Page:The unhallowed harvest (1917).djvu/215

210 "You are very kind."

"So many of us choose the easiest way, the most delightful path. It is splendid once in a while to see a woman govern her conduct by high principles and a stern sense of duty, though it requires great sacrifice."

"I appreciate what you say, though I am not fully deserving of your commendation. I cannot feel that the sacrifice was so very great on my part, but I am intensely sorry for him. He is so sincere and good."

"You mean Mr. Westgate?"

"Yes."

"I have no sympathy" she checked herself suddenly and then added: "We'll not talk about it any more. I simply felt that if I could say but one word that would give you the least bit of courage and hope, I wanted to say it."

"You have cheered and encouraged me."

"Thank you! Now let's talk about something else."

When Mrs. Bradley chose to talk she was an interesting and entertaining talker. And she was in a talkative mood to-day. The conversation having turned on her own vocation, she told about her present work, and about the ambitions and ideals of the socialistic group with which she was connected. Mentally alert, and eager to hear and to read, she had readily imbibed and easily assimilated the doctrines of the school of Marx and Bebel, and their more vigorous if less illustrious followers. These doctrines appealed to her reason and to her sense of social justice. She rejoiced in the effort to raise the economic level of the working class, and, by the same token, to drag down those pompous ones who ruled by reason of unjust wealth. She believed in the necessity for revolutionizing the social order. It was a part of her work to sow the seeds of such a revolution, and she explained by what methods that work was accomplished. Miss Tracy was not only interested in the recital, she was fascinated. The story was dramatic and absorbing.