amusing--something to beguile!

STIVER [going on to the verandah].
Pray, madam, have you read the official charge?
A masterpiece of literary style.
[Takes a book from his pocket.
Which I shall now proceed to cite at large.

[Ushers her politely into the room, and follows
himself. FALK comes forward; he and Strawman
meet; they regard one another a moment in
silence.

STRAWMAN.
Well?

FALK.
Well?

STRAWMAN.
Falk?

FALK.
Pastor?

STRAWMAN.
Are you less
Intractable than when we parted?

FALK.
Nay,
I go my own inexorable way--

STRAWMAN.
Even tho' you crush another's happiness?

FALK.
I plant the flower of knowledge in its place.
[Smiling.
If, by the way, you have not ceased to think
Of the Gazette--

STRAWMAN.
Ah, that was all a joke?

FALK.
Yes, pluck up courage, that will turn to smoke;
I break the ice in action, not in ink.

STRAWMAN.
But even though you spare me, sure enough
There's one who won't so lightly let me off;
He has the advantage, and he won't forego it,
That lawyer's clerk--and 'tis to you I owe it;
You raked the ashes of our faded flames,
And you may take your oath he won't be still
If once I mutter but a syllable
Against the brazen bluster of his claims.
These civil-service gentlemen, they say,
Are very potent in the press to-day.
A trumpery paragraph can lay me low,
Once printed in that Samson-like Gazette
That with the jaw of asses fells its foe,
And runs away with tackle and with net,
Especially towards the quarter day--

FALK [aquiescing].
Ah, were there scandal in the case, indeed--

STRAWMAN [despondently].
No matter. Read its columns with good heed,
You'll see me offered up to Vengeance.

FALK [whimsically].
Nay,
To retribution--well-earned punishment.
Thro' all our life there runs a Nemesis,
Which may delay, but never will relent,
And grants to none exception or release.
Who wrongs the Ideal? Straight there rushes in
The Press, its guardian with the Argus eye,
And the offender suffers for his sin.

STRAWMAN.
But in the name of heaven, what pledge have I
Given this "Ideal" that's ever on your tongue?
I'm married, have a family, twelve young
And helpless innocents to clothe and keep;
I have my daily calls on every side,
Chu