therefore
+there was no occasion for grief. So he was ashamed for the awful waves
+of loneliness and terror which swept over him; and he gulped back
+his feelings and forced himself to wear a cheerful demeanor--much too
+cheerful for the taste of Adam and Dan, who were more concerned with
+what their neighbors would think than they were with the subtleties of
+Samuel's faith.
+
+The boy had been doing a great deal of thinking that winter; and after
+the funeral he called a council of the family.
+
+"Brothers," he said, "this farm is too small for three men. Dan wants
+to marry already; and we can't live here always. It's just as Manning
+said--"
+
+"I don't want to hear what that skunk said!" growled Adam.
+
+"Well, he was right that time. People stay on the land and they divide
+it up and get poorer and poorer. So I've made up my mind to break away.
+I'm going to the city and get a start."
+
+"What can you do in the city?" asked Dan.
+
+"I don't know," said Samuel. "I'll do my best. I don't expect to go to
+Wall Street and make my fortune."
+
+"You needn't be smart!" growled Dan.
+
+But the other was quite innocent of sarcasm. "What I mean is that I'll
+have to work," said he. "I'm young and strong, and I'm not afraid to
+try. I'll find somebody to give me a chance; and then I'll work hard and
+learn and I'll get promoted. I've read of boys that have done that."
+
+"It's not a bad idea," commented Adam.
+
+"Go ahead," said Dan.
+
+"The only thing is," began Samuel, hesitatingly, "I shall have to have a
+little money for a start."
+
+"Humph!" said Adam. "Money's a scarce thing here."
+
+"How much'll ye want?" asked the other.
+
+"Well," said the boy, "I want enough to feel safe. For if I go, I
+promise you I shall stay till I succeed. I shan't play the baby."
+
+"How do you expect to raise it?" was the next question.
+
+"I thought," replied Samuel, "that we might make some kind of a
+deal--let me sell out my share in the farm."
+
+"You can't sell your share," said Adam, sharply. "You ain't of age."
+
+"Maybe I'm not," was the answer; "but all the same you know me. And if I
+was to make a bargain I'd keep it. You may be sure I'll never come back
+and bother you."
+
+"Yes, I suppose not," said Adam, doubtfully. "But you can't tell--"
+
+"How much do you expect to git?" asked Dan warily.
+
+"Well, I thought maybe I could get a hundred dollars," said the other
+and then he stopped, hesitating.
+
+Adam and Dan exchanged a quick glance.
+
+"Money's mighty scarce hereabouts," said Adam.
+
+"Still," said Dan, "I don't know, I'll go to the village tomorrow and
+see what I can do."
+
+So Dan drove away and came back in the evening and there was another
+council; he produced eight new ten-dollar bills.
+
+"It was the best I could do," he said. "I'm sorry if it ain't
+enough"--and then he stopped.
+
+"I'll make that do," said Samuel.
+
+And so his brother produced a long and imposing-looking document; Samuel
+was too polite to read it but signed at once, and so the bargain was
+closed. And that night Samuel packed his few belongings in a neat
+newspaper bundle and before sunrise the next morning he set out upon his
+search.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+He had his bundle slung over his back and his eighty dollars pinned
+tightly in an inside pocket. Underneath it his heart beat fast and high;
+he was young and he was free--the open road stretched out before him,
+and perpetual adventure beckoned to him. Every pilgrimage that he had
+ever read of helped to make up the thrill that stirred him, as he stood
+on the ridge and gazed at the old farmhouse, and waved his hand, and
+turned and began his journey.
+
+The horse was needed for the plowing, and so Samuel walked the six
+miles to the village, and from there the mail stage took him out to
+the solitary railroad station. He had three hours to wait here for the
+train, and so he decided that he would save fifteen cents by walking on
+to the next station. Distance was nothing to Samuel just then.
+
+Halfway to his destination there was a fire in a little clearing by the
+track, and a young man sat toasting some bread on a stick.
+
+"Hello!" he said. "You're hittin' her lively."
+
+"Yes," said Samuel. The stranger was not much older than he, but his
+clothing was dirty and he had a dissipated, leering face.
+
+"You're new at this game, aren't you?" said he.
+
+"What game?" asked Samuel.
+
+The other laughed. "Where ye goin'?"
+
+"To New York."
+
+"Goin' to hoof it all the way?"
+
+"No!" gasped the boy. "I'm just walking to the next station."
+
+"Oh, I see! What's the fare?"
+
+"Six thirty-seven, I think."
+
+"Humph! Got the price, hey!"
+
+"Yes--I've got the price." Samuel said this without pride.
+
+"Well, you won't have it long if you live at that rate," commented the
+stranger. "Why don't you beat your way?"
+
+"How do you mean?" asked Samuel.
+
+"Nobody but a duffer pays fare," said the other. "There'll be a freight
+along pretty soon, and she stops at the water tank just below here. Why
+don't you jump her?"
+
+Samuel hesitated. "I wouldn't like to do that," he said.
+
+"Come," said the other, "sit down."
+
+And he held out a piece of his toast, which Samuel accepted for
+politeness' sake. This young fellow had run away from school at the age
+of thirteen; and he had traveled all over the United States, following
+the seasons, and living off the country. He was on his way now from a
+winter's holiday in Mexico. And as Samuel listened to the tale of his
+adventures, he could not keep the thought from troubling him, how large
+a part of eighty dollars was six thirty-seven. And all in a single day.
+
+"Come," said the young fellow; and they started down the track. The
+freight was whistling for brakes, far up the grade. And Samuel's heart
+thumped with excitement.
+
+They crouched in the bushes, not far beyond the tank. But the train did
+not stop for water; it only slowed down for a curve, and it thundered by
+at what seemed to Samuel an appalling rate of speed. "Jump!" shouted the
+other, and started to run by the track. He made a leap, and caught, and
+was whirled on, half visible in a cloud of dust.
+
+Samuel's nerve failed him. He waited, while car after car went by. But
+then he caught hold of himself. If anyone could do it, so could he. For
+shame.
+
+He started to run. There came a box-car, empty, with the door open, and
+he leaped and clutched the edge of the door. He was whirled from his
+feet, his arms were nearly jerked out of him. He was half blinded by the
+dust, but he hung on desperately, and pulled himself up. A minute more
+and he lay gasping and trembling upon the floor of the car. He was on
+his way to the city.
+
+After a while, Samuel began to think; and then scruples troubled him.
+He was riding free; but was he not really stealing? And would his father
+have approved of his doing it? He had begun his career by yielding to
+temptation! And this at the suggestion of a young fellow who boasted of
+drinking and thieving! Simply to start such questions was enough, with
+Samuel; and he made up his mind that when he reached the city the first
+thing he would do would be to visit the office of the railroad, and
+explain what he had done, and pay his fare.
+
+Perhaps an hour later the train came to a stop, and he heard some one
+walking by the track. He hid in a corner, ashamed of being there. Some
+one stopped before the car, and the door was rolled shut. Then the
+footsteps went on. There came clankings and jarrings, as of cars being
+shifted, and then these ceased and silence fell.
+
+Samuel waited for perhaps an hour. Then, becoming restless, he got up
+and tried the door. It was fast.
+
+The boy was startled and rather dazed. He sat down to think it out. "I
+suppose I'm locked in till we reach New York," he reflected. But then,
+why didn't they go?
+
+"Perhaps we're on a siding, waiting for the passenger train to pass,"
+was his next thought; and he realized regretfully that he would have
+been on that train. But then, as hour after hour passed, and they
+did not go on, a terrible possibility dawned upon him. He was left
+behind--on a siding.
+
+Two or three trains went by, and each time he waited anxiously. But they
+did not stop. Silence came again, and he sat in the darkness and waited
+and wondered and feared.
+
+He had no means of telling the time; and doubtless an hour seemed an age
+in such a plight. He would get up and pace back and forth, like a caged
+animal; and then he would lie down by the door, straining his ears for
+a sound--thinking that some one might pass, unnoticed through the thick
+wall of the car.
+
+By and by he became hungry and he ate the scanty meal he had in his
+bundle. Then he became thirsty--and he had no water.
+
+The realization of this made his heart thump. It was no joking matter
+to be shut in, at one could not tell what lonely place, to suffer from
+thirst. He sprang up and began to pound and kick upon the door in a
+frenzy.
+
+But he soon tired of that and crouched on the floor again listening and
+shivering, half with fear and half with cold. It was becoming chillier,
+so he judged it must be night; up here in the mountains there was still
+frost at night.
+
+There came another train, a freight, he knew by the heavy pounding and
+the time it took to pass. He kicked on the door and shouted, but he soon
+realized that it was of no use to shout in that uproar.
+
+The craving for water was becoming an obsession. He tried not to think
+about it, but that only made him think about it the more; he would think
+about not thinking about it and about not thinking about that--and all
+the time he was growing thirstier. He wondered how long one could live
+without water; and as the torment grew worse he began to wonder if he
+was dying. He was hungry, too, and he wondered which was worse, of which
+one would die the sooner. He had heard that dying men remembered
+all their past, and so he began to remember his--with extraordinary
+vividness, and with bursts of strange and entirely new emotions. He
+remembered particularly all the evil things that he had ever done;
+including the theft of a ride, for which he was paying the penalty. And
+meantime, with another part of his mind, he was plotting and seeking. He
+must not die here like a rat in a hole. There must be some way.
+
+He tried every inch of the car--of the floor and ceiling and walls.
+But there was not a loose plank nor a crack--the car was new. And that
+suggested another idea--that he might suffocate before he starved. He
+was beginning to feel weak and dizzy.
+
+If only he had a knife. He could have cut a hole for air and then
+perhaps enlarged it and broken out a board. He found a spike on the
+floor and began tapping round the walls for a place that sounded thin;
+but they all sounded thick--how thick he had no idea. He began picking
+splinters away at the juncture of two planks.
+
+Meantime hunger and thirst continued to gnaw at him. At long intervals
+he would pause while a train roared by, or because he fancied he had
+heard a sound. Then he would pound and call until he was hoarse, and
+then go on picking at the splinters.
+
+And so on, for an unknown number of hours, but certainly for days and
+nights. And Samuel was famished and wild and weak and gasping; when at
+last it dawned upon his senses that a passing train had begun to
+make less noise--that the thumping was growing slower. The train was
+stopping.
+
+He leaped up and began to pound. Then he realized that he must control
+himself--he must save his strength until the train had stopped. But
+suppose it went on without delay? He began to pound again and to shout
+like a madman.
+
+The train stopped and there was silence; then came sounds of cars being
+coupled--and meantime Samuel was kicking and beating upon the wall. He
+was almost exhausted and in despair--when suddenly from outside came a
+muffled call--"Hello!"
+
+For a moment he could not speak. Then "Help! Help!" he shrieked.
+
+"What's the matter?" asked the voice.
+
+"I'm locked in," he called. .
+
+"How'd you get in?"
+
+"They locked me in by accident. I'm nearly dead."
+
+"Who are you?"
+
+"I was riding in the car."
+
+"A tramp, hey? Serves ye right! Better stay there!"
+
+"No! No!" screamed the boy, in terror. "I'm starving--I've been here for
+days. For heaven's sake let me out--I'll never do it again."
+
+"If I let you out," said the voice, "it's my business to arrest you."
+
+"All right," cried Samuel. "Anything--but don't leave me here."
+
+There was a moment's silence. "Have you got any money?" asked the voice.
+
+"Yes. Yes--I've got money."
+
+"Don't yell so loud. How much?"
+
+"Why--what?"
+
+"How much?"
+
+"I've got eighty dollars."
+
+"All right. Give it to me and I'll let you out."
+
+Frantic as he was, this staggered Samuel. "I can't give you all my
+money," he cried.
+
+"All right then," said the other. "Stay there."
+
+"No, no!" he protested. "Wait! Leave me just a little."
+
+"I'll leave you five dollars," said the voice. "Speak up! Quick!"
+
+"All right," said Samuel faintly. "I'll give it to you."
+
+"Mind! No nonsense now!"
+
+"No. Let me out!"
+
+"I'll bat you over the head if you try it," growled the voice; and
+the boy stood trembling while the hasp was unfastened and the door was
+pushed back a little. The light of a lantern flashed in through the
+crack, blinding him.
+
+"Now hand out the money," said the stranger, standing at one side for
+safety.
+
+"Yes," said Samuel, fumbling with the pin in his waistcoat. "But I can't
+see to count it."
+
+"Be quick! I'll count it!"
+
+And so he shoved out the wad. Fingers seized it; and then the light
+vanished, and he heard the sound of footsteps running.
+
+For a moment he did not understand. Then, "Give me my five dollars!" he
+yelled, and rolled back the door and leaped out. He was just in time to
+see the figure with the lantern vanish among the cars up the track.
+
+He started to run up the track and tripped over a tie and fell headlong
+into a ditch. When he scrambled to his feet again the long train was
+beginning to move, and the light of the lantern was nowhere to be seen.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+Samuel's money was gone, but he was suffering too keenly from hunger and
+thirst to worry about it for more than a minute. Then the thought came
+to him--he was here in a lonely place at night, and the train was going!
+If he were left he might still starve.
+
+He ran over and caught the iron ladder of one of the freight cars and
+drew himself up and clung there. Later on he climbed on top of the car;
+but the wind was too cold--he could not stand it, and had to climb
+down again. And then he realized that he had left the bundle of his
+belongings in the empty car.
+
+Fortunately for him the train began to slow up at the end of an hour or
+so, and peering out Samuel saw lights ahead. Also there were lights here
+and there in the landscape, and he realized that he had come to a large
+town. The east was just beginning to turn gray, and faint shadows of
+buildings were visible.
+
+Samuel got off and walked up the track very carefully, for he was stiff
+as well as weak. There was a light in one of the offices at the depot,
+and he looked in at the window and saw a man seated at a desk writing
+busily. He knocked at the door.
+
+"Come in," said a voice, and he entered.
+
+"Please, may I have a drink of water?" he asked.
+
+"Over there in the corner," said the man, scarcely looking up from his
+papers.
+
+There was a bucket and dipper, and Samuel drank. The taste of the water
+was a kind of ecstasy to him--he drank until he could drink no more.
+
+Then he stood waiting. "I beg pardon, sir," he began timidly.
+
+"Hey?" said the man.
+
+"I'm nearly starved, sir. I've had nothing to eat for I don't know how
+long."
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed the other. "So that's it. Get out!"
+
+"You don't understand," began Samuel, perplexed.
+
+"Get out!" cried the man. "That don't go in here. No beggars allowed!"
+
+Beggars! The word struck Samuel like a whip-lash.
+
+"I'm no beggar!" he cried wildly. "I--" And then he stopped. He had been
+going to say, "I will pay for it."
+
+He went out burning with shame, and on the spot he took his
+resolution--come what might, he would never beg. He would not put a
+morsel of food into his mouth until he had earned it.
+
+Across from the depot was a public square, and a broad street with
+trolley tracks. Samuel walked down the street; and then, feeling weak
+and seeing a dark doorway, he went in and crouched in a corner. For a
+while he dozed; and then it was daylight. People were passing.
+
+He got more water at a fountain and felt better. He went down one of
+the poorer streets where a man was opening a shop. There was food in the
+window--fruit and bread--and the sight made him ravenous. But he asked
+for work and the man shook his head.
+
+Samuel went on. Shops were opened here and there; and everywhere he
+asked for a job--for any little thing to do--and always it was No. Now
+and then he caught a whiff of some one's breakfast--bacon frying, and
+coffee or hot bread in a bake shop. But each time he gripped his hands
+together and set his teeth. He would not beg. He would find work.
+
+And so on through the morning. He went into stores, big and little.
+Sometimes they answered politely--sometimes gruffly; but no one
+hesitated a moment. He went past warehouses, where men were loading
+wagons--surely there would be work here.
+
+He spoke to a busy foreman in his shirt sleeves.
+
+"How often must I tell you no?" cried the man.
+
+"But you never told me before," protested Samuel with great earnestness.
+
+"Get out!" said the man. "There are so many of you--how the devil can I
+tell?"
+
+There were so many! And suddenly Samuel realized that he had passed a
+good many poor-looking men upon the streets. And were they all hunting
+jobs and not finding them? Perhaps some were even begging and getting
+nothing by that.
+
+He went on with a blank terror in his soul. He gazed at the people he
+passed on the street; some of them had kindly faces--surely they would
+have helped him had they known. But there was no way for him to let them
+know--no way but to be a beggar!
+
+He came to the suburbs and asked at the houses. But no one wanted
+anything done. It was noon and people were at luncheon--he caught odors
+as doors were opened. He went back into the city, because he could not
+stand it. He was feeling weaker, and he was afraid with a ghastly fear.
+Pretty soon he might not be able to work!
+
+It was a new idea to Samuel, that a man might starve in the midst of
+civilization. He could hardly believe it, and grew half-delirious as he
+thought about it. What would happen at the end? Would they let him lie
+down and die in the street? Or was there some place where starving men
+went to die?
+
+So the day passed, and he found nothing. Several people advised him
+to get out of town--this was no place to look for work, they said.
+Apparently something was the matter with the place, but they did not
+stop to tell him what.
+
+This was the first large town Samuel had ever seen, and under other
+circumstances he would have gazed at it with wonder. He passed great
+buildings of brick and stone, and trolley cars, and a fire-engine house,
+and many other strange sights. He came to a great high fence, inclosing
+many acres of buildings, dingy and black with smoke; there were tall
+chimneys, and rows of sheds, and railroad tracks running in. He passed
+other factories, huge brick buildings with innumerable windows; and many
+blocks of working-men's houses, small and dirty frame structures, with
+pale-faced children in the doorways. The roads and sidewalks here were
+all of black cinders, and it was hot even in May.
+
+And then he came to a steel bridge and crossed a river and the road
+broadened out, and he climbed a hill and found himself walking upon
+a macadamized avenue lined with trees, and with beautiful residences
+overlooking the ridge. Rich people lived here, evidently; and Samuel
+stared, marveling at the splendor. He came to a great estate with a
+stone gateway and iron railings ten feet high, and an avenue of stately
+elm trees; there were bright green lawns with peacocks and lyre birds
+strutting about, and a great colonial mansion with white pillars in the
+distance. "Fairview," read the name upon the gates.
+
+And then again Samuel remembered his appetite. Surely amid all this
+luxury there would be some chance for him! He started up the path!
+
+He had got about halfway to the house when a man who was tending the
+flowers caught sight of him and came toward him. "What are you doing
+here?" he called, before he had come halfway.
+
+"I'm looking for some work," began Samuel.
+
+"Do you want to get your head punched?" shouted the man. "What do you
+mean by coming in here?"
+
+"Why, what's the matter?" asked the boy perplexed.
+
+"Get out, you loafer!" cried the other.
+
+And Samuel turned and went quickly. A loafer!
+
+So for the first time it occurred to him to look at his clothes, which
+were muddy from his tumble in the ditch. And no doubt his face and hands
+were dirty also, and his hair unkempt, and his aspect unprepossessing
+enough for an applicant for labor. At any rate it was clear that this
+was not the part of the town to seek it in; so he went back across the
+bridge.
+
+Twilight had fallen and the stores were shutting up. Soon everything
+would be closed; and that night he felt that he would perish. And so at
+last desperation seized him.
+
+He bolted into the first lighted place he saw.
+
+It was a saloon--empty, save for a man in white behind the bar.
+
+"I'm no beggar!" shouted Samuel.
+
+"Hey?" said the man.
+
+"I say I'm no beggar! I'll come back and pay you. I'm starving. I must
+have something to eat."
+
+"Gee whiz!" said the man.
+
+"I was never in a saloon in my life before," added Samuel, as he
+realized the character of the place. "But please--please give me
+something to eat."
+
+"Hully gee, young feller!" exclaimed the bar-keeper. "You do it great.
+You ought to be an actor. Step up and feed your face."
+
+"What?" stammered Samuel, perplexed.
+
+"EAT!" said the other, and pointed. "Maybe you understand that."
+
+And Samuel turned and saw a lot of food set out upon a counter. He
+rushed to it and began. At the first taste a kind of madness seized him,
+and he ate like a wild beast, gulping things.
+
+For several minutes he did this, while the other watched curiously. Then
+he remarked, "Say, you'd better quit."
+
+"What?" asked Samuel, seizing more food.
+
+"I say quit," said the man. "Just for your own good. I see your story's
+true, an' a little rest won't hurt you."
+
+Samuel gazed longingly at the food, desiring more handfuls. "Come over
+here," said the man. "What happened to you?"
+
+"I was locked in an empty freight car."
+
+"Humph! That's a new one! How long?"
+
+"What day is this?"
+
+"Friday."
+
+"I was locked in Wednesday morning. It seemed longer."
+
+"It's long enough," commented the barkeeper.
+
+"I was robbed," Samuel went on. "A man took all my money." And then the
+old shame started up in him. "Don't think I'm a beggar. I'll work and
+pay for this."
+
+"That's all right," said the barkeeper. "Be easy."
+
+"Haven't you anything I can do? Some wood to split?"
+
+"We don't burn wood."
+
+"Or some cleaning up?" Samuel looked round. The place did not seem very
+neat to him. "I'll scrub the floors for you," he said.
+
+"We have 'em scrubbed in the early morning," replied the man.
+
+"Well, let me come and do it," said Samuel.
+
+"Go on!" said the other. "You'll be ready for more feed then."
+
+"I'll come, just the same, sir."
+
+"If you take my advice," the bartender observed, "you'll get out of this
+town. Lockmanville's a poor place to hunt jobs in."
+
+Samuel started. "Lockmanville!" he gasped.
+
+"Yes," said the other. "Don't you know where you are?"
+
+"I didn't know," said the boy. "Lockmanville! The one where the big
+glass works are?"
+
+"That's the one."
+
+"And where old Henry Lockman lived!"
+
+"What about it?" asked the other.
+
+"Nothing," said Samuel, "only my father invested all his money in
+Lockman's company, and lost it."
+
+"Gee!" said the bartender.
+
+"Maybe if I told them," said the boy, "they'd give me some work here."
+
+"Maybe," said the other--"only the works is shut down."
+
+"Shut down!" cried Samuel; and then added, "On account of his death?"
+
+"No--they always close in summer. But this year they closed in March.
+Times is bad."
+
+"Oh," said Samuel.
+
+"So there's plenty of men looking for jobs in Lockmanville,". the other
+continued, "an' some of the other factories is closed, too--the cotton
+mill is only runnin' half time."
+
+"I see."
+
+"Old Lockman used to say there was too many glass works," the barkeeper
+added. "An' the fellers he bought out went an' built more. So there you
+are."
+
+There was a pause. "I'm coming back in the morning," said Samuel
+doggedly.
+
+"All right," said the other, with a smile--"if you don't forget it."
+Then a couple of customers entered. "Run along now," said he.
+
+And Samuel went--the more readily because he realized that he had been
+all this time in a saloon, a place of mystery and wickedness to him.
+
+He started down the street again. A fine cold rain had begun to fall.
+What was he to do?
+
+He felt warm, having feasted. But there was no use in getting wet. He
+glanced into the doorways as he passed, and seeing a dark and empty one,
+crouched inside.
+
+Lockmanville! What a curious coincidence! And there were hundreds in the
+town out of work. It seemed a strange and terrible thing. Could it be
+that they let people starve as he was starving--people they knew? Could
+it be that they went on about their business and paid no attention to
+such a thing?
+
+He must get out, they told him. But how? Would the railroad take him, if
+he explained? Or would the people on the way give him work? He had got
+some food at last, but only by begging. And was he expected to beg?
+
+There came footsteps outside. A man strode into the doorway and took
+hold of the door and tried it. Then he turned to go out. Samuel moved
+his foot out of the way.
+
+"Hello!" said the man. "Who's that?"
+
+"Only me," said Samuel.
+
+"Get up there," commanded the other.
+
+He got up and a hand seized him by the collar. "Who are you?"
+
+He was jerked into the light before he had a chance to reply. "More
+bums!" growled the voice; and Samuel, terrified, saw that he was in the
+grasp of a policeman.
+
+"Please, sir, I'm not doing any harm," he began.
+
+"Come," said the policeman.
+
+"Where to?" he cried.
+
+But the other merely jerked him along. A sudden wild horror seized
+Samuel. "You're not going to arrest me!" he exclaimed.
+
+"Sure," said the other. "Why not?"
+
+"But," he exclaimed, "I've not done anything. I can't help it. I--"
+
+He started to drag back, and the man twisted a huge hand, in his collar,
+choking him. "Do you want to be hit?" he growled.
+
+So Samuel went on. But sobs shook him, convulsive sobs of terror and
+despair, and tears of shame rolled down his cheeks. He was going to
+jail!
+
+"What's the matter with you?" said the policeman after a bit. "Why don't
+you be quiet?"
+
+"You've no business to arrest me," wailed the boy. "I haven't done
+anything, and I couldn't help it. I've no place to go and no money. And
+it's not my fault."
+
+"You can tell that to the judge," replied the other.
+
+"But--but what have I done? Why--"
+
+"Shut up!" said the officer, and gave another twist at his throat. And
+after that Samuel was quiet.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+In the station-house a fat sergeant sat dozing upon his throne. "Another
+vagrant," said the policeman, as if to say there was no special need to
+rouse himself.
+
+"What was he doing?" the sergeant asked.
+
+"Sleeping in a doorway," was the reply.
+
+By this time Samuel had come to realize the futility of protest.
+He accepted his fate with dumb despair. He gave the information the
+sergeant asked for--Samuel Prescott, aged seventeen, native born, from
+Euba Corners, occupation farmer, never arrested before.
+
+"All right," said the man, and went back to his nap; and Samuel was led
+away, and after a pretense at a search was shoved into a cell and heard
+the iron door clang upon him.
+
+He was alone now, and free to sob out his grief. It was the culmination
+of all the shame and horror that he could ever have imagined; first, to
+have to beg, and then to be locked up in jail. He knew now what they did
+with men who were out of work and starving.
+
+He lay there weeping, and then suddenly he sat up transfixed. From the
+cell next to him had come a cry, a horrible blood-curdling screech, more
+like the scream of a wild cat than any human sound. Samuel listened, his
+heart pounding.
+
+There came the voice of a man from across the corridor--"Shut up, you
+hag!" And after that bedlam broke loose. The woman--Samuel realized at
+last that the scream had come from a woman--broke forth into a
+torrent of yells and curses. Such hideous obscenities, such revolting
+blasphemies he had never heard in his life before--he had never dreamed
+that life contained within it the possibility of such depravity. It was
+like an explosion from some loathsome sewer; and its source was the lips
+of a woman.
+
+For ten minutes or so the tirade continued until it seemed to the boy
+that every beautiful and sacred thing he had ever heard of in his life
+had been defiled forever. Then a jailer strolled down the corridor, and
+with a few vigorous and judicious oaths contrived to quell the uproar.
+
+Samuel lay down again; and now he had a chance to make another
+discovery. He had felt sharp stinging sensations which caused him to
+scratch himself frantically. Then suddenly he realized that he was lying
+upon a mattress infested with vermin.
+
+The discovery sent him bounding to the middle of the floor. It set
+him wild with rage. Such a thing had never happened to him in his life
+before, for his home was a decent and clean one. This was the crowning
+infamy--that they should have taken him, helpless as he was, and shut
+him up in a filthy hole to be devoured by bedbugs and lice.
+
+In the morning they brought him bread and coffee; and after a couple of
+hours' more waiting he was taken to court.
+
+It was a big bare room with whitewashed walls. There were a few
+scattered spectators, a couple of policemen and several men writing at
+tables. Seated within an inclosure were a number of prisoners, dull
+and listless looking. One by one they stepped up before the railing and
+faced the judge; there would be a few muttered words and they would move
+on. Everything went as a matter of routine, which had been going that
+way for ages. The judge, who was elderly and gray haired, looked like a
+prosperous business man in a masquerade costume.
+
+Samuel's turn came and he stood before the bar. His name was read, and
+the charge--vagrancy.
+
+"Well?" said the judge mechanically. "What have you to say for
+yourself?"
+
+Samuel caught his breath. "It's not my fault, sir," he began.
+
+"Your honor," prompted the policeman who stood at his elbow.
+
+"Your honor," said Samuel, "I lost all my money. And I've been trying to
+find work, your honor."
+
+"Have you any friends in town?"
+
+"No, your honor."
+
+"How long have you been here?"
+
+"Only since yesterday, your honor."
+
+"How did you get here?"
+
+"I came in on a freight train, your honor."
+
+"I see," said the judge. "Well, you came to the wrong place. We're going
+to put an end to vagrancy in Lockmanville. Thirty days. Next case."
+
+Samuel caught his breath. "Your honor," he gasped.
+
+"Next case," repeated the judge.
+
+The policeman started to lead Samuel away. "Your honor," he cried
+frantically. "Don't send me to jail." And fighting against the
+policeman's grip, he rushed on, "It's not my fault--I'm an honest boy
+and I tried to find work. I haven't done anything. And you'll kill me if
+you send me to jail. Have mercy! Have mercy!"
+
+The policeman shook him roughly. But there was something so genuine in
+Samuel's wail that the judge said, "Wait."
+
+"How could I help it if I was robbed?" the boy rushed on, taking
+advantage of his chance. "And what could I do but ask for work? I was
+brought up honest, your honor. It would have killed my father if he'd
+thought I'd be sent to jail. He brought me up to earn my living."
+
+"Who was your father?" asked the judge.
+
+"His name was Ephraim Prescott, and he was a farmer. You can ask anyone
+at Euba Corners what sort of a man he was. He'd fought all through the
+war--he was wounded four times. And if he could be here he'd tell you
+that I don't deserve to go to jail."
+
+There was a moment's pause. "What regiment was your father in?" asked
+the magistrate.
+
+"He was in the Seventeenth Pennsylvania, your honor."
+
+"Be careful, boy," said the other sternly. "Don't try to deceive me."
+
+"I don't want to deceive you, your honor," protested Samuel.
+
+"What brigade was the Seventeenth Pennsylvania in?"
+
+"In the Third Brigade, your honor."
+
+"And who commanded it?"
+
+"General Anderson--that is, until he was killed at the battle of
+Chancellorsville. My father was there."
+
+"I was there, too," said the judge.
+
+"My father used to tell me about it," exclaimed Samuel with sudden
+eagerness. "His brigade was in the right wing and they had a double line
+of trenches. And the rebels charged the line with cavalry. They charged
+a dozen times during the day, and there were big trees cut down by the
+bullets. My father said the rebels never fought harder than they did
+right there."
+
+"Yes," said his honor, "I know. I was one of them."
+
+Everyone within hearing laughed; and Samuel turned crimson.
+
+"I beg pardon, your honor," he said.
+
+"That's all right," said the judge. And then he added gravely, "Very
+well, Samuel, we'll give you another chance for your father's sake. But
+don't let me see you here again."
+
+"No, your honor," said Samuel. Then he added quickly. "But what can I
+do?"
+
+"Get out of Lockmanville," said the other.
+
+"But how? When I've no money. If your honor could only help me to some
+work."
+
+"No," said the judge. "I'm sorry, but I've found jobs for three men this
+week, and I don't know any more."
+
+"But then--" began Samuel.
+
+"I'll give you a dollar out of my own pocket," the other added.
+
+"Your honor," cried Samuel startled, "I don't want to take money!"
+
+"You can send it back to me when you get a job," said the judge, holding
+out a bill. "Take it. Prisoner discharged. Next case."
+
+Samuel took the money and was turning away, when a man who had been
+sitting in a chair near the magistrate suddenly leaned forward.
+
+"Judge," he said, "if I may interrupt--"
+
+"Why, surely, professor," said the other pleasantly.
+
+"I may possibly be able to find something for the boy to do."
+
+"Ah, that will be fine!"
+
+"He seems to be a capable young fellow and might be worth helping."
+
+"The very thing, professor. Samuel, this is Professor Stewart, of
+Lockman College."
+
+Samuel was very glad to meet the professor. He was a trim little
+gentleman, with a carefully cut black beard and gold-rimmed eyeglasses.
+
+"Here is my card," he said; "and if you'll come to see me to-morrow
+morning at my house, we'll see what we can do."
+
+"Thank you very much," said the boy, and put the card in his pocket.
+Then, realizing suddenly that the policeman had let go of his arm, and
+that he was free, he turned and made his way through the gate.
+
+"A diverting episode," said the professor.
+
+"Yes," said the judge, with a smile. "We have them now and then, you
+see."
+
+Samuel went out with a glow in his heart. At last he had got a start.
+He had got underneath the world's tough hide and found kindness and
+humanity after all. It had been a harrowing experience, but it would not
+happen again.
+
+He had now one definite purpose in mind. He walked straight out of town
+and down the river road until he came to a sufficiently solitary place.
+Then he took off his clothes and sat down on the bank and performed a
+most elaborate toilet. For half an hour at least he scrubbed his head
+with sand and water, and combed his hair out with his fingers. And then
+he went over his clothing inch by inch. At least he would be through
+with one hideous reminder of his imprisonment.
+
+After which he dressed again and went back to town and found the saloon
+where he had eaten.
+
+"Hello!" said his friend Finnegan, the bar-keeper. "Back again!"
+
+"I came to explain about this morning," said Samuel. "I couldn't come
+because they put me in jail."
+
+"Gee!" said the other; but then he added, with a laugh, "Well, it was a
+wet night."
+
+Samuel did not reply. "I'll come to-morrow morning," he said.
+
+"You'd better get out of town, sonny," advised the other.
+
+"I'm all right. The judge gave me a dollar."
+
+"Humph! A dollar won't last forever."
+
+"No. But I've got the promise of a job. There was a gentleman
+there--Professor Stewart, from the college."
+
+"Hully gee!" said Finnegan. "I know that guy. A little runt with a black
+beard?"
+
+"I guess so," said Samuel dubiously.
+
+"I seen his pitcher in the paper," said the other. "He's one of them
+reformers--always messin' into things."
+
+"Maybe that's why he was at the court," observed Samuel.
+
+"Sure thing! He's a professor of sociology an' such things, an' he
+thinks he knows all about politics. But we handed him a few last
+election--just you bet!"
+
+"Who's 'we'?" asked Samuel.
+
+"The organization," said Finnegan; "the Democrats, o' course. Them
+reformers is always Republicans--the 'better element,' an' all that.
+That means the rich guys--that have their own little grafts to work.
+This perfessor was a great friend of old Henry Lockman--an' the old man
+used to run this town with his little finger. But they had a big strike
+here three years ago, and too many men got hit over the head. So it'll
+be a long day before there's any more 'reform' in Lockmanville."
+
+"I see," said Samuel.
+
+"They make a great howl about the saloons an' all the rest," added the
+barkeeper. "But when the Republicans ran things, my boss paid his little
+rake-off just the same, you can bet. But you needn't tell that to the
+perfessor."
+
+"I won't," said the boy.
+
+"What you goin' to do now?" asked the other.
+
+"I don't know. I guess I'll have to get something to eat first."
+
+"You'll find the cheapest way is to buy a glass of beer and then feed
+over there."
+
+"No," said Samuel, startled. "I--I think I'd rather not do that."
+
+"Well, so long," said Finriegan, with a laugh.
+
+"You'll see me to-morrow morning," said Samuel, as he went out.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+Samuel went to a bake shop and bought a loaf of bread and sat on the
+bench of the public square and devoured it bit by bit. It was the
+cheapest thing he could think of, and quantity was what counted just
+then.
+
+Next he had to find a room to spend the night. He knew nothing about
+hotels and lodging-houses--he walked through the workingmen's quarter of
+the town, scanning the cottages hesitatingly. At last in the doorway of
+one he noticed a woman standing, an elderly woman, very thin and weary
+looking, but clean, and with a kindly face. So he stopped.
+
+"Please," said he, "could you tell me any place where I could hire a
+room?"
+
+The woman looked at him. "For how long?" she asked.
+
+"I'm not quite sure," he said. "I want it for one night, and then if I
+get a job, I may want it longer."
+
+"A job in Lockmanville?" said the woman.
+
+"Well, I've the promise of one," he replied.
+
+"There can't be very many," said she. "I've two rooms I've always
+rented," she added, "but when the glass works shut down the men went
+away. One of them owed me three dollars, too."
+
+"I--I'm not able to pay very much," said Samuel.
+
+"Come in," responded the woman; and he sat down and told her his story.
+And she told him hers.
+
+Mrs. Stedman was her name, and her husband had been a glass blower. He
+earned good wages--five dollars a day in the busy season. But he worked
+in front of a huge tank of white-hot glass and that was hard on a man.
+And once on a hot day he had gone suddenly dizzy, and fallen upon a mass
+of hot slag, and been frightfully burned in the face. They had carried
+him to the hospital and taken out one eye. And then, because of his
+family and the end of the season being near, he had gone to work
+too soon, and his wound had gone bad, and in the end he had died of
+blood-poisoning.
+
+"That was two years ago," said Mrs. Stedman. "And I got no damages.
+We've barely got along--this year's been worse than ever. It's the
+panic, they say. It seemed as if everything was shutting down."
+
+"It must be very hard on people here," said Samuel.
+
+"I've got three children--all girls," said Mrs. Stedman, "and only one
+old enough to work. That's Sophie--she's in the cotton mill, and that
+only started again last month. And they say it may run on half time
+all the year. I do sewing and whatever I can to help, but there's never
+enough."
+
+Samuel forgot his own troubles in talking with this woman. His family
+had been poor on the farm, but they had never known such poverty as
+this. And here were whole streets full of people living the same sort of
+life; hanging over the abyss of destruction, and with no prospect save
+to struggle forever. Mrs. Stedman talked casually about her friends and
+neighbors, and new glimpses came to make the boy catch his breath. Next
+door was Mrs. Prosser, whose husband was dying of cancer; he had been
+two years dying, and they had five small children. And on the other
+side were the Rapinskys, a Polish family; they had been strong in the
+possession of three grown sons, and had even bought a phonograph. And
+now not one of them had done a stroke of work for three months.
+
+To have been robbed and put in jail seemed a mere incident in comparison
+with such bitter and I lifelong suffering; and Samuel was ashamed of
+having made so much fuss. He had stated, with some trepidation, that he
+was just out of jail; but Mrs. Stedman had not seemed to mind that.
+Her husband had been in jail once, during the big glass strike, and for
+nothing more than begging another man not to take his job.
+
+It was arranged that Samuel was to pay her thirty-five cents for his
+supper and bed and breakfast, and if he wished to stay longer she would
+board him for four dollars a week, or he might have the room alone for a
+dollar.
+
+The two young children came in from school; they were frail and
+undersized little girls, with clothing that was neatly but pitifully
+patched. And shortly after them came Sophie.
+
+Samuel gave a start of dismay when he saw her. He had been told that she
+worked in the cotton mill and was the mainstay of the family; and he
+had pictured a sturdy young woman, such as he had seen at home. Instead,
+here was a frail slip of a child scarcely larger than the others. Sophie
+was thirteen, as he learned afterwards; but she did not look to be ten
+by his standards. She was grave and deliberate in her movements, and she
+gazed at the stranger with a pair of very big brown eyes.
+
+"This is Samuel Prescott," said her mother. "He is going to spend the
+night, and maybe board with us."
+
+"How do you do?" said Sophie, and took off the shawl from her head and
+sat down in a corner. The boy thought that this was shyness upon her
+part, but later on he realized that it was lassitude. The child rested
+her head upon her hand every chance that she got, and she never did
+anything that she did not have to.
+
+The next morning, bright and early, Samuel was on hand at the saloon,
+greatly to the amusement of his friend Finnegan. He got down on his
+hands and knees and gave the place such a scrubbing as it had never had
+before since it was built. And in return Finnegan invited him to some
+breakfast, which Samuel finally accepted, because it would enable him to
+take less from the Stedmans.
+
+Professor Stewart had not specified any hour in his invitation. He lived
+in the aristocratic district across the bridge and Samuel presented
+himself at his door a little before eight.
+
+"Professor Stewart told me to come and see him," he said to the maid.
+
+"Professor Stewart is out of town," said she.
+
+"Out of town!" he echoed.
+
+"He's gone to New York," said she. "He was called away unexpectedly last
+night."
+
+"When will he be back?"
+
+"He said he'd try to be back the day after tomorrow; but he wasn't
+sure."
+
+Samuel stared at her in consternation.
+
+"What did you want?" she asked.
+
+"He promised me a job."
+
+"Oh!" said she. "Well, can't you come back later on?" And then, seeing
+that Samuel had nothing better to do than to stare at her dumbly, she
+closed the door and went about her business.
+
+Samuel walked back in a daze. It gave him a new sense of the world's
+lack of interest in him. Probably the great man had forgotten him
+altogether.
+
+There was nothing to do but to wait; and meantime he had only sixty
+cents. He could not stay with Mrs. Stedman, that was certain. But when
+he came to tell her, she recurred to a suggestion he had made. There
+were a few square yards of ground behind her house, given up mostly to
+tomato cans. If he would plant some garden seed for her she would board
+him meanwhile. And so Samuel went to work vigorously with a borrowed
+spade.
+
+Two days passed, and another day, and still the professor had not
+returned. It was Saturday evening and Samuel was seated upon the steps
+of the house, resting after a hard day's work. Sophie was seated near
+him, leaning back against the house with her eyes closed. The evening
+was warm and beautiful, and gradually the peace of it stole over her.
+And so at last she revealed herself to Samuel.
+
+"Do you like music?" she asked.
+
+"Very much indeed," said he.
+
+"Not everybody does," she remarked--"I mean real music, such as
+Friedrich plays."
+
+"I don't know," said Samuel. "Who is Friedrich?"
+
+"He's a friend of mine," Sophie answered. "He's a German boy. His
+father's the designer at the carpet works. And he plays the violin."
+
+"I should like to hear him," said he.
+
+"I'll take you," she volunteered. "I generally go to see them on Sunday
+afternoons. It's the only time I have."
+
+So the next day Samuel met the Bremers. Their cottage was a little way
+out in the country, and they had a few trees about it and a flower bed.
+But the house was not large, and it was well filled with a family of
+nine children. Johann, the father, was big and florid, with bristling
+hair. He was marked in the town because he called himself a "Socialist,"
+but Samuel did not know that. His wife was a little mite of a woman,
+completely swamped by child-bearing. Most interesting to Samuel was
+Friedrich, who played the violin; a pale ascetic-looking boy of fifteen,
+with wavy hair and beautiful eyes.
+
+Music was a serious rite with the Bremers. The father played the piano,
+and the next oldest son to Friedrich was struggling with a 'cello; and
+when they played, the whole family sat in the parlor, even the tiny
+tots, round-eyed and silent.
+
+Samuel knew some "patriotic songs," and a great number of hymns, and a
+few tunes that one heard at country dances. But such music as this was a
+new revelation of the possibilities of life. He listened in a transport
+of wonder and awe. Such wailing grief, such tumultuous longing, such
+ravishing and soul-tormenting beauty! Friedrich had only such technique
+as his father had been able to give him, together with what he had
+invented for himself; his bowings were not always correct, and he was
+weak on the high notes; but Samuel knew nothing of this--he was thinking
+of the music. And he needed no one to tell him about it--he needed
+no criticisms and no commentaries. Across the centuries the souls
+of Schubert and Beethoven spoke to him, telling their visions of the
+wonderful world of the spirit, toward which humanity is painfully
+groping.
+
+It was impossible for him to keep from voicing his excitement, and this
+greatly delighted the Bremers, who craved for comprehension in a lonely
+place. His sympathy gave wings to their fervor, and they played the
+whole afternoon through, and then Johann invited them to stay to supper,
+so that they might play some more in the evening.
+
+"You should haf been a musician," he said to Samuel. "You vas made for
+it."
+
+They had a supper such as the boy had missed for some time; a great
+platter of cold boiled meat, and a bowl of hot gravy, and another bowl
+of mashed potatoes, with no end of bread and butter. Also there was some
+kind of a German pudding, and to the stranger's dismay, a pitcher of
+beer in front of Johann. After offering some to his guests, he drank it
+all, and also he ate a vast supper. Afterwards he dozed, while Friedrich
+played yet more wonderful music, and this gave Samuel a new insight
+into the life of the family, and into the wild and terrible longing that
+poured itself out in Friedrich's tones. The father was good-natured and
+sentimental, but sunk in grossness; and the mother was worn out with the
+care of her brood, and beneath all this burden the soul of the boy was
+crying frantically for life.
+
+The exigencies of trade demanded endless variety of designs in carpets
+and rugs, and so all day Johann Bremer stood in front of a great sheet
+of cardboard, marked off in tiny numbered squares, on which he painted
+with many colors. For this he received thirty dollars a week, and his
+son received twelve dollars as his assistant--painting in the same
+colors upon all the squares of certain numbers, and so completing a
+symmetrical design. It was a very good job, and Johann prodded his son
+to devote his energies to the evolving of new designs. But the boy hated
+it all--thinking only of his music. And his music meant to him, not
+sentimental dreaming, but a passionate clutch into the infinite, a
+battle for deliverance from the bondage of the world. So Johann himself
+had been in his youth, when he had become a revolutionist, and before
+beer and gravy and domesticity had tamed him.
+
+No one said a word about these things. It was all in the playing. And
+now and then Samuel stole a glance about the room and discovered yet
+another soul's tragedy. Sophie, too, was drinking in the music, and life
+had crept into her face, and her breath came quick and fast, and now and
+then she furtively brushed away a tear.
+
+Afterwards, as they walked home, she said to Samuel, "I don't know if
+it's good for me to listen to music like that."
+
+"Why not?" he asked--"if it makes you happy."
+
+"But it makes me unhappy afterwards. It makes me want things. And I get
+restless--and when I go back to the factory it's so much harder."
+
+"What do you do in the factory?" asked Samuel.
+
+"I'm what they call a bobbin-girl--I tie the threads on the bobbins when
+they are empty."
+
+"Is it very hard work?"
+
+"No, you mightn't think so. But you have to stand up all day; and it's
+doing the same thing all the time--the same thing the whole day long.
+You get dull--you never think about anything. And then the air is full
+of dust and the machinery roars. You get used to it, but I'm sure its
+bad for you."
+
+They walked for a while in silence. "Do you like to imagine things?"
+asked Sophie suddenly.
+
+"Yes," said he.
+
+"I used to," said she--"when I was younger." It was so strange to Samuel
+to notice that this slip of a child always spoke of herself as old.
+
+"Why don't you do it now?" he asked.
+
+"I'm too tired, I think. But I've a lot of pictures up in my room--that
+I cut out of magazines that people gave me. Pictures of beautiful
+things--birds and flowers, and old castles, and fine ladies and
+gentlemen. And I used to make up stories about them, and imagine that I
+was there, and that all sorts of nice things were happening to me. Would
+you like to see my pictures?"
+
+"Very much," said Samuel.
+
+"I think of things like that when I listen to Friedrich. I've a picture
+of Sir Galahad--he's very beautiful, and he stands at his horse's head
+with a sword in his hand. I used to dream that somebody like that might
+come and carry me off to a place where there aren't any mills. But I
+guess it's no use any more."
+
+"Why not?" asked the other.
+
+"It's too late. There is something the matter with me. I never say
+anything, because it would make mother unhappy; but I'm always tired
+now, and every day I have a headache. And I'm so very sleepy, and yet
+when I lie down I can't sleep--I keep hearing the mill." "Oh!" cried
+Samuel involuntarily.
+
+"I don't mind it so much," said the child. "There's no help, so what's
+the use. It's only when I hear Friedrich play--then I get all stirred
+up."
+
+They walked on for a while again.
+
+"He's very unhappy," she said finally.
+
+"I suppose so," replied Samuel. "Tell me," he asked suddenly. "Isn't
+there some other work that you could do?"
+
+"What? I'm not strong enough for hard work. And where could I make three
+dollars a week?"
+
+"Is that what they pay you?"
+
+"Yes--that is--when we are on full time."
+
+"Does it make all the girls sick?" he inquired. "There's that girl who
+came in this afternoon--she seems well and strong."
+
+"Bessie, you mean? But it's just play for her, you see. She lives with
+her parents and stops whenever she feels like it. She just wants to buy
+dresses and go to the theater."
+
+"But that girl we passed on the street to-day!"
+
+"Helen Davis. Ah, yes--but she's different again. She's bad."
+
+"Bad?" echoed Samuel perplexed.
+
+There was a brief pause. It was not easy for him to adjust himself to
+a world in which the good were of necessity frail and ill, and the bad
+were rosy-cheeked and merry. "How do you mean?" he asked at last.
+
+And Sophie answered quite simply, "She lives with a fellow."
+
+The blood leaped into Samuel's face. Such a blunder for him to have
+made.
+
+But then the flush passed, giving place to a feeling of horrified
+wonder. For Sophie was not in the least embarrassed--she spoke in the
+most matter-of-fact tone. And this from a child of thirteen, who did not
+look to be ten.
+
+"I see," said he in a faint voice.
+
+"A good many of the girls do it," she added. "You see, they move about
+so much--the mills close, and so a girl has no hope of marrying. But
+mothers says it's wrong, just the same."
+
+And Samuel walked home the rest of the way in silence, and thinking no
+more about the joys of music.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+On Monday morning Samuel found that Professor Stewart had returned, and
+he sat in the great man's study and waited until he had finished his
+breakfast.
+
+It was a big room, completely walled with crowded bookshelves; in the
+center was a big work-table covered with books and papers. Samuel had
+never dreamed that there were so many books in the world, and he
+gazed about him with awe, feeling that he had come to the sources of
+knowledge.
+
+That was Samuel's way. Both by nature and training, he had a profound
+respect for all authority. He believed in the majesty of the law--that
+was why it had shocked him so to be arrested. He thought of the church
+as a divine institution, whose ministers were appointed as shepherds of
+the people. And up here on the heights was this great College, a temple
+of learning; and this professor was one who had been selected by those
+in the seats of authority, and set apart as one of its priests. So
+Samuel was profoundly grateful for the attention which was given to him,
+and was prepared to pick up whatever crumbs of counsel might be dropped.
+
+"Ah, yes," the professor said, wiping his glasses with a silk
+handkerchief. "Samuel--let me see--Samuel--"
+
+"Prescott, sir."
+
+"Yes--Samuel Prescott. And how have you been?"
+
+"I've been very well, sir."
+
+"I meant to leave a message for you, but I overlooked it. I had so many
+things to attend to in the rush of departure. I--er--I hope you didn't
+wait for me."
+
+"I had nothing else to do, sir," said Samuel.
+
+"The truth is," continued the other, "I'm afraid I shan't be able to do
+for you what I thought I could."
+
+Samuel's heart went down into his boots.
+
+"You see," said the professor a trifle embarrassed, "my sister wanted
+a man to look after her place, but I found she had already engaged some
+one."
+
+There was a pause. Samuel simply stared.
+
+"Of course, as the man is giving satisfaction--you see--it wouldn't do
+for her to send him away."
+
+And Samuel continued to stare, dumb with terror and dismay.
+
+"I'm very sorry," said the other--"no need to tell you that. But I don't
+know of any other place."
+
+"But what am I to do?" burst out Samuel.
+
+"It's really too bad," remarked the other.
+
+And again there was a silence.
+
+"Professor Stewart," said Samuel in a low voice, "what is a man to do
+who is out of work and starving?"
+
+"God knows," said the professor.
+
+And yet again there was silence. Samuel could have said that himself--he
+had the utmost faith in God.
+
+And after a while the professor himself seemed to realize that the reply
+was inadequate. "You see," he went on, "there is a peculiar condition
+here in Lockmanville. There was an attempt to corner the glass industry,
+and that caused the building of too many factories, and so there is
+overproduction. And then, besides that, they've just invented a machine
+that blows as many bottles as a dozen men."
+
+"But then what are the men to do?" asked Samuel.
+
+"The condition readjusts itself," said the other. "The men have to go
+into some other trade."
+
+"But then--the cotton mills are on half time, too!"
+
+"Yes, there are too many cotton mills."
+
+"But then--in the end there will be too many everything."
+
+"That is the tendency," said the professor.
+
+"There are foreign markets, of course. But the difficulty really goes
+deeper than that."
+
+Professor Stewart paused and looked at Samuel wondering, perhaps, if
+he were not throwing away his instruction. But the boy looked very much
+interested, even excited.
+
+"Most of our economists are disposed to blink the truth," said he. "But
+the fact is, there are too many men."
+
+Samuel started. It was precisely that terrible suspicion which had been
+shaping itself in his own mind.
+
+"There is a law," went on the other, "which was clearly set forth by
+Malthus, that population tends continually to outrun the food supply.
+And then the surplus people have to be removed."
+
+"I see," said Samuel, awestricken. "But isn't it rather hard?"
+
+"It seems so--to the individual. To the race it is really of the very
+greatest benefit. It is the process of life."
+
+"Please tell me," Samuel's look seemed to say.
+
+"If you will consider Nature," Professor Stewart continued, "you will
+observe that she always produces many times more individuals than can
+possibly reach maturity. The salmon lays millions of eggs, and thousands
+of young trees spring up in every thicket. And these individuals
+struggle for a chance to live, and those survive which are strongest and
+best fitted to meet the conditions. And precisely the same thing is true
+among men--there is no other way by which the race could be improved, or
+even kept at its present standard. Those who perish are sacrificed for
+the benefit of the race."
+
+Now, strange as it may seem, Samuel had never before heard the phrase,
+"the survival of the fittest." And so now he was living over the
+experience of the thinking world of fifty or sixty years ago. What a
+marvelous generalization it was! What a range of life it covered! And
+how obvious it seemed--one could think of a hundred things, perfectly
+well known, which fitted into it. And yet he had never thought of it
+himself! The struggle for existence! The survival of the fittest!
+
+A few days ago Samuel had discovered music. And now he was discovering
+science. What an extraordinary thing was the intellect of man, which
+could take all the infinitely varied facts of life and interpret them in
+the terms of one vast law.
+
+Samuel was all aglow with excitement at the revelation. "I see," he
+said, again and again--"I see!"
+
+"It is the law of life," said the professor. "No one can escape from
+it."
+
+"And then," said Samuel, "when we try to change things--when we give out
+charity, for instance--we are working against Nature, and we really make
+things worse."
+
+"That is it," replied the other.
+
+And Samuel gave a great sigh. How very simple was the problem, when
+one had seen it in the light of science. Here he had been worrying and
+tormenting his brain about the matter; and all the time he was in the
+hands of Nature--and all he had to do was to lie back and let Nature
+solve it. "Nature never makes mistakes," said Professor Stewart.
+
+Of course, in this new light Samuel's own case became plain. "Those who
+are out of work are those who have failed in the struggle," he said.
+
+"Precisely," said the professor.
+
+"And that is because they are unfit."
+
+"Precisely," said the professor again. "As Herbert Spencer has phrased
+it, 'Inability to catch prey must be regarded as a falling short of
+conduct from its ideal.' And, of course, in an industrial community, the
+'prey' is a job."
+
+"Who is Herbert Spencer?" asked Samuel.
+
+"He is recognized as the authority in such matters," said the other.
+
+"And then," pondered Samuel, "those who have jobs must be the fit. And
+the very rich people--the ones who make the millions and millions--they
+are the fittest of all."
+
+"Er--yes," said the professor.
+
+"And, of course, that makes my problem clear--I'm out of a job, and so I
+must die."
+
+The professor gazed at Samuel sharply. But it was impossible to mistake
+the boy's open-eyed sincerity. He had no thought about himself--he was
+discovering the laws of life.
+
+"I'm so glad you explained it to me," he went on. "But all these
+thousands of men who are starving to death--they ought to be told it,
+too."
+
+"What good would it do?" asked the other.
+
+"Why, they ought to understand. They suffer, and it seems to them
+purposeless and stupid. But if you were to explain to them that they
+are being sacrificed for the benefit of the race--don't you see what a
+difference it would make?"
+
+"I don't believe they would take the suggestion kindly," said the
+professor with a faint attempt to smile.
+
+"But why not?" asked Samuel.
+
+"Wouldn't it sound rather hypocritical, so to speak--coming from a man
+who had succeeded?"
+
+"Not at all! You have a right to your success, haven't you?"
+
+"I hope so."
+
+"You have a job"--began Samuel and then hesitated. "I don't know how a
+professor comes to get his job," he said. "But I suppose that the
+men who make the great fortunes--the ones who are wisest and best of
+all--they give the money for the colleges, don't they?"
+
+"Yes," said Professor Stewart.
+
+"And then," said Samuel, "I suppose it is they who have chosen you?"
+
+Again the professor darted a suspicious glance at his questioner.
+"Er--one might put it that way," he said.
+
+"Well, then, that is your right to teach; and you could explain it.
+Then you could say to these men: 'There are too many of you; you aren't
+needed; and you must be removed.'"
+
+But the professor only shook his head. "It wouldn't do," he said. And
+Samuel, pondering and seeking as ever, came to a sudden comprehension.
+
+"I see," he exclaimed. "What is needed is action!"
+
+"Action?"
+
+"Yes--it's for us who are beaten to teach it; and to teach it in our
+lives. It's a sort of revival that is needed, you see."
+
+"But I don't see the need," laughed the other, interested in spite of
+himself.
+
+"That's because you aren't one of us!" cried Samuel vehemently. "Nobody
+else can understand--nobody! It's easy to be one of the successes of
+life. You have a comfortable home and plenty to eat and all. But when
+you've failed--when you're down and out--then you have to bear hunger
+and cold and sickness. And there is grief and fear and despair--you can
+have no idea of it! Why, I've met a little girl in this town. She works
+in the cotton mill, and it's just killed her by inches, body and soul.
+And even so, she can only get half a day's work; and the mother is
+trying to support the little children by sewing--and they're all just
+dying of slow starvation. This very morning they asked me to stay to
+breakfast, and I refused, because I knew they had only some bread and
+a few potatoes, and it wasn't enough for one person. You see, it's so
+slow--it's such a terribly long process--this starving people off
+by inches. And keeping them always tormented by hope. Don't you see,
+Professor Stewart? And just because you don't come out honestly and
+teach them the truth. Because you won't say to them: 'The world is too
+full; and you've got to get out of the way, so as to give us a chance.'
+Why, look, sir--you defeat your own purposes! These people stay, and
+they keep on having more children, and everything gets worse instead
+of better; and they have diseases and vices--they ruin the whole
+world. What's the use of having a world if it's got to be like this
+town--crowded with hovels full of dirty people, and sick people, and
+starving and miserable people? I can't see how you who live up here on
+the heights can enjoy yourselves while such things continue."
+
+"Um--no," said Professor Stewart; and he gazed at Samuel with knitted
+brows--unable, for the life of him, to feel certain whether he ought to
+feel amused, or to feel touched, or to feel outraged.
+
+As for Samuel, he realized that he was through with the professor. The
+professor had taught him all that he had to teach. He did not really
+understand this matter at all--that was because he belonged to the
+other world, the world of successful and fit people. They had their own
+problems to solve, no doubt!
+
+This non-comprehension was made quite clear by the professor's next
+remark. "I'm sorry to have disappointed you," he said. "If a little
+money will help you--"
+
+"No," said the other quickly. "You mustn't offer me money. How can that
+be right? That would be charity."
+
+"Ahem!" said the professor. "Yes. But then--you mentioned that you
+hadn't had any breakfast. Hadn't you better go into the kitchen and let
+them give you something?"
+
+"But what is the use of putting things off?" cried Samuel wildly. "If
+I'm going to preach this new idea, I've got to begin."
+
+"But you can't preach very long on an empty stomach," objected the
+other.
+
+To which Samuel answered, "The preaching has to be by deeds."
+
+And so he took his departure; and Professor Stewart turned back to his
+work-table, upon which lay the bulky manuscript of his monumental work,
+which was entitled: "Methods of Relief; A Theory and a Programme."
+Some pages lay before him; the top one was headed: "Chapter
+LXIII--Unemployment and Social Responsibility." And Professor Stewart
+sat before this title, and stared, and stared.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+Samuel meantime was walking down the broad macadam avenue debating
+his problem. The first glow of excitement was over, and he was finding
+difficulties. The theory still held; but in the carrying out of it there
+were complications.
+
+For one thing, it would be so hard to spread this doctrine. For if one
+tried to teach it by words, he seemed a hypocrite, as the professor had
+said; and on the other hand, if one simply practiced it, who would ever
+know? Suppose, for instance, that he starved to death during the next
+few days? That would be only one person removed, and apparently there
+were millions of the superfluous.
+
+The truth was that Samuel, in discussing the theory, had applied it only
+to himself. But now he pictured himself going home to tell Mrs. Stedman
+that she must give up her futile effort, and take herself and her three
+children out of the way of the progress of the race. And he realized
+that he could never do it--he was not equal to the task. Doubtless, it
+was because he was one of the unfit. It would need some one who did
+not know them, some one who could approach the matter from the purely
+scientific standpoint.
+
+Then there was another difficulty graver yet. Did not this doctrine
+really point to suicide? Would it not be the simplest solution of his
+problem if he were to climb down to the river, and tie a stone about
+his neck, and jump in? Samuel wished that he had thought to ask the
+professor about this. For the idea frightened him; he had a distinct
+impression of having been taught that it was a dreadful sin to take
+one's own life.
+
+The trouble seemed to lie in the dull and unromantic nature of the life
+about him. If only there had been some way to die nobly and heroically
+for the good of others. If only there was a war, for instance, and a
+call for men to perish on the ramparts! Or a terrible pestilence, so
+that one could be a nurse! But there was nothing at all but this low
+starving to death--and while other people lived in plenty. Samuel
+thought of the chance of finding some work which involved grave peril
+to life or limb; but apparently even the danger posts were filled. The
+world did not need him, either in life or death!
+
+So there was nothing for it but the starving. Having eaten nothing that
+day, Samuel was ready to begin at once; he tightened his belt and set
+his teeth for the grapple with the gaunt wolf of hunger.
+
+And so he strode on down the road, pining for a chance to sacrifice
+himself--and at the very hour that the greatest peril of his life was
+bearing down upon him.
+
+He had passed "Fairview," the great mansion with the stately gates and
+the white pillars. He had passed beyond its vast grounds, and had got
+out into the open country. He was walking blindly--it made no great
+difference where he went. And then suddenly behind him there was a
+clatter of hoofs; and he turned, and up the road he saw a cloud of dust,
+and in the midst of it a horse galloping furiously. Samuel stared; there
+was some kind of a vehicle behind it, and there was a person in the
+vehicle. A single glance was enough for him to realize--it was a
+runaway!
+
+To Samuel the thing came as a miracle--it was an answer to his prayer.
+And it found him ready. The chance was offered him, and he would not
+fail--not he! He did not falter for a second. He knew just what he had
+to do, and he was ready--resolute, and alert, and tense.
+
+He moved into the center of the road. The horse came on, galloping at
+top speed; it was a blooded horse, swift and frantic with fear, and
+terrible to see. Samuel spread out his arms; and then in a flash the
+creature was upon him.
+
+It swerved to pass him; and the boy wheeled, leaped swiftly, and flung
+himself at the bridle.
+
+He caught it; his arms were wrenched, but he hung on, and jerked himself
+up. The horse flung him to one side; but with a swift clutch, Samuel
+caught him by the nostrils with one hand, and gripped fast. Then he
+drew himself up close and hung grimly, his eyes shut, with a grasp like
+death.
+
+And he was still hanging there when the run-away stopped, and the
+occupant leaped from the vehicle and rushed to help him. "My God!" he
+cried, "but that was nerve!"
+
+He was a young fellow, white as a sheet and trembling in every muscle.
+"How did you do it?" he panted.
+
+"I just held on," said Samuel.
+
+"God, but I'm thankful to you!" exclaimed the other. "You've saved my
+life!"
+
+Samuel still clung to the horse, which was quivering with nervousness.
+
+"He'd never have got away from me, but one rein broke. See here!"--And
+he held up the end.
+
+"What started him?" asked Samuel.
+
+"Nothing," said the other--"a piece of paper, likely. He's a
+fool--always was." And he shook his fist in the horse's face,
+exclaiming, "By God, I'll tame you before I finish with you!"
+
+"Look out!" said Samuel. "You'll start him again!" And again he clutched
+the horse, which started to plunge.
+
+"I've got him now," said the other. "He'll quiet down."
+
+"Hold fast," Samuel continued; and then he put his hand to his forehead,
+and swayed slightly. "I--I'll have to sit down a moment, I'm afraid. I
+feel sort of dizzy."
+
+"Are you hurt?" cried the stranger anxiously.
+
+"No," he said--"no, but I haven't had anything to eat to-day, and I'm a
+little weak."
+
+"Nothing to eat!" cried the other. "What's the matter?"
+
+"Why, I've been out of a job."
+
+"Out of a job? Good heavens, man, have you been starving?"
+
+"Well," said Samuel with a wan smile, "I had begun to."
+
+He sat down by the roadside, and the other stared at him. "Do you live
+in Lockmanville?" he asked.
+
+"No, I just came here. I left my home in the country to go to New York,
+and I was robbed and lost all my money. And I haven't been able to find
+anything to do, and I'd just about given up and got ready to die."
+
+"My God!" cried the other in dismay.
+
+"Oh, it's all right," said Samuel. "I didn't mind."
+
+The stranger gazed at him in perplexity. And Samuel returned the gaze,
+being curious to see who it was he had rescued. It was a youth not more
+than a year or two older than himself. The color had now come back into
+his face, and Samuel thought that he was the most beautiful human being
+he had ever seen. He had a frank, open face, and laughing eyes, and
+golden hair like a girl's. He wore outing costume, a silk shirt and
+light flannels--things which Samuel had learned to associate with the
+possession of wealth and ease. Also, his horse was a thoroughbred;
+and with a rubber-tired runabout and a silver-mounted harness, the
+expensiveness of the rig was evident. Samuel was glad of this, because
+it meant that he had rescued some one of consequence--some one of the
+successful and fit people.
+
+"Just as soon as you're able, come hold the horse," said the stranger,
+"and then I'll fix this rein, and take you back and get you something to
+eat."
+
+"Oh, no!" said Samuel. "Don't bother. That's all right."
+
+"Hell, man!" cried the other. "Don't you suppose I'm going to do
+anything for you?"
+
+"Well, I hadn't thought--" began Samuel.
+
+"Cut it out!" exclaimed the other. "I'll set you up, and find you a job,
+and you can have a decent start."
+
+Find him a job! Samuel's heart gave a great throb. For a moment he
+hardly knew how to take this--how it would fit into his new philosophy.
+But surely it was all right for him to take a job. Yes, he had earned
+it. Even if some one else had to be turned out--even so, he had proven
+his fitness. He had won in the struggle. He had a place among the
+successful, and he could help Sophie and her mother.
+
+He got up with eagerness, and held the horse. "Do you think you can
+manage him?" he asked.
+
+"Oh, yes," said the other. "I'll chance it, anyhow."
+
+And he leaped into the runabout and took the reins. "Now," he said; and
+Samuel got in, and they sped away, back toward town.
+
+"Don't say anything about this accident, please," said the young man
+suddenly.
+
+"I won't," said Samuel.
+
+"My friends are always teasing me because I drive horses," he explained.
+
+"Why not?" asked the other.
+
+"Well, everybody drives motors nowadays. But my father stood by horses,
+and I learned to be fond of them."
+
+"We never had but one horse on the farm," observed Samuel. "But I was
+fond of him."
+
+"What is your name?" inquired the stranger; and Samuel told him. Also
+he told him where he had come from and what had happened to him. He
+took particular pains to tell about the jail, because he did not want
+to deceive anyone. But his companion merely called it "an infernal
+outrage."
+
+"Where were you going now?" he asked.
+
+"I'd just left Professor Stewart's," replied Samuel.
+
+"What! Old Stew? How do you come to know him?"
+
+"He was at the court. And he said he'd get me a job, and then he found
+he couldn't. Do you know him?"
+
+"Oh, yes, I had him at college, you know."
+
+"Oh, do you go to the college?"
+
+"I used to--till my father died. Then I quit. I hate study."
+
+Samuel was startled. "I suppose you don't need to," he said after a
+pause.
+
+"No," said the other. "My father thought the world of Old Stew," he
+added; "but he used to bore the life out of me. How'd you find him?"
+
+"Well," answered Samuel, "you see, I haven't had any of your advantages.
+I found what he told me very wonderful."
+
+"What did he tell you?"
+
+"Well, he explained to me how it was I was out of a job. There are too
+many people in the world, it seems, and I was one of the unfit. I had
+failed in the struggle for existence, and so I had to be exterminated,
+he said."
+
+"The devil he did!" exclaimed the stranger.
+
+Samuel wished that the young man would not use so many improper words;
+but he presumed that was one of the privileges of the successful. "I
+was very grateful to him," he went on, "because, you see, I hadn't
+understood what it meant. But when I realized it was for the good of the
+race, then I didn't mind any more."
+
+His companion stole a glance at him out of the corner of his eye. "Gee!"
+he said.
+
+"I had quite an argument with him. I wanted him to see that he ought
+to teach the people. There are thousands of people starving here in
+Lockmanville; and would you want to starve without knowing the reason?"
+
+"No," said the other, "I don't think I should." And again he looked at
+his companion.
+
+But the conversation was interrupted there. For some time they had been
+passing the place with the ten-foot iron railing; and now they came to
+the great stone entrance with the name "Fairview" carved upon it. To
+Samuel's surprise they turned in.
+
+"Where are you going?" he asked.
+
+"Home," said the other.
+
+And Samuel started. "Do you live here?" he gasped.
+
+"Yes," was the reply.
+
+Samuel stared at the familiar driveway with the stately elms, and the
+lawns with the peacocks and lyre birds. "This is one of the places where
+I asked for work," he said. "They ordered me out."
+
+"The deuce they did!" exclaimed the other. "Well, they won't order you
+out now."
+
+There was a pause. "You haven't told me your name," put in Samuel
+suddenly.
+
+"I thought you'd guess," said the other with a laugh.
+
+"How could I?"
+
+"Why--don't you know what place this is?"
+
+"No," said Samuel. "What?"
+
+And his companion replied, "It's the Lockman place."
+
+Samuel caught his breath and clutched at the seat.
+
+"The Lockman place!" he panted; and then again, "The Lockman place!"
+
+He stared ahead at the great building, with the broad porticos and the
+snow-white columns. He could hardly credit his ears.
+
+"I'm the old man's son," added the stranger genially. "Albert's my name.
+They call me Bertie."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+Properly to understand the thrill which this revelation brought to
+Samuel, one would have to consider the state of his mind. With all the
+power of his being Samuel was seeking for excellence; and a great and
+wise man had explained to him what were the signs by which this quality
+was known. And in the "struggle for existence" old Henry Lockman had
+succeeded more than any other man of whom Samuel had ever heard in his
+life. He owned these huge glass works, and many others all over the
+country. He owned the trolley roads, and the gas works, and the water
+works; the place had been named after him, and the great college also.
+For many years he had even run the government of the town, so Finnegan
+had stated. And here was this huge estate, his home--a palace fit for
+a king. How great must have been the excellence of such a man! And what
+benefits he must have conferred upon the world, to have been rewarded
+with all this power and glory!
+
+And here was his son--a youth in aspect fitting perfectly to
+Samuel's vision; a very prince of the blood, yet genial and
+free-hearted--noblesse oblige! To him had descended these virtues and
+excellences--and all the estates and powers as the sign and symbol
+thereof. And now had come a poor ignorant country boy, and it had fallen
+to his fortune to save the life of this extraordinary being. And he was
+to have a chance to be near him, and to serve him--to see how he lived,
+and to find out the secret of his superior excellence. There was no
+snobbery in Samuel's attitude; he felt precisely as another and far
+greater Samuel had felt when his sovereign had condescended to praise
+his dictionary, and the tears of gratitude had started into his eyes.
+
+They drove up before the palace, and a groom came hurrying up.
+"Phillips," said young Lockman, "look at that rein!"
+
+The groom stared aghast.
+
+"Take it and show it to Sanderson," the other continued. "Ask him if I
+don't pay enough for my harness that he gets me stuff like that."
+
+"Yes, sir," said the groom.
+
+They alighted and crossed the broad piazza, which was covered with easy
+chairs and tables and rugs. In the entrance hall stood a man in livery.
+
+"Peters," said the young man, "this is Samuel Prescott. I had some
+trouble with my horse and he helped me. He hasn't had anything to eat
+today, and I want him to have a good meal."
+
+"Yes, sir," said the man. "Where shall I serve it, sir?"
+
+"In the morning room. We'll wait there. And mind you, bring him a
+plenty."
+
+"Yes, sir," said Peters, and went off.
+
+Meantime Samuel had time for a glance about him. Never had he heard or
+dreamed of such magnificence. It was appalling, beyond belief! The great
+entrance hall went up to the roof; and there was a broad staircase of
+white marble, with galleries of marble, and below a marble fireplace,
+big enough to hold a section of a tree. Beyond this was a court with
+fountains splashing, and visions of palms and gorgeous flowers; and
+on each side were vistas of rooms with pictures and tapestries and
+furniture which Samuel thought must be of solid gold.
+
+"Come," said his companion, and they ascended the staircase.
+
+Halfway up, however, Samuel stopped and caught his breath. Before him
+there was a painting. There is no need to describe it in detail--suffice
+it to say that it was a life-size painting of a woman, entirely naked;
+and that Samuel had never seen such a thing in his life before. He
+dropped his eyes as he came near to it.
+
+They went along the gallery and entered a room, dazzlingly beautiful and
+bright. It was all done in white satin, the front being of glass, and
+opening upon a wide balcony. There were flowers and singing birds,
+and in the panels most beautiful paintings, representing wood nymphs
+dancing. These airy creatures, also, were innocent of anything save
+filmy veils; but they were all about the room, and so poor Samuel had no
+way to escape them. He sought for light within his mind; and suddenly he
+recollected the illustrated Bible at home. Perhaps the peerless beings
+who lived in such palaces had returned to a state of guiltlessness, such
+as had existed before the serpent came.
+
+Young Lockman flung himself into an easy chair and proceeded to
+cross-question his companion. He wanted to know all about the interview
+with "Old Stew"; and afterwards, having managed to divine Samuel's
+attitude to himself, he led him to talk about that, which Samuel
+did with the utmost frankness. "Gee, but you're a queer duffer!" was
+Lockman's comment; but Samuel didn't mind that.
+
+The butler came with the meal--carrying it on a big tray, and with
+another man to carry a folding table, and yet another to help. Such a
+display of silver and cut glass! Such snowy linen, and such unimaginable
+viands! There were piles of sandwiches, each one half a bite for a
+fairly hungry man. There was jellied game, and caviar, and a pate
+of something strange and spicy. Nothing was what one would have
+expected--there were eggs inside of baked potatoes, and ice cream in
+some sort of crispy cake. The crackers looked like cakes, and the cakes
+like crackers, and the cheese was green and discouraging. But a bowl of
+strawberries and cream held out a rich promise at the end, and Samuel
+took heart.
+
+"Fall to," said the host; and then divining the other's state of mind,
+he remarked, "You needn't serve, Peters," and the men went away, to
+Samuel's vast relief.
+
+"Don't mind me," added Lockman laughing. "And if there's any question
+you want to ask, all right."
+
+So Samuel tasted the food of the gods; a kind of food which human skill
+and ingenuity had labored for centuries to invent, and for days and even
+weeks to prepare. Samuel wondered vaguely where all these foods had come
+from, and how many people had had a hand in their preparation; also
+he wondered if all those who ate them would become as beautiful and as
+dazzling as his young friend.
+
+The friend meanwhile was vastly diverted, and was bent upon making the
+most of his find. "I suppose you'd like to see the place?" he said.
+
+"I should, indeed," said Samuel.
+
+"Come and I'll show it to you--that is, If you're able to walk after the
+meal."
+
+The meal did not trouble Samuel, and they went out and took a stroll.
+And so the boy met with yet another revelation of the possibilities of
+existence.
+
+If there was anything in the world he would have supposed he understood,
+it was farming; but here at "Fairview" was farming as it was done by the
+methods of Science. At home they had had some lilac bushes and a row of
+peonies; here were acres of greeneries, filled with flowers of gorgeous
+and unimaginable splendor, and rare plants from every part of the world.
+At home it had been Samuel's lot to milk the cow, and he had found it a
+trying job on cold and dark winter mornings; and here was a model dairy,
+with steam heat and electric light, and tiled walls and nickel plumbing,
+and cows with pedigrees in frames, and attendants with white uniforms
+and rubber gloves. Then there was a row of henhouses, each for a fancy
+breed of fowl--some of them red and lean as herons, and others white
+as snow and as fat and ungainly as hogs. And then out in front, at one
+corner of the lawn, was the aviary, with houses for the peacocks and
+lyre birds, and for parrots and magpies and innumerable strange birds
+from the tropics. Also there were dog kennels with many dozens of
+strange breeds.
+
+"Father got those for me," said young Lockman. "He thought I'd be
+interested in agriculture."
+
+"Well, aren't you?" asked Samuel.
+
+"Not very much," said the other carelessly. "Here's Punch--what do you
+think of him?"
+
+The occasion for this was a dog, the most hideously ugly object that
+Samuel had ever seen in his life. "I--I don't think I'd care for him,"
+he said hesitatingly.
+
+"He's a Japanese bulldog," observed the other. "He cost three thousand
+dollars."
+
+"Three thousand dollars!" gasped the boy in horror. "Why should anyone
+pay so much for a dog?"
+
+"That's what he's worth," said the other with a laugh.
+
+They went to see the horses, which were housed in a palace of their own.
+There were innumerable rows of stalls, and a running track and endless
+acres of inclosures. "Why do you have so many horses?" asked Samuel.
+
+"Father ran a stock farm," said the other. "I don't have much time to
+give to it myself."
+
+"But who rides the horses?" asked Samuel.
+
+"Well, I go in for sport," replied Lockman. "I'm supposed to be quite a
+dab at polo."
+
+"I see," said the boy--though to tell the truth he did not see at all,
+not having the least idea what polo was.
+
+"If you're interested in horses, I'll have them find you something to do
+here," Lockman went on.
+
+"Oh, thank you," said the boy with a thrill. "That will be fine!"
+
+He could have spent all day in gazing at the marvels of this place, but
+his host was tired now and started back to the house. "It's lunch time,"
+he said. "Perhaps you are hungry again!"
+
+They came out upon the piazza and sat down. And then suddenly they heard
+a clatter of hoofs and looked up. "Hello!" exclaimed the host. "Here's
+Glad!"
+
+A horse was coming up the road at a lively pace. The rider was seated
+a-straddle, and so Samuel was slow to realize that it was a woman. It
+was only when he saw her wave her hand and call to them that he was
+sure.
+
+She reined up her horse, and a groom who followed her took the rein, and
+she stepped off upon the piazza and stood looking at them. She was young
+and of extraordinary beauty. She was breathing fast, and her hair was
+blown about her forehead, and the glow of health was in her cheeks; and
+Samuel thought that she was the most beautiful object that he had ever
+beheld in all his life. He stared transfixed; he had never dreamed that
+anything so wonderful could exist in the world. He realized in a sudden
+glow of excitement what it was that confronted him. She was the female
+of this higher species; she was the superior and triumphant woman.
+
+"Hello, Bertie!" she said.
+
+"Hello!" the other replied, and then added. "This is my cousin, Miss
+Wygant. Glad, this is Samuel Prescott."
+
+The girl made a slight acknowledgment, and stared at Samuel with a look
+in which curiosity and hauteur were equally mingled. She was a brunette
+with dark hair, and an almost Oriental richness of coloring. She was
+lithe and gracefully built, and quick in her motions. There was eager
+alertness in her whole aspect; her glance was swift and her voice
+imperious. One could read her at a glance for a person accustomed to
+command--impatient and adventurous, passionate and proud.
+
+"I've had an adventure," said her cousin by way of explanation. "Samuel,
+here, saved my life."
+
+And Samuel thrilled to see the sudden look of interest which came into
+the girl's face.
+
+"What!" she cried.
+
+"Yes," said the other. "Spitfire ran away with me."
+
+"You don't mean it, Bertie!"
+
+"Yes. The rein broke. He started near the gate here and ran three or
+four miles with me."
+
+"Bertie!" cried the girl. "And what happened?"
+
+"Samuel stopped him."
+
+"How?"
+
+"It was splendid, Glad--the nerviest thing I ever saw. He just flung
+himself at the rein and caught it and hung on. He saved my life, beyond
+question."
+
+And now Samuel, burning up with embarrassment, faced the full blaze
+of the girl's impetuous interest. "How perfectly fine!" she exclaimed;
+then, "Where do you come from?" she asked.
+
+"He's just off a farm," said Lockman. "He was on his way to New York to
+make his fortune. And think of it, Glad, he'd been robbed, and he'd been
+wandering about town begging for work, and he was nearly starving."
+
+"You don't say so!" gasped the girl.
+
+She took a chair and indicated to Samuel to sit in front of her. "Tell
+me all about yourself," she said; and proceeded to cross-question him
+about his life and his adventures.
+
+Poor Samuel was like a witness in the hands of a prosecutor--he became
+hopelessly confused and frightened. But that made no difference to the
+girl, who poured a ceaseless fire of questions upon him, until she had
+laid his whole life bare. She even made him tell about Manning, the
+stockbroker, and how the family had lost its money in the collapse of
+Glass Bottle Securities. And then her cousin put in a word about his
+adventure with "Old Stew," and Samuel had to tell that all over again,
+and to set forth his sociological convictions--Miss Wygant and her
+cousin meantime exchanging glances of wonder and amusement.
+
+At last, however, they tired of him and fell to talking of a dance they
+were to attend and a tennis tournament in which they were to play. And
+so Samuel had a chance to gaze at Miss Wygant and to feast his eyes upon
+her beauty. He could have dreamed of no greater joy in all this world
+than to watch her for hours--to study every detail of her features and
+her costume, and to see the play of laughter about her mouth and eyes.
+
+But then came the butler announcing luncheon; and Samuel rose in a
+panic. He had a sudden vision of himself being asked to the table, to
+sit under Miss Wygant's merciless survey. "I think I'd better go now,"
+he said.
+
+"All right," said young Lockman. "Will you come to-morrow morning, and
+we'll fix things up?"
+
+"I'll come," said Samuel.
+
+"What are you going to do with him?" asked the girl.
+
+"He likes to take care of horses," said Lockman.
+
+"No," exclaimed the other promptly, "that won't do."
+
+"Why not?" asked he.
+
+"Because, Bertie, you don't want to make a stable boy out of him. He has
+too many possibilities. For one thing, he's good looking."
+
+Samuel flushed scarlet and dropped his eyes. He felt again that
+penetrating gaze.
+
+"All right," said Lockman. "What can you suggest?"
+
+"I don't know, I'm sure. But something decent."
+
+"He doesn't know enough to be a house servant, Glad--"
+
+"No--but something outside. Couldn't he learn gardening? Are you fond of
+flowers, Samuel?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am," said Samuel quickly.
+
+"Well, then, make a gardener out of him," said Miss Wygant; and that
+settled Samuel's destiny.
+
+The boy took his departure and went home, almost running in his
+excitement. He was transported into a distant heaven of bliss; he had
+been seated among the gods--he was to dwell there forever after!
+
+His new patron had given him a five-dollar bill; and before he reached
+the Stedman home he stopped in a grocery store and loaded up his arms
+with bundles. And then, seized by a sudden thought, he went into a
+notion store and set down his bundles and purchased a clean, white linen
+collar, and a necktie of royal purple and brilliant green--already tied,
+so that it would always be perfect in shape.
+
+Then he went into the Stedmans, and the widow and the youngest children
+sat round and listened open-eyed to his tale. And then came Sophie, and
+he had to tell it all over again.
+
+The girl's eyes opened wide with excitement when he came to the end of
+his recital. "Miss Wygant!" she exclaimed. "Miss Gladys Wygant?"
+
+"Yes," said Samuel. "You've heard of her?"
+
+"I've seen her!" exclaimed Sophie eagerly. "Twice!"
+
+"You don't mean it," he said.
+
+"Yes. Once she came to our church festival at Christmas."
+
+"Does she belong to your church?"
+
+"It's the mission. Great folks like her wouldn't want us in the church
+with them. She goes to St. Matthew's, you know--up there on the hill.
+But she came to the festival at the mission and helped to give out the
+presents. And she was dressed all in red--something filmy and soft, like
+you'd see in a dream. And, oh, Samuel--she was so beautiful! She had a
+rose in her hair--and such a sweet perfume--you could hardly bear it!
+And she stood there and smiled at all the children and gave them the
+presents. She gave me mine, and it was like seeing a princess. I wanted
+to fall down and kiss her feet."
+
+"Yes," said Samuel understandingly.
+
+"And to think that you've met her!" cried Sophie in ecstasy. "And talked
+with her! Oh, how could you do it?"
+
+"I--I don't think I did it very well," said Samuel.
+
+"What did you say to her?"
+
+"I don't remember much of it."
+
+"I never heard her voice," said Sophie. "She was talking, the other time
+I saw her, but the machinery drowned it out. That was in the mill--she
+came there with some other people and walked about, looking at
+everything. We were all so excited. You know, her father owns the mill."
+
+"No, I didn't know it," replied Samuel.
+
+"He owns all sorts of things in Lockmanville. They're very, very rich.
+And she's his only daughter, and so beautiful--everybody worships her.
+I've got two pictures of her that were in the newspapers once. Come--you
+must see them."
+
+And so the two rushed upstairs; and over the bed were two faded
+newspaper clippings, one showing Miss Gladys in an evening gown, and the
+other in dimity en princesse, with a bunch of roses in her arms.
+
+"Did you ever see anything so lovely?" asked the girl. "I made her my
+fairy godmother. And she used to say such lovely things to me. She must
+be very kind, you know--no one could be so beautiful who wasn't very,
+very good and kind."
+
+"No," said Samuel. "She must be, I'm sure."
+
+And then a sudden idea came to him. "Sophie!" he exclaimed--"she said I
+was good looking! I wonder if I am."
+
+And Sophie shot a quick glance at him. "Why, of course you are!" she
+cried. "You stupid boy!"
+
+Samuel went to the cracked mirror which hung upon the wall and looked at
+himself with new and wandering interest.
+
+"Don't you see how fine and strong you are?" said Sophie. "And what a
+bright color you've got?"
+
+"I never thought of it," said he, and recollected the green and purple
+necktie.
+
+"And to think that you've talked with her!" exclaimed Sophie, turning
+back to the pictures; and she added in a sudden burst of generosity, "I
+tell you what I'll do, Samuel--I'll give you these, and you can put them
+in your room!"
+
+"You mustn't do that!" he protested.
+
+But the girl insisted. "No, no! I know them by heart, so it won't make
+any difference. And they'll mean so much more to you, because you've
+really met her!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+Samuel presented himself the next morning and was turned over to the
+head gardener and duly installed as an assistant. "Let me know how
+you're getting along," was young Lockman's last word to him. "And if
+there's anything else I can do for you come and tell me."
+
+"Thank you very much, sir," said the boy gratefully; but without
+realizing how these magic words, pronounced in the gardener's hearing,
+would make him a privileged character about the place--an object of
+mingled deference and envy to the other servants.
+
+It was a little world all in itself, the "Fairview" menage. Without
+counting the stable hands, and the employees of the different farms, it
+took no less than twenty-three people to minister to the personal wants
+of Bertie Lockman. And they were divided into ranks and classes, with
+a rigid code of etiquette, upon which they insisted with vehemence. A
+housekeeper's assistant looked with infinite scorn upon a kitchen maid,
+and there had to be no less than four dining rooms for the various
+classes of servants who would not eat at the same table. All this was
+very puzzling to the stranger; but after a while he came to see how the
+system had grown up. It was just like a court; and the privileged beings
+who waited upon the sovereign necessarily were esteemed according to the
+importance of the service they performed for him and the access which
+they attained to his person.
+
+A good many of these servants were foreigners, and Samuel was pained
+to discover that they were for the most part without any ennobling
+conception of their calling. They were much given to gluttony and
+drinking; and there was an unthinkable amount of scandal and backbiting
+and jealousy. But it was only by degrees that he realized this, for he
+had one great motive in common with them--they were all possessed with a
+sense of the greatness of the Lockmans, and none of them wanted anything
+better than to talk for hours about the family and its wealth and power,
+and the habits and tastes of its members and their friends.
+
+It was Katie Reilly, a bright little Irish damsel, the housekeeper's
+sewing girl, who first captured Samuel with her smile; she carried him
+off for a walk, in spite of the efforts of the second parlor maid, and
+Samuel drank up eagerly the stream of gossip which poured from her lips.
+Master Albert--that was what they all called him--was said to have an
+income of over seven hundred thousand dollars a year. What he did with
+such a sum no one could imagine; he had lived quite alone since his
+father's death. The house had always been run by Miss Aurelia, old Mr.
+Lockman's sister, a lady with the lumbago and a terrible temper; but she
+had died a couple of years ago. Mr. Lockman had taken great interest
+in his stock farm, but very little in his house; and Master Albert
+took even less, spending most of his time in New York. Consequently
+everything was at sixes and sevens, and he was being robbed most
+terribly. But in spite of all his relatives' suggestions, he would not
+have anyone to come and live with him.
+
+Master Albert was still a minor, and his affairs were managed by Mr.
+Hickman, the family lawyer, and also by his uncle, Mr. Wygant. The
+latter was a manufacturer and capitalist--also a great scholar, so Katie
+said. It was he Samuel had seen that afternoon in the automobile, a tall
+and very proud-looking man with an iron-gray mustache. He lived in the
+big white house just after you climbed the ridge; and Miss Gladys was
+his only daughter. She had been old Mr. Lockman's favorite niece, and he
+had left her a great deal of money. People were always planning a match
+between her and Master Albert, but that always made Miss Gladys very
+angry. They both declared they were not in love with each other, and
+Katie was inclined to think this was true. Miss Gladys had been away to
+a rich boarding school, and she wanted to visit some friends at
+Newport; but her father wanted her to stay with him, and that made her
+discontented. She was very beautiful, and everybody was her slave. "But
+oh, I tell you, when she's angry!" said Katie with a shake of her head.
+
+This little Irish girl was a rare find for Samuel, because her brother
+was the "fellow" to Miss Gladys's maid, and so there was nothing she
+could not tell Samuel about his divinity. He learned about Miss Gladys's
+beautiful party dresses, and about her wonderful riding horse, and about
+her skill at tennis, and even her fondness for chocolate fudge. Miss
+Gladys had been to Paris the summer before; and her family had a camp in
+the Adirondacks, and they went there every August in an automobile
+and flew about on a mountain lake in a motor-boat the shape of a knife
+blade. Katie wanted to talk about Samuel a part of the time, and even,
+perhaps, about herself; but Samuel plied her with questions about Miss
+Wygant.
+
+He had her two pictures folded away in his vest pocket; and all the
+time that he trimmed the hedges he listened for the sound of her horse's
+hoofs or for the chug of her motor. And then, one blissful morning, when
+he was carrying in an armful of roses for the housekeeper, he ran full
+upon her in the hall.
+
+His heart leaped so that it hurt him; and instead of passing straight
+on, as he should have done, he stood stock still, and almost spilled his
+roses on the floor.
+
+Miss Gladys's face lighted with pleasure.
+
+"Why, it's Samuel!" she exclaimed.
+
+"Yes, Miss Gladys," said he.
+
+"And how do you like your position?"
+
+"Very well, Miss Gladys," he replied; and then, feeling the inadequacy
+of this, he added with fervor, "I'm so happy I can't tell you."
+
+"I'm very glad to hear it," she said. "And I'm sure you fill it very
+well."
+
+"I've done the best I can, Miss Gladys," said he.
+
+There was a moment's pause. "You find there is a good deal to learn?"
+she inquired.
+
+"Yes," he answered. "But you see, it's about flowers, and I was always
+interested in flowers."
+
+And again there was a pause; and then suddenly Miss Wygant flung a
+question at him--"Samuel, why do you look at me like that?"
+
+Samuel was almost knocked over.
+
+"Why--why--" he gasped. "Miss Gladys! I don't--!"
+
+"Ah!" she said, "but you do."
+
+Poor Samuel was in an agony of horror. "I--I--really--" he stammered. "I
+didn't mean it--I wouldn't for the world---"
+
+He stopped, utterly at a loss; and Miss Wygant kept her merciless gaze
+upon him. "Am I so very beautiful?" she asked.
+
+This startled Samuel into lifting his eyes. He stared at her,
+transfixed; and at last he whispered, faintly, "Yes."
+
+"Tell me about it," she said, and her look shook him to the depths of
+his soul.
+
+He stood there, trembling; he could feel the blood pouring in a warm
+flood about his throat and neck. "Tell me," she said again.
+
+"You--you are more beautiful than anyone I have ever seen," he panted.
+
+"You are not used to women, Samuel!"
+
+"No," said he. "I'm just a country boy."
+
+She stood waiting for him to continue. "The girls there"--he
+whispered--"they are pretty--but you--you---"
+
+And then suddenly the words came to him. "You are like a princess!" he
+cried.
+
+"Ah, if you ever find your tongue!" she said with a smile; and then
+after a pause she added, "You don't know how different you are, Samuel."
+
+"Different?" he echoed.
+
+"Yes. You are so fresh--so young. You would do anything for me, wouldn't
+you?"
+
+"Yes," he said.
+
+"You'd risk your life for me, as you did for Bertie?"
+
+And Samuel answered her with fervor that left no room for doubt.
+
+"I wish there was a chance," she laughed. "But there's only this dull
+every-day round!"
+
+There was a pause; the boy dropped his eyes and stood trembling.
+
+"Where are you going with the roses?" she asked.
+
+"I'm to take them to the housekeeper."
+
+"Let me have one."
+
+She took one from the bunch, and he stood watching while she pinned it
+to her dress. "You may bring me some, now and then," she said with one
+of her marvelous smiles. "Don't forget." And then, as she went on, she
+touched him upon the hand.
+
+At the touch of her warm, living fingers such a thrill passed through
+the boy as made him reel. It was something blind and elemental, outside
+of anything that he had dreamed of in his life. She went on down the
+hall and left him there, and he had to lean against a table for support.
+
+And all that day he was in a daze--with bursts of rapture sweeping over
+him. She was interested in him! She had smiled upon him! She had touched
+his hand!
+
+He went home that evening on purpose to tell Sophie; and the two of them
+talked about it for hours. He told the story over and over again. And
+Sophie listened, with her eyes shining and her hands clasped in an
+ecstasy of delight.
+
+"Oh, Samuel!" she whispered. "I knew it--I knew she'd appreciate you!
+She was so beautiful--I knew she must be kind and good!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+A week passed, and Samuel did not see his divinity again. He lived upon
+the memory of their brief interview, and while he trimmed the hedges
+he was dreaming the most extravagant dreams of rescues and perilous
+escapes. For the first time he began to find that his work was tedious;
+it offered so few possibilities of romance! If only he had been her
+chauffeur, now! Or the guide who escorted her in her tramps about the
+wilderness! Or the man who ran the wonderful motor-boat that was shaped
+like a knife blade!
+
+Samuel continued to ponder, and was greatly worried lest the commonplace
+should ingulf him. So little he dreamed how near was a change!
+
+Bertie Lockman had been away for a few days, visiting some friends, and
+he came back unexpectedly one afternoon. Samuel knew that he had not
+been expected, for always there were great bunches of flowers to be
+placed in his room. The gardener happened to be away at the time the
+motor arrived, and so Samuel upon his own responsibility cut the flowers
+and took them into the house. He left them in the housekeeper's workroom
+and then set out to find that functionary, and tell her what he had
+done. So, in the entrance to the dining room, he stumbled upon his young
+master, giving some orders to Peters, the butler.
+
+As an humble gardener's boy, Samuel should have stepped back and
+vanished. Instead he came forward, and Bertie smiled pleasantly and
+said, "Hello, Samuel."
+
+"Good afternoon, Master Albert," said Samuel.
+
+"And how do you like your work?" the other asked.
+
+"I like it very well, sir," he replied; and then added apologetically,
+"I was bringing some flowers."
+
+The master turned to speak to Peters again; and Samuel turned to retire.
+But at that instant there came the sound of a motor in front of the
+house.
+
+"Hello," said Bertie. "Who's that?" and turned to look through the
+entrance hall. Peters went forward to the door; and so Samuel was left
+standing and watching.
+
+A big red touring car had drawn up in front of the piazza. It was
+filled with young people, waving their hands and shouting, "Bertie! Oh,
+Bertie!"
+
+The other appeared to be startled. "Well, I'll be damned!" he muttered
+as he went to meet them.
+
+Of course Samuel had no business whatever to stand there. He should have
+fled in trepidation. But he, as a privileged person, had not yet been
+drilled into a realization of his "place." And they were such marvelous
+creatures--these people of the upper world--and he was so devoured with
+the desire to know about them.
+
+There were two young men in the motor, of about his master's age, and
+nearly as goodly to look at. And there were four young women, of a
+quite extraordinary sort. They were beautiful, all of them--nearly
+as beautiful as Miss Gladys; and perhaps it was only the automobile
+costumes, but they struck one as even more alarmingly complex.
+
+They were airy, ethereal creatures, with delicate peach blow
+complexions, and very small hands and feet. They seemed to favor all
+kinds of fluffy and flimsy things; they were explosions of all the
+colors of the springtime. There were leaves and flowers and fruits and
+birds in their hats; and there were elaborate filmy veils to hold the
+hats on. They descended from the motor, and Samuel had glimpses of
+ribbons and ruffles, of shapely ankles and daintily slippered feet. They
+came in the midst of a breeze of merriment, with laughter and bantering
+and little cries of all sorts.
+
+"You don't seem very glad to see us, Bertie!" one said.
+
+"Cheer up, old chap--nobody'll tell on us!" cried one of the young men.
+
+"And we'll be good and go home early!" added another of the girls.
+
+One of the party Samuel noticed particularly, because she looked more
+serious, and hung back a little. She was smaller than the others,
+a study in pink and white; her dress and hat were trimmed with pink
+ribbons, and she had the most marvelously pink cheeks and lips, and the
+most exquisite features Samuel had ever seen in his life.
+
+Now suddenly she ran to young Lockman and flung her arms about his neck.
+
+"Bertie," she exclaimed, "it's my fault. I made them come! I wanted to
+see you so badly! You aren't mad with us, are you?"
+
+"No," said Bertie, "I'm not mad."
+
+"Well, then, be glad!" cried the girl, and kissed him again. "Be a good
+boy--do!"
+
+"All right," said Bertie feebly. "I'll be good, Belle."
+
+"We wanted to surprise you," added one of the young fellows.
+
+"You surprised me all right," said Bertie--a reply which all of them
+seemed to find highly amusing, for they laughed uproariously.
+
+"He doesn't ask us in," said one of the girls. "Come on, Dolly--let's
+see this house of his."
+
+And so the party poured in. Samuel waited just long enough to catch the
+rustle of innumerable garments, and a medley of perfumes which might
+have been blown from all the gardens of the East. Then he turned and
+fled to the regions below.
+
+One of the young men, he learned from the talk in the servants' hall,
+was Jack Holliday, the youngest son of the railroad magnate; it was his
+sister who was engaged to marry the English duke. The other boy was the
+heir of a great lumber king from the West, and though he was only twenty
+he had got himself involved in a divorce scandal with some actor
+people. Who the young ladies were no one seemed to know, but there were
+half-whispered remarks about them, the significance of which was quite
+lost upon Samuel.
+
+Presently the word came that the party was to stay to dinner. And
+then instantly the whole household sprang into activity. Above stairs
+everything would move with the smoothness of clockwork; but downstairs
+in the servants' quarters it was a serious matter that an elaborate
+banquet for seven people had to be got ready in a couple of hours. Even
+Samuel was pressed into service at odd jobs--something for which he was
+very glad, as it gave him a chance to remain in the midst of events.
+
+So it happened that he saw Peters emerging from the wine cellar,
+followed by a man with a huge basket full of bottles. And this set
+Samuel to pondering hard, the while he scraped away at a bowl of
+potatoes. It was the one thing which had disconcerted him in the life
+of this upper world--the obvious part that drinking played in it. There
+were always decanters of liquor upon the buffet in the dining room; and
+liquor was served to guests upon any--and every pretext. And the women
+drank as freely as the men--even Miss Gladys drank, a thing which was
+simply appalling to Samuel.
+
+Of course, these were privileged people, and they knew what they wanted
+to do. But could it be right for anyone to drink? As in the case of
+suicide, Samuel found his moral convictions beginning to waver. Perhaps
+it was that drink did not affect these higher beings as it did ordinary
+people! Or perhaps what they drank was something that cheered without
+inebriating! Certain it was that the servants got drunk; and Samuel had
+seen that they took the stuff from the decanters used by the guests.
+
+It was something over which he labored with great pain of soul. But, of
+course, all his hesitations and sophistries were for the benefit of his
+master--that it could be right for Samuel himself to touch liquor was
+something that could not by any chance enter his mind.
+
+The dinner had begun; and Samuel went on several errands to the room
+below the butler's pantry, and so from the dumb-waiter shafts he could
+hear the sounds of laughter and conversation. And more wine went up--it
+was evidently a very merry party. The meal was protracted for two or
+three hours, and the noise grew louder and louder. They were shouting
+so that one could hear them all over the house. They were singing
+songs--wild rollicking choruses which were very wonderful to listen
+to, and yet terribly disturbing to Samuel. These fortunate successful
+ones--he would grant them the right to any happiness--it was to be
+expected that they should dwell in perpetual merriment and delight. But
+he could hear the champagne corks popping every few minutes. And COULD
+it be right for them to drink!
+
+It grew late, and still the revelry went on. A thunderstorm had come up
+and was raging outside. The servants who were not at work, had gone to
+bed, but there was no sleep for Samuel; he continued to prowl about,
+restless and tormented. The whole house was now deserted, save for
+the party in the dining room; and so he crept up, by one of the rear
+stairways, and crouched in a doorway, where he could listen to the wild
+uproar.
+
+He had been there perhaps ten minutes. He could hear the singing and
+yelling, though he could not make out the words because of the noise
+of the elements. But then suddenly, above all the confusion, he heard a
+woman's shrieks piercing and shrill; and he started up and sprang into
+the hall. Whether they were cries of anger, or of fear, or of pain,
+Samuel could not be certain; but he knew that they were not cries of
+enjoyment.
+
+He stood trembling. There rose a babel of shouts, and then again came
+the woman's voice--"No, no--you shan't, I say!"
+
+"Sit down, you fool!" Samuel heard Bertie Lockman shout.
+
+And then came another woman's voice--"Shut up and mind your business!"
+
+"I'll tear your eyes out, you devil!" shrilled the first voice, and
+there followed a string of furious curses. The other woman replied in
+kind and Samuel made out that there was some kind of a quarrel, and that
+some of the party wanted to interfere, and that others wanted it to
+go on. All were whooping and shrieking uproariously, and the two women
+yelled like hyenas.
+
+It was like the nightmare sounds he had heard from his cell in the
+police station, and Samuel listened appalled. There came a crash of
+breaking glass; and then suddenly, in the midst of the confusion, he
+heard his young master cry, "Get out of here!"--and the dining room door
+was flung open, and the uproar burst full upon him.
+
+A terrible sight met his eyes. It was the beautiful and radiant creature
+who had kissed Bertie Lockman; her face was now flushed with drink and
+distorted with rage--her hair disheveled and her aspect wild; and she
+was screaming in the voice which had first startled Samuel. Bertie had
+grappled with her and was trying to push her out of the room, while she
+fought frantically, and screamed: "Let me go! Let me go!"
+
+"Get out of here, I say!" cried Bertie, "I mean it now."
+
+"I won't! Let me be!" exclaimed the girl.
+
+"Hurrah!" shouted the others, crowding behind them. Young Holliday
+was dancing about, waving a bottle and yelling like a maniac, "Go it,
+Bertie! Give it to him, Belle!"
+
+"This is the end of it!" cried Bertie. "I'm through with you. And you
+get out of here!"
+
+"I won't! I won't!" screamed the girl again and again. "Help!" And she
+flung one arm about his neck and caught at the doorway.
+
+But he tore her loose and dragged her bodily across the entrance hall.
+"Out with you!" he exclaimed. "And don't ever let me see your face
+again!"
+
+"Bertie! Bertie!" she protested.
+
+"I mean it!" he said. "Here Jack! Open the door for me."
+
+"Bertie! No!" shrieked the girl; but then with a sudden effort he half
+threw her out into the darkness. There was a brief altercation outside,
+and then he sprang back, and flung to the heavy door, and bolted it
+fast.
+
+"Now, by God!" he said, "you'll stay out."
+
+The girl beat and kicked frantically upon the door. But Bertie turned
+his back and staggered away, reeling slightly. "That'll settle it, I
+guess," he said, with a wild laugh.
+
+And amidst a din of laughter and cheers from the others, he went back
+to the dining room. One of the other women flung her arms about him
+hilariously, and Jack Holliday raised a bottle of wine on high, and
+shouted: "Off with the old love--on with the new!"
+
+And so Bertie shut the door again, and the scene was hid from Samuel's
+eyes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+For a long while, Samuel stood motionless, hearing the swish of the rain
+and the crashing of the thunder as an echo of the storm in his own soul.
+It was as if a chasm had yawned beneath his feet, and all the castles
+of his dreams had come down in ruins. He stood there, stunned and
+horrified, staring at the wreckage of everything he had believed.
+
+Then suddenly he crossed the drawing-room and opened one of the French
+windows which led to the piazza. The rain was driving underneath the
+shelter of the roof; but he faced it, and ran toward the door.
+
+The girl was lying in front of it, and above the noise of the wind and
+rain he heard her sobbing wildly. He stood for a minute, hesitating;
+then he bent down and touched her.
+
+"Lady," he said.
+
+She started. "Who are you?" she cried.
+
+"I'm just one of the servants, ma'am."
+
+She caught her breath. "Did he send you?" she demanded.
+
+"No," said he, "I came to help you."
+
+"I don't need any help. Let me be."
+
+"But you can't stay here in the rain," he protested. "You'll catch your
+death."
+
+"I want to die!" she answered. "What have I to live for?"
+
+Samuel stood for a moment, perplexed. Then, as he touched her wet
+clothing again, common sense asserted itself. "You mustn't stay here,"
+he said. "You mustn't."
+
+But she only went on weeping. "He's cast me off!" she exclaimed. "My
+God, what shall I do?"
+
+Samuel turned and ran into the house again and got an umbrella in the
+hall. Then he took the girl by the arm and half lifted her. "Come," he
+said. "Please."
+
+"But where shall I go?" she asked.
+
+"I know some one in the town who'll help you," he said. "You can't stay
+here--you'll catch cold."
+
+"What's there left for me?" she moaned. "What am I good for? He's thrown
+me over--and I can't live without him!"
+
+Samuel got the umbrella up and held it with one hand; then with his
+other arm about the girl's waist, he half carried her down the piazza
+steps. "That she-devil was after him!" she was saying. "And it was Jack
+Holliday set her at it, damn his soul! I'll pay him for it!"
+
+She poured forth a stream of wild invective.
+
+"Please stop," pleaded Samuel. "People will hear you."
+
+"What do I care if they do hear me? Let them put me in jail--that's all
+I'm fit for. I'm drunk, and I'm good for nothing--and he's tired of me!"
+
+So she rushed on, all the way toward town. Then, as they came to the
+bridge, she stopped and looked about. "Where are you taking me?" she
+asked.
+
+"To a friend's house," he said, having in mind the Stedmans.
+
+"No," she replied. "I don't want to see anyone. Take me to some hotel,
+can't you?"
+
+"There's one down the street here," he said. "I don't know anything
+about it."
+
+"I don't care. Any place."
+
+The rain had slackened and she stopped and gathered up her wet and
+straggled hair.
+
+There was a bar underneath the hotel, and a flight of stairs led up to
+the office. They went up, and a man sitting behind the desk stared at
+them.
+
+"I want to get a room for this lady," said Samuel. "She's been caught in
+the rain."
+
+"Is she your wife?" asked the man.
+
+"Mercy, no," said he startled.
+
+"Do you want a room, too?"
+
+"No, no, I'm going away."
+
+"Oh!" said the man, and took down a key. "Register, please."
+
+Samuel took the pen, and then turned to the girl. "I beg pardon," he
+said, "but I don't know your name."
+
+"Mary Smith," she answered, and Samuel stared at her in surprise. "Mary
+Smith," she repeated, and he wrote it down obediently.
+
+The man took them upstairs; and Samuel, after helping the girl to a
+chair, shut the door and stood waiting. And she flung herself down upon
+the bed and burst into a paroxysm of weeping. Samuel had never even
+heard the word hysterics, and it was terrifying to him to see her--he
+could not have believed that so frail and slender a human body could
+survive so frightful a storm of emotion.
+
+"Oh, please, please stop!" he cried wildly.
+
+"I can't live without him!" she wailed again and again. "I can't live
+without him! What am I going to do?"
+
+Samuel's heart was wrung. He went to the girl, and put his hand upon her
+arm. "Listen to me," he said earnestly. "Let me try to help you."
+
+"What can you do?" she demanded.
+
+"I'll go and see him. I'll plead with him--perhaps he'll listen to me."
+
+"All right!" she cried. "Anything! Tell him I'll kill myself! I'll kill
+him and Dolly both, before I'll ever let her have him! Yes, I mean it!
+He swore to me he'd never leave me! And I believed him--I trusted him!"
+
+And Samuel clenched his hands with sudden resolution. "I'll see him
+about it," he said. "I'll see him to-night."
+
+And leaving the other still shaking with sobs, he turned and left the
+room.
+
+He stopped in the office to tell the man that he was going. But there
+was nobody there; and after hesitating a moment he went on.
+
+The storm was over and the moon was out, with scud of clouds flying
+past. Samuel strode back to "Fairview," with his hands gripped tightly,
+and a blaze of resolution in his soul.
+
+He was just in time to see the automobile at the door, and the company
+taking their departure. They passed him, singing hilariously; and then
+he found himself confronting his young master.
+
+"Who's that?" exclaimed Bertie, startled.
+
+"It's me, sir," said Samuel.
+
+"Oh! Samuel! What are you doing here?"
+
+"I've been with the young lady, sir."
+
+"Oh! So that's what became of her!"
+
+"I took her to a hotel, sir."
+
+"Humph!" said Bertie. "I'm obliged to you."
+
+The piazza lights were turned up, and by them Samuel could see the
+other's face, flushed with drink, and his hair and clothing in disarray.
+He swayed slightly as he stood there.
+
+"Master Albert," said Samuel very gravely, "May I have a few words with
+you?"
+
+"Sure," said Bertie. He looked about him for a chair and sank into it.
+"What is it?" he asked.
+
+"It's the young lady, Master Albert."
+
+"What about her?"
+
+"She's very much distressed, sir."
+
+"I dare say. She'll get over it, Samuel."
+
+"Master Albert," exclaimed the boy, "you've not treated her fairly."
+
+The other stared at him. "The devil!" he exclaimed.
+
+"You must not desert her, sir! It would be a terrible thing to have on
+your conscience. You have ruined and betrayed her."
+
+"WHAT!" cried the other, and gazed at him in amazement. "Did she give
+you that kind of a jolly?"
+
+"She didn't go into particulars"--said the boy.
+
+"My dear fellow!" laughed Bertie. "Why, I've been the making of that
+girl. She was an eighteen-dollar-a-week chorus girl when I took her up."
+
+"That might be, Master Albert. But if she was an honest girl--"
+
+"Nonsense, Samuel--forget it. She'd had three or four lovers before she
+ever laid eyes on me."
+
+There was a pause, while the boy strove to get these facts into his
+mind. "Even so," he said, "you can't desert her and let her starve,
+Master Albert."
+
+"Oh, stuff!" said the other. "What put that into your head? I'll give
+her all the money she needs, if that's what's troubling her. Did she say
+that?"
+
+"N--no," admitted Samuel disconcerted. "But, Master Albert, she loves
+you."
+
+"Yes, I know," said Bertie, "and that's where the trouble comes in. She
+wants to keep me in a glass case, and I've got tired of it."
+
+He paused for a moment; and then a sudden idea flashed over him.
+"Samuel!" he exclaimed "Why don't you marry her?"
+
+Samuel started in amazement. "What!" he gasped.
+
+"It's the very thing!" cried Bertie. "I'll set you up in a little
+business, and you can have an easy time."
+
+"Master Albert!" panted the boy shocked to the depths of his soul.
+
+"She's beautiful, Samuel--you know she is. And she's a fine girl,
+too--only a little wild. I believe you'd be just the man to hold her
+in."
+
+Bertie paused a moment, and then, seeing that the other was unconvinced,
+he added with a laugh, "Wait till you've known her a bit. Maybe you'll
+fall in love with her."
+
+But Samuel only shook his head. "Master Albert," he said, in a low
+voice, "I'm afraid you've not understood the reason I've come to you."
+
+"How do you mean?"
+
+"This--all this business, sir--it's shocked me more than I can tell you.
+I came here to serve you, sir. You don't know how I felt about it. I was
+ready to do anything--I was so grateful for a chance to be near you!
+You were rich and great, and everything about you was so beautiful--I
+thought you must be noble and good, to have deserved so much. And now,
+instead, I find you are a wicked man!"
+
+The other sat up. "The dickens!" he exclaimed.
+
+"And it's a terrible thing to me," went on Samuel. "I don't know just
+what to make of it--
+
+"See here, Samuel!" demanded the other angrily. "Who sent you here to
+lecture me?"
+
+"I don't see how it can be!" the boy exclaimed. "You are one of the fit
+people, as Professor Stewart explained it to me; and yet I know some who
+are better than you, and who have nothing at all."
+
+And Bertie Lockman, after another stare into the boy's solemn eyes,
+sank back in his chair and burst into laughter. "Look here, Samuel!" he
+exclaimed. "You aren't playing the game!"
+
+"How do you mean, sir?"
+
+"If I'm one of the fit ones, what right have you got to preach at me?"
+
+Samuel was startled. "Why sir--" he stammered.
+
+"Just look!" went on Bertie. "I'm the master, and you're the servant.
+I have breeding and culture--everything--and you're just a country
+bumpkin. And yet you presume to set your ideas up against mine! You
+presume to judge me, and tell me what I ought to do!"
+
+Samuel was taken aback by this. He could not think what to reply.
+
+"Don't you see?" went on Bertie, following up his advantage. "If you
+really believe what you say, you ought to submit yourself to me. If I
+say a thing's right, that makes it right. If I had to come to you
+to have you approve it, wouldn't that make you the master and me the
+servant?"
+
+"No, no--Master Albert!" protested Samuel. "I didn't mean quite that!"
+
+"Why, I might just as well give you my money and be done with it,"
+insisted the other.
+
+"Then you could fix everything up to suit yourself."
+
+"That isn't what I mean at all!" cried the boy in great distress. "I
+don't know how to answer you, sir--but there's a wrong in it."
+
+"But where? How?"
+
+"Master Albert," blurted Samuel--"it can't be right for you to get
+drunk!"
+
+Bertie's face clouded.
+
+"It can't be right, sir!" repeated Samuel.
+
+And suddenly the other sat forward in his chair. "All right," he
+said--"Maybe it isn't. But what are you going to do about it?"
+
+There was anger in his voice, and Samuel was frightened into silence.
+There was a pause while they stared at each other.
+
+"I'm on top!" exclaimed Bertie. "I'm on top, and I'm going to stay
+on top--don't you see? The game's in my hands; and if I please to get
+drunk, I get drunk. And you will take your orders and mind your own
+business. And what have you to say to that?"
+
+"I presume, sir," said Samuel, his voice almost a whisper, "I can leave
+your service."
+
+"Yes," said the other--"and then either you'll starve, or else you'll go
+to somebody else who has money, and ask him to give you a job. And then
+you'll take your orders from him, and keep your opinions to yourself.
+Don't you see?"
+
+"Yes," said Samuel, lowering his eyes--"I see."
+
+"All right," said Bertie; and he rose unsteadily to his feet. "Now, if
+you please," said he, "you'll go back to Belle, wherever you've left
+her, and take her a message for me."
+
+"Yes, sir," said Samuel.
+
+"Tell her I'm through with her, and I don't want to see her again. I'll
+have a couple of hundred dollars a month sent to her so long as she
+lets me alone. If she writes to me or bothers me in any way, she'll get
+nothing. And that's all."
+
+"Yes, sir," said Samuel.
+
+"And as for you, this was all right for a joke, but it wouldn't bear
+repeating. From now on, you're the gardener's boy, and you'll not forget
+your place again."
+
+"Yes, sir," said Samuel once more, and stood watching while his young
+master went into the house.
+
+Then he turned and went down the road, half dazed.
+
+Those had been sledge-hammer blows, and they had landed full and hard.
+They had left him without a shred of all his illusions. His work, that
+he had been so proud of--he hated it, and everything associated with it.
+And he was overwhelmed with perplexity and pain--just as before when he
+had found himself in jail, and it had dawned upon him that the Law, an
+institution which he had revered, might be no such august thing at all,
+but an instrument of injustice and oppression.
+
+In that mood he came to the hotel. Again there was no one in the office,
+so he went directly to the room and knocked. There was no answer; he
+knocked again, more heavily.
+
+"I wonder if she's gone," he thought, and looked again at the number, to
+make sure he was at the right room. Then, timidly, he tried the door.
+
+It opened. "Lady," he said, and then louder, "Lady."
+
+There was no response, and he went in. Could she be asleep? he thought.
+No--that was not likely. He listened for her breathing. There was not a
+sound.
+
+And finally he went to the bed, and put his hand upon it. Then he
+started back with a cry of terror. He had touched something warm and
+moist and sticky.
+
+He rushed out into the hall, and as he looked at his hand he nearly
+fainted. It was a mass of blood!
+
+"Help! Help!" the boy screamed; and he turned and rushed down the stairs
+into the office.
+
+The proprietor came running in. "Look!" shouted Samuel. "Look what she's
+done!"
+
+"Good God!" cried the man. And he rushed upstairs, the other following.
+
+With trembling fingers the man lit the gas; and Samuel took one look,
+and then turned away and caught at a table, sick with horror. The girl
+was lying in the midst of a pool of blood; and across her throat, from
+ear to ear, was a great gaping slit.
+
+"Oh! oh!" gasped Samuel, and then--"I can't stand it!" And holding out
+one hand from him, he hid his face with the other.
+
+Meantime the proprietor was staring at him. "See here, young fellow," he
+said.
+
+"What is it?" asked Samuel.
+
+"When did you find out about this?"
+
+"Why, just now. When I came in."
+
+"You've been out?"
+
+"Why of course. I went out just after we came."
+
+"I didn't see you."
+
+"No. I stopped in the office, but you weren't there."
+
+"Humph!" said the man, "maybe you did and maybe you didn't. You can tell
+it to the police."
+
+"The police!" echoed Samuel; and then in sudden horror--"Do you think
+_I_ did it?"
+
+"I don't know anything about it," replied the other. "I only know you
+brought her here, and that you'll stay here till the police come."
+
+By this time several people had come into the room, awakened by the
+noise. Samuel, without a word more, went and sank down into a chair and
+waited. And half an hour later he was on his way to the station house
+again--this time with a policeman on either side of him, and gripping
+him very tightly. And now the charge against him was murder!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+The same corpulent official was seated behind the desk at the police
+station; but on this occasion he woke up promptly. "The chief had better
+handle this," he said, and went to the telephone.
+
+"Where's this chap to go?" asked one of the policemen.
+
+"We're full up," said the sergeant. "Put him in with Charlie Swift. The
+chief'll be over in a few minutes."
+
+So once more Samuel was led into a cell, and heard the door clang upon
+him.
+
+He was really not much alarmed this time, for he knew it was not his
+fault, and that he could prove it. But he was sick with horror at the
+fate of the unhappy girl. He began pacing back and forth in his cell.
+
+Then suddenly from one corner growled a voice: "Say, when are you going
+to get quiet?"
+
+"Oh, I beg pardon," said Samuel. "I didn't know you were here."
+
+"What are you in for?" asked the voice.
+
+"For murder," said Samuel.
+
+And he heard the cot give a sudden creak as the man sat up. "What!" he
+gasped.
+
+"I didn't do it," the boy explained hastily. "She killed herself."
+
+"Where was this?" asked the man.
+
+"At the Continental Hotel."
+
+"And what did you have to do with it?"
+
+"I took her there."
+
+"Who was she?"
+
+"Why--she called herself Mary Smith."
+
+"Where did you meet her?"
+
+"Up at 'Fairview.'"
+
+"At 'Fairview'!" exclaimed the other.
+
+"Yes," said Samuel. "The Lockman place."
+
+"ALBERT Lockman's place?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"How did she come to be there?"
+
+"Why, she was--a friend of his. She was there to dinner."
+
+"What!" gasped the man. "How do you know it?"
+
+"I work there," replied Samuel.
+
+"And how did she come to go to the hotel?"
+
+"Master Albert turned her out," said Samuel. "And it was raining, and so
+I took her to a hotel."
+
+"For the love of God!" exclaimed the other; and then he asked quickly,
+"Did you tell the sergeant that?"
+
+"No," said the boy. "He didn't ask me anything."
+
+The man sprang up and ran to the grated door and shook it. "Hello! Hello
+there!" he cried.
+
+"What's the matter?" growled a policeman down the corridor.
+
+"Come here! quick!" cried the other; and then through the grating he
+whispered, "Say, tell the cap to come here for a moment, will you?"
+
+"What do you want?" demanded the policeman.
+
+"Look here, O'Brien," said the other. "You know Charlie Swift is no
+fool. And there's something about this fellow you've put in here that
+the cap ought to know about quick."
+
+The sergeant came. "Say," said Charlie. "Did you ask this boy any
+questions?"
+
+"No," said the sergeant, "I'm waiting for the chief."
+
+"Well, did you know that girl came from Albert Lockman's place?"
+
+"Good God, no!"
+
+"He says she was there to dinner and Lockman turned her out of the
+house. This boy says he works for Lockman."
+
+"Well, I'm damned!" exclaimed the sergeant. And so Samuel was led into a
+private room.
+
+A minute or two later "the chief" strode in. McCullagh was his name and
+he was huge and burly, with a red face and a protruding jaw. He went at
+Samuel as if he meant to strike him. "What's this you're givin' us?" he
+cried.
+
+"Why--why--" stammered Samuel, in alarm.
+
+"You're tryin' to tell me that girl came from Lockman's?" roared the
+chief.
+
+"Yes, sir!"
+
+"And you expect me to believe that?"
+
+"It's true, sir!"
+
+"What're you tryin' to give me, anyhow?" demanded the man.
+
+"But it's true, sir!" declared Samuel again.
+
+"You tell me she was there at dinner?"
+
+"Yes, sir!"
+
+"Come! Quit your nonsense, boy!"
+
+"But she was, sir!"
+
+"What do you expect to make out of this, young fellow?"
+
+"But she was, sir!"
+
+Apparently the chief's method was to doubt every statement that Samuel
+made, and repeat his incredulity three times, each time in a louder tone
+of voice and with a more ferocious expression of countenance. Then, if
+the boy stuck it out, he concluded that he was telling the truth. By
+this exhausting method the examination reached its end, and Samuel was
+led back to his cell.
+
+"Did you stick to your story?" asked his cellmate.
+
+"Of course," said he.
+
+"Well, if it is true," remarked the other, "there'll be something doing
+soon."
+
+And there was. About an hour later the sergeant came again and entered.
+He drew the two men into a corner.
+
+"See here, young fellow," he said to Samuel in a low voice. "Have you
+got anything against young Lockman?"
+
+"No," replied Samuel. "Why?"
+
+"If we let you go, will you shut up about this?"
+
+"Why, yes," said the boy, "if you want me to."
+
+"All right," said the sergeant. "And you, Charlie--we've got you dead,
+you know."
+
+"Yes," said the other, "I know."
+
+"And there's ten years coming to you, you understand?"
+
+"Yes, I guess so."
+
+"All right. Then will you call it a bargain?"
+
+"I will," said Charlie. "You'll skip the town, and hold your mouth?"
+
+"I will."
+
+"Very well. Here's your own kit--and you ought to get through them bars
+before daylight. And here's fifty dollars. You take this young fellow to
+New York and lose him. Do you see?"
+
+"I see," said Charlie.
+
+"All right," went on the sergeant. "And mind you don't play any monkey
+tricks!"
+
+"I'm on," said Charlie with a chuckle.
+
+And without more ado he selected a saw from his bag and set to work at
+the bars of the window. The sergeant retired; and Samuel sat down on the
+floor and gasped for breath.
+
+For about an hour the man worked without a word. Then he braced himself
+against the wall and wrenched out one of the bars; then another wrench,
+and another bar gave way; after which he packed up his kit and slipped
+it into a pocket under his coat. "Now," he said, "come on."
+
+He slipped through the opening and dropped to the ground, and Samuel
+followed suit. "This way," he whispered, and they darted down an alley
+and came out upon a dark street. For perhaps a mile they walked on in
+silence, then Charlie turned into a doorway and opened the door with a
+latch key, and they went up two flights of stairs and into a rear room.
+He lit the gas, and took off his coat and flung it on the bed. "Now,
+make yourself at home," he said.
+
+"Is this your room?" asked Samuel.
+
+"Yes," was the reply. "The bulls haven't found it, either!"
+
+"But I thought we were to go out of town!" exclaimed the other.
+
+"Humph!" laughed Charlie. "Young fellow, you're easy!"
+
+"Do you mean you're not going?" cried Samuel.
+
+"What! When I've got a free license to work the town?"
+
+Samuel stared at him, amazed. "You mean they wouldn't arrest you?"
+
+"Not for anything short of murder, I think."
+
+"But--but what could you do?"
+
+"Just suppose I was to tip off some newspaper with that story? Not here
+in Lockmanville--but the New York Howler, we'll say?"
+
+"I see!" gasped Samuel.
+
+Charlie had tilted back in his chair and was proceeding to fill his
+pipe. "Gee, sonny," he said, "they did me the greatest turn of my life
+when they poked you into that cell. I'll get what's coming to me now!"
+
+"How will you get it?" asked the boy.
+
+"I'm a gopherman," said the other.
+
+"What's that?" asked Samuel.
+
+"You'll have to learn to sling the lingo," said Charlie with a laugh.
+"It's what you call a burglar."
+
+Samuel looked at the man in wonder. He was tall and lean, with a pale
+face and restless dark eyes. He had a prominent nose and a long neck,
+which gave him a peculiar, alert expression that reminded Samuel of a
+startled partridge.
+
+"Scares you, hey?" he said. "Well, I wasn't always a gopherman."
+
+"What were you before that?"
+
+"I was an inventor."
+
+"An inventor!" exclaimed Samuel.
+
+"Yes. Have you seen the glass-blowing machines here in town?"
+
+"No, I haven't."
+
+"Well, I invented three of them. And old Henry Lockman robbed me of
+them."
+
+"Robbed you!" gasped the boy amazed.
+
+"Yes," said the other. "Didn't he rob everybody he ever came near?"
+
+"I didn't know it," replied Samuel.
+
+"Guess you never came near him," laughed the man. "Say--where do you
+come from, anyhow? Tell me about yourself."
+
+So Samuel began at the beginning and told his story. Pretty soon he came
+to the episode of "Glass Bottle Securities."
+
+"My God!" exclaimed the other. "I thought you said old Lockman had never
+robbed you!"
+
+"I did," answered Samuel.
+
+"But don't you see that he robbed you then?"
+
+"Why, no. It wasn't his fault. The stock went down when he died."
+
+"But why should it have gone down when he died, except that he'd
+unloaded it on the public for a lot more than it was worth?"
+
+Samuel's jaw fell. "I never thought of that," he said.
+
+"Go on," said Charlie.
+
+Then Samuel told how he was starving, and how he had gone to Professor
+Stewart, and how the professor had told him he was one of the unfit. His
+companion had taken his pipe out of his mouth and was staring at him.
+
+"And you swallowed all that?" he gasped.
+
+"Yes," said Samuel.
+
+"And you tried to carry it out! You went away to starve!"
+
+"But what else was there for me to do?" asked the boy.
+
+"But the Lord!" ejaculated the other. "When it came time for ME to
+starve, I can promise you I found something else to do!"
+
+"Go on," he said after a pause; and Samuel told how he had saved young
+Lockman's life, and what happened afterwards.
+
+"And so he was your dream!" exclaimed the other. "You were up against a
+brace game, Sammy!"
+
+"But how was I to know?" protested the boy.
+
+"You should read the papers. That kid's been cutting didoes in the
+Tenderloin for a couple of years. He wasn't worth the risking of your
+little finger--to say nothing of your life."
+
+"It seems terrible," said Samuel dismayed.
+
+"The trouble with you, Sammy," commented the other, "is that you're
+too good to live. That's all there is to your unfitness. You take old
+Lockman, for instance. What was all his 'fitness'? It was just that he
+was an old wolf. I was raised in this town, and my dad went to school
+with him. He began by cheating his sisters out of their inheritance.
+Then he foreclosed a mortgage on a glass factory and went into the
+business. He was a skinflint, and he made money--they say he burned the
+plant down for the insurance, but I don't know. Anyway, he had rivals,
+and he made a crooked deal with some of the railroad people--gave them
+stock you know--and got rebates. And he had some union leaders on his
+pay rolls, and he called strikes on his rivals, and when he'd ruined
+them he bought them out for a song. And when he had everything in his
+hands, and got tired of paying high wages, he fired some of the union
+men and forced a strike. Then he brought in some strike-breakers and
+hired some thugs to slug them, and turned the police loose on the
+men--and that was the end of the unions. Meanwhile he'd been running the
+politics of the town, and he'd given himself all the franchises--there
+was nobody could do anything in Lockmanville unless he said so. And
+finally, when he'd got the glass trade cornered, he formed the Trust,
+and issued stock for about five times what the plants had cost, and
+dumped it on the market for suckers like you to buy. And that's the
+way he made his millions--that's the meaning of his palace and all the
+wonders you saw up there. And now he's dead, and all his fortune belongs
+to Master Albert, who never did a stroke of work in his life, and isn't
+'fit' enough to be a ten-dollar-a-week clerk. And you come along and
+lie down for him to walk on, and the more nails he has in his boots the
+better you like it! And there's the whole story for you!"
+
+Samuel had been listening awe-stricken. The abysmal depths of his
+ignorance and folly!
+
+"Now he's got his money," said the other--"and he means to keep it. So
+there are the bulls, to slam you over the head if you bother him. That's
+called the Law! And then he hires some duffer to sit up and hand you
+out a lot of dope about your being 'unfit'; and that's called a College!
+Don't you see?"
+
+"Yes," whispered Samuel. "I see!"
+
+His companion stabbed at him with his finger. "All that was wrong with
+you, Sammy," he said, "was that you swallowed the dope! That's where
+your 'unfitness' came in! Why--take his own argument. Suppose you hadn't
+given up. Suppose you'd fought and won out. Then you'd have been as
+good as any of them, wouldn't you? Suppose, for instance, you'd hit that
+son-of-a-gun over the head with a poker and got away with his watch and
+his pocketbook--then you'd have been 'fitter' than he, wouldn't you?"
+
+Samuel had clutched at the arms of his chair and was staring with
+wide-open eyes.
+
+"You never thought of that, hey, Sammy? But that's what I found myself
+facing a few years ago. They'd got every cent I had, and I was ready for
+the scrap heap. But I said, 'Nay, nay, Isabel!' I'd played their game
+and lost--but I made a new game--and I made my own rules, you can bet!"
+
+"You mean stealing!" cried the boy.
+
+"I mean War," replied the other. "And you see--I've survived! I'm not
+pretty to look at and I don't live in a palace, but I'm not starving,
+and I've got some provisions salted away."
+
+"But they had you in jail!"
+
+"Of course. I've done my bit--twice. But that didn't kill me; and I can
+learn things, even in the pen."
+
+There was a pause. Then Charlie Swift stood up and shook the ashes
+out of his pipe. "Speaking of provisions," he said, "these midnight
+adventures give you an appetite." And he got out a box of crackers and
+some cheese and a pot of jam. "Move up," he said, "and dip in. You'll
+find that red stuff the real thing. My best girl made it. One of the
+things that bothered me in jail was the fear that the bulls might get
+it."
+
+Samuel was too much excited to eat. But he sat and watched, while his
+companion stowed away crackers and cheese.
+
+"What am I going to do now?" he said half to himself.
+
+"You come with me," said Charlie. "I'll teach you a trade where you'll
+be your own boss. And I'll give you a quarter of the swag until you've
+learned it."
+
+"What!" gasped Samuel in horror. "Be a burglar!"
+
+"Sure," said the other. "What else can you do?"
+
+"I don't know," said the boy.
+
+"Have you got any money?"
+
+"Only a few pennies. I hadn't got my wages yet."
+
+"I see. And will you go and ask Master Albert for them?"
+
+"No," said Samuel quickly. "I'll never do that!"
+
+"Then you'll go out and hunt for a job again, I suppose? Or will you
+start out on that starving scheme again?"
+
+"Don't!" cried the boy wildly. "Let me think!"
+
+"Come! Don't be a summer-boarder!" exclaimed the other. "You've got the
+professor's own warrant for it, haven't you? And you've got a free field
+before you--you can help yourself to anything you want in Lockmanville,
+and the bulls won't dare to lift a finger! You'll be a fool if you let
+go of such a chance."
+
+
+"But it's wrong!" protested Samuel. "You know it's wrong!"
+
+"Humph!" laughed Charlie. And he shut the top of the cracker box with
+a bang and rose up. "You sleep over it," he said. "You'll be hungry
+to-morrow morning."
+
+"That won't make any difference!" cried the boy.
+
+"Maybe not," commented the other; and then he added with a grin: "Don't
+you ask me for grub. For that would be charity; and if you're really one
+of the unfit, it's not for me to interfere with nature!"
+
+And so all the next day Samuel sat in Charlie's room and faced the
+crackers and cheese and the pot of jam, and wrestled with the problem.
+He knew what it would mean to partake of the food, and Charlie knew what
+it would mean also; and feeling certain that Samuel would not partake
+upon any other terms, he left the covers off the food, so that the odors
+might assail the boy's nostrils.
+
+Of course Samuel might have gone out and bought some food with the
+few pennies he had in his pocket. But that would have been merely to
+postpone the decision, and what was the use of that? And to make matters
+ten times worse, he owed money to the Stedmans--for he had lived upon
+the expectation of his salary!
+
+In the end it was not so much hunger that moved him, as it was pure
+reason. For Samuel, as we know, was a person who took an idea seriously;
+and there was no answer to be found to Charlie's argument. Doubtless the
+reader will find a supply of them, but Samuel racked his wits in vain.
+If, as the learned professor had said, life is a struggle for existence,
+and those who have put money in their purses are the victors; and if
+they have nothing to do for the unemployed save to let them starve or
+put them in jail; then on the other hand, it would seem to be up to the
+unemployed to take measures for their own survival. And apparently the
+only proof of their fitness would be to get some money away from those
+who had it. Had not Herbert Spencer, the authority in such matters,
+stated that "inability to catch prey shows a falling short of conduct
+from its ideal"? And if the good people let themselves be starved to
+death by the wicked, would that not mean that only the wicked would be
+left alive? It was thoughts like this that were driving Samuel--he had
+Bertie Lockman's taunts ringing in his ears, and for the life of him he
+could not see why he should vacate the earth in favor of Bertie Lockman!
+
+So breakfast time passed, and dinner time passed, and supper time came.
+And his friend spread out the contents of his larder again, and then
+leaned over the table and said, "Come and try it once and see how you
+like it!"
+
+And Samuel clenched his hands suddenly and answered--"All right, I'll
+try it!"
+
+Then he started upon a meal. But in the middle of it he stopped, and set
+down an untasted cracker, and gasped within himself--"Merciful Heaven!
+I've promised to be a burglar!"
+
+The other was watching him narrowly. "Ain't going to back out?" he
+asked.
+
+"No," said Samuel. "I won't back out! But it seems a little queer,
+that's all."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+The meal over, Charlie Swift took out a pencil and paper. "Now," said
+he. "To business!"
+
+Samuel pulled up his chair and the other drew a square. "This is a house
+I've been studying. It's on a corner--these are streets, and here's an
+alley. This is the side door that I think I can open. There's a door
+here and one in back here. Fix all that in your mind."
+
+"I have it," said the boy.
+
+"You go in, and here's the entrance hall. The front stairs are here.
+What I'm after is the family plate, and it's up on the second floor.
+I'll attend to that. The only trouble is that over here beyond the
+library there's a door, and, somebody sleeps in that room. I don't know
+who it is. But I want you to stay in the hall, and if there's anyone
+stirs in that room you're to dart upstairs and give one whistle at the
+top. Then I'll come."
+
+"And what then?"
+
+"This is the second floor," said Charlie, drawing another square. "And
+here's the servant's stairway, and we can get down to this entrance in
+the rear, that I'll open before I set to work. On the other hand, if you
+hear me whistle upstairs, then you're to get out by the way we came. If
+there's any alarm given, then it's each for himself."
+
+"I see," said Samuel; and gripped his hands so that his companion might
+not see how he was quaking.
+
+Charlie got out his kit and examined it to make sure that the police
+had kept nothing. Then he went to a bureau drawer and got a revolver,
+examined it and slipped it into his pocket. "They kept my best one," he
+said. "So I've none to lend you."
+
+"I--I wouldn't take it, anyway," stammered the other in horror.
+
+"You'll learn," said the burglar with a smile.
+
+Then he sat down again and drew a diagram of the streets of
+Lockmanville, so that Samuel could find his way back in case of trouble.
+"We don't want to take any chances," said he. "And mind, if I get
+caught, I'll not mention you--wild horses couldn't drag it out of me.
+And you make the same promise."
+
+"I make it," said Samuel.
+
+"Man to man," said Charlie solemnly; and Samuel repeated the words.
+
+"How did you come to know so much about the house?" he asked after a
+while.
+
+"Oh! I've lived here and I've kept my eyes open. I worked as a plumber's
+man for a couple of months and I made diagrams."
+
+"But don't the police get to know you?"
+
+"Yes--they know me. But I skip out when I've done a job. And when I come
+back it's in disguise. Once I grew a beard and worked in the glass works
+all day and did my jobs at night; and again I lived here as a woman."
+
+"A woman!" gasped the boy.
+
+"You see," said the other with a laugh, "there's more ways than one
+to prove your fitness." And he went on, narrating some of his
+adventures--adventures calculated to throw the glamour of romance about
+the trade of burglar. Samuel listened breathless with wonder.
+
+"We'd better get a bit of sleep now," said Charlie later on. "We'll
+start about one." And he stretched himself out on the bed, while the
+other sat motionless in the chair, pondering hard over his problem.
+There was no sleeping for Samuel that night.
+
+He would carry out his bargain--that was his decision. But he would not
+take his share of the plunder, except just enough to pay Mrs. Stedman.
+And he would never be a burglar again!
+
+At one o'clock he awakened his companion, and they set out through the
+deserted streets. They crossed the bridge to the residential part of
+town; and then, at a corner, Charlie stopped. "There's the place," he
+said, pointing to a large house set back within a garden.
+
+They gazed about. The coast was clear; and they darted into the door
+which had been indicated in the diagram. Samuel crouched in the doorway,
+motionless, while the other worked at the lock. Samuel's knees were
+trembling so that he could hardly stand up.
+
+The door was opened without a sound having been made, and they stole
+into the entrance. They listened--the house was as still as death.
+Then Charlie flashed his lantern, and Samuel had quick glimpses of
+a beautiful and luxuriously furnished house. It was nothing like
+"Fairview," of course; but it was finer than Professor Stewart's home.
+There was a library, with great leather armchairs; and in the rear
+a dining room, where mirrors and cut glass flashed back the far-off
+glimmer of the light.
+
+"There's your door over there," whispered Charlie. "And you'd better
+stay behind those curtains."
+
+So Samuel took up his post; the light vanished and his companion started
+for the floor above. Several times the boy heard the stairs creaking,
+and his heart leaped into his throat; but then the sounds ceased and all
+was still.
+
+The minutes crawled by--each one seemed an age. He stood rooted to the
+spot, staring into the darkness--half-hypnotized by the thought of
+the door which he could not see, and of the person who might be asleep
+behind it. Surely this was a ghastly way for a man to have to gain his
+living--it were better to perish than to survive by such an ordeal!
+Samuel was appalled by the terrors which took possession of him, and the
+tremblings and quiverings which he could not control. Any danger in the
+world he would have faced for conscience' sake; but this was wrong--he
+knew it was wrong! And so all the glow of conviction was gone from him.
+
+What could be the matter? Why should Charlie be so long? Surely he had
+had time enough to ransack the whole house! Could it be that he had got
+out by the other way--that he had planned to skip town, and leave Samuel
+there in the lurch?
+
+And then again came a faint creaking upon the stairs. He was coming
+back! Or could it by any chance be another person? He dared not venture
+to whisper; he stood, tense with excitement, while the sounds came
+nearer--it was as if some monster were creeping upon him in the
+darkness, and folding its tentacles about him!
+
+He heard a sound in the hall beside him. Why didn't Charlie speak? What
+was the matter with him? What--
+
+And then suddenly came a snapping sound, and a blinding glare of light
+flashed up, flooding the hallway and everything about him. Samuel
+staggered back appalled. There was some one standing there before him!
+He was caught!
+
+Thus for one moment of dreadful horror. And then he realized that the
+person confronting him was a little girl!
+
+She was staring at him; and he stared at her. She could not have been
+more than ten years old, and wore a nightgown trimmed with lace. She had
+bright yellow hair, and her finger was upon the button which controlled
+the lights.
+
+For fully a minute neither of them moved. Then Samuel heard a voice
+whispering: "Are you a burglar?"
+
+He could not speak, but he nodded his head. And then again he heard the
+child's voice: "Oh, I'm so glad!"
+
+"I'm so glad!" she repeated again, and her tone was clear and sweet.
+"I'd been praying for it! But I'd almost given up hope!"
+
+Samuel found voice enough to gasp, "Why?"
+
+"My mamma read me a story," said the child. "It was about a little girl
+who met a burglar. And ever since I've been waiting for one to come."
+
+There was a pause. "Are you a really truly burglar?" the child
+whispered.
+
+"I--I think so," replied Samuel.
+
+"You look very young," she said.
+
+And the other bethought himself. "I'm only a beginner," he said. "This
+is really my first time."
+
+"Oh!" said the child with a faint touch of disappointment. "But still
+you will do, won't you?"
+
+"Do for what?" asked the boy in bewilderment.
+
+"You must let me reform you," exclaimed the other. "That's what the
+little girl did in the story. Will you?"
+
+"Why--why, yes"--gasped Samuel. "I--I really meant to reform."
+
+Then suddenly he thought he heard a sound in the hall above. He glanced
+up, and for one instant he had a glimpse of the face of Charlie peering
+down at him.
+
+"What are you looking at?" asked the child.
+
+"I thought--that is--there's some one with me," stammered Samuel,
+forgetting his solemn vow.
+
+"Oh! two burglars!" cried the child in delight. "And may I reform him,
+too?"
+
+"I think you'd better begin with me," said Samuel.
+
+"Will he go away, do you think?"
+
+"Yes--I think he's gone now."
+
+"But you--you won't go yet, will you?" asked the child anxiously.
+"You'll stay and talk to me?"
+
+"If you wish"--gasped the boy.
+
+"You aren't afraid of me?" she asked.
+
+"Not of you," said he. "But if some one else should waken."
+
+"No, you needn't think of that. Mamma and grandma both lock their doors
+at night. And papa's away."
+
+"Who sleeps there?" asked Samuel, pointing to the door he had been
+watching.
+
+"That's papa's room," said the child; and the other gave a great gasp of
+relief.
+
+"Come," said the little girl; and she seated herself in one of the big
+leather armchairs. "Now," she continued, "tell me how you came to be a
+burglar."
+
+"I had no money," said Samuel, "and no work."
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed the child; and then, "What is your work?"
+
+"I lived on a farm all my life," said he. "My father died and then I
+wanted to go to the city. I was robbed of all my money, and I was here
+without any friends and I couldn't find anything to do at all. I was
+nearly starving."
+
+"Why, how dreadful!" cried the other. "Why didn't you come to see papa?"
+
+"Your father?" said he. "I didn't want to beg--"
+
+"It wouldn't have been begging. He'd have been glad to help you."
+
+"I--I didn't know about him," said Samuel. "Why should he---"
+
+
+"He helps everyone," said the child. "That's his business."
+
+"How do you mean?"
+
+"Don't you know who my father is?" she asked in surprise.
+
+"No," said he, "I don't."
+
+"My father is Dr. Vince," she said; and then she gazed at him with
+wide-open eyes. "You've never heard of him!"
+
+"Never," said Samuel.
+
+"He's a clergyman," said the little girl.
+
+"A clergyman!" echoed Samuel aghast. Somehow it seemed far worse to have
+been robbing a clergyman.
+
+"And he's so good and kind!" went on the other. "He loves everyone, and
+tries to help them. And if you had come to him and told him, he'd have
+found some work for you."
+
+"There are a great many people in Lockmanville out of work," said Samuel
+gravely.
+
+"Oh! but they don't come to my papa!" said the child. "You must come and
+let him help you. You must promise me that you will."
+
+"But how can I? I've tried to rob him!"
+
+"But that won't make any difference! You don't know my papa. If you
+should tell him that you had done wrong and that you were sorry--you are
+sorry, aren't you?"
+
+"Yes, I'm very sorry."
+
+"Well, then, if you told him that, he'd forgive you--he'd do anything
+for you, I know. If he knew that I'd helped to reform you, he'd be so
+glad!--I did help a little, didn't I?"
+
+"Yes," said Samuel. "You helped."
+
+"You--you weren't very hard to reform, somehow," said the child
+hesitatingly. "The little girl in the story had to talk a good deal
+more. Are you sure that you are going to be good now?"
+
+Samuel could not keep back a smile. "Truly I will," he said.
+
+"I guess you were brought up to be good," reflected the other. "I don't
+think you were very bad, anyway. It must be very hard to be starving."
+
+"It is indeed," said the boy with conviction.
+
+"I never heard of anyone starving before," went on the other. "If that
+happened to people often, there'd be more burglars, I guess."
+
+There was a pause. "What is your name?" asked the little girl. "Mine
+is Ethel. And now I'll tell you what we'll do. My papa's on his way
+home--his train gets here early in the morning. And you come up after
+breakfast--I'll make him wait for you. And then you can tell it all to
+him, and then you won't have any more troubles. Will you do that?"
+
+"You think he won't be angry with me?" asked Samuel.
+
+"No, I'm sure of it."
+
+"And he won't want to have me arrested?"
+
+"Oh, dear me!" exclaimed Ethel with an injured look. "Why, my papa goes
+to see people in prison, and tries to help them get out! I'll promise
+you, truly."
+
+"Very well," said Samuel, "I'll come."
+
+And so they parted. And Samuel found himself out upon the street again,
+with the open sky above him, and a great hymn of relief and joy in his
+soul. He was no longer a burglar!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+Samuel walked the streets all that night. For he fully meant to do what
+he had promised the child, and he did not care to go back to Charlie
+Swift, and face the latter's protests and ridicule.
+
+At eight the next morning, tired but happy, he rang the bell of Dr.
+Vince's house. Ethel herself opened the door; and at the sight of him
+her face lighted up with joy, and she turned, crying out, "Here he is!"
+
+And she ran halfway down the hall, exclaiming: "He's come! I told you
+he'd come! Papa!"
+
+A man appeared at the dining room door, and stood staring at Samuel.
+"There he is, papa!" cried Ethel beside herself with delight. "There's
+my burglar!"
+
+Dr. Vince came down the hall. He was a stockily built gentleman with a
+rather florid complexion and bushy beard. "Good morning," he said.
+
+"Good morning, sir," said Samuel.
+
+"And are you really the young man who was here last night?"
+
+"Yes, sir," said Samuel.
+
+The worthy doctor was obviously disconcerted. "This is quite
+extraordinary!" he exclaimed. "Won't you come in?"
+
+They sat down in the library. "I don't want you to think, sir," said
+Samuel quickly, "that I come to beg. Your little girl asked me---"
+
+"Don't mention that," said the other. "If the story you told Ethel is
+really true, I should be only too glad to do anything that I could."
+
+"Thank you, sir," said Samuel.
+
+"And so you really broke into my house last night!" exclaimed the other.
+"Well! well! And it is the first time you have ever done anything of the
+sort in your life?"
+
+"The very first," said the boy.
+
+"But what could have put it into your head?"
+
+"There was another person with me," said Samuel--"you will understand
+that I would rather not talk about him."
+
+"I see," said the other. "He led you to it?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And you have never done anything dishonest before?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"You have never even been a thief?"
+
+"No!" exclaimed Samuel indignantly.
+
+The other noticed the tone of his voice. "But why did you begin now?" he
+asked.
+
+"I was persuaded that it was right," said Samuel.
+
+"But how could that be? Had you never been taught about stealing?"
+
+"Yes, sir," replied the boy--"but it's not as simple as it seems. I had
+met Professor Stewart--"
+
+"Professor Stewart!" echoed the other.
+
+"Yes, sir--the professor at the college."
+
+"But what did he have to do with it?"
+
+"Why, sir, he told me about the survival of the fittest, and how I had
+to starve to death because I was one of the failures. And then you see,
+sir, I met Master Albert--"
+
+"Master Albert?"
+
+"Albert Lockman, sir. And the professor had said that he was one of the
+fit; and I saw that he got drunk, sir, and did other things that were
+very wicked, and so it did not seem just right that I should starve. I
+can see now that it was very foolish of me; but I thought that I
+ought to fight, and try to survive if I possibly could. And then I met
+Char--that is, a bad man who offered to show me how to be a burglar."
+
+The other had been listening in amazement. "Boy," he said, "are you
+joking with me?"
+
+"Joking!" echoed Samuel, his eyes opening wide. And then the doctor
+caught his breath and proceeded to question him. He went back to the
+beginning, and made Samuel lay bare the story of his whole life. But
+when he got to the interview with Professor Stewart, the other could
+contain himself no longer. "Samuel!" he exclaimed, "this is the most
+terrible thing I have ever heard in my life."
+
+"How do you mean, sir?"
+
+"You have been saved--providentially saved, as I firmly believe. But you
+were hanging on the very verge of a life of evil; and all because men
+in our colleges are permitted to teach these blasphemous and godless
+doctrines. This is what they call science! This is our modern
+enlightenment!"
+
+The doctor had risen and begun to pace the floor in his agitation. "I
+have always insisted that the consequence of such teaching would be the
+end of all morality. And here we have the thing before our very eyes! A
+young man of decent life is actually led to the commission of a crime,
+as a consequence of the teachings of Herbert Spencer!"
+
+Samuel was listening in consternation. "Then it isn't true what Herbert
+Spencer says!" he exclaimed.
+
+"True!" cried the other. "Why, Samuel, don't you KNOW that it isn't
+true? Weren't you brought up to read the Bible? And do you read anything
+in the Bible about the struggle for existence? Were you taught there
+that your sole duty was to fight with other men for your own selfish
+ends? Was it not rather made clear to you that you were not to concern
+yourself with your own welfare at all, but to struggle for the good of
+others, and to suffer rather than do evil? Why Samuel, what would your
+father have said, if he could have seen you last night--his own dear
+son, that he had brought up in the way of the Gospel?"
+
+"Oh, sir!" cried Samuel, struck to the heart.
+
+"My boy!" exclaimed the other. "Our business in this world is not that
+we should survive, but that the good should survive. We are to live for
+it and to die for it, if need be. We are to love and serve others--we
+are to be humble and patient--to sacrifice ourselves freely. The
+survival of the fittest! Why, Samuel, the very idea is a denial of
+spirituality--what are we that we should call ourselves fit? To think
+that is to be exposed to all the base passions of the human heart--to
+greed and jealousy and hate! Such doctrines are the cause of all the
+wickedness, of all the materialism of our time--of crime and murder and
+war! My boy, do you read that Jesus went about, worrying about His own
+survival, and robbing others because they were less fit than He? Only
+think how it would have been with you had you been called to face Him
+last night?"
+
+The shame of this was more than Samuel could bear. "Oh, stop, stop,
+sir!" he cried, and covered his face with his hands. "I see it all! I
+have been very wicked!"
+
+"Yes!" exclaimed the other. "You have been wicked."
+
+The tears were welling into Samuel's eyes. "I can't see how I did it,
+sir," he whispered. "I have been blind--I have been lost. I am a strayed
+sheep!" And then suddenly his emotion overcame him, and he burst into a
+paroxysm of weeping. "I can't believe it of myself!" he exclaimed again
+and again. "I have been out of my senses!"
+
+The doctor watched him for a few moments. "Perhaps it was not altogether
+your fault," he said more gently. "You have been led astray--"
+
+"No, no!" cried the boy. "I am bad. I see it--it must be! I could
+never have been persuaded, if I had not been bad! It began at the very
+beginning. I yielded to the first temptation when I stole a ride upon
+the train. And everything else came from that--it has been one long
+chain!"
+
+"Let us be glad that it is no longer," said Dr. Vince--"and that you
+have come to the end of it."
+
+"Ah, but have I?" cried the boy wildly.
+
+"Why not? Surely you will no longer be led by such false teaching!"
+
+"No, sir. But see what I have done! Why I am liable to be sent to
+jail--for I don't know how long."
+
+"You mean for last night?" asked the doctor. "But no one will ever know
+about that. You may start again and live a true life."
+
+"Ah," cried Samuel, "but the memory of it will haunt me--I can never
+forgive myself!"
+
+"We are very fortunate," said the other gravely, "if we have only a few
+things in our lives that we cannot forget, and that we cannot forgive
+ourselves."
+
+The worthy doctor had been anticipating a long struggle to bring the
+young criminal to see the error of his ways; but instead, he found that
+he had to use his skill in casuistry to convince the boy that he was not
+hopelessly sullied. And when at last Samuel had been persuaded that he
+might take up his life again, there was nothing that would satisfy him
+save to go back where he had been before, and take up that struggle with
+starvation.
+
+"I must prove that I can conquer," he said--"I yielded to the temptation
+once, and now I must face it."
+
+"But, Samuel," protested the doctor, "it is no man's duty to starve. You
+must let me help you, and find some useful work for you, and some people
+who will be your friends."
+
+"Don't think I am ungrateful," cried the boy--"but why should I be
+favored? There are so many others starving, right here in this town. And
+if I am going to love them and serve them, why should I have more than
+they have? Wouldn't that be selfish of me? Why, sir, I'd be making
+profit out of my repentance!"
+
+"I don't quite see that," said the other--
+
+"Why, sir! Isn't it just because I've been so sorry that you are willing
+to help me? There are so many others who have not been helped--some I
+know, sir, that need it far more than I do, and have deserved it more,
+too!"
+
+"It seems to me, my boy, that is being too hard upon yourself--and on
+me. I cannot relieve all the distress in the world. I relieve what I
+find out about. And so I must help you. And don't you see that I wish
+to keep you near me, so that I can watch after your welfare? And
+perhaps--who knows--you can help me. The harvest is plenty, you have
+heard, and the laborers are few. There are many ways in which you could
+be of service in my church."
+
+"Ah, sir!" cried Samuel, overwhelmed with gratitude--"if you put it that
+way--"
+
+"I put it that way most certainly," said Dr. Vince. "You have seen a
+new light--you wish to live a new life. Stay here and live it in
+Lockmanville--there is no place in the world where it could be more
+needed."
+
+All this while the little girl had been sitting in silence drinking in
+the conversation. Now suddenly she rose and came to Samuel, putting her
+hand in his. "Please stay," she said.
+
+And Samuel answered, "Very well--I'll stay."
+
+So then they fell to discussing his future, and what Dr. Vince was going
+to do for him. The good doctor was inwardly more perplexed about it than
+he cared to let Samuel know.
+
+"I'll ask Mr. Wygant," he said--"perhaps he can find you a place in one
+of his factories."
+
+"Mr. Wygant?" echoed Samuel. "You mean Miss Gladys's father?"
+
+"Yes," said the doctor. "Do you know Miss Gladys?"
+
+"I have met her two or three times," said the boy.
+
+"They are parishioners of mine," remarked the other.
+
+And Samuel gave a start. "Why!" he exclaimed. "Then you--you must be the
+rector of St. Matthew's."
+
+"Yes," was the reply. "Didn't you know that?"
+
+The boy was a little awed. He had seen the great brownstone temple
+upon the hill--a structure far more splendid than anything he had ever
+dreamed of.
+
+"Have you never attended?" asked the doctor.
+
+"I went to the mission once," said Samuel--referring to the little
+chapel in the poor quarters of the town. "A friend of mine goes
+there--Sophie Stedman. She works in Mr. Wygant's cotton mill."
+
+"I should be glad to have you come to the church," said the other.
+
+"I'd like to very much," replied the boy. "I didn't know exactly if I
+ought to, you know."
+
+"I am sorry you got that impression," said Dr. Vince. "The church holds
+out its arms to everyone."
+
+"Well," began Samuel apologetically, "I knew that all the rich people
+went to St. Matthew's---"
+
+"The church does not belong to the rich people," put in the doctor very
+gravely; "the church belongs to the Lord."
+
+And so Samuel, overflowing with gratitude and happiness, joined St.
+Matthew's forthwith; and all the while in the deeps of his soul a voice
+was whispering to him that it was Miss Gladys' church also! And he would
+see his divinity again!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+Samuel went back in great excitement to the Stedmans', to tell them of
+his good fortune. And the family sat about in a circle and listened to
+the recital in open-eyed amazement. It was a wonderful thing to have an
+adventurer like Samuel in one's house!
+
+But the boy noticed that Sophie did not seem as much excited as he had
+anticipated. She sat with her head resting in her hands. And when the
+others had left the room--"Oh, Samuel," she said. "I feel so badly
+to-day! I don't see how I'm going to go on."
+
+"Listen, Sophie," he said quickly. "That's one of the first things I
+thought about--I can give you a chance now."
+
+"How do you mean?"
+
+"I can get Dr. Vince to help you find some better work."
+
+"Did he say he would?" asked the child.
+
+"No," was the reply--"but he is so good to everyone. And all the rich
+people go to his church, you know. He said he wanted me to help him; so
+I shall find out things like that for him to do."
+
+And Samuel went on, pouring out his praises of the kind and gentle
+clergyman, and striving to interest Sophie by his pictures of the
+new world that was to open before her. "I'm going to see him again
+to-morrow," he said. "Then you'll see."
+
+"Samuel," announced the doctor when he called the next morning, "I have
+found a chance for you." And Samuel's heart gave a great leap of joy.
+
+It appeared that the sexton of St. Matthew's was growing old. They did
+not wish to change, but there must be some one to help him. The pay
+would not be high; but he would have a chance to work in the church, and
+to be near his benefactor. The tears of gratitude started into his eyes
+as he heard this wonderful piece of news.
+
+"I'll see more of Miss Gladys!" the voice within him was whispering
+eagerly.
+
+"Doctor," he said after a pause, "I've some good news for you also."
+
+"What is it?" asked the other.
+
+"It's a chance for you to help some one."
+
+"Oh!" said the doctor.
+
+"It's little Sophie Stedman," said Samuel; and he went on to tell how he
+had met the widow, and about her long struggle with starvation, and then
+of Sophie's experiences in the cotton mill.
+
+"But what do you want me to do?" asked the other, with a troubled look.
+
+"Why," said Samuel, "we must save her. We must find her some work that
+will not kill her."
+
+"But, Samuel!" protested the other. "There are so many in her
+position--and how can I help it?"
+
+"But, doctor! She can't stand it!"
+
+"I know, my boy. It is a terrible thing to think of. Still, I can't
+undertake to find work for everyone."
+
+"But she will die!" cried the boy. "Truly, it is killing her! And,
+doctor, she has never had a chance in all her life! Only think--how
+would you feel if Ethel had to work in a cotton mill?"
+
+There was a pause. "I honestly can't see--" began the bewildered
+clergyman.
+
+"It will be quite easy for you to help her," put in the boy; "because,
+you see, Mr. Wygant belongs to your church!"
+
+"But what has that to do with it?"
+
+"Why--it's Mr. Wygant's mill that she works in."
+
+"Yes," said the doctor. "But--I---"
+
+"Surely," exclaimed Samuel, "you don't mean that he wouldn't want to
+know about it!"
+
+"Ahem!" said the other; and again there was a pause.
+
+It was broken by Ethel, who had come in and was listening to the
+conversation. "Papa!" she exclaimed, "wouldn't Miss Gladys be the one to
+ask?"
+
+Samuel gave a start. "The very thing!" he said.
+
+And Dr. Vince, after pondering for a moment, admitted that it might be a
+good idea.
+
+"You will come to church with me to-morrow," said Ethel. "And if she is
+there we'll ask her."
+
+And so Samuel was on hand, trembling with excitement, and painfully
+conscious of his green and purple necktie. He sat in the Vince's pew,
+at Ethel's invitation; and directly across the aisle was Miss Wygant,
+miraculously resplendent in a springtime costume, yet with a touch of
+primness, becoming to the Sabbath. She did not see her adorer until
+after the service, when they met face to face.
+
+"Why, Samuel!" she exclaimed. "You are here?"
+
+"Yes, Miss Gladys," he said. "I'm to work in the church now."
+
+"You don't tell me!" she responded.
+
+"I'm to help the sexton," he added.
+
+"And he belongs to the church, too," put in little Ethel. "And oh, Miss
+Gladys, won't you please let him tell you about Sophie!"
+
+"About Sophie?" said the other.
+
+"She's a little girl who works in your papa's mill, Miss Gladys. And her
+family's very poor, and she is sick, and Samuel says she may die."
+
+"Why, that's too bad!" exclaimed Miss Gladys. "Tell me about her,
+Samuel."
+
+And Samuel told the story. At the end a sudden inspiration came to him,
+and he mentioned how Sophie had received her Christmas present from Miss
+Gladys, and how she had kept her pictures in her room.
+
+And, of course, Miss Wygant was touched. "I will see what I can do for
+her," she said. "What would you suggest?"
+
+"I thought," said he boldly, "that maybe there might be some place for
+her at your home. That would make her so happy, you know."
+
+"I will see," said the other. "Will you bring her to see me to-morrow,
+Samuel?"
+
+"I will," said he; and then he chanced to look into her face, and he
+caught again that piercing gaze which made the blood leap into his
+cheeks, and the strange and terrible emotions to stir in him. He turned
+his eyes away again, and his knees were trembling as he passed on down
+the aisle.
+
+He stood and watched Miss Gladys enter her motor. Then he bade good-by
+to Ethel and her mother, and hurried back into the vestry room to tell
+Dr. Vince of his good fortune.
+
+The good doctor had just slipped out of his vestments, and was putting
+on his cuffs. "I am so glad to hear it!" he said. "It was the very thing
+to do!"
+
+"Yes," said Samuel. "And, doctor, I've thought of something else."
+
+"What is that, Samuel?"
+
+"I'll have to have a minute or two to tell you about it."
+
+"I'm just going to dinner now"--began the doctor.
+
+"I'll walk with you, if I may," said Samuel. "It's really very
+important."
+
+"All right," responded the doctor in some trepidation.
+
+"I thought of this in the middle of the night," explained the boy,
+when they had started down the street. "It kept me awake for hours. Dr.
+Vince, I think we ought to convert Master Albert Lockman!"
+
+"Convert him?" echoed the other perplexed.
+
+"Yes, sir," said the boy. "He is leading a wild life, and he's in a very
+bad way."
+
+"Yes, Samuel," said the clergyman. "It is terrible, I know--"
+
+"We must labor with him!" exclaimed Samuel. "He must not be allowed to
+go on like that!"
+
+"Unfortunately," said Dr. Vince hastily, "it wouldn't do for me to try
+it. You see, the Lockmans have always been Presbyterians, and so Bertie
+is under Dr. Handy's care."
+
+"But is Dr. Handy doing anything about it?" persisted the other.
+
+"I really don't know, Samuel."
+
+"Because if he isn't, we ought to, Dr. Vince! Something must be done."
+
+"My boy," said the doctor, "perhaps it wouldn't be easy for you to
+understand it. But there is a feeling--would it be quite good taste for
+me to try to take away a very rich parishioner from another church?"
+
+"But what have his riches to do with it?" asked the boy.
+
+"Unfortunately, Samuel, it costs money to build churches; and most
+clergymen are dependent upon their salaries, you know."
+
+The good doctor was trying to make a jest of it; but Samuel was in
+deadly earnest. "I hope," he said, "that you are not dependent upon the
+money of anyone like Master Albert."
+
+"Um--no," said the doctor quickly.
+
+"Understand me, please," went on the other. "It's not simply that Master
+Albert is wrecking his own life. I suppose that's his right, if he wants
+to. But it's what he can do to other people! It's his money, Dr. Vince!
+Just think of it, he has seven hundred thousand dollars a year! And
+he never earned a cent of it; and he doesn't know what to do with it!
+Doctor, you KNOW that isn't right!"
+
+"No," said the clergyman, "it's very wrong indeed. But what can you do
+about it?"
+
+"I don't know, doctor. I haven't had time to think about it--I've only
+just begun to realize it. But I thought if somebody like yourself--some
+one he respects--could point it out to him, he might use his money to
+some good purpose. If he won't, why then he ought to give it up."
+
+The other smiled. "I'm afraid, Samuel, he'd hardly do that!"
+
+"But, doctor, things can't go on as they are! Right here in this town
+are people dying of starvation. And he has seven hundred thousand
+dollars a year! Can that continue?"
+
+"No, I trust not, my boy. It will be better some day. But it must be
+left to evolution--"
+
+"Evolution!" echoed Samuel perplexed. "Do you believe in evolution?"
+
+"Why," said the other embarrassed--"what I mean is, that there are vast
+social forces at work--great changes taking place. But they move very
+slowly--"
+
+"But why do they move so slowly?" objected the boy. "Isn't it just
+because so many people, don't care?"
+
+"Why, Samuel--"
+
+"If everyone would take an interest in them--then they would happen
+quickly!"
+
+The two walked on for a minute in silence. Finally, the clergyman
+remarked, "Samuel, you take a great interest in social questions."
+
+"Yes, sir," said the boy. "You see, I have been down at the bottom, and
+I know how it feels. Nobody else can possibly understand--not even you,
+sir, with all your kind heart. You don't know what it means, sir--you
+don't know what it means!"
+
+"Perhaps not, my boy," said the other. "But my conscience is far from
+easy, I assure you. The only thing is, we must not be too impatient--we
+must learn to wait--"
+
+"But, doctor!" exclaimed Samuel. "Will the people wait to starve?"
+
+That question was a poser; and perhaps it was just as well that Dr.
+Vince was nearing the steps of his home. "I must go in now, Samuel," he
+said. "But we will talk about these questions another time."
+
+"Yes, sir," said Samuel, "we will."
+
+And the other glanced at him quickly. But the boy's face wore its old
+look of guileless eagerness.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+Samuel walked away, still pondering at the problem. Something must be
+done about Master Albert, that was certain. Before he went in to his
+dinner he had thought of yet another plan. He would appeal to Miss
+Gladys about it! He would get her to labor with the prodigal!
+
+At eight o'clock the next morning, he and Sophie called at Miss Wygant's
+home. They went to the servants' entrance, and the maid who opened
+the door sent them away, saying that Miss Gladys never rose until ten
+o'clock and would not see anyone until eleven.
+
+So they went home again and came at eleven; and they were taken to a
+sitting room upon the second floor and there Miss Gladys met them, clad
+in a morning gown of crimson silk.
+
+"And so this is Sophie!" she exclaimed. "Why you poor, poor child!" And
+she gazed at the little mill girl with her stunted figure and pinched
+cheeks, and her patched and threadbare dress; and Sophie, in her turn,
+gazed at the wonderful princess, tall and stately, glowing with health
+and voluptuous beauty.
+
+"And you work in our cotton mill!" she cried.
+
+"How perfectly terrible! And do you mean to tell me that this child is
+thirteen years old, Samuel?"
+
+"Yes, Miss Gladys," said he.
+
+She turned quickly and pressed a button on the wall. "Send Mrs. Harris
+here," she said to the man who answered.
+
+"Mrs. Harris is our housekeeper," she added to Samuel. "I will consult
+her about it."
+
+The "consulting" was very brief. "Mrs. Harris, this is Sophie Stedman,
+a little girl I want to help. I don't know what she can do, but you will
+find out. I want her to have some sort of a place in the house--and it
+mustn't be hard work."
+
+"But, Miss Gladys," said the other in perplexity, "I don't know of
+anything at all!"
+
+"You can find something," was the young lady's reply. "I want her to
+have a chance to learn. Take her downstairs and have a talk with her
+about it."
+
+"Yes, Miss Gladys," said Mrs. Harris; and so Samuel was left alone with
+his goddess.
+
+He sat with his eyes upon the floor. He was just about to open the great
+subject he had in his mind, when suddenly Miss Gladys herself brought it
+up. "Samuel," she asked, "why did you leave my cousin's?"
+
+Samuel hesitated. "I--I don't like to say, Miss Gladys."
+
+"Please tell me," she insisted.
+
+"I left it," he replied in a low voice, "because I found that he got
+drunk."
+
+"Oh!" said the girl, "when was this?"
+
+"It was last Wednesday night, Miss Gladys."
+
+"Tell me all about it, Samuel."
+
+"I--I don't like to," he stammered. "It's not a story to tell to a
+lady."
+
+"I already know something about it from my maid," said she. "Jack
+Holliday was there, wasn't he?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am."
+
+"And some women?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am."
+
+"How many, Samuel?"
+
+"Four, Miss Gladys."
+
+"Tell me about them, Samuel. What sort of women were they?"
+
+It was very hard for Samuel to answer these questions. He blushed as he
+talked; but Miss Gladys appeared not at all disconcerted--in fact she
+was greedy for the details.
+
+"You say her name was Belle. I wonder if it was that girl from 'The
+Maids of Mandelay.' Was she a dancer, Samuel?"
+
+"I don't know, Miss Gladys."
+
+"And what became of her?"
+
+"I took her to a hotel, Miss Gladys."
+
+"And what then?"
+
+Samuel stopped short. "I really couldn't tell you," he said.
+
+"But why not?"
+
+"Because I promised."
+
+"Whom did you promise?"
+
+"I promised the sergeant, Miss Gladys."
+
+"The sergeant! A policeman, you mean?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am."
+
+"But what--what did the police have to do with it?"
+
+"They took me to jail, Miss Gladys. They thought that I did it."
+
+"Did what?"
+
+And again the boy shut his lips.
+
+"Listen, Samuel," pleaded the other. "You know that I am Bertie's
+cousin. And he's all alone. And I'm responsible for him--"
+
+"Oh, Miss Gladys!" cried the boy. "If you only would try to help him! I
+meant to ask you--"
+
+"But how can I help him if you keep me in ignorance?"
+
+And so Samuel blurted out the whole story. And Miss Gladys sat dumb with
+horror. "She killed herself! She killed herself!" she gasped again and
+again.
+
+"Yes, Miss Gladys," said Samuel. "And it was awful! You can't imagine
+it!"
+
+"I read of the suicide in the paper. But I never dreamed of Bertie!"
+
+There was a moment's pause. "It must be a dreadful thing for him to have
+on his conscience"--began the boy.
+
+"He must have been frightened to death!" said she. And then she added
+quickly, "Samuel, you haven't told anyone about this!"
+
+"Not a soul, Miss Gladys."
+
+"You are sure?"
+
+"I'm sure, ma'am."
+
+"You didn't tell Dr. Vince?"
+
+"I just told him that I had left because Master Albert got drunk, Miss
+Gladys. That was the truth."
+
+"Yes," said she; and then, "You always tell the truth, don't you,
+Samuel?"
+
+"I try to," he replied.
+
+"You are very good, aren't you?" she added.
+
+Samuel blushed. "No," he said gravely. "I'm not good at all."
+
+The other looked at him for a moment, and then a smile crossed her face.
+"I've heard a saying," she remarked--"'Be good and you'll be happy, but
+you'll miss a lot of fun.'"
+
+Samuel pondered. "I think that is a very terrible saying," he declared
+earnestly.
+
+Miss Gladys laughed. And she went on to cross-question him as to the
+suicide--satisfying her curiosity as to the last hideous detail.
+
+Then she looked at Samuel and asked suddenly, "Why do you wear that
+hideous thing?"
+
+Samuel started. "What thing?" he asked.
+
+"That tie!"
+
+"Why!" he said--"I got that specially--"
+
+He stopped, embarrassed; and the other's peal of laughter rang through
+the room. "Take it off!" she said.
+
+She got up and came to him, saying, "I couldn't stand it."
+
+
+With trembling fingers he removed the tie. And she took off the
+beautiful red ribbon that was tied about her waist, and cut it to the
+right length. "Put that on," she said, "and I'll show you how to tie
+it."
+
+And Samuel stood there, rapt in a sudden nightmare ecstasy. She was
+close to him, her quick fingers were playing about his throat. Her
+breath was upon his face, and the intoxicating perfume of her filled his
+nostrils. The blood mounted into his face, and the veins stood out upon
+his forehead, and strange and monstrous things stirred in the depths of
+him.
+
+"There," she said, "that's better"--and stepped back to admire the
+result. She smiled upon him radiantly. "You have no taste, Samuel," she
+said. "I shall have to educate you."
+
+"Yes, Miss Gladys," he responded in a low voice.
+
+"And listen," she went on, "you will come to see Sophie now and then,
+won't you?"
+
+"Yes, yes," he said quickly.
+
+"And come some time when I am here."
+
+He caught his breath and gripped his hands and answered yet again,
+"Yes!"
+
+"Don't be afraid of me," added the girl gently. "You don't appreciate
+yourself half enough, Samuel."
+
+Then there came voices in the hall, and Miss Gladys turned, and the
+housekeeper and Sophie came in. "Well?" she asked.
+
+"She doesn't know anything at all," said Mrs. Harris. "But if you want
+her taught--I suppose she could run errands and do sewing--"
+
+"Very good," said the other. "And pay her well. Will you like that,
+Sophie?"
+
+"Yes, Miss," whispered the child in a faint voice. She was gazing in awe
+and rapture at this peerless being, and she could hardly find utterance
+for two words.
+
+"All right, then," said Miss Gladys, "that will do very well. You come
+to-morrow, Sophie. And good-by, Samuel. I must go for my ride now."
+
+"Good-by, Miss Gladys," said Samuel. "And please don't forget what you
+were going to say to Master Albert!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+Samuel went home walking upon air. He had found a place for himself and
+a place for Sophie. And he had got the reforming of Bertie Lockman under
+way! Truly, the church was a great institution--the solution of all the
+puzzles and problems of life. And fortunate was Samuel to be so close to
+the inner life of things!
+
+Then suddenly, on a street corner, he stopped short. A sign had caught
+his eye--"John Callahan, Wines and Liquors--Bernheimer Beer." "Do you
+know what that place is?" he said to Sophie.
+
+"That's where my friend Finnegan works."
+
+"Who's Finnegan?" asked the child.
+
+"He's the barkeeper who gave me something to eat when I first came to
+town. He's a good man, even if he is a barkeeper."
+
+Samuel had often found himself thinking of Finnegan; for it had been
+altogether against his idea of things that a man so obviously well
+meaning should be selling liquor. And now suddenly a brilliant idea
+flashed across his mind. Why should he continue selling liquor? And
+instantly Samuel saw a new duty before him. He must help Finnegan.
+
+And forgetting that it was time for his dinner, he bade good-by to
+Sophie and went into the saloon.
+
+"Well, young feller!" exclaimed the Irishman, his face lighting up with
+pleasure; and then, seeing the boy's new collar and tie, "Gee, you're
+moving up in the world!"
+
+"I've got a job," said Samuel proudly. "I'm the assistant sexton at St.
+Matthew's Church."
+
+"You don't say! Gone up with the sky pilots, hey!"
+
+Samuel did not notice this irreverent remark. He looked around the
+place and saw that they were alone. Then he said, very earnestly, "Mr.
+Finnegan, may I have a few minutes' talk with you?"
+
+"Sure," said Finnegan perplexed. "What is it?"
+
+"It's something I've been thinking about very often," said Samuel. "You
+were so kind to me, and I saw that you were a good-hearted man. And so
+it has always seemed to me too bad that you should be selling drink."
+
+The other stared at him. "Gee!" he said, "are you going to take me up in
+your airship?"
+
+"Mr. Finnegan," said the boy, "I wish you wouldn't make fun of me. For
+I'm talking to you out of the bottom of my heart."
+
+And Samuel gazed with so much yearning in his eyes that the man was
+touched, in spite of the absurdity of it. "Go on," he said. "I'll
+listen."
+
+"It's just this," said Samuel. "It's wrong to sell liquor! Think what
+drink does to men? I saw a man drunk the other night and it led to what
+was almost murder. Drink makes men cruel and selfish. It takes away
+their self-control. It makes them unfit for their work. It leads to vice
+and wickedness. It enslaves them and degrades them. Don't you know that
+is true, Mr. Finnegan?"
+
+"Yes," admitted Finnegan, "I reckon it is. I never touch the stuff
+myself."
+
+"And still you sell it to others?"
+
+"Well, my boy, I don't do it because I hate them."
+
+"But then, why DO you do it?"
+
+"I do it," said Finnegan, "because I have to live. It's my trade--it's
+all I know."
+
+"It seems such a terrible trade!" exclaimed the boy.
+
+"Maybe," said the other. "But take notice, it ain't a princely one. I'm
+on the job all day and a good part of the night, and standing up all the
+time. And I don't get no holidays either--and I only get twelve a week.
+And I've a wife and a new baby. So what's a man to do?"
+
+Now, strange as it may seem, this unfolded a new view to Samuel. He had
+always supposed that bartenders and saloonkeepers were such from innate
+depravity. Could it really be that they were driven to the trade?
+
+The bare idea was enough to set his zeal in a blaze. "Listen," he said.
+"Suppose I were to find you some kind of honest work, so that you could
+earn a living. Would you promise to reform?"
+
+"Do you mean would I quit Callahan's? Why, sure I would."
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed the boy in delight.
+
+
+"But it'd have to be a steady job," put in the other. "I can take no
+chances with the baby."
+
+"That's all right," said Samuel. "I'll get you what you want."
+
+"Gee, young feller!" exclaimed Finnegan. "Do you carry 'em round in your
+pockets?"
+
+"No," said Samuel, "but Dr. Vince asked me to help him; and I'm going to
+tell him about you."
+
+And so, forthwith, he made his way to the doctor's house, and was
+ushered into the presence of the unhappy clergyman. He stated his case;
+and the other threw up his hands in despair.
+
+"Really," he exclaimed, "this is too much, Samuel! I can't find
+employment for everyone in Lockmanville."
+
+"But, doctor!" protested Samuel, "I don't think you understand. This man
+wants to lead a decent life, and he can't because there's no way for him
+to earn a living."
+
+"I understand all that Samuel."
+
+"But, doctor, what's the use of trying to reform men if they're chained
+in that way?"
+
+There was a pause.
+
+"I'm afraid it's hopeless to explain to you," said the clergyman. "But
+you'll have to make up your mind to it, Samuel--there are a great many
+men in the world who want jobs, and it seems to be unfortunately true
+that there are fewer jobs than men."
+
+"Yes," said the other, "but that's what Professor Stewart taught men.
+And you said it was wicked of him."
+
+"Um--" said the doctor, taken aback.
+
+"Don't you see?" went on Samuel eagerly. "It puts you right back with
+Herbert Spencer! If there are more men than there are jobs, then the men
+have to fight for them. And so you have the struggle for existence, and
+the survival of the greedy and the selfish. If Finnegan wouldn't be a
+barkeeper, then he and his family would starve, and somebody else would
+survive who was willing to be that bad."
+
+The boy waited. "Don't you see that, Dr. Vince?" he persisted.
+
+"Yes, I see that," said the doctor.
+
+"And you told me that the only way to escape from that was to live for
+others--to serve them and help them. And isn't that what I'm trying to
+do?"
+
+"Yes, my boy, that is so. But what can we do?"
+
+"Why, doctor, aren't you the head of the church? And the people come to
+you to be taught. You must point out these things to them, so that there
+can be a change."
+
+"But WHAT change, Samuel?"
+
+"I don't know, sir. I'm groping around and trying to find out. But I'm
+sure of one thing--that some people have got too much money. Why, Dr.
+Vince, there are people right in your church who have more than they
+could spend in hundreds of years."
+
+"Perhaps so," said the other. "But what harm does that do?"
+
+"Why--that's the reason that so many others have nothing! Only realize
+it--right at this very moment there are people starving to death--and
+here in Lockmanville! They want to work, and there is no work for them!
+I could take you to see them, sir--girls who want a job in Mr. Wygant's
+cotton mill, and he won't give it to them!"
+
+"But, my boy--that isn't Mr. Wygant's fault! It's because there is too
+much cloth already."
+
+"I've been thinking about that," said Samuel earnestly. "And it doesn't
+sound right to me. There are too many people who need good clothes. Look
+at poor Sophie, for instance!"
+
+"Yes," said the other, "of course. But they haven't money to buy the
+cloth---"
+
+And Samuel sat forward in his excitement. "Yes, yes!" he cried. "And
+isn't that just what I said before? They have no money, because the rich
+people have it all!"
+
+There was no reply; and after a moment Samuel rushed on: "Surely it is
+selfish of Mr. Wygant to shut poor people out of his mill, just because
+they have no money. Why couldn't he let them make cloth for themselves?"
+
+"Samuel!" protested the other. "That is absurd!"
+
+"But why, sir?"
+
+"Because, my boy--in a day they could make more than they could wear in
+a year."
+
+"So much the better, doctor! Then they could give the balance to other
+people who needed it--and the other people could make things for them.
+Take Sophie. She not only needs clothing, she needs shoes, and above
+all, she needs enough to eat. And if it's a question of there not being
+enough food, look at what's wasted in a place like Master Albert's! And
+there's land enough at 'Fairview' to raise food for the whole town--I
+know what I'm talking about there, because I'm a farmer. And it's used
+to keep a lot of race horses that nobody ever rides."
+
+"Samuel," said the clergyman gravely, "that is true--and that is very
+wrong. But what can _I_ do?"
+
+And Samuel stared at him. "Doctor!" he exclaimed. "I can't tell you how
+it hurts me to have you talk to me like that!"
+
+"How do you mean, Samuel?" asked the other in bewilderment.
+
+And the boy clasped his hands together in his agitation. "You told me
+that we must sacrifice ourselves, and help others! You said that was our
+sole duty! And I believed you--I was ready to go with you. And here I
+am--I want to follow you, and you won't lead!"
+
+Those words were like a stab. The doctor winced visibly.
+
+And Samuel winced also--his heart was wrung. "It hurts me more than
+I can tell you!" he cried. "But think of the people who are
+suffering--nobody spares them! And how can you be silent, doctor--how
+can the shepherd of Christ be silent while some of his flock are living
+in luxury and others are starving to death?"
+
+There was a long pause. Dr. Vince sat rigid, clutching the arms of his
+chair.
+
+"Samuel," he said, "you are right. I will preach on this unemployed
+question next Sunday."
+
+"Ah, thank you, sir--thank you!" exclaimed Samuel, with tears of
+gratitude in his eyes. And he took his friend's hand and wrung it.
+
+Then, suddenly, a new thought came to him. "And meantime, doctor," said
+he, "what am I to tell Finnegan?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+
+One who has all the cares of humanity upon his shoulders, as Samuel had,
+is apt to find that it claims a good deal of time. Samuel did his best
+to keep his mind upon the weighty problems which he had to solve; but he
+found that he was continually distracted by the thought of Miss Gladys.
+Again and again her image would sweep over him, driving everything
+else from his mind. The vision of her beauty haunted him, sending his
+imagination upon all sorts of strange excursions and adventures.
+
+She had told him to come again; and he wondered how long he should wait.
+He was supposed to come to see Sophie--but that, of course, was absurd,
+for he saw Sophie every night at home.
+
+He waited three days; and then he could wait no longer. The hunger to
+see her was like a fire smoldering in him.
+
+In the morning, at eleven o'clock, he went to the house and Sophie came
+to the door. "I'll tell her you're here," said she, understanding at
+once. She ran upstairs, and came back telling him to come. "And she's
+glad, Samuel!" exclaimed the child.
+
+"Won't you come, too?" he asked blunderingly.
+
+"No, she told me not to," was Sophie's reply.
+
+So he went upstairs to Miss Wygant's own sitting room, and found her in
+a morning gown, even more beautiful than the one she had worn before.
+
+"You don't know how glad I am to see you," she said.
+
+Samuel admitted that he didn't know; and he added, "And I don't know why
+you should be, Miss Gladys."
+
+Miss Gladys stood looking at him. "You find things interesting, don't
+you?" she asked.
+
+"Why, yes, Miss Gladys," he replied.
+
+"And I find things so tiresome."
+
+"Tiresome!" gasped the boy. "Here--in this house!"
+
+"It seems strange to you, does it?" said she.
+
+"Why you have everything in the world!" he cried.
+
+"Yes, and I'm tired of everything."
+
+The boy was looking at her in wonder. "It's true," she said. "Everybody
+I meet is uninteresting--they live such dull and stupid lives. I'm shut
+up here in this town--I've got to spend a whole month here this summer!"
+
+Samuel gazed at her, and a wave of pity swept over him. He had felt for
+some time that she was not happy. So here was one more duty for him--he
+must help this beautiful young lady to a realization of her own good
+fortune.
+
+The thought set him athrill. "Ah, but Miss Gladys!" he exclaimed. "Think
+how much good you do!"
+
+"Good?" said she. "In what way?"
+
+"Why--think of Sophie! How happy you've made her."
+
+"Yes," she said dully. "I suppose so."
+
+"And me!" he exclaimed.
+
+"Have I made you happy?" she inquired.
+
+And he answered, "I have never been so happy in my life."
+
+All the wonder that was in his soul shone in his eyes, and arrested
+her gaze. They stood looking at each other; and then she came to him
+laughing. "Samuel," she said, "you haven't got that tie right."
+
+And once more her fingers touched him, and her breath was upon him, and
+the glory of her set him on fire. A new wave of feeling swept over him,
+and this time it swamped him completely. His heart was pounding, his
+brain was reeling; and blindly, like a drunken man--almost without
+knowing what he was doing--he put out his arms and caught her to him.
+
+And then, in an instant, horror seized him. What had he done? She would
+repel him--she would drive him from her! He had ruined everything!
+
+But another instant sufficed to show him that this was not the case. And
+the tide of his feeling swept back redoubled. From the hidden regions of
+his soul there came new emotions, suddenly awakened--things tremendous
+and terrifying--never guessed by him before. His manhood came suddenly
+to consciousness--he lost all his shyness and fear of her. She was
+his--to do what he pleased with! And he pressed her to him, he half
+crushed her in his embrace. She closed her eyes, and he kissed her
+upon the cheeks and upon the lips; then he heard her voice, faint and
+trembling--"Samuel, I love you!" And within him it was like a great
+fanfare of trumpets, for wonder and triumph and delirious joy.
+
+Suddenly there came a step in the hall outside. They sprang apart. The
+door of the room was open; and for an instant he saw wild terror in her
+eyes.
+
+Then she sank down upon her knees. "Oh, Samuel!" she exclaimed. "My
+ring!"
+
+"Your ring!" he echoed, dazed.
+
+"My ring!" she said again; then he heard the voice of Mrs. Harris in the
+doorway. "Your ring, Miss Gladys?"
+
+"I dropped it," she said; and Samuel sank down upon his knees also.
+
+They sought under the table. "It fell here," she said. "It's my
+solitaire."
+
+"It must have rolled," said Mrs. Harris, beginning to search.
+
+"Put your head down and look about, Samuel," commanded Miss Gladys, and
+Samuel obeyed; but he did not find any ring.
+
+They continued the search for a minute. Mrs. Harris had come back to the
+table; and suddenly she exclaimed, "Here it is!"
+
+"What!" cried the other. "Why, I looked there!"
+
+"It was under the leg of the table," explained the housekeeper.
+
+"Ah!" said the other, and put the precious ring back upon her finger.
+
+Samuel was overwhelmed with astonishment; but it was nothing to what
+he felt a moment later. His goddess turned to him. "No," she said. "I'm
+sorry, Samuel, but it's impossible for me to do what you ask me."
+
+He stared at her perplexed.
+
+"I have found a place for Sophie," she went on, "and that is positively
+all I can do."
+
+"Miss Gladys!" he exclaimed.
+
+"Really," she said, "I think you ought not to ask me to do any more. I
+understand that there is a good deal of suffering among the mill people,
+and I do what I can to relieve it. But as for taking all the employees
+into my father's household--that is simply absurd."
+
+The boy could not find words. He could only stare at her. "That's all,"
+said Miss Gladys. "And about those flower seeds--do what you can to
+find them. I want them in a few days, if I'm to use them at all. Do you
+understand?"
+
+"Y-yes, Miss Gladys," he stammered. He had seen her dart a swift glance
+at the housekeeper, and he was beginning at last to comprehend.
+
+"Bring them to me yourself," she added. "Good-by."
+
+"Good-by, Miss Gladys," he said, and went out.
+
+He went downstairs, marveling. But before he was halfway down the first
+flight of steps he had forgotten everything except those incredible
+words--"Samuel, I love you!" They rang in his head like a trumpet call.
+
+He could not hold himself in. He could not carry away such a secret.
+Sophie went to the door with him; and he took her outside and whispered
+it to her.
+
+The child stared at him, with awe in her eyes. "Samuel!" she whispered,
+"she must mean to marry you!"
+
+The boy started in dismay. "Marry me!" he gasped. "Marry me!"
+
+"Why, yes!" said Sophie. "What else can she mean?"
+
+That was a poser. "But--but--" he cried. "It's absurd!"
+
+"It's not, Samuel! She loves you!"
+
+"But I'm nothing but a poor boy!"
+
+"But, Samuel, she has plenty of money!"
+
+It had not occurred to Samuel that way; but he had to admit that it was
+true. "But I'm not good enough," he protested.
+
+"You are good enough for anyone!" cried Sophie. "You are noble and
+beautiful--and she has found it out. And she means to stoop and lift you
+up to her."
+
+The boy was silent, stricken with awe. "Oh, Samuel, it is just like in
+the fairy stories!" whispered the child. "You are to be the prince!"
+
+So she went on, pouring out the wonder of it to him, and thrilling his
+soul to yet new flights.
+
+He left her at last and walked down the street half dazed. He was to
+marry Miss Gladys! Yes, it must be true, for she had told him that she
+loved him! And then, presumably, he would come to live in that great
+palace. How could he ever stand it? What would he do?
+
+And he would be a rich man! A great surge of triumph came to him. What
+would the people at home say--what would his brothers think when he went
+to pay them a visit, and perhaps to buy the old place?
+
+But he put these thoughts away from him. He must not think of such
+things--it was selfish and ignoble. He must think of the good that he
+would be able to do with all the money. He might help the poor at last.
+He and Miss Gladys would devote their lives to this. Perhaps some day he
+might even own the mill where the children worked, and he would be able
+to send them all to school! And he would be a member of the Lockman
+family, in a way--he might even have some influence over Master Albert!
+And Ethel and Dr. Vince--how happy they would be when they heard of his
+good fortune!
+
+In the end his thoughts left all these things, and came back to Miss
+Gladys. After all, what counted but that? She loved him! She was his!
+And like a swiftly spreading fire there came over him the memory of what
+he had done to her; he walked on, trembling with wonder and fear. It
+was a kind of madness in his blood. It had taken possession of his whole
+being--he would never again be the same! He stretched out his arms as he
+walked down the street, because his emotions were greater than he could
+bear.
+
+Then suddenly, in the midst of the turmoil, a sight met his eyes which
+brought him back to the world. Approaching him, about to pass him,
+was an old man with a gray beard, stooping as he walked and carrying
+a peddler's basket. The disguise was excellent, but it did not deceive
+Samuel for an instant. He stood stock-still and cried in amazement:
+"Charlie Swift!"
+
+The peddler shot a quick glance at him. "Shut up!" he muttered; and then
+he passed on, and left Samuel staring.
+
+So with a sudden rush, a new set of emotions overwhelmed the boy. He
+was only a week away from the burglary; and yet it was an age. And how
+terrible it seemed--how almost incredible! And here was he, about to
+marry the daughter of a millionaire--while his friend and confederate
+was still skulking in the shadows, hiding from the police.
+
+Of all the distressed people whom Samuel had met in the course of his
+adventures, Charlie Swift was the only one whom he had not benefited.
+And simply to set eyes upon him was to hear in his soul a new call. How
+could he pursue his own gratifications while Charlie was left a prey to
+wickedness?
+
+The figure almost passed from sight while Samuel stood wrestling with
+the problem. He shrunk from the task before him; he was afraid of
+Charlie Swift, afraid of his cynical smile, and of his merciless
+sneering. But his duty was clear before him--as clear as that of any
+soldier, who in the midst of love and pleasure hears the bugle call. He
+might not be able to do anything for Charlie. But he must try!
+
+And so he turned and followed the old peddler to his home.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+
+"So you've let them turn you into a mission stiff!" said Charlie Swift,
+when the two were seated in his room.
+
+"A what?" exclaimed Samuel perplexed.
+
+"A mission stiff," repeated the other. "One of the guys that gets
+repentance!"
+
+Samuel experienced a sudden chilling of the ardor with which he had
+come into the room. The old grin was upon the other's face; and the boy
+realized with a sudden sinking of the heart how hard and savage he was.
+Finnegan was a babe in arms compared with Charlie Swift.
+
+To convert him would be a real task, a test of one's fervor and vision.
+Samuel resolved suddenly upon diplomacy.
+
+"They've been very good to me," he said.
+
+"I dare say," responded the other indifferently.
+
+"And Dr. Vince is really a very good man," he went on.
+
+"Humph!" commented the burglar; and then he added quickly, "You haven't
+been telling him anything about me?"
+
+"Oh, no!" exclaimed the boy.
+
+"Not a word?"
+
+"Have you forgotten that I promised you?"
+
+"That's all right," said Charlie, "only I just wanted to warn you. You
+can tie up with the church guys if you feel like it--only don't mention
+your lost brothers down in the pit. Just you remember that I got some of
+the doctor's silver."
+
+The boy gave a start. "Oh!" he exclaimed.
+
+"Didn't you know that?" laughed the other.
+
+"No, I didn't know it."
+
+"What did you suppose I was doing all that time while you were
+watching?"
+
+Samuel said nothing for a minute. "Why did you pick out Dr. Vince?" he
+asked suddenly.
+
+"Him? Why not? I knew his house."
+
+"But a clergyman! Does it seem quite fair?"
+
+"Oh, that's all right," laughed the other. "He's got a-plenty. It don't
+have to come out of his salary, you know."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because, he's got a rich wife. You didn't suppose he lived in that
+palace of a house on his own salary, did you?"
+
+"I hadn't thought anything about it."
+
+"Well, he's all right--he married one of the richest girls in town. And
+she'll keep his nest feathered."
+
+There was a pause. "Don't you think that Dr. Vince is a good man?" asked
+Samuel.
+
+"I don't know," said the other. "I've got no quarrel with him. But I
+don't like his trade."
+
+"Doesn't he do a great deal of good to people?"
+
+"Maybe," said the other, shrugging his shoulders.
+
+"To poor people?" persisted Samuel.
+
+"I dare say," admitted Charlie. "But you'll notice it takes all the sand
+out of them--makes them into beggars. And I ain't that sort."
+
+"Why do you think he tries to help them?"
+
+"Well, he gets paid for it, don't he?"
+
+"But the other people in the church--the ones who pay the money. Why do
+you think they do it?"
+
+The burglar thought for a moment. "I reckon they do it to make
+themselves feel good," he said.
+
+"To make themselves feel good," repeated the other perplexed.
+
+"Sure!" said the man. "You take one of those rich women--she's got a
+lot of money that she never earned, and she spends all her life amusing
+herself and ordering servants about. And all the time she knows that
+most of the people--the people that do the work--are suffering and
+dying. And she don't want to let that make her feel bad, so she hires
+some fellow like your friend, the doctor, to preach to 'em--and maybe
+give 'em a turkey at Christmas. And that takes the trouble off her mind.
+Don't you see?"
+
+"Yes," said the other weakly. "I see."
+
+"Or else," added Charlie, "take some of those smooth grafters they've
+got up there--the men, I mean. They spend six days in the week cutting
+other people's throats, and robbing the public. Don't you think
+it's handy for them to know they can come on Sunday and drop a
+five-dollar-bill in the plate, and square the whole account?"
+
+Samuel sought for a reply to these cruel taunts. "I don't think you put
+it quite fairly," he protested.
+
+"Why not?" demanded the other.
+
+"In the first place, men like that wouldn't go to church--"
+
+Charlie stared at him. "What!" he exclaimed.
+
+"No," said the boy.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Well, why should they care to go? And they wouldn't be welcome--"
+
+Charlie burst into laughter. "You poor kid!" he exclaimed. "What have
+you been doing up there at St. Matthew's, anyhow?"
+
+"I'm the sexton's assistant," said Samuel gravely.
+
+"Yes," said the other. "Evidently a sexton's assistant doesn't see much
+of the congregation."
+
+"I wish you'd explain," remarked the boy after a pause.
+
+"I hardly know where to begin," replied the other. "They've such a
+choice collection of crooks up there. Did you ever notice a little
+pot-bellied fellow with mutton-chop whiskers--looks as if he was eating
+persimmons all the time?"
+
+"You mean Mr. Hickman?"
+
+"Yes, that's the chap. He's one of the pillars of the church, isn't he?"
+
+"I suppose so," said Samuel. "He's one of the vestrymen."
+
+"And did you ever hear of Henry Hickman before?"
+
+"I know he's a famous lawyer; and I was told that he managed the Lockman
+estate."
+
+"Yes," said Charlie, "and I suppose you don't know what that means!"
+
+"No," admitted Samuel, "I don't."
+
+"It means," went on the other, "that he was old Lockman's right-hand
+man, and had his finger in every dirty job that the old fellow ever did
+for thirty years. And it means that he runs the business now, and does
+all the crooked work that has to be done for it."
+
+There was a pause. "For instance, what?" asked Samuel in a low voice.
+
+"For instance, politics," said the other. "Steering the grafters off
+the Lockman preserve. Getting the right men named by the machine, and
+putting up the dough to elect them. Last year the Democrats got in, in
+spite of all he could do; and he had to buy the city council outright."
+
+"What!" gasped the boy in horror.
+
+"Sure thing," laughed Charlie--"there was an independent water company
+trying to break in, and the Democrats were pledged to them. They say it
+cost Hickman forty-five thousand dollars."
+
+"But do you KNOW that?" cried the other.
+
+"Know it, Sammy? Why everybody in town knows it. It was a rotten steal,
+on the face of it."
+
+Samuel was staring at him. "I can't believe it!" he exclaimed.
+
+"Nonsense!" laughed the other. "Ask round a bit!" And then he added
+quickly, "Why, see here--didn't you tell me you knew Billy Finnegan--the
+barkeeper?"
+
+"Yes, I know him."
+
+"Well, then, you can go right to headquarters and find out. His boss,
+John Callahan, was one of the supervisors--he got the dough. Go and ask
+Finnegan."
+
+"But will he tell?" exclaimed Samuel.
+
+"I guess he'll tell," said Charlie, "if you go at him right. It's no
+great secret--the whole town's been laughing about it."
+
+Samuel was almost too shocked for words. "Do you suppose Dr. Vince knows
+it?" he cried.
+
+"He don't know much if he doesn't," was the other's reply.
+
+"A member of his church!" gasped the boy.
+
+"Oh, pshaw!" laughed the other. "You're too green, Sammy! What's the
+church got to do with business? Why, look--there's old Wygant--another
+of the vestrymen!"
+
+"Miss Gladys' father, you mean?"
+
+"Yes; old Lockman's brother-in-law. He's the other trustee of the
+estate. And do you suppose there's any rascality he doesn't know about?"
+
+"But he's a reformer!" cried the boy wildly.
+
+"Sure!" laughed Charlie. "He made a speech at the college commencement
+about representative government; I suppose you read it in the Express.
+But all the same, when the Democrats got in, his nibs came round and
+made his terms with Slattery, the new boss; and they get along so well
+it'll be his money that will put them in again next year."
+
+"But WHY?" cried Samuel dazed.
+
+"For one thing," said Charlie, "because he's got to have his man in the
+State legislature, to beat the child-labor bill."
+
+"The child-labor bill!"
+
+"Surely. You knew he was fighting it, didn't you? They wanted to prevent
+children under fourteen from working in the cotton mills. Wygant sent
+Jack Pemberton up to the Capital for nothing at all but to beat that
+law." Samuel sat with his hands clenched tightly. Before him there had
+come the vision of little Sophie Stedman with her wan and haggard face!
+"But why does he want the children in his mill?" he cried.
+
+"Why?" echoed Charlie. "Good God! Because he can pay them less and work
+them harder. Did you suppose he wanted them there for their health?"
+
+There was a long pause. The boy was wrestling with the most terrible
+specter that had yet laid hold upon him. "I don't believe he knows it!"
+he whispered half to himself. "I don't believe it!"
+
+"Who?" asked the other.
+
+"Dr. Vince!" said the boy. And he rose suddenly to his feet. "I will go
+and see him about it," he said.
+
+"Go and see him!" echoed Charlie.
+
+"Yes. He will tell me!"
+
+Charlie was gazing at him with a broad grin. "I dare you!" he cried.
+
+"I am going," said the boy simply; and the burglar slapped his thigh in
+delight.
+
+"Go on!" he chuckled. "Sock it to him, Sammy! And come back and tell me
+about it!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+
+"Dr. Vince is at lunch," said the maid who answered the bell.
+
+"Please tell him I must see him at once," said Samuel. "It's something
+very important."
+
+He went in and sat down in the library, and the doctor came, looking
+anxious. "What is it now?" he asked.
+
+And Samuel turned to him a face of anguish. "Doctor," he said, "I've
+just had a terrible experience."
+
+"What is it, Samuel?"
+
+"I hardly know how to tell you," said the boy. "I know a man--a very
+wicked man; and I went to him to try to convert him, and to bring him
+into the church. And he laughed at me, and at the church, too. He said
+there are wicked men in it--in St. Matthew's, Dr. Vince! He told me who
+they are, and what they are doing! And, doctor--I can't believe that you
+know about it--that you would let such things go on!"
+
+The other was staring at him in alarm. "My dear boy," he said, "there
+are many wicked men in the world, and I cannot know everything."
+
+"Ah, but this is terrible, doctor! You will have to find out about
+it--you cannot let such men stay in the church."
+
+The other rose and closed the door of his study. Then he drew his chair
+close to Samuel. "Now," he said, "what is it?"
+
+"It's Mr. Wygant," said Samuel.
+
+"Mr. Wygant!" cried the other in dismay.
+
+"Yes, Dr. Vince."
+
+"What has he done?"
+
+"Did you know that it was he who beat the child-labor bill--that he
+named the State senator on purpose to do it?"
+
+The doctor was staring at him. "The child-labor bill!" he gasped. "Is
+THAT what you mean?"
+
+"Yes, Dr. Vince," said Samuel. "Surely you didn't know that!"
+
+"Why, I know that Mr. Wygant is very much opposed to the bill. He has
+opposed it openly. He has a perfect right to do that, hasn't he?"'
+
+"But to name the State senator to beat it, doctor!"
+
+"Well, my boy, Mr. Wygant is very much interested in politics; and, of
+course, he would use his influence. Why not?"
+
+"But, Dr. Vince--it was a wicked thing! Think of Sophie!"
+
+"But, my boy--haven't we found Sophie a place in Mr. Wygant's own home?"
+
+"Yes, doctor! But there are all the others! Think of the suffering and
+misery in that dreadful mill! And Mr. Wygant pays such low wages. And he
+is such a rich man--he might help the children if he would."
+
+"Really, Samuel--" began the doctor.
+
+But the boy, seeing the frown of displeasure on his face, rushed on
+swiftly. "That's only the beginning! Listen to me! There's Mr. Hickman!"
+
+"Mr. Hickman!"
+
+"Mr. Henry Hickman, the lawyer. He has done even worse things--"
+
+And suddenly the clergyman clenched his hands. "Really, Samuel!" he
+cried. "This is too much! You are exceeding all patience!"
+
+"Doctor!" exclaimed the boy in anguish.
+
+"It seems to me," the doctor continued, "that you owe it to me to
+consider more carefully. You have been treated very kindly here--you
+have been favored in more ways than one."
+
+"But what has that to do with it?" cried the other wildly.
+
+"It is necessary that you should remember your place. It is certainly
+not becoming for you, a mere boy, and filling a subordinate position, to
+come to me with gossip concerning the vestry of my church."
+
+"A subordinate position!" echoed Samuel dazed. "But what has my position
+to do with it?"
+
+"It has a great deal to do with it, Samuel."
+
+The boy was staring at him. "You don't understand me!" he cried. "I am
+not doing this for myself! I am not setting myself up! I am thinking of
+the saving of the church!"
+
+"What do you mean--saving the church?"
+
+"Why, doctor--just see! I went to reform a man; and he sneered at me. He
+would not have anything to do with the church, because such wicked men
+as Mr. Hickman were in it. He said it was their money that saved them
+from exposure--he said--"
+
+"What has Mr. Hickman done?" demanded the other quickly.
+
+"He bribed the city council, sir! He bribed it to beat the water bill."
+
+Dr. Vince got up from his chair and began to pace the floor nervously.
+"Tell me, doctor!" cried Samuel. "Please tell me! Surely you didn't know
+that!"
+
+The other turned to him suddenly. "I don't think you quite realize
+the circumstances," said he. "You come to me with this tale about Mr.
+Hickman. Do you know that he is my brother-in-law?"
+
+Samuel clutched the arms of his chair and stared aghast. "Your
+brother-in-law!" he gasped.
+
+"Yes," said the other. "He is my wife's only brother."
+
+Samuel was dumb with dismay. And the doctor continued to pace the floor.
+"You see," he said, "the position you put me in."
+
+"Yes," said the boy. "I see. It's very terrible." But then he rushed
+on in dreadful anxiety: "But, doctor, you didn't know it. Oh, I'm
+sure--please tell me that you didn't know it!"
+
+"I didn't know it!" exclaimed the doctor. "And what is more, I don't
+know it now! I have heard these rumors, of course. Mr. Hickman is a man
+of vast responsibilities, and he has many enemies. Am I to believe every
+tale that I hear about him?"
+
+"No," said Samuel, taken aback. "But this is something that everyone
+knows."
+
+"Everyone!" cried the other. "Who is everyone? Who told it to you?"
+
+"I--I can't tell," stammered the boy.
+
+"How does he know it?" continued the doctor. "And what sort of a man is
+he? Is he a good man?"
+
+"No," admitted Samuel weakly. "I am afraid he is not."
+
+"Is he a man who loves and serves others? A man who never speaks
+falsehood--whom you would believe in a matter that involved your dearest
+friends? Would believe him if he told you that I was a briber and a
+scoundrel?"
+
+Samuel was obliged to admit that Charlie Swift was not a man like that.
+"Dr. Vince," he said quickly, "I admit that I am at fault. I have come
+to you too soon. I will find out about these things; and if they are
+true, I will prove them to you. If they are not, I will go away in
+shame, and never come to trouble you again as long as I live."
+
+Samuel said this very humbly; and yet there was a note of grim
+resolution in his voice--which the doctor did not fail to note. "But,
+Samuel!" he protested. "Why--why should you meddle in these things?"
+
+"Meddle in them!" exclaimed the other. "Surely, if they are true, I
+have to. You don't mean that if they were proven, you would let such men
+remain in your church?"
+
+"I don't think," said the doctor gravely, "that I can say what I should
+do in case of anything so terrible."
+
+"No," was Samuel's reply, "you are right. The first thing is to find out
+the truth."
+
+And so Samuel took his departure.
+
+He went straight to his friend Finnegan.
+
+"Hello!" exclaimed Finnegan. Then, "What about that job of mine?" he
+asked with a broad grin.
+
+"Dr. Vince says he will look out for you," was the boy's reply. "But I'm
+not ready to talk about that yet. There's something else come up."
+
+He waited until his friend had attended to the wants of a customer, and
+until the customer had consumed a glass of beer and departed. Then he
+called the bartender into a corner.
+
+"Mr. Finnegan," he said, "I want to know something very important."
+
+"What is it?" asked the other.
+
+"Do you know Mr. Hickman--Henry Hickman, the lawyer?"
+
+"He's not on my calling list," said Finnegan. "I know him by sight."
+
+"I've heard it said that he had something to do with beating a water
+bill in the city council. Did he?"
+
+"You bet your life he did!" said the bartender with a grin.
+
+"Is it true that he bought up the council?"
+
+"You bet your life it's true!"
+
+"And is it true that Mr. Callahan got some of the money?"
+
+Finnegan glanced at the other suspiciously. "Say," he said, "what's all
+this about, anyhow?"
+
+"Listen," said Samuel gravely. "You know that Mr. Hickman is a member
+of my church. And he's Dr. Vince's brother-in-law, which makes it more
+complicated yet. Dr. Vince has heard these terrible stories, and you
+can see how awkward it is for him. He cannot let such evil-doers go
+unrebuked."
+
+"Gee!" said the other. "What's he going to do?"
+
+"I don't know," said Samuel. "He hasn't told me that. First, you see,
+he has to be sure that the thing is true. And, of course, Mr. Hickman
+wouldn't tell."
+
+"No," said Finnegan. "Hardly!"
+
+"And it isn't easy for the doctor to find out. You see--he's a
+clergyman, and he only meets good people. But I told him I would find
+out for him."
+
+"I see," said Finnegan.
+
+"What I want," said the boy, "is to be able to tell him that I heard it
+from the lips of one of the men who got the money. I won't have to say
+who it is--he'll take my word for that. Do you suppose Mr. Callahan
+would talk about it?"
+
+The bartender thought for a moment. "You wait here," he said. "The boss
+has only stepped round the corner; and perhaps I can get the doctor what
+he wants."
+
+So Samuel sat down and waited; and in a few minutes John Callahan came
+in. He was a thick-set and red-faced Irishman, good-natured and pleasant
+looking-not at all like the desperado Samuel had imagined.
+
+"Say, John," said Finnegan. "This boy here used to work for Bertie
+Lockman; and he's got a girl works for the Wygants."
+
+"So!" said Callahan.
+
+"And what do you think," went on the other, "He heard old Henry Hickman
+talking--he says you fellows held him up on that water bill."
+
+"Go on!" said Callahan. "Did he say that?"
+
+"He did," said Finnegan, without giving Samuel a chance to reply.
+
+"Well," said the other, "he's a damned liar, and he knows it. It was a
+dead straight proposition, and we hadn't a thing to do with it. There
+was an independent water company that wanted a franchise--and it would
+have given the city its water for just half. Every time I pay my water
+bill I am sorry I didn't hold out. It would have been cheaper for me in
+the end."
+
+"He says it cost him sixty thousand," remarked Finnegan.
+
+"Maybe," said the other. "You can't tell what the organization got. All
+I know is that ten of us fellows in the council got two thousand apiece
+out of it."
+
+There was a pause. Samuel was listening with his hands clenched tightly.
+
+"Did he pay it to you himself?" asked Finnegan.
+
+"Who, Hickman? No, he paid it to Slattery, and Slattery came here from
+his office. Why, is he trying to crawl out of that part of it?"
+
+"No, not exactly. But he makes a great fuss about being held up."
+
+"Yes!" said Callahan. "I dare say! He's got his new franchise, and he
+and the Lockman estate are clearing about ten thousand a month out of
+it. And my two thousand was gone the week I got it--it had cost me twice
+that to get elected--and without counting the free drinks. It's a great
+graft, being a supervisor, ain't it?"
+
+"Why did you do it then?" asked Samuel in a faint voice.
+
+"I'll never do it again, young fellow," said the saloon keeper. "I'm the
+Honorable John for the rest of my life, and I guess that'll do me. And
+the next time old Henry Hickman wants his dirty work done, he can hunt
+up somebody that needs the money more than me!"
+
+Then the Honorable John went on to discuss the politics of Lockmanville,
+and to lay bare the shameless and grotesque corruption in a town where
+business interests were fighting. The trouble was, apparently, that the
+people were beginning to rebel--they were tired of being robbed in so
+many different ways, and they went to the polls to find redress. And
+time and again, after they had elected new men to carry out their will,
+the great concerns had stepped in and bought out the law-makers. The
+last time it had been the unions that made the trouble; and three of the
+last supervisors had been labor leaders--"the worst skates of all," as
+Callahan phrased it.
+
+Samuel listened, while one by one the last of his illusions were torn
+to shreds. There had been a general scramble to get favors from the new
+government of the town; and the scramblers seemed to include every
+pious and respectable member of St. Matthew's whose name Samuel had ever
+heard. There was old Mr. Curtis, another of the vestrymen, who passed
+the plate every Sunday morning, and looked like a study of the
+Olympian Jove. He wanted to pile boxes on the sidewalks in front of his
+warehouse, and he had come to Slattery and paid him two hundred dollars.
+
+"And Mr. Wygant!" exclaimed Samuel, as a sudden thought came to him. "Is
+it true that he is back of the organization?"
+
+"Good God!" laughed Callahan. "Did you hear him say that?"
+
+"Some one else told me," was the reply.
+
+"Well," said the other, "the truth is that Wygant got cold feet before
+the election, and he came to Slattery and fixed it. I know that, for
+Slattery told me. We had him bluffed clean--I don't think we'd ever have
+got in at all if it hadn't been for his money."
+
+"I see!" whispered the boy.
+
+"Oh, he's a smooth guy!" laughed the saloon keeper. "Look at that new
+franchise got for his trolley road--ninety-nine years, and anything
+he wants in the meantime! And then to hear him making reform speeches!
+That's what makes me mad about them fellows up on the hill. They get a
+thousand dollars for every one we get; but they are tip-top swells, and
+they wouldn't speak to one of us low grafters on the street. And they're
+eminent citizens and pillars of the church--wouldn't it make you sick?"
+
+"Yes," said Samuel in a low voice, "that's just what it does. It makes
+me sick!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+
+Samuel now had his evidence; and he went straight back to Dr. Vince.
+"Doctor," he said, "I am able to tell you that I know. I have heard it
+from one of the men who got the money."
+
+"Who is he?" asked the doctor.
+
+"I could not tell you that," said the boy--"it would not be fair. But
+you know that I am telling the truth. And this man told me with his
+own lips that Mr. Hickman paid twenty thousand dollars to Slattery, the
+Democratic boss, to be paid to ten of the supervisors to vote against
+the other company's water bill."
+
+There was a long pause; the doctor sat staring in front of him. "What do
+you want me to do?" he asked faintly.
+
+"I don't know," said Samuel. "Is it for me to tell you what is right?"
+
+And again there was a pause.
+
+"My boy," said the doctor, "this is a terrible thing for me. Mr. Hickman
+is my wife's brother, and she loves him very dearly. And he is a very
+good friend of mine--I depend on him in all the business matters of the
+church.
+
+"Yes," said Samuel. "But he bribed the city council."
+
+"This thing would make a frightful scandal if it were known," the other
+went on. "Think what a terrible thing it would be for St. Matthew's!"
+
+"It is much worse as it is," said the boy. "For people hear the story,
+and they say that the church is sheltering evil doers."
+
+"Think what a burden you place upon me!" cried the clergyman in
+distress. "A member of my own family!"
+
+"It is just as hard for me," said Samuel quickly.
+
+"In what way?"
+
+"On account of Mr. Wygant, sir."
+
+"What of that?"
+
+Samuel had meant to say--"He is to be my father-in-law." But at the last
+moment some instinct told him that it might be best to let Miss Gladys
+make that announcement at her own time. So instead he said, "I am
+thinking of Sophie."
+
+"It is not quite the same," said the doctor; and then he repeated his
+question, "What do you want me to do?"
+
+"Truly, I don't know!" protested the boy. "I am groping about to find
+what is right."
+
+"But you must have some idea in coming to me!" exclaimed the other
+anxiously. "Do you want me to expose my brother-in-law and drive him
+from the church?"
+
+"I suppose," said Samuel gravely, "that he would be sent to prison.
+But I certainly don't think that he should be driven from the church at
+least not unless he is unrepentant. First of all we should labor with
+him, I think."
+
+"And threaten him with exposure?"
+
+"I'll tell you, doctor," said the boy quickly. "I've been thinking about
+this very hard; and I don't think it would do much good to expose
+and punish any one. That only leads to bitterness and hatred--and we
+oughtn't to hate any person, you know."
+
+"Ah!" said the doctor with relief.
+
+"The point is, the wicked thing that's been done. It's this robbing
+of the people that must be stopped! And it's the things that have been
+stolen!--Let me give you an example. To-day I met the man who came here
+with me to rob your house; and I learned for the first time that he had
+carried off some of your silver."
+
+"Yes," said the other.
+
+"And the man asked me to say nothing about what he had done, and I
+promised. I felt about him just as you do about your brother-in-law--I
+wouldn't denounce him and put him in jail. But I saw right away that I
+must do one thing--I must make him return the things he had stolen! That
+was right, was it not, doctor?"
+
+"Yes," said Dr. Vince promptly, "that was right."
+
+"Very well," said the boy; "and the same thing is true about Mr.
+Hickman. He has robbed the people. He has got a franchise that enables
+him and the Lockman estate to make about ten thousand dollars a month
+out of the public. And they must give up that franchise! They must give
+up every dollar that they have made out of it! That is the whole story
+as I see it--nothing else counts but that. You can make all the fuss
+you want about bribery and graft, but you haven't accomplished anything
+unless you get back the stolen money."
+
+There was a pause. "Don't you see what I mean, doctor?" asked Samuel.
+
+"Yes," was the reply, "I see."
+
+
+"Well?" said Samuel.
+
+"It would be no use to try it," said the doctor. "They would never do
+it."
+
+"They wouldn't?"
+
+"No. Nothing in the world could make them do it."
+
+"Not even if we threatened to denounce them?"
+
+"No; not even then."
+
+"Not even if we put them in jail?"
+
+Dr. Vince made no reply. The other sat waiting. And then suddenly he
+said in a low voice, "Doctor, I mean to MAKE them give it up. I see it
+quite clearly now--that is my duty. They must give it up!"
+
+Again there was silence.
+
+"Dr. Vince," cried the boy in a voice of pain, "you surely mean to help
+me!"
+
+And suddenly the doctor shut his lips together tightly. "No, Samuel," he
+said. "I do not!"
+
+The boy sat dumb. He felt a kind of faintness come over him. "You will
+leave me all alone?" he said in a weak voice.
+
+The other made no reply.
+
+"Am I not right?" cried the boy wildly. "Have I not spoken the truth?"
+
+"I don't know," the doctor answered. "It is too hard a question for
+me to answer. I only know that I do not feel such things to be in my
+province; and I will not have anything to do with them."
+
+"But, doctor, you are the representative of the church!"
+
+"Yes. And I must attend to the affairs of the church."
+
+"But is it no affair of the church that the people are being robbed?"
+
+There was no reply.
+
+"You give out charity!" protested Samuel.
+
+"You pretend to try to help the poor! And I bring you cases, and you
+confess that you can't help them--because there are too many. And you
+couldn't tell how it came to be. But here I show you--I prove to you
+what makes the people poor! They are being robbed--they are being
+trampled upon! Their own government has been stolen from them, and is
+being used to cheat them! And you won't lift your voice to help!"
+
+"There is nothing that I can do, Samuel!" cried the clergyman wildly.
+
+"But there is! There is! You won't try! You might at least withdraw your
+help from these criminals!"
+
+"My HELP!"
+
+"Yes, sir! You help them! You permit them to stay in the church, and
+that gives them your sanction! You shelter them, and save them from
+attack! If I were to go out to-morrow and try to open the eyes of
+the people, no one would listen to me, because these men are so
+respectable--because they are members of the church, and friends and
+relatives of yours!"
+
+"Samuel!" exclaimed the clergyman.
+
+"And worse than that, sir! You take their money--you let the church
+become dependent upon them! You told me that yourself, sir! And you give
+their money to the poor people--the very people they have robbed! And
+that blinds the people--they are grateful, and they don't understand!
+And so you help to keep them in their chains! Don't you see that, Dr.
+Vince?--why, it's just the same as if you were hired for that purpose!"
+
+Dr. Vince had risen in agitation. "Really, Samuel!" he cried. "You have
+exceeded the limit of endurance. This cannot go on! I will not hear
+another word of it!"
+
+Samuel sat, heart broken. "Then you are going to desert me!" he
+exclaimed. "You are going to make me do it alone."
+
+The other stared. "What are you going to do?" he demanded.
+
+"First," said Samuel, "I am going to see these men. I am going to give
+them a chance to see the error of their ways."
+
+"Boy!" cried the doctor. "You are mad!"
+
+"Perhaps I am," was the reply. "But how can I help that?"
+
+"At least," exclaimed the other, "if you take any such step, you will
+make it clear to them that _I_ have not sent you, and that you have no
+sanction from me."
+
+For a long time Samuel made no reply to this. Somehow it seemed the most
+unworthy thing that his friend had said yet. It meant that Dr. Vince was
+a coward!
+
+"No, sir," he said at last, "you may rest easy about that. I will take
+the whole burden on my own shoulders. There's no reason why I should
+trouble you any more, I think."
+
+And with that he rose, and went out from the house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+
+After Samuel had left Dr. Vince, a great wave of desolation swept over
+him. He was alone again, and all the world was against him!
+
+For a moment he had an impulse to turn back. After all, he was only a
+boy; and who was he, to set himself up against the wise and great? But
+then like a stab, came again the thought which drove him always--the
+thought of the people, suffering and starving! Truly it was better
+to die than to live in a world in which there was so much misery and
+oppression! That was the truth, he would rather die than let these
+things go on unopposed. And so there could be no turning back-there was
+nothing for him save to do what he could.
+
+Where should he begin? He thought of Mr. Hickman--a most unpromising
+person to work with. Samuel had been afraid of him from the first time
+he had seen him.
+
+Then he thought of Mr. Wygant; should he begin with him? This brought
+to his mind something which had been driven away by the rush of events.
+Miss Gladys! How would she take these things? And what would she think
+when she learned about her father's wickedness?
+
+A new idea came to Samuel. Why should he not take Miss Gladys into his
+confidence? She would be the one to help him. She had helped him with
+Sophie; and she had promised to help with Master Albert. And surely
+it was her right to know about matters which concerned her family
+so nearly. She would know what was best, so far as concerned her own
+father; he would take her advice as to how to approach him.
+
+He went to the house and asked for Sophie.
+
+"Tell Miss Gladys that I want to see her," he said; "and that it's
+something very, very important."
+
+So Sophie went away, and returning, took him upstairs.
+
+"Samuel," said his divinity, "it isn't safe for you to come to see me in
+the afternoons."
+
+"Yes, Miss Gladys," said he. "But this is something very serious. It's
+got nothing to do with myself."
+
+"What is it?" she asked.
+
+"It's your father, Miss Gladys."
+
+"My father?"
+
+"Yes, Miss Gladys. It's a long story. I shall have to begin at the
+beginning."
+
+So he told the story of his coming to the church, and of the fervor
+which had seized upon him, and how he had set to work to bring converts
+into the fold; and how he had met a wicked man who had resisted his
+faith, and of all the dreadful things which this man had said. When he
+came to what Charlie Swift had told about her own father, Samuel was
+disposed to expurgate the story; but Miss Gladys would have it all, and
+seemed even to be disappointed that he had not more details to give her.
+
+"And Hickman!" she exclaimed gleefully. "I always knew he was an old
+scamp! I'll wager you haven't found out the hundredth part about him,
+Samuel!"
+
+Samuel went on to tell about the revelation at Callahan's.
+
+"And you took that to Dr. Vince!" she cried amazed.
+
+"Yes," said he.
+
+"And what did he say?"
+
+"He wouldn't have anything to do with it. And so it's all left to me."
+
+"And what are you going to do now?"
+
+"I don't know, Miss Gladys. For one thing, I think I shall have to see
+your father."
+
+"See my father!" gasped the girl.
+
+"Yes, Miss Gladys."
+
+"But what for?"
+
+"To try to get him to see how wicked these things are."
+
+The other was staring at him with wide-open, startled eyes. "Do you
+mean," she cried, "that you want to go to my father and talk to him
+about what he's doing in politics?"
+
+"Why, yes, Miss Gladys--what else can I do?"
+
+And Miss Gladys took out her handkerchief, and leaned down upon the
+table, hiding her face. She was overcome with some emotion, the nature
+of which was not apparent.
+
+The boy was naturally alarmed. "Miss Gladys!" he cried. "You aren't
+angry with me?"
+
+She answered, in a muffled voice, "No, Samuel--no!"
+
+Then she looked up, her face somewhat red. "Go and see him, Samuel!" she
+said.
+
+"You don't mind?" he cried anxiously.
+
+"No, not in the least," she said. "Go right ahead and see what you can
+do. He's a very bad, worldly man; and if you can soften his heart, it
+will be the best thing for all of us."
+
+"And it won't make any difference in our relationship?" he asked.
+
+"In our relationship?" she repeated; and then, "Not in the least. But
+mind, of course, don't say anything about that to him. Don't give him
+any idea that you know me!"
+
+"Of course not, Miss Gladys."
+
+"Tell him that you come from the church. And give it to him good and
+hard, Samuel--for I'm sure he's done everything you told me, and lots
+that is worse."
+
+"Miss Gladys!" gasped the other.
+
+"And mind, Samuel!" she added. "Come and tell me about it afterwards.
+Perhaps I can advise you what to do next."
+
+There was a pause, while the two looked at each other. And then in a
+sudden burst of emotion Miss Gladys exclaimed, "Oh, Samuel, you are an
+angel!"
+
+And she broke into a peal of laughter; and swiftly, like a bird upon the
+wing, she leaned toward him, and touched his cheek with her lips. And
+then, like a flash, she was gone; and Samuel was left alone with his
+bewilderment.
+
+Samuel set out forthwith for Mr. Wygant's office. But just before he
+came to the bridge Mr. Wygant's automobile flashed past him; and so he
+turned and went back to the house.
+
+This time he went to the front door. "I am Samuel Prescott, from St.
+Matthew's Church," he said to the butler. "And I want to see Mr. Wygant
+upon important business."
+
+Mr. Wygant sat in a great armchair by one of the windows in his library.
+About him was the most elaborate collection of books that Samuel had
+yet seen; and in the luxurious room was an atmosphere of profound
+and age-long calm. Mr. Wygant himself was tall and stately, with an
+indescribable air of exclusiveness and reserve.
+
+Samuel clenched his hands and rushed at once to the attack. "I am Samuel
+Prescott, the sexton's boy at the church," he said; "and I have to talk
+to you about something very, VERY serious."
+
+"Well?" said Mr. Wygant.
+
+Then Samuel told yet again how he had been led into evil ways, and how
+he had been converted by Dr. Vince. He told the story in detail, so that
+the other might comprehend his fervor. Then he told of the converts he
+had made, and how at last he had encountered Charlie Swift. "And this
+man would not come into the church," he wound up, "because of the wicked
+people who are in it."
+
+The other had been listening with perplexed interest. "Who are these
+people?" he asked.
+
+"Yourself for one," said Samuel.
+
+Mr. Wygant started. "Myself!" he exclaimed. "What have I done?"
+
+"For one thing," replied Samuel, "you work little children in your mill,
+and you named the State senator to beat the child-labor bill. And for
+another, you make speeches and pose as a political reformer, while you
+are paying money to Slattery, so that he will give you franchises."
+
+There was a silence, while Mr. Wygant got back his breath. "Young man,"
+he cried at last, "this is a most incredible piece of impertinence!"
+
+And suddenly the boy started toward him, stretching out his arms. "Mr.
+Wygant!" he cried. "You are going to be angry with me! But I beg you not
+to harden your heart! I have come here for your own good! I came because
+I couldn't bear to know that such things are done by a member of St.
+Matthew's Church!"
+
+For a moment or two Mr. Wygant sat staring. "Let me ask you one thing,"
+he said. "Does Dr. Vince know about this?"
+
+"I went to Dr. Vince about it first," replied Samuel. "And he wouldn't
+do anything about it. He said that if I came to you, I must make it
+clear that he did not approve of it. I have come of my own free will,
+sir."
+
+There was another pause. "You are going to be angry with me!" cried
+Samuel, again.
+
+"No," said the other, "I will not be angry--because you are nothing but
+a child, and you don't know what you are doing."
+
+"Oh!" said Samuel.
+
+"You are very much in need of a little knowledge of life," added the
+other.
+
+"But, Mr. Wygant," exclaimed the boy, "the things I have said are true!"
+
+"They are true--after a fashion," was the reply.
+
+"And they are very wrong things!"
+
+"They seem so to you. That is because you know so little about such
+matters."
+
+"You are corrupting the government of your country, Mr. Wygant!"
+
+"The government of my country, as you call it, consisting of a number
+of blackmailing politicians, who exist to prey upon the business I
+represent."
+
+There was a pause. "You see, young man," said Mr. Wygant, "I have many
+responsibilities upon my shoulders--many interests looking to me for
+protection. And it is as if I were surrounded by a pack of wolves."
+
+"But meantime," cried Samuel, "what is becoming of free government?"
+
+"I do not know," the other replied. "I sometimes think that unless the
+people reform, free government will soon come to an end."
+
+"But what are the people to do, sir?"
+
+"They are to elect honest men, with whom one can do business--instead
+of the peasant saloon keepers and blatherskite labor leaders whom they
+choose at present."
+
+Samuel thought for a moment. "Men with whom one can do business," he
+said--"but what kind of business do you want to do?"
+
+"How do you mean?" asked the other.
+
+"You went to those politicians and got a franchise that will let you tax
+the people whatever you please for ninety-nine years. And do you think
+that was good business for the people?"
+
+There was no reply to this.
+
+"And how much of the property you are protecting was made in such ways
+as that, sir?"
+
+A frown had come upon Mr. Wygant's forehead. But no one could gaze into
+Samuel's agonized face and remain angry.
+
+"Young man," said he. "I can only tell you again that you do not know
+the world. If I should step out, would things be any different?
+The franchises would go to some other crowd--that is all. It is the
+competition of capital."
+
+"The competition of capital," reflected the boy. "In other words, there
+is a scramble for money, and you get what you can!"
+
+"You may put it that way, sir."
+
+"And you think that your responsibility ends when you've got a share for
+your crowd!"
+
+"Yes--I suppose that is it."
+
+There was a pause. "I see perfectly," said Samuel, in a low voice.
+"There's only one thing I can't understand."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"Why you should belong to the church, sir? What has this money scramble
+to do with the teaching of Jesus?"
+
+And then Samuel saw that he had overstepped the mark. "Really, young
+man," said Mr. Wygant, "I cannot see what is to be gained by pursuing
+this conversation."
+
+"But, sir, you are degrading the church!"
+
+"The subject must be dropped!" said Mr. Wygant sternly. "You are
+presuming upon my good nature. You are forgetting your place."
+
+"I have been reminded of my place before," said Samuel, in a suppressed
+voice. "But I do not know what my place is."
+
+"That is quite evident," responded the other. "It is your place to do
+your work, and be respectful to your superiors, and keep your opinions
+to yourself."
+
+"I see that you will get angry with me," said the boy, "I can't make
+you understand--I am only trying to find the truth. I want to do what's
+right, Mr. Wygant!"
+
+"I suppose you do," began the other--
+
+"I want to understand, sir--just what is it that makes another person my
+superior?"
+
+"People who are older than you, and who are wiser--"
+
+"But is it age and wisdom, Mr. Wygant? I worked for Master Albert
+Lockman, and he's hardly any older than I. And yet he was my superior!"
+
+"Yes," admitted the other--
+
+"And in spite of the wicked life that he's leading, sir!"
+
+"What!"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Wygant--he's drinking, and going with bad women. And yet he is
+my superior."
+
+"Ahem!" said Mr. Wygant.
+
+"Isn't it simply that he has got a lot of money?" pursued Samuel
+relentlessly.
+
+Mr. Wygant did not reply.
+
+"And isn't my 'place' simply the fact that I haven't any money at all?"
+
+Again there was no reply.
+
+"And yet, I see the truth, and I have to speak it! And how can I get to
+a 'place' where I may?"
+
+"Really," said Mr. Wygant coldly, "you will have to solve that problem
+for yourself."
+
+"Apparently, I should have to take part in the scramble for money--if
+it's only money that counts."
+
+"Young man," said the other, "I feel sorry for you--you will get some
+hard knocks from the world before you get through. You will have to
+learn to take life as you find it. Perhaps many of us would make it
+different, if we could have our way. But you will find that life is a
+hard battle. It is a struggle for existence, and the people who survive
+are the ones who are best fitted--"
+
+And suddenly Samuel raised his hand. "I thank you, Mr. Wygant," he said
+gravely, "but I have been all through that part of it before."
+
+"What do you mean?" asked the other.
+
+"I couldn't explain," said he. "You wouldn't understand me. I see that
+you are another of the followers of Herbert Spencer. And that's all
+right--only WHY do you belong to the church? Why do you pretend to
+follow Jesus---"
+
+
+And suddenly Mr. Wygant rose to his feet. "This is quite too much," he
+said. "I must ask you to leave my house."
+
+"But, sir!" cried Samuel.
+
+"Not another word!" exclaimed the other. "Please leave the house!"
+
+And so the conversation came to an end.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+
+Samuel had had nothing to eat since morning, but he did not feel hungry.
+He was faint from grief and despair. To encounter a man of the world
+like Mr. Wygant, cold and merciless and masterful--that was a terrible
+ordeal for him. The man seemed to him like some great fortress of evil;
+and what could he do, save to gaze at it in impotent rage?
+
+He went home, and Sophie met him at the door. "I thought you wanted an
+early supper, Samuel," said she.
+
+"Why?" he asked dully.
+
+"You had something to do at the church tonight!"
+
+"Yes," he recollected, "there's to be a vestry meeting, and I have to
+light up. But I'm tired of the church work."
+
+"Tired of the church work!" gasped the child. "Yes," he said. And then
+to the amazed and terrified family, he told the story of his day's
+experiences.
+
+Sophie listened, thrilling with excitement. "And you went to see Mr.
+Wygant!" she cried in awe. "Oh, Samuel, how brave of you!"
+
+"He ordered me out of his house," said the boy bitterly. "And Dr. Vince
+has gone back on me--I have no one at all to help."
+
+Sophie came to him and flung her arms about him. "You have us, Samuel!"
+she exclaimed. "We will stand by you--won't we mother?"
+
+"Yes," said Mrs. Stedman--"but what can poor people like us do?"
+
+"And then you have Miss Gladys!" cried Sophie after a moment.
+
+"Miss Gladys!" he echoed. "Will she take my part against her own
+father?"
+
+"She told you that she loved you, Samuel," said the child. "And she
+knows that you are in the right."
+
+"I will have to go and see her," said Samuel after a little. "I promised
+that I would come and tell what happened."
+
+"And I will see her, too!" put in the other. "Oh, I'm sure she'll stand
+by you!"
+
+The child's face was aglow with excitement; and Samuel looked at
+her, and for the first time it occurred to him that Sophie was really
+beautiful. Her face had filled out and her color had come back, since
+she had been getting one meal every day at the Wygant's. "Don't you
+think Miss Gladys will help, mother?" she asked.
+
+"I don't know," said Mrs. Stedman dubiously.
+
+"It's very terrible--I can't see why such things have to be."
+
+"You think that Samuel did right, don't you?" cried the child.
+
+"I--I suppose so," she answered. "It's hard to say--it will make so much
+trouble. And if Miss Gladys were angry, then you might lose your place!"
+
+"Oh, mother!" cried Sophie. And the two young people gazed at each other
+in sudden dismay. That was something they had never thought of.
+
+"You mustn't do it, Sophie!" cried the boy. "You must leave it to me!"
+
+"But why should you make all the sacrifices?" replied Sophie. "If it's
+right for you, isn't it right for me?"
+
+"But, Sophie!" wailed Mrs. Stedman. "If you lost this place we should
+all starve!"
+
+And again they stared at each other with terror in their eyes. "Sophie,"
+said Samuel, "I forbid you to have anything to do with it!"
+
+But in his heart he knew that he might as well not have said this. And
+Mrs. Stedman knew it, too, and turned white with fear.
+
+The boy ate a few hurried mouthfuls, and then went off to his work at
+the church. But he did not go with the old joy in his soul. Before this
+it had been the work of the Lord that he had been doing; but now he was
+only serving the Wygants--and the Hickmans--apparently one always served
+them, no matter where or how he worked in this world.
+
+"You are late," said old Mr. Jacobs, the sexton, when he arrived.
+
+"Yes, sir," said Samuel.
+
+"Dr. Vince left word that he wanted to see you as soon as you came."
+
+The boy's heart gave a leap. Had the doctor by any chance repented?
+"Where is he?" he asked.
+
+"In the vestry room," said the other; and the boy went there.
+
+The instant he entered, Dr. Vince sprang to his feet. "Samuel," he cried
+vehemently, "this thing has got to stop!"
+
+"What thing, Dr. Vince?"
+
+"Your conduct is beyond endurance, boy--you are driving me to
+distraction!"
+
+"What have I done now, sir?"
+
+"My brother-in-law has just been here, making a terrible disturbance.
+You have been defaming him among the congregation of the church!"
+
+"But, Dr. Vince!" cried Samuel, in amazement. "I have done nothing of
+the sort!"
+
+"But you must have! Everyone is talking about it!"
+
+"Doctor," said the boy solemnly, "you are mistaken. I went to see Mr.
+Wygant, as I told you I would. Besides that, I have not spoken to a
+single soul about it, except just now to Sophie and Mrs. Stedman.--Oh,
+yes," he added quickly--"and to Miss Gladys!"
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed the other. "There you have it! Miss Gladys is a school
+friend of Mr. Hickman's daughter; and, of course, she went at once to
+tell her. And, of course, she will tell everyone else she knows--the
+whole congregation will be gossiping about it to-morrow!"
+
+"I am very sorry, sir."
+
+"You see the trouble you cause me! And I must tell you plainly, Samuel,
+that this thing cannot go on another minute. Unless you are prepared
+to give up these absurd ideas of yours and attend to your duties as the
+sexton's boy, it will be necessary for you to leave the church."
+
+Samuel was staring at him aghast. "Leave the church!" he cried.
+
+"Most assuredly!" declared the other.
+
+"Dr. Vince!" exclaimed the other. "Do you mean that you would actually
+try to turn me out of the church?"
+
+"I would, sir!"
+
+"But, doctor, have you the right to do that?"
+
+"The right? Why not?"
+
+"You have the right to take away my work. But to turn me out of the
+church?"
+
+"Samuel," cried the distracted clergyman, "am I not the rector of this
+church?"
+
+"But, doctor," cried Samuel, "it is the church of God!"
+
+There was a long pause.
+
+Finally, Samuel took up the conversation again. "Tell me, Dr. Vince,"
+he said. "When Mr. Hickman came to see you, did he deny that he had
+committed that crime?"
+
+
+"I did not ask him," replied the other.
+
+"You didn't ask him!" exclaimed the boy in dismay. "You didn't even care
+that much?"
+
+Again there was a pause. "I asked Mr. Wygant," said Samuel in a low
+voice. "And he confessed that he was guilty."
+
+"What!" cried the other.
+
+"He confessed it--his whole conversation was a confession of it. He said
+everybody did those things, because that was the way to make money, and
+everybody wanted to make money. He called it competition. And then I
+asked him why he came to the church of Jesus, and he ordered me out of
+his house."
+
+Dr. Vince was listening with knitted brows. "And what do you propose to
+do now," he asked.
+
+"I don't know, sir. I suppose I shall have to expose him."
+
+"Samuel," exclaimed the clergyman, "in all this wild behavior of yours,
+does it never occur to you that you owe some gratitude to me?"
+
+"Oh, doctor!" cried the boy, clasping his hands in agony. "Don't say
+anything like that to me!"
+
+"I do say it!" persisted the other. "I saved you and helped you; and now
+you are causing me most terrible suffering!"
+
+"Doctor," protested Samuel, "I would do anything in the world for you--I
+would die for you. But you ask me to be false to my duty; and how can I
+do that?"
+
+"But does it never occur to you that older and wiser people may be
+better able to judge than you are?"
+
+"But the facts are so plain, sir! And you have never answered me! You
+simply command me to be silent!"
+
+The other did not reply.
+
+"When I came to you," went on Samuel, "you taught me about love and
+brotherhood--about self-sacrifice and service. And I took you at your
+word, sir. As God is my witness, I have done nothing but try to apply
+what you told me! I have tried to help the poor and oppressed. And how
+could I know that you did not really mean what you said?"
+
+"Samuel," protested the other, "you have no right to say that! I am
+doing all that I can. I preach upon these things very often."
+
+"Yes!" exclaimed the boy, "but what do you preach? Do you tell the truth
+to these rich people who come to your church? Do you say to them: 'You
+are robbing the poor. You are the cause of all the misery which exists
+in this town--you carry the guilt of it upon your souls. And you must
+cease from robbery and oppression--you must give up this wealth that you
+have taken from the people!' No--you don't say that--you know that you
+don't! And can't you see what that means, Dr. Vince--it means that
+the church is failing in its mission! And there will have to be a new
+church--somewhere, somehow! For these things exist! They are right here
+in our midst, and something must be done!"
+
+And the boy sprang forward in his excitement, stretching out his arms.
+"The people are starving! Right here about us--here in Lockmanville!
+They are starving! starving! starving! Don't you understand, Dr. Vince?
+Starving!"
+
+The doctor wrung his hands in his agitation. "Boy," he exclaimed, "this
+thing cannot go on. I cannot stand it any longer!"
+
+"But what am I to do, sir?"
+
+"You are to submit yourself to my guidance. I ask you, once for all,
+Will you give up these wild courses of yours?"
+
+"Dr. Vince," cried Samuel, "I cannot! I cannot!"
+
+"Then I tell you it will be necessary for us to part. You will give up
+your position, and you will leave the church."
+
+The tears started into Samuel's eyes. "Doctor," he cried frantically,
+"don't cast me out! Don't! I beg you on my knees, sir!"
+
+"I have spoken," said the other, clenching his hands.
+
+"But think what you are doing!" protested the boy. "You are casting out
+your own soul! You are turning your back upon the truth!"
+
+"I tell you you must go!" exclaimed the doctor.
+
+"But think of it! It means the end of the church. For don't you see--I
+shall have to fight you! I shall have to expose you! And I shall prevail
+over you, because I have the truth with me--because you have cast it
+out! Think what you are doing when you cast out the truth!"
+
+"I will hear no more of this!" cried Dr. Vince wildly. "You are raving.
+I tell you to go! I tell you to go! Go now!"
+
+And Samuel turned and went, sobbing meanwhile as if his heart would
+break.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+
+Samuel rushed away into the darkness. But he couldn't stay away--he
+could not bring himself to believe that he was separated from St.
+Matthew's forever. He turned and came back to the church, and stood
+gazing at it, choking with his sobs.
+
+Then, as he waited, he saw an automobile draw up in front of the side
+entrance, and saw Mr. Wygant step out and enter. The sight was like
+a blow in the face to him. There was the proud rich man, defiant and
+unpunished, seated in the place of authority; while Samuel, the Seeker,
+was turned out of the door!
+
+A blaze of rebellion flamed up in him. No, no--they should not cast him
+off! He would fight them--he would fight to the very end. The church was
+not their church--it was the church of God! And he had a right to belong
+to it--and to speak the truth in it, too!
+
+And so, just after the vestry had got settled to the consideration of
+the architect's sketch for the new Nurse's Home, there came a loud knock
+upon the door, and Samuel entered, wild-eyed and breathless.
+
+"Gentlemen!" he cried. "I demand a hearing!"
+
+Dr. Vince sprang to his feet in terror. "Samuel Prescott!" he exclaimed.
+
+"I have been ordered out of the church!" proclaimed Samuel. "And I will
+not submit to it! I have spoken the truth, and I will not permit the
+evil-doers in St. Matthew's to silence me!"
+
+Mr. Hickman had sprung up. "Boy," he commanded, "leave this room!"
+
+"I will not leave the room!" shouted Samuel. "I demand a hearing from
+the vestry of this church. I have a right to a hearing! I have spoken
+the truth, and nothing but the truth!"
+
+"What is the boy talking about?" demanded another of the vestrymen. This
+was Mr. Hamerton, a young lawyer, whose pleasant face Samuel had often
+noticed. And Samuel, seeing curiosity and interest in his look, sprang
+toward him.
+
+"Don't let them turn me out without a hearing!" he cried.
+
+"Boy!" exclaimed Mr. Hickman, "I command you to leave this room."
+
+"You corrupted the city council!" shrilled Samuel. "You bribed it to
+beat the water bill! It's true, and you know it's true, and you don't
+dare to deny it!"
+
+Mr. Hickman was purple in the face with rage. "It's a preposterous lie!"
+he roared.
+
+"I have talked with one of the men who got the money!" cried Samuel.
+"There was two thousand dollars paid to ten of the supervisors."
+
+"Who is this man?" cried the other furiously.
+
+"I won't tell his name," said Samuel. "He told me in confidence."
+
+"Aha!" laughed the other. "I knew as much! It is a vile slander!"
+
+"It is true!" protested Samuel. "Dr. Vince, you know that I am telling
+the truth. What reason would I have for making it up?"
+
+"I have told you, Samuel," exclaimed Dr. Vince, "that I would have
+nothing to do with this matter."
+
+"I will take any member of this vestry to talk with that man!" declared
+the boy. "Anybody can find out about these things if he wants to. Why,
+Mr. Wygant told me himself that he had paid money to Slattery to get
+franchises!"
+
+And then Mr. Wygant came into the controversy. "WHAT!" he shouted.
+
+"Why, of course you did!" cried Samuel in amazement. "Didn't you tell me
+this very afternoon?"
+
+"I told you nothing of the sort!" declared the man.
+
+"You told me everybody did it--that there was no way to help doing it.
+You called it the competition of capital!"
+
+"I submit that this is an outrage!" exclaimed Mr. Hickman. "Leave this
+room, sir!"
+
+"The poor people in this town are suffering and dying!" cried Samuel.
+"And they are being robbed and oppressed. And are these things to go on
+forever?"
+
+"Samuel, this is no place to discuss the question!" broke in Dr. Vince.
+
+"But why not, sir? The guilty men are high in the councils of this
+church. They hold the church up to disgrace before all the world. And
+this is the church of Christ, sir!"
+
+"But yours is not the way to go about it, boy!" exclaimed Mr.
+Hamerton--who was alarmed because Samuel kept looking at him.
+
+"Why not?" cried Samuel. "Did not Christ drive out the money-changers
+from the temple with whips?"
+
+This was an uncomfortable saying. There was a pause after it, as if
+everyone were willing to let his neighbor speak first.
+
+"Are we not taught to follow Christ's example, Dr. Vince?" asked the
+boy.
+
+"Hardly in that sense, Samuel," said the terrified doctor. "Christ was
+God. And we can hardly be expected--"
+
+"Ah, that is a subterfuge!" broke in Samuel, passionately. "You say that
+Christ was God, and so you excuse yourself from doing what He tells you
+to! But I don't believe that He was God in any such sense as that. He
+was a man, like you and me! He was a poor man, who suffered and
+starved! And the rich men of His time despised Him and spit upon Him and
+crucified Him!"
+
+Here a new member of the vestry entered the arena. This was the
+venerable Mr. Curtis, who looked like a statue of the Olympian Jove.
+"Boy," he said sternly, "you object to being put out of the church--and
+yet you confess to being an infidel."
+
+"I may be an infidel, Mr. Curtis," replied the other, quickly; "but I
+never paid two hundred dollars to Slattery so that the police would let
+me block the sidewalks of the town."
+
+And Mr. Curtis subsided and took no further part in the discussion.
+
+"The church cast out Jesus!" went on Samuel, taking advantage of the
+confusion. "And it was the rich and powerful in the church who did it.
+And he used about them language far more violent than I have ever used.
+'Woe unto you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites!' he said. 'Woe unto
+you also, you lawyers!--Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye
+escape the damnation of hell?' And if He were here tonight He would be
+on my side--and the rich evil-doers who sit on this board would cast Him
+out again! You have cast Him out already! You have shut your ears to
+the cry of the oppressed--you make mockery of justice and truth! You are
+crucifying Him again every day!"
+
+"This is outrageous!" cried Mr. Hickman. "It is blasphemy!"
+
+"It must stop instantly," put in Mr. Wygant. And Samuel knew that when
+Mr. Wygant spoke, he meant to be obeyed.
+
+"Then there is no one here who will hear me?" he exclaimed. "Mr.
+Hamerton, won't you help me?"
+
+"What do you want us to do?" demanded Mr. Hamerton.
+
+"I want the vestry to investigate these charges. I want you to find out
+whether it is true that members of St. Matthew's have been corrupting
+the government of Lockmanville. And if it is true, I want you to drive
+such men from the church! They have no place in the church, sir! Men who
+spend their whole time in trying to get the people's money from them!
+Men who openly declare, as Mr. Wygant did to me, that it is necessary to
+bribe lawmakers in order to make money! Such men degrade the church
+and drag it from its mission. They are the enemies the church exists to
+fight--"
+
+"Are we here to listen to a sermon from this boy?" shouted Mr. Hickman
+furiously.
+
+"Samuel, leave this room!" commanded Dr. Vince.
+
+"Then there is no one here who will help me?"
+
+"I told you you could accomplish nothing by such behavior. Leave the
+room!"
+
+"Very well, then," cried the boy wildly, "I will go. But I tell you I
+will not give up without a fight. I will expose you and denounce you
+to the world! The people shall know you for what you are--cowards
+and hypocrites, faithless to your trust! Plunderers of the public!
+Corrupters of the state!"
+
+"Get out of here, you young villain!" shouted Hickman, advancing with a
+menace.
+
+And the boy, blazing with fury, pointed his finger straight into his
+face. "You, Henry Hickman!" he cried. "You are the worst of them all!
+You, the great lawyer--the eminent statesman! I have been among the
+lowest--I have been with saloon keepers and criminals--with publicans
+and harlots and thieves--but never yet have I met a man as merciless and
+as hard as you! You a Christian--you might be the Roman soldier who spat
+in Jesus' face!"
+
+And with that last thunderbolt Samuel turned and went out, slamming the
+door with a terrific bang in the great lawyer's face.
+
+For at least a couple of hours Samuel paced the streets of Lockmanville,
+to let his rage and grief subside. And then he went home, and to his
+astonishment found that Sophie Stedman had been waiting up for him all
+this while.
+
+She listened breathlessly to the story of his evening's adventures. Then
+she said, "I have been trying to do something, too."
+
+"What have you done?" he asked.
+
+"I went to see little Ethel," she replied.
+
+"Ethel Vince!" he gasped.
+
+"Yes," said she. "She is your friend, you know; and I went to ask her
+not to let her father turn you off."
+
+"And what came of it?"
+
+"She cried," said Sophie. "She was terribly unhappy. She said that she
+knew that you were a good boy; and that she would never rest until her
+father had taken you back."
+
+"You don't mean it!" cried Samuel in amazement.
+
+"Yes, Samuel; but then her mother came."
+
+"Oh! And what then?"
+
+"She scolded me! She was very angry with me. She said I had no right to
+fill the child's mind with falsehoods about her uncle. And she wouldn't
+listen to me--she turned me out of the house."
+
+There was a long silence. "I don't think I did any good at all," said
+Sophie in a low voice. "We are going to have to do it all by ourselves."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+
+Samuel slept not a wink all that night. First he lay wrestling with the
+congregation. And then his thoughts came to Miss Gladys, and what he
+was going to say to her. This kindled a fire in his blood, and when the
+first streaks of dawn were in the sky, he rose and went out to walk.
+
+Throughout all these adventures, his feelings had been mingled with
+the excitement of his love for her. Samuel hardly knew what to make of
+himself. He had never kissed a woman in his life before--but now desire
+was awake, and from the deeps of him the most unexpected emotions came
+surging, sweeping him away. He was a prey to longings and terrors. Wild
+ecstasies came to him, and then followed plunges into melancholy. He
+longed to see her, and other things stood in the way, and he did not
+know why he should be so tormented.
+
+Just to be in love would have been enough. But to have been given the
+love of a being like Miss Gladys--peerless and unapproachable, almost
+unimaginable!
+
+After hours of pacing the streets, he called to see her. And she came
+to him, her face alight with eager curiosity, and crying, "Tell me all
+about it!"
+
+She listened, almost dumb with amazement. "And you said that to my
+father!" she exclaimed again and again. "And to Mr. Hickman! And to old
+Mr. Curtis! Samuel! Samuel!"
+
+"It was all true, Miss Gladys," he insisted.
+
+"Yes," she said--"but--to say it to them!"
+
+"They turned me out of the church," he went on. "Had they a right to do
+that?"
+
+"I don't know," she answered. "Oh, my, what a time there will be!"
+
+"And what are you going to do now?" she asked after a pause.
+
+"I don't know. I wanted to talk about it with you."
+
+"But what do you think of doing?"
+
+"I must expose them to the people."
+
+Miss Gladys looked at him quickly. "Oh, no, Samuel," she said--"you
+mustn't do that!"
+
+"Why not, Miss Gladys?"
+
+"Because--it wouldn't do."
+
+"But Miss Gladys--"
+
+"It wouldn't be decent, Samuel. And it's so much more effective to talk
+with people privately, as you have been doing."
+
+"But who else is there to talk to?"
+
+"Why, I don't know. We'll have to think."
+
+"It's your father and Mr. Hickman I have to deal with, Miss Gladys. And
+they won't listen to me any more!"
+
+"Perhaps not. But, then, see how much you have done already!"
+
+"What have I done?"
+
+"Think how ashamed you have made them!"
+
+"But what difference does that make, Miss Gladys? Don't you see they've
+still got the money they've taken?"
+
+There was a pause. "This is something I have been thinking," said Samuel
+gravely. "I've had this great burden laid upon me, and I must carry it.
+I have to see the thing through to the end. And I'm afraid it will be
+painful to you. You may feel that you can't possibly marry me."
+
+At these words Miss Gladys gave a wild start. She stared at him in
+consternation. "Marry you!" she gasped.
+
+"Yes," he said; and then, seeing the look upon her face, he stopped.
+
+"Marry you!" she panted again.
+
+A silence followed, while they gazed at each other.
+
+"Why, Samuel!" she exclaimed.
+
+"Miss Gladys," he said in a low voice, "you told me that you loved me."
+
+"Yes," she said, "but surely--" And then suddenly she bit her lips
+together exclaiming, "This has gone too far!"
+
+"Miss Gladys!" he cried.
+
+"Samuel," she said, "we have been two bad children; and we must not go
+on in this way."
+
+The boy gave a gasp of amazement.
+
+"I had no idea that you were taking me so seriously," she continued. "It
+wasn't fair to me."
+
+"Then--then you don't love me!" he panted.
+
+"Why--perhaps," she replied, "how can I tell? But one does not marry
+because one loves, Samuel."
+
+He gazed at her, speechless.
+
+"I thought we were playing with each other; and I thought you understood
+it. It wasn't very wise, perhaps---"
+
+"Playing with each other!" whispered the boy, his voice almost gone.
+
+"You take everything with such frightful seriousness," she protested.
+"Really, I don't think you had any right---"
+
+"Miss Gladys!" he cried in sudden anguish; and she stopped and stared at
+him, frightened.
+
+"Do you know what you have done to me?" he exclaimed.
+
+"Samuel," she said in a trembling voice, "I am very much surprised and
+upset. I had no idea of such a thing; and you must stop, before it is
+too late."
+
+"But I love you!" he cried, half beside himself.
+
+"Yes," she said in great agitation--"and that's very good of you. But
+there are some things you must remember--"
+
+"You--you let me embrace you, Miss Gladys! You let me think of you so!
+Why, what is a man to do? What was I to make of it? I had never loved a
+woman before. And you--you led me on--"
+
+"Samuel, you must not talk like this!" she broke in. "I can't listen to
+you. It was a misunderstanding, and you must forget it all. You must go
+away. We must not meet again."
+
+"Miss Gladys!" he cried in horror.
+
+"Yes," she exclaimed, "you must go--"
+
+"You are going to turn me off!" he panted. "Oh, how can you say such a
+thing? Why, think what you have done to me!"
+
+"Samuel," protested the girl angrily, "this is perfectly preposterous
+behavior of you! You have no right to go on in this way. You never had
+any right to--to think such things. How could you so forget your place?"
+
+And he started as if stung with a whip. "My place!" he gasped.
+
+"Yes," she said.
+
+"I see, I see!" he burst out. "It's my 'place' again. It's the fact that
+I have no money!"
+
+"Why, Samuel!" she exclaimed. "What a thing to say! It's not that--"
+
+"It's that, and it's nothing but that! It never is anything but that!
+It's because I am a poor boy, and couldn't help myself! You told me that
+you loved me, and I believed you. You were so beautiful, and I thought
+that you must be good! Why, I worshiped the very ground you walked on.
+I would have done anything in the world for you--I would have died for
+you! I went about thinking about you all day--I made you into a dream
+of everything that was good and perfect! And now--now--you say that you
+were only playing with me! Using me for your selfish pleasure--just as
+you do all the other poor people!"
+
+"Samuel!" she gasped.
+
+"Just as your father does the children in his mill! Just as your cousin
+does the poor girls he seduces! Just as you do everything in life that
+you touch!"
+
+The girl had turned scarlet with anger. "How dare you speak to me that
+way?" she cried.
+
+"I dare to speak the truth to anyone! And that is the truth about you!
+You are like all the rest of them--the members of your class. You are
+parasites--vampires--you devour other people's lives! And you are the
+worst, because you are a woman! You are beautiful, and you ought to be
+all the things that I imagined you were! But you use your beauty for a
+snare--you wreck men's lives with it--"
+
+"Stop, Samuel!"
+
+"I won't stop! You shall hear me! You drew me on deliberately--you
+wanted to amuse yourself with me, to see what I would do. And you had
+never a thought about me, or my rights, or the harm you might be doing
+to me! And now you've got tired--and you tell me to end it! You tell
+me about my 'place!' What am I in the world for, but to afford you
+amusement? What are all the working people for but to save you trouble
+and keep you beautiful and happy? What are the children for but to spin
+clothes for you to wear? And you--what do you do for them, to pay for
+their wasted lives, for all their toil and suffering?"
+
+"Samuel Prescott!" cried the outraged girl. "I will not hear another
+word of this!"
+
+"Yes, that's just what your father said! And what your cousin said! And
+what your clergyman said! And you can send for the butler and have me
+put out--but let me tell you that will not be the end of it. We
+shall find some way to get at you! The people will not always be your
+slaves--they will not always give their lives to keep you in idleness
+and luxury! You were born to it--you've had everything in the world that
+you wanted, from the first hour of your life. And you think that will go
+on forever, that nothing can ever change it! But let me tell you that it
+seems different to the people underneath! We are tired of being robbed
+and spit upon! And we mean to fight! We mean to fight! We don't intend
+to be starved and tormented forever!"
+
+And then in the midst of his wild tirade, Samuel stopped, and stared
+with horror in his eyes--realizing that this was Miss Gladys to whom he
+was talking! And suddenly a storm of sobs rose in him; and he put his
+hands to his face, and burst into tears, and turned and rushed from the
+room.
+
+He went down the street, like a hunted animal, beside himself with
+grief, and looking for some place to hide. And as he ran on, he pulled
+out the faded pictures he had carried next to his heart, and tore them
+into pieces and flung them to the winds.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+
+When Sophie came home that evening, Samuel had mastered himself. He told
+her the story without a tremor in his voice. And this was well, for
+he was not prepared for the paroxysm of emotion with which the child
+received the news. Miss Gladys had been the last of Samuel's illusions;
+but she was the only one that Sophie had ever had. The child had made
+her life all over out of the joy of working for her; and now, hearing
+the story of her treatment of Samuel, she was almost beside herself with
+grief.
+
+Samuel was frightened at her violence. "Listen, Sophie," he said,
+putting his arm around her. "We must not forget our duty."
+
+"I could never go back there again!" exclaimed the child wildly. "I
+should die if I had to see her again!"
+
+"I don't mean that," said the other quickly--seeking to divert her
+thoughts. "But you must remember what I have to do; and you must help
+me."
+
+He went on to tell her of his plan to fight for the possession of St.
+Matthew's Church. "And we must not give way to bitterness," he said; "it
+would be a very wicked thing if we did it from anger."
+
+"But how can you help it?" she cried.
+
+"It is hard," said Samuel; "but I have been wrestling with myself. We
+must not hate these people. They have done evil to us, but they do not
+realize it--they are poor human beings like the rest of us."
+
+"But they are bad, selfish people!" exclaimed the child.
+
+"I have thought it all out," said he. "I have been walking the streets
+all day, thinking about it. And I will not let myself feel anything but
+pity for them. They have done me wrong, but it is nothing to the wrong
+they have done themselves."
+
+"Oh, Samuel, you are so good!" exclaimed Sophie; and he winced--because
+that was what Miss Gladys had said to him.
+
+"I had to settle it with myself," he explained. "I have got to carry on
+a fight against them, and I have to be sure that I'm not just venting my
+spite."
+
+"What are you going to do?" asked Sophie.
+
+"I am going to put the facts before the congregation of the church. If
+they will do nothing, I am going to the people."
+
+"But how, Samuel?"
+
+"I am going to call a meeting. See, I have written this."
+
+And he took from his pocket a piece of paper, on which he had printed,
+in capital letters, as follows:
+
+TO THE MEMBERS OF ST. MATTHEWS!
+
+"There is corruption in the church. Members of its vestry have bribed
+the government of the town. They are robbing the people. The vestry has
+refused me a hearing and turned me out of the church. I appeal to the
+congregation. Next Wednesday evening, at eight o'clock, I will address
+a meeting on the vacant lot opposite the church, and will tell what I
+know. SAMUEL PRESCOTT."
+
+"And what are you going to do with that?" asked Sophie in wonder.
+
+"I am going to have it printed on little slips, and give them out to the
+people when they are coming out of the church to-morrow morning."
+
+"Oh, Samuel!" gasped the child.
+
+"I have to do it," he said.
+
+"But, Samuel, everyone will come--people from all over town."
+
+"I can't help that," he answered. "I can't afford to hire a hall; and
+they wouldn't let me speak in the church."
+
+"But can you get this printed so quickly?"
+
+"I don't know," said he. "I must find some one."
+
+Sophie clapped her hands suddenly. "Oh, I know just the very thing!" she
+cried. "Friedrich Bremer has a printing press!"
+
+"What!"
+
+"Yes. His father used to print things. They will tell us." And so,
+without stopping to eat, the two hurried off to the Bremer family; and
+mother and father and all the children sat and listened in astonishment
+while Samuel told his tale. Friedrich was thrilling with excitement; and
+old Johann's red face grew fiery.
+
+"Herr Gott!" he cried. "I vas that vay myself once!"
+
+"And then will you help me to get them printed?" asked Samuel.
+
+"Sure!" replied the other. "I will do it myself. Vy did I go through the
+Commune?" And so the whole family adjourned to the attic, and the little
+printing outfit was dragged out from under the piles of rubbish.
+
+"I used it myself," said the old carpet designer. "But vhen I come here
+they give me a varning, and I haf not dared. For two years I haf not
+even been to the meetings of the local."
+
+"Of the what?" asked Samuel.
+
+"I am a Socialist," explained Mr. Bremer. And Samuel gave a start.
+Ought he to accept any help from Socialists? But meantime Friedrich was
+sorting out the type, and his father was inspecting Samuel's copy.
+
+"You must make it vith a plenty of paragraphs," he said; "and
+exclamation points, too. Then they vill read it."
+
+"They'll read it!" said Friedrich grimly.
+
+"How shall we print it?" asked the father; and the children rushed
+downstairs and came back with some sheets of writing paper, and a lot of
+brown wrapping paper. They sat on the floor and folded and cut it, while
+Friedrich set the type. And this was the way of the printing of Samuel's
+first manifesto.
+
+"Can you make a speech?" Mrs. Bremer asked. "Won't you be frightened?"
+
+To which Samuel answered gravely: "I don't think so. I shall be thinking
+about what I have to say."
+
+It was late at night when the two children went home, with three hundred
+copies of the revolutionary document carefully wrapped up from view;
+and they were so much excited by the whole affair that they had actually
+forgotten about Miss Gladys! It was not until he tried to go to sleep
+that her image came back to him, and all his blasted hopes arose to mock
+at him. What a fool he had been! How utterly insane all his fantasies
+seemed to him now! So he passed another sleepless night, and it was not
+till daylight that he fell into a troubled slumber.
+
+He had to control his impatience until after eleven o'clock, the hour
+of the service at the church. Sophie wished to go with him and share his
+peril, but he would not consent to this. He would not be able to give
+the manifesto to everyone, but he could reach enough--the others would
+hear about it! So, a full hour before the end of the service, he took up
+his post across the street, his heart beating furiously. He was feeling,
+it must be confessed, a good deal like a dynamiter or an assassin. The
+weather was warm, and the door of the church was open, so that he could
+hear the booming voice of Dr. Vince. The sound of the organ brought
+tears into his eyes--he loved the organ, and he was not to be allowed to
+listen to it! At last came the end; the sounds of the choir receded, and
+the assassin moved over to a strategic position. And then came the first
+of the congregation--of all persons, the Olympian Mr. Curtis!
+
+"Will you take one of these, sir?" said Samuel, with his heart in
+his throat. And Mr. Curtis who was mopping his forehead with his
+handkerchief, started as if he had seen a ghost. "Boy, what are you
+doing?" he cried; but Samuel had darted away, trying to give out the
+slips of paper to the people as they came out at both doors. He was
+quite right in saying that everybody would know about it. The people
+took the slips and read them, and then they stopped to stare and exclaim
+to one another, so that there was a regular blockade at the doors of
+the church. By the time that a score of the slips had been given out
+the members had had time to get their wits back, and then there was an
+attempt to interfere.
+
+"This is an outrage!" cried Mr. Curtis, and tried to grab Samuel by the
+arm; but the boy wrenched himself loose and darted around the corner, to
+where a stream of people had come out of the side door.
+
+"Take one!" he exclaimed. "Pass it along! Let everyone know!" And so he
+got rid of a score or two more of his slips. And then, keeping a wary
+lookout for Mr. Curtis or any other of the vestrymen, he ran around in
+front again, and circled on the edge of the rapidly gathering throng,
+giving away several of the dodgers wherever a hand was held out. "Give
+them to everyone!" he kept repeating in his shrill voice.
+
+"The evil-doers must be turned out of the church!"
+
+Then suddenly out of the crowd pushed Mr. Hamerton, breathless and red
+in the face. "Samuel!" he cried, pouncing upon him, "this cannot go on!"
+
+"But it must go on!" replied the boy. "Let me go! Take your hands off
+me!" And he raised his voice in a wild shriek. "There are thieves in the
+church of Christ!"
+
+In the scuffle the dodgers were scattered on the ground; and Mr.
+Hamerton stooped to pick them up. Samuel seized what he could and darted
+to the side door again, where there were more people eager to take them.
+And so he got rid of the last he had. And for the benefit of those whom
+he still saw emerging, he raised his hands and shouted: "There are
+men in the vestry of this church who have bribed the city council of
+Lockmanville! I mean to expose them in a meeting across the street on
+Wednesday night!" And then he turned, and dodging an outraged church
+member who sought to lay hold of him, he sped like a deer down the
+street.
+
+He had made his appeal to the congregation!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+
+Samuel rushed home, breathless, to tell Sophie; and pretty soon came
+the Bremers, who had been watching the scene from a distance. And the
+thrilling tale had to be told all over to them.
+
+Then Johann made a novel announcement. "For that meeting," he said, "you
+must get a permit."
+
+"A permit!" exclaimed Samuel. "From whom?"
+
+"From the police," replied the other. "You must haf it for all street
+meetings."
+
+"And where do I get it?"
+
+"At the station house, I think."
+
+Samuel did not much fancy a visit to the station house, which he knew
+far too well already; but he would have gone into a den of lions for the
+sake of his cause. So, bright and early the next morning, he set out.
+With Mrs. Stedman's help he had persuaded Sophie that she must return to
+the Wygants, and so he walked part of the way with her.
+
+There was a new sergeant at the desk, an Irishman. "Please, sir," said
+the boy, "is this where I get a permit?"
+
+"For what?" asked the other.
+
+"To hold a meeting on the street, sir."
+
+"What sort of a meeting?"
+
+"Why--I've just got something to say to the people, sir."
+
+"Something to say to the people!" echoed the other; and then, suddenly,
+"What's your name?"
+
+"Samuel Prescott, sir."
+
+And the sergeant's eyes opened wide. "Oh!" he said. "You're that
+fellow!"
+
+"What did you say?" asked Samuel.
+
+"The chief wants to see you," replied the other.
+
+And so Samuel was escorted into the private room, where Chief McCullagh,
+red-faced and burly, sat at his desk. When he saw Samuel he bounded to
+his feet. "So here you are!" he cried.
+
+To the sergeant he said, "Leave us alone." And when the man had shut the
+door, he strode toward Samuel, and thrust a finger into his face. "Young
+fellow," he cried, "you promised me you would get out of this town!"
+
+"No!" exclaimed the boy.
+
+"What?" roared the other.
+
+"No, sir! It was Charlie Swift promised you that!"
+
+"And what did you promise?"
+
+"I promised I wouldn't tell anyone about--about Master Albert, sir. And
+I haven't done it."
+
+"I told Charlie Swift to take you out of town. And why didn't you go?"
+
+"He didn't--" And then Samuel stopped. He had promised to tell nothing
+about Charlie.
+
+"Go on!" cried the chief.
+
+"I--I can't tell," he stammered.
+
+"What?" exclaimed the other. "You want to hide things from me? Don't you
+suppose I know that he's still in town; and that you and him have been
+doin' jobs?"
+
+"No--no!" cried Samuel in terror.
+
+"You can't lie to me!" threatened the chief. "I know you, you young
+villain!"
+
+He stood glaring at the boy for a few moments. "And you have the nerve
+to come here!" he cried. "What do you want anyway?"
+
+"I--I want to hold a meeting, sir."
+
+"Who's given you a license to make trouble in this town?"
+
+"Nobody's given me one yet," replied Samuel. "That's what I came for."
+
+"Don't you get gay with me!" snapped the chief. But Samuel was far from
+the thought of getting gay with anyone--he was trembling in his boots.
+The man towered over him like a huge gorilla, and his red face was
+ferocious.
+
+"Now look here, young fellow!" he went on. "You might as well get this
+straight. You'll get no permit to make any speeches in Lockmanville!
+D'ye see?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And what's more, you'll not make any speech. D'ye see?"
+
+"But--but--" gasped the boy.
+
+And McCullagh shook his finger so that it almost hit Samuel's nose.
+"You'll not make any speech! You'll not make it on the street, and
+you'll not make it anywheres else in town! And you might as well get
+that through your nut and save yourself trouble. And if I hear of you
+givin' out any more papers on the street--you'll wish you hadn't--that's
+all, young fellow! D'ye see?"
+
+"I see," gasped Samuel.
+
+"All right," said the chief. "And if you take my advice, you'll get the
+first train out of Lockmanville and never show your face in it again.
+Now get out of here!"
+
+And Samuel got out, and went down the street dumb with dismay. So they
+had got the police after him!
+
+Of course he would make his speech. He could not let himself be
+stopped by such a thing as that. But he saw at once how matters were
+complicated--if the police were to stop him before he had made clear
+what he had to say, they might ruin all his plans.
+
+He must seek advice about it; and he went at once to the carpet factory,
+and sought out the little room where the Bremers sat with their drawing
+boards and paints.
+
+"So that's it!" exclaimed Johann. "They vill shut you up!"
+
+"Do you think they can?" asked the boy.
+
+"Sure they can!" cried the other. "They hafn't let the Socialists speak
+on the streets for years. We should haf fought them!"
+
+He reached for his coat. "Come," he said. "I vill take you to see Tom
+Everley."
+
+"Who is Tom Everley?" asked the boy.
+
+"He's a lawyer, and he vill tell you. He's the secretary of the local."
+
+"A Socialist!" exclaimed Samuel, startled. Again it was the Socialists!
+
+Everley sat in a little office in an out-of-the-way street. He was a
+young chap, frank and boyish-looking, and Samuel's heart warmed to him
+at once. "Comrade Everley," said the carpet designer, "here is a boy you
+ought to help. Tell him all about it, Samuel--you can trust him."
+
+So Samuel told his tale once more. And the other listened with
+breathless interest, and with many exclamations of incredulity and
+delight. When the boy had finished, he sprang up excitedly and grasped
+his hand. "Samuel Prescott," he cried, "put it there! You are a brick!"
+
+"Then you'll stand by me!" exclaimed Samuel, breathless with relief.
+
+"Stand by you?" echoed the other. "I'll stand by you until hell freezes
+solid!"
+
+Then he sat down again, and began tapping nervously on the desk with his
+pencil. "I'll call a special meeting of the local," he said. "They must
+take you up. The movement's been slow in Lockmanville of late, and a
+fight like this is just what the comrades need."
+
+"But I'm not a Socialist!" objected Samuel.
+
+"That's all right," replied Everley, "we don't care about that."
+
+Samuel had not meant it that way, but he could not think how to make his
+trouble clear.
+
+"I can get the local together to-morrow night," went on the other.
+"There's no time to be lost. We must get out a lot of circulars and
+cover the town."
+
+"But I only wanted the people of the church to come," said the boy.
+
+"But others will come anyway," said Everley. "And haven't the people a
+right to know how they've been robbed?"
+
+"Yes," said Samuel, "they have."
+
+"And perhaps," added the other with a smile, "if the congregation has a
+little pressure from outside, it will be much more apt to take action.
+What we've got to do with this thing is to make a free speech fight out
+of it, and open the eyes of the whole town. Otherwise the police will
+nip the thing in the bud, and no one will ever know what we had."
+
+"You must be careful how you give out those circulars," put in Johann.
+"They will nip you there, if they can."
+
+"That's all right," laughed Everley. "You trust the comrades for that!
+We know a printer we can rely on!"
+
+Samuel drew a deep breath of satisfaction. Here was a man who understood
+things, and took hold with conviction--a man who was really willing
+to do something. It was very disconcerting that he happened to be a
+Socialist!
+
+Everley took up a pencil and wrote the new announcement:
+
+PEOPLE OF LOCKMANVILLE!
+
+"Having made the discovery that members of the vestry of St. Matthew's
+Church had been bribing the city council, I demanded an investigation,
+and I was turned out of the church.
+
+"I called a meeting to tell the congregation about it, but I was refused
+a permit to speak. Chief of Police McCullagh declared to me that I
+should never make my speech in this town.
+
+"Will you stand by me?
+
+"I intend to speak on Wednesday night, at 8 P.M., at the vacant lot
+opposite the church.
+
+"In the name of Free Speech and Civic Decency,
+
+                            "SAMUEL PRESCOTT."
+
+"How's that?" he asked.
+
+"Fine!" exclaimed Samuel in delight.
+
+"I'll take the risk of having it set up," added the lawyer. "And I'll
+get the notices to the members of the local off in this evening's mail.
+Come, we'll go to see one or two of them now and talk it over with
+them."
+
+So they went down, and while Johann hurried back to his work, Samuel and
+Everley stopped in a cigar store a couple of doors down the street,
+kept by a little Russian Jew with a merry face and dancing black eyes.
+"Comrade Lippman," said Everley, "this is Mr. Prescott."
+
+There came also "Comrade Minsky," from the rear workroom, a cigar maker,
+bare-armed and very yellow and emaciated. To them Everley told briefly
+the story of Samuel's adventures and what he proposed to do. The glow
+of excitement with which they received the tidings left no doubt as to
+their attitude. And a couple of blocks around the corner was a little
+shop where a grizzled old carpenter, "Comrade Beggs," clutched Samuel's
+hand in a grip like one of his vises, while he expressed his approval of
+his course. And then they called on Dr. Barton, a young physician, whom
+Everley declared to be one of the mainstays of the local of the town.
+"He got his education abroad," he explained, "so he has none of the
+narrowness of our physicians. His wife's quite a speaker, too."
+
+Mrs. Barton was a sweet-faced and mild-looking lady, who reminded Samuel
+of the picture of his mother. All the while that Everley was telling
+his story the boy was staring at her, and trying to straighten out the
+tangle of perplexity that was caused in his mind by the idea of her
+being a Socialist speaker!
+
+By and by the doctor came in, and the story had to be told yet again.
+They were so much interested and excited that they begged their visitors
+to remain to luncheon. They talked the whole problem out, and Samuel was
+struck by the certainty with which their minds took hold of it. There
+was no need of any long explanations with them--they seemed to know just
+what to expect; it was as if they possessed some magic key to the inner
+life of Lockmanville, enabling them to understand everyone in it,
+and exactly how he felt and exactly how he would act under any given
+circumstances.
+
+All this was an amazing experience for Samuel. A few hours ago he had
+been a voice crying in the wilderness; forlorn and solitary; and now
+here was a band of allies, sprung up suddenly, from the very ground, as
+it seemed. Men who knew exactly what was wanted, and exactly how to
+get it; who required no persuading, who set to work without wasting a
+word--just as if they had been doing such things all their lives! He
+was so swept away with delight that for a while he was tempted to forget
+what sort of people they were.
+
+But it came back to him suddenly, when they had returned to Everley's
+office. He sat gazing at the young lawyer with such a worried expression
+on his face that the other asked, "What's the matter?"
+
+"Tell me, Mr. Everley," said the boy, "how can the Bartons believe in
+free love?"
+
+"Believe in free love?" echoed Everley. "What put that into your head?"
+
+"But don't they believe in free love?" persisted Samuel.
+
+"Why, of course not. Who said they did?"
+
+"But they are Socialists!"
+
+And the other put down his work and laughed heartily. "Where did you
+pick that up?" he asked.
+
+"Why," stammered the boy, "I've read everywhere that Socialists believe
+in free love!"
+
+"Wait till you get well going in this reform of yours!" laughed the
+young lawyer, "and then see what you read about yourself!"
+
+"But," gasped Samuel, aghast, "don't Socialists believe in free love?"
+
+"Some of them do, I suppose," was the reply. "I know one who believes in
+ghosts, and one who believes in the Pope, and one who believes in Adam
+and Eve. How can I help what they believe?"
+
+There was a pause. "You see," explained Everley, "we are a political
+party; and we can't keep anybody from joining us who wants to. And
+because we are an advanced party, all sorts of wild people come to us.
+How can we help that?"
+
+"But," exclaimed Samuel, "you are against religion!"
+
+"We have nothing to do with religion," replied the other. "I told you we
+are a political party. Some of us have found it necessary to leave the
+capitalist churches--but you will hardly blame us for that!"
+
+"N-no," admitted the boy; then he added, "But don't you want to destroy
+the Government?"
+
+"On the contrary, we want to strengthen it. But first we have to get it
+away from the capitalists."
+
+"Then, what DO you believe?" asked Samuel in perplexity.
+
+Then the other explained that they were seeking to organize and educate
+the working class, for the purpose of bringing about an economic change.
+They wished to take the land and the mines, the railroads and the
+factories out of the hands of the capitalists. "We believe that such
+things should not belong to individuals," he said, "but to the people.
+Then there will be work for everyone, and everyone will get the full
+value of his labor, and no man will be able to live without working."
+
+There was a pause, while Samuel was getting the meaning of this into
+his mind. "But," he exclaimed in amazement, "that is exactly what _I_
+believe!"
+
+"Of course," replied the other, "it is exactly what everyone with sense
+believes."
+
+"But--but--" gasped the boy, "then am I a Socialist?"
+
+"Nine tenths of the people in the country are Socialists," replied
+Everley--"only they haven't found it out yet."
+
+"But," cried Samuel, "you ought to teach them!"
+
+"We're doing our best," laughed the other. "Come and help us."
+
+Samuel was quite dumfounded. "But how do people come to have all these
+false ideas about you?" he asked.
+
+"Those are the ideas that the masters want them to have."
+
+Samuel was clutching at the arms of his chair. "Why--it's a conspiracy!"
+he cried.
+
+"Precisely," said the other. "A conspiracy of the ruling class. They own
+the newspapers and the books, the colleges and churches and governments.
+And they tell lies about us and keep us down."
+
+And so Samuel found himself face to face with the ultimate horror of
+Capitalism. It was bad enough to own the means whereby the people lived,
+and to starve and exploit their bodies. But to own their minds, and
+to lead them astray! To keep them from finding out the way of their
+deliverance! Surely that was the crime of crimes!
+
+"I can't believe it!" he panted.
+
+And the young lawyer answered, "Come and work with us a while and see
+for yourself."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+
+Samuel went home and faced a surprising experience. There was a dapper
+and well-dressed young man waiting to see him. "My name is Pollard," he
+said, "and I'm from the Lockmanville 'Express.' I want to get a story
+from you."
+
+"A story from me?" echoed the boy in perplexity.
+
+"An interview," explained the other. "I want to find out about that
+meeting you're going to hold."
+
+And so Samuel experienced the great thrill, which comes sooner or later
+to every social reformer. He sat in Mrs. Stedman's little parlor, and
+told his tale yet again. Mr. Pollard was young and just out of college,
+and his pencil fairly flew over his notebook. "Gosh!" he exclaimed. "But
+this is hot stuff!"
+
+To Samuel it was an extraordinary revelation. He was surprised that
+the idea had not occurred to him before. What was the use of holding
+meetings and making speeches, when one could have things printed in
+the papers? In the papers everyone would read it; and they would get it
+straight--there would be no chance of error. Moreover, they would read
+it at their leisure, and have time to think it all over!
+
+And after Mr. Pollard had gone, he rushed off in great excitement to
+tell Everley about it. "You won't need to print those circulars," he
+said. "For I told him where the meeting was to be."
+
+But Everley only smiled at this. "We'll get out our stuff just the
+same," he said. "You'd better wait until you've seen what the 'Express'
+prints."
+
+"What do you mean?" asked the boy. But Everley would not explain--he
+merely told Samuel to wait. He did not seem to be as much excited as he
+should have been.
+
+Samuel went home again. And later on in the afternoon, while Mrs.
+Stedman had gone out to the grocer's, there came a knock on the door,
+and he opened it, and to his amazement found himself confronted by Billy
+Finnegan.
+
+"Hello, young fellow!" said Finnegan.
+
+"Hello!" said Samuel.
+
+"What's this I hear about your making a speech?" asked Finnegan.
+
+"I'm going to," was the reply. "But how did you know?"
+
+"I got it from Callahan. Slattery told him."
+
+"Slattery! Has he heard about it?"
+
+"Gee, young fellow! What do you think he's boss for?"
+
+And Finnegan gazed around the room, to make sure that they were alone.
+
+"Sammy," he said, "I've come to give you a friendly tip; I hope you'll
+have sense enough to take it."
+
+"What is it?" asked the other.
+
+"Don't try to make any speech."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because you ain't a-going to be let to make it, Sammy."
+
+"But how can they stop me?"
+
+"I dunno, Sammy. But they ain't a-going to let you."
+
+There was a pause.
+
+"It's a crazy thing you're tryin' to do," said the other. "And take my
+word for it--somethin' will happen to you if you go on."
+
+"What will happen?"
+
+"I dunno, my boy--maybe you'll fall into the river."
+
+"Fall into the river!"
+
+"Yes; or else run your head into a slungshot some night, in a dark
+alley. I can't tell you what--only you won't make the speech."
+
+Samuel was dumfounded. "You can't mean such things!" he gasped.
+
+"Sure I mean them," was the reply. "Why not?"
+
+Samuel did not respond. "I don't know why you're tryin' to do this
+thing," went on the other, "nor who's backing you. But from what I can
+make out, you've got the goods, and you've got them on most everybody in
+the town. You've got Slattery, and you've got Pat McCullagh, and
+you've got the machine. You've got Wygant and Hickman--you've even got
+something on Bertie Lockman, haven't you?"
+
+"I suppose I have," said Samuel. "But I'm not going to tell that."
+
+"Well, they don't know what you're going to tell, and they won't take
+any chances. They won't let you tell anything."
+
+"But can such things be done?" panted the boy.
+
+"They're done all the time," said the other. "Why, see--it stands to
+reason. Wouldn't folks be finding out things like this, and wouldn't
+they be tellin' them?"
+
+"To be sure," said Samuel. "That's what puzzled me."
+
+"Well," said the bartender, "they ain't let to. Don't you see?"
+
+"I see," whispered the boy.
+
+"There's a crowd that runs this town, Sammy; and they mean to go on
+runnin' it. And don't you think they can't find ways of shuttin' up a
+kid like you!"
+
+"But Mr. Finnegan, it would be murder!"
+
+"Well, they wouldn't have to do it themselves, would they? When Henry
+Hickman wants a chicken for dinner, he don't have to wring its neck with
+his own hands."
+
+Samuel could find nothing to reply to that. He sat dumb with horror.
+
+"You see," continued Finnegan after a bit, "I know about this game, and
+I'm givin' you a friendly word. What the hell does a kid like you want
+to be reformin' things for anyway?"
+
+"What else can I do?" asked Samuel.
+
+To which the other answered, "Do? Get yourself a decent job, and find
+some girl you like and settle down. You'll never know what there is in
+life, Sammy, till you've got a baby."
+
+But Samuel only shook his head. The plan did not appeal to him. "I'll
+try to keep out of trouble," he said, "but I MUST make that speech!"
+
+So Finnegan went out, shaking his head and grumbling to himself. And
+Samuel hurried off to see his lawyer friend again. The result of the
+visit was that Everley exacted from him a solemn promise that he would
+not go out of the house after dark.
+
+"I know what was done in this town during the strike," said the other,
+"and I don't want to take any chances. Now that they have finished the
+unions, there's nobody left but us."
+
+So Samuel stayed at home, and told Sophie and her mother all about his
+various experiences, and about the people he had met. The child was
+almost beside herself with delight.
+
+"Oh, I knew that help would come!" she kept saying, "I knew that help
+would come!"
+
+Worn out as he was, the young reformer could hardly sleep that night,
+for all the excitement. And early in the morning he was up and out
+hunting for a copy of the "Express."
+
+He stood on the street-corner and opened it. He glanced at the first
+page--there was nothing there. He glanced at the back page, and then
+at one page after another, seeking for the one that was given up to the
+story. But there was no such page. And then he went back and read over
+the headings of each column--and still he did not find it. And then
+he began a third time, reading carefully each tiny item. And so,
+after nearly an hour's search, when he found himself lost in a maze of
+advertisements, he brought himself to realize that there was not a line
+of the story in the paper!
+
+When Everley arrived at his office that morning, Samuel was waiting for
+him on the steps. Seeing the paper in the other's hand, the young lawyer
+laughed. "You found out, have you?" he said.
+
+"It's not here!" cried Samuel.
+
+"I knew just what would happen," said the other. "But I thought I'd let
+you see for yourself."
+
+"But what does it mean?" demanded the boy.
+
+"It means," was the answer, "that the Lockman estate has a mortgage of
+one hundred thousand dollars on the Express."
+
+And Samuel's jaw fell, and he stood staring at his friend.
+
+"Now you see what it is to be a Socialist!" laughed Everley.
+
+And Samuel saw.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+
+After supper that evening came Everley with Friederich Bremer, to take
+Samuel to the meeting of the local, where he was to tell his story.
+
+The "local" met in an obscure hall, over a grocery shop. There were
+present those whom Samuel had met the night before, and about a score
+of others. Most of them were working-men, but there were several who
+appeared to be well-to-do shopkeepers and clerks. Samuel noticed that
+they all called one another "comrade"; and several of them addressed
+him thus, which gave him a queer feeling. Also he noted that there were
+women present, and that one of them presided at the meeting.
+
+Everley made a speech, reading Samuel's manifesto, and telling how it
+had been given out. Then he called upon Samuel. The boy stood upon his
+feet--and suddenly a deadly terror seized hold upon him. Suppose he
+should not be able to make a speech after all! Suppose he should be
+nervous! What would they think of him? But he clenched his hands--what
+did it matter what they thought of him? The poor were suffering, and the
+truth was crying out for vindication! He would tell these men what had
+happened to him.
+
+So he began. He told how he had been robbed, and how he had sought in
+vain for work, and how he had been arrested. And because he saw that
+these were people who understood, he found himself a case, and thinking
+no longer about himself. He talked for nearly half an hour, and there
+was quite a sensation when he finished.
+
+Then Everley rose to his feet again. "Comrades," he said, "for the past
+year I have been urging that the local must make a fight for free speech
+in this town. And it seems to me that the occasion has now come. If we
+do not take up this fight, we might just as well give up."
+
+"That's right," cried Beggs, the old carpenter.
+
+"I took the liberty of ordering circulars," continued Everley. "There
+was no time to be lost, and I felt sure that the comrades would back me.
+I now move that the local take charge of the meeting to-morrow evening,
+and that the two thousand circulars I have here be given out secretly
+to-night."
+
+"I second that motion," said Mrs. Barton.
+
+"It must be understood," added Everley, "that we can't expect help from
+the papers. And our people ought to hear this story, as well as the
+members of the church."
+
+And then he read the circulars, and the motion was put, and carried
+unanimously.
+
+"Now," said Everley, "I suggest that the local make this the occasion of
+a contest for the right to hold street meetings in Lockmanville. As you
+know, the police have refused permits ever since the strike. And I move
+that beginning with Thursday evening, we hold a meeting on the corner of
+Market and Main streets, and tell this story to the public. And that
+we continue to hold a meeting every night thereafter until we have made
+good our right."
+
+Samuel could see from the faces of the men what a serious proposition
+this was to them. Everley launched into an impassioned speech. The
+workingmen of the town had lost their last hope in the unions; they were
+suffering from the hard times; and now, if ever, was the time to open
+their eyes to the remedy. And the Socialists were powerless, because
+they had permitted the police to frighten them. Now they must make a
+stand.
+
+"You realize that it will mean going to jail?" asked Dr. Barton.
+
+"I realize it," said Everley. "We shall probably have to go several
+times. But if we make up our minds from the beginning, we can win;
+we shall have the sympathy of the people--and also we can break the
+conspiracy of silence of the newspapers."
+
+"That is the thing we must think of," said the woman in the chair.
+
+"I am ready to do what I can," added the lawyer. "I will give my
+services free to defend the speakers, or I will be the first man to be
+arrested--whichever the comrades prefer."
+
+
+"We will lose our jobs," said some one in the rear of the room.
+
+"Yes," said Everley, "that is something you will have to consider. You
+know well enough how much I have lost already."
+
+Samuel listened in breathless excitement to this discussion. Here were
+poor people, people with no more resources than he, and at the mercy of
+the same forces which had been crushing him. Here was one man who had
+lost an eye in the glass works, and another, a railroad brakeman, who
+was just out of the hospital after losing a leg. Here were men pale and
+haggard from hunger, men with wives and children dependent upon them;
+yet they were giving their time and their money--risking their very
+existence--in the cause of human freedom! Had he ever met a group of men
+like this before? Had he ever dreamed that such men were living?
+
+He had thought that he was alone, that he had all the burdens of
+humanity upon his own shoulders! And now here were people who were ready
+to hold up his hands; and from the discussion he gathered that they were
+part of a vast organization, that there existed such "locals" in every
+city and town in the country. They made their own nominations and
+voted for their own candidates at every election; they published many
+newspapers and magazines and books. And they were part of an army of men
+who were banded together in every civilized nation. Wherever Capitalism
+had come, there men were uniting against it; and every day their power
+grew--there was nothing that could stop them.
+
+These men had seen the vision of the new time that was coming, and there
+burned in them a fire of conviction. Suddenly Samuel realized the import
+of that word "comrade" which they gave one another; they were men bound
+together by the memory of persecutions, and by the presence of ruthless
+enemies. They knew what they were facing at this moment; not only Chief
+McCullagh with his policemen and their clubs; not only the subsidized
+"Express" with its falsehoods and ridicule: but all the political and
+business power of the Hickmans and Wygants. They were facing arrest and
+imprisonment, humiliation and disgrace--perhaps ruin and starvation.
+Only in this way could they reach the ears of the people.
+
+"Comrades," the young lawyer was saying, "every step that has been taken
+in the progress of humanity has been taken because men have been willing
+to give their lives. Everywhere that our movement has grown, it has
+been in the face of persecution. And sooner or later we must make up
+our minds to it--we may wait for years, but nothing can be accomplished
+until we have faced this issue. And so I ask you to join with me in
+taking this pledge--that we will speak on the streets of Lockmanville
+next Saturday night, and that we will continue to speak there as often
+as need be until we have vindicated our rights as American citizens."
+
+There was a solemn hush when he finished; one by one the men and women
+arose and offered themselves.
+
+"I have been out of work for four months," said one, "and I have been
+promised a job next week. If I am arrested, I know that I will not get
+it. But still I will speak."
+
+"And I am in Wygant's cotton mill," said another. "And I'm not young,
+and when I'm turned out, it will not be easy for me. But I will help."
+
+"And I, too," put in Lippman, the cigar store keeper; "my wife can tend
+the shop!" There was a general laugh at this.
+
+And then Friedrich Bremer sprang up. "My father has been warned!" he
+cried. "But I will speak also!"
+
+"And I!" exclaimed Samuel. "I think I am going to be a Socialist. Will
+you let me help?"
+
+"No one's help will be refused in a crisis like this," said Everley. "We
+must stand by our guns, for if they can crush us this time, it may be
+years before we can be heard."
+
+And then, somewhere in the hall, a voice began to sing. Others took it
+up, until the walls of the building shook with a mighty chant. "What is
+it?" whispered Samuel to Friedrich.
+
+"It is called 'The Red Flag,'" replied Friedrich.
+
+And Samuel sat spellbound, listening while they sang:
+
+
+Hark to the thunder, hark to the tramp--a myriad army comes!
+
+An army sprung from a hundred lands, speaking a hundred tongues!
+
+And overhead a portent new, a blood-red banner see!
+
+The nations gather in affright to ask what the sign may be.
+
+Banner of crimson, banner bright, banner flaunting the sky!
+
+What is the word that ye bring to men, the hope that ye hold on high?
+
+We come from the fields, we come from the forge, we come from the land
+and sea--
+
+We come in the right of our new-born might to set the people free!
+
+Masters, we left you a world to make, the planning was yours to do--
+
+We were the toilers, humble and sad, we gave our faith to you.
+
+And now with a dread in our hearts we stand and gaze at the work of the
+years--
+
+We have builded a temple with pillars white, ye have stained it with
+blood and tears!
+
+For our little ones with their teeming hopes ye have roofed the
+sweatshop den,
+
+And our daughters fair ye have prisoned in the reeking brothel's pen!
+
+And so for the sign of our murdered hopes our blood-red banner see--
+
+We come in the right of our new-born might to set the people free!
+
+Tremble, oh masters--tremble all who live by others' toil--
+
+We come your dungeon walls to raze, your citadel to spoil!
+
+Yours is the power of club and jail, yours is the axe and fire--
+
+But ours is the hope of human hearts and the strength of the soul's
+desire!
+
+Ours is the blazing banner, sweeping the sky along!
+
+Ours the host, the marching host--hark to our battle song!
+
+Chanting of brotherhood, chanting of freedom, dreaming the world to be--
+
+We come in the right of our new-born might to set the people free!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+
+While the other members of the local scattered to distribute the
+circulars, Everley and Friedrich escorted Samuel home, and saw him
+safely in, and the door locked. They had supplied him with some
+Socialist papers and pamphlets, and he spent most of the next day
+devouring these. They spread a picture of the whole wonderful movement
+before him; they explained to him all the mechanism of the cruel system,
+in the cogs of which he had been caught.
+
+It was all so very obvious that Samuel found himself in a state of
+exasperation with the people who did not yet understand it, and spent
+his time wrestling in imagination with all those he had ever known: with
+his brothers, and with Finnegan, and with Charlie Swift, with Master
+Albert and Mr. Wygant, with Professor Stewart and Dr. Vince. Most of all
+he labored with Miss Gladys; and he pictured how it would be after the
+Revolution, when he would be famous and she would be poor, and he might
+magnanimously forgive her!
+
+And when Sophie came home, he explained it all to her. It did not
+take much to make a revolutionist out of Sophie. She had become quite
+thoroughly what the Socialists called "class-conscious."
+
+The members of the local had been anxious about Samuel all day. Everley
+had come in twice in the afternoon, to make sure that he was safe; and
+he came over again after supper, and said that Beggs and Lippman and the
+Bartons and himself were coming to act as a body guard to take Samuel to
+the meeting. The circulars had created a tremendous sensation--the whole
+town was talking about it, and the police were furious at the way they
+had been outwitted.
+
+So the hour of the meeting drew near. It was as if a great shadow were
+gathering over them. They were nervous and restless--Samuel pacing the
+room, wandering about here and there.
+
+His speech was seething within him. He saw before him the eager
+multitude, and he was laying bare to them the picture of their wrongs.
+So much depended upon this speech! If he failed now, he failed in
+everything--all that he had done before has gone for nothing! Ah! if
+only one had a voice that could reach the whole world--that could shout
+these things into the ears of the oppressed!
+
+His friends had said they would come at a quarter to eight. But they
+came at half past seven, and sat round and waited. It was thought best
+that they should not arrive until the precise minute of the meeting; and
+meantime they outlined to Samuel the plan of campaign they had formed.
+
+Dr. Barton was to make the opening speech, introducing Samuel; and by
+way of outwitting the police, he was to be particularly careful to get
+into this "introduction" all the essential facts which it was desired to
+lay before the people. He was to tell about the twenty thousand dollars
+which Hickman paid to Slattery, and about the acknowledgment which
+Wygant had made to Samuel, and about how the boy had been turned out of
+St. Matthew's Church. If the police attempted to interfere with this,
+the doctor was to persist until he had been actually placed under
+arrest; and then others were to take up the attempt in different places,
+until six had been arrested. In this case Samuel was to make no attempt
+to speak at all; they would "save" him for an out-door meeting--and also
+Everley, who was to defend them in court. More circulars would be given
+out the next afternoon, and another attempt to speak would be made that
+evening.
+
+All this was duly impressed upon the boy, and then the little company
+set forth. Dr. Barton walked on one side of him, and Everley on the
+other; Mrs. Barton, Mrs. Stedman and Sophie came next, and Beggs and
+Lippman brought up the rear. So they marched along; they kept their eyes
+open, and every time they had to pass a man they gave him a wide berth.
+
+So they came to the place of the meeting. At the corner were the Bremers
+and half a dozen others, who formed a ring about them. There was a
+huge crowd, they said--the lot was thronged, and the people extended to
+streets on every side. There was a score of policemen scattered about,
+and no doubt there were many detectives.
+
+Promptly on the minute of eight the little group approached. There was
+a murmur of excitement among the waiting crowd, as they started to force
+their way through. Samuel's heart was thumping like mad, and his knees
+were trembling so that he could hardly walk. The people gave way, and
+they found themselves in the center, where several of the Socialists
+stood guard over the half dozen boxes from which the speaking was to be
+done.
+
+Without a moment's delay, Dr. Barton mounted up.
+
+"Fellow citizens," he called in a clear, ringing voice; and instantly a
+hush fell upon the crowd, and a thousand faces were turned toward him.
+
+"We are here," he began, "for a very important purpose--"
+
+Instantly a policeman pushed his way toward him.
+
+"Have you a permit for this meeting?" he demanded.
+
+"We have been refused a permit!" proclaimed Dr. Barton to the crowd. "We
+are here as law-abiding citizens, demanding our right to free speech!"
+
+"You cannot speak," declared the policeman.
+
+"There has been bribery of the city council of Lockmanville," shouted
+the doctor.
+
+"You cannot speak!" cried the policeman sharply.
+
+"Henry Hickman paid twenty thousand dollars to the city council to
+prevent the passage of the water bill!" cried the speaker.
+
+"Come down from there!" commanded the officer, and made a grab at him.
+
+"I will not stop until I am arrested!" declared the doctor. "I am here
+to protest against bribery!"
+
+"Come down and shut up!" shouted the other.
+
+"For shame! For shame!" said voices in the crowd. "Let him speak!"
+
+"That charge was made before the vestry of the St. Matthew's Church!
+And the vestry refused to investigate it, and turned out a member of the
+church! And we are here--"
+
+And so, still shouting, the doctor was dragged off the box and collared
+by the policeman.
+
+"An outrage!" cried people in the audience. "Let him go on!" And yet
+others shouted, "Arrest him!" The throng was in a turmoil; and in
+the midst of it, Lippman, who was the second victim appointed for the
+sacrifice, sprang upon the stump of an old tree, a little at one side,
+and shrieked at the top of his lungs:
+
+"Henry Hickman paid twenty thousand dollars to Slattery to beat the
+water bill; and now he and the Lockman estate are making ten thousand
+dollars a month out of it! And Wygant confessed to our speaker that he
+ran the city government to get franchise favors--"
+
+And then Lippman was seized by an officer and dragged off his perch,
+and choked into silence--surrounded meanwhile by a crowd of indignantly
+protesting citizens. It was quite clear by this time that the crowd had
+come to hear Samuel's speech, and was angry at being balked. There was a
+general shout of protest that made the policemen glad of their numbers.
+
+Of these exciting events Samuel and Everley had been witnesses from the
+vantage point of a soap box. Now suddenly the boy caught his friend's
+arm and pointed, crying, "Who's that man?"
+
+Near the outskirts of the thrown was a big burly individual, who had
+been roaring in a furious voice, "For shame! Go on!" and waving his
+fists in the air.
+
+"I don't know," said Everley. "I never saw him before."
+
+"An outrage!" yelled the man. "Kill the police! Smash them! Drive them
+away!"
+
+And Everley caught the boy's arm, crying excitedly, "He's been sent
+here, I'll wager! They want to provoke trouble!"
+
+And even as he spoke, the two saw the man stoop, and pick up a
+brick-bat, and fling it into the center of the crowd, where the police
+were massing.
+
+"Arrest that man!" shouted Everley indignantly, and leaped forward and
+plunged through the throng to reach him.
+
+There was a roar from the crowd, and Samuel saw that several men had
+grappled with the bully; he saw, also, that the police in the center of
+the throng had drawn their clubs, and were beginning to strike at the
+people. A burly sergeant was commanding them, and forcing back the crowd
+by jabbing men in the stomachs.
+
+Meantime the next speaker, a woman, had mounted upon a box, and was
+crying in a shrill voice: "We are Socialists! We are the only political
+party which dares to speak for the working class of Lockmanville! We
+protest against this outrage! We demand free speech! There has been
+bribery in our city council!"
+
+Then suddenly the boy heard a disturbance behind him, and turned, just
+in the nick of time. A fellow had thrust his way through the crowd
+toward him, a rowdy with a brutal, half-drunken face. And Samuel saw him
+raise his hand, with some dark object in it, and aim a smashing blow at
+his head.
+
+The boy ducked and raised his arm. He felt a sharp, agonizing pain, and
+his arm dropped helpless at his side. Something struck him across the
+forehead, cutting a gash, out of which hot blood spurted, blinding him.
+He heard Beggs, who was beside him, give a shout--"Down!" And realizing
+that his life was aimed at, he dropped like a flash, and put his head
+under him, covering it with one arm as well as he could.
+
+There was a struggle going on over him. Men were pushing and
+shouting--and some one kicked him savagely upon the leg. He crawled on
+a little way, still keeping his head down, underneath the feet of the
+contendents. He heard Beggs shouting for help, and heard the Bremers
+answering; he heard the roar of the throng all about, the sharp commands
+of the police sergeant, and the crack of clubs, falling upon the heads
+of men and women. And then he swooned, and lay there, his face in a pool
+of his own blood.
+
+Meanwhile, one by one, three more speakers rose and made their attempts,
+and were arrested, while the indignant people voiced their helpless
+protests. Then suddenly, somewhere in the crowd, a woman began to sing.
+Others took up the song--it swelled louder, until it rang above all
+the uproar. It was the hymn that Samuel had heard at the meeting of the
+local--The Red Flag!
+
+It took hold of the crowd--men followed the melody, even though they did
+not know the words. They continued to sing while the police were leading
+away their prisoners; they followed, all the way to the station house,
+with shouts of protest, and of encouragement for the victims.
+
+And so the throng moved on, and the uproar died away. There was left
+upon the scene a little group of frightened people, gathered about
+two who lay upon the ground. One of them was Samuel, unconscious and
+bleeding; and the other was Sophie, clinging to him and sobbing upon his
+bosom, frantic with grief and fear. And meanwhile, in the distance one
+could still hear the melody ringing:
+
+Yours is the power of club and jail, yours is the axe and fire,
+
+But ours is the hope of human hearts and the strength of the soul's
+desire!
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Samuel the Seeker, by Upton Sinclair
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