se words have moulded the
world was rich. The combined fortunes of Darwin, Mozart, Shakespeare,
Raphael, Aristotle, Socrates, Mohammed, and Buddha weren't equal to the
possessions of even the smallest and most insignificant member of our
mob of six thousand millionaires--six thousand nobodies! Don't think,
dear, that you haven't tempted me in the past. You have. The glitter of
your millions once blinded me and I was on the point of surrender, but
I've won out. I've entered at last--to stay--into the Kingdom of Mind,
that lies beyond the rule of greed, where beauty, heroism, and genius
have built their altar-fires and keep them burning. You'll have to come
with me, Nan, into this enchanted land. Your estate is large only if
you don't lift up your head and look farther. You own a hundred
thousand acres in the mountains, and yet, after all, it's but a tiny
speck on the horizon of one little corner of a state. Beyond is the
great world with its beautiful rivers, its valleys, its shining shores
and emerald seas. This big world is mine--the Alps and the Mountains of
the Moon and your little blue hills also are on my estate. I've come to
know at last that the man is richest who breathes deepest, sees
farthest, hears best, and has the widest and most helpful influence on
his fellow-man. Lord Beaconsfield died with a paltry estate of two
hundred thousand dollars. He had the chance, while prime minister, to
take for himself a personal fortune whose annual income would have been
$25,000,000. Instead he gave it all to the people of England and died
poor. I'd rather do such a deed for my country than hold the combined
fortunes of all our six thousand little millionaires.

"You think, dear, that you are in Society. But the real aristocracy has
always been one of brains and ethics. The people in your little world
live for money. They do not possess it, they are possessed by it. They
are slaves. You will have to come with me, into the great free
world--if you love me."

"If I love you?" Nan cried, with trembling lips. "Don't speak that way.
If you only knew! My love for you has kept me alive through all that
I've endured. It's the only thing that's worth the struggle; but I
can't think. Your demand is so sudden, so stunning, so terrifying, I
don't know what to say. My life and all I have is too short to make
atonement to you and I can't afford to make a mistake. I want to be
sure. A year from now you might see things differently."