s drawn of the great
Driving Good--since that night?... I think it would puzzle even Andrew
Bedient--to make her hark to any soul--but New York's----"

"And you, Kate--this Eve--what has the Year brought?"

"Nonsense, I'm glass; hold oil or acid with equal ease," Kate said,
leaning back in the big chair. "I've got a bit of work to do, and a few
friends whose fortunes have taken a stunning turn for the better. And I
mustn't forget--letters from _The Modern_ when he's away, and talks
when he's in New York.... What astonishes me about Andrew Bedient is
that he wears. He set a killing pace--for our admiration at first--at
least, I thought so--but he hasn't let down an instant. He stands the
light of the public square. I granted him a great spirit, but he has
more, a great nature to hold it. He can mingle with men without going
mad. There's many a prophet who couldn't do that----"

David Cairns joined them. "They will be here in a few minutes," he
said. "Beth is due, too.... Talking about Bedient?"

"Yes----"

"I was just thinking," Cairns said, "that we were in a way concentrates
of New York and the country, and he is talking to all the people
through us."

"You are strong, aren't you, David--for him?" the Grey One asked.

"Yes, and I shall be stronger."

"I like that," said Kate Wilkes.

"He'll work through us--and directly," Cairns went on. "I'm glad to
wait and serve and build for a man like that. Why, if a thief took his
purse, he would only wish to give him a greater thing.... Moreover,
he's one of the Voices that will break Woman's silence of the
centuries."

"I believe much that he says--all that he says," Kate Wilkes replied,
"that Woman is the bread-giver, spiritual and material; that it is she
who conserves the ideals and rewards man for fineness and power--when
she has a chance. But I also believe that Woman must conquer in
herself--the love of luxury, her vanity, her fierce competition for
worldly position--if only for the disastrous effect of such evils upon
men. They force him to lower his dreams of her, who should be
high-priestess."

"He has not missed that," Cairns said, "but there have been multitudes
to tell Woman her faults. Bedient restores the dreams of women.... It
is Woman who has turned the brute mind of the world from War, and Woman
will turn the furious current of the race to-day from the Pits of
Trade, where abides the Twentieth Century Lie."

"David, you're steering straight thro