iler
is done. They had to go. You were not ruined by blackmail, you were
crushed by a law of progress as resistless as the law of gravity."

The doctor's gray eyes flashed with sudden inspiration.

"If the law of gravity is unjust it will be abolished. If civilization
is unjust it must be put down. There can be no contradiction in life
when once we know the truth. I can't compromise with Bivens--I refuse
his generosity. I'll take only what the last tribunal of the people
shall give me--justice."

"The last tribunal of the people will give you nothing," the lawyer
said, emphatically.

"I'll stand or fall with it. I make common cause with the people. I
know that Bivens is a power now. He chooses judges, defies the law,
bribes legislatures and city councils and imagines that he rules the
nation. But the Napoleons of finance to-day will be wearing stripes in
Sing Sing to-morrow. We are merely passing through a period of
transition which brings suffering and confusion. The end is sure,
because evil carries within itself the seed of death. A despotism of
money cannot be fastened on the people of America."

"But, Doctor," Stuart interrupted persuasively, "he is not trying to
fasten a despotism on America, on you, or anybody else in this offer."

The older man ignored the interruption and continued with a dreamy
look:

"Only a few years ago a great millionaire who lived in a palace on
Fifth Avenue boldly said to a newspaper reporter: 'The public be
d----d!' Times have changed. The millionaires have begun to buy the
newspapers and beg for public favour. We are walking on the crust of
a volcano of public wrath."

"But how long must we wait for this volcanic outburst of public wrath?"

"It's of no importance. The big thing is that in America a new force
has appeared in the world, the common consciousness of a passion for
justice in the hearts of millions of enlightened freemen clothed with
power! Never before has manhood had this supreme opportunity. Under its
influence this insane passion for gold must slowly but surely be
transformed into a desire for real wealth of mind and soul. The evils
of our time are not so great as those of our fathers. We merely feel
them more keenly. The trouble is our faith grows dim in these moments
of stress. As for me I lift up my head and believe in my fellow-man. We
are just entering a new and wonderful era--the era of electricity and
mystery, of struggle, aspiration, the passion for th