uine and human than those in which we parade
the clothes they make for us. Ah, yes; that statement, at which you show
some incredulity, is directly pertinent to my story; for it was an
endeavor to trace my clothes to their origin--over the many impediments
and difficulties placed in my way--that had led me into those slums. I
won't go into that just now, though it had an important connection with
our future acquaintance.

"By the time I returned with the bed to the four-pair back attic I had
received a better lesson in human values than in any previous half-hour
of my existence. I was then given other commissions, and these without
any word of apology; as I had volunteered so I was to be used without
scruple or mercy, just as a millionaire's motor-car is used at election
times, till scratched, battered, broken down, it creeps from the fray.
'We are all sweated workers here,' she said to me afterwards, and then I
saw her uses of me explained; anything which came to that mill came to
be ground, and the chaff to be cast out. I submitted to her test, and in
that first day saw her only by glimpses; but in accompanying her back to
the Home from which she emanated I told her why I had come--said that I
wished to have a clear conscience and wear clothes upon my back in which
there was no element of sweating. She told me it was quite impossible,
impossible, that is to say, unless I controlled every stage of
manufacture from the raw material to the finished article; and even
then, I was warned, the paper cover, the cardboard box, and the string
with which it was tied, would all be sweated products. And when I asked
what I could do to help matters, she bade me go with empty pockets and
see as much of the life as possible for myself, and make others like
myself see it also. That is what she had been doing to me--rubbing my
nose into it before I should get tired and run away. Even while
accepting it she showed a fine indifference to my money. 'Don't let that
salve your conscience,' said she, 'we can make it useful, but it won't
change matters.' And had I given her a million pounds I do not think she
would have thanked me any more."

All that Prince Max narrated of his charitable adventure would take too
long to tell here. One thing the Countess noted, as a point well scored,
he had begun to learn humility; his offers of service had been rejected
as of little use, his company as a hindrance, his new lady had left him
to feel small,