"I have never seen you drink hearty yet, and now I purpose to," said
John.

As the packing was finishing Miss Josephine St. Michael came by; and the
sight of the erect old lady reminded me that of all Kings Port figures

known to me and seen in the garden paying their visit of ceremony to
Hortense, she alone--she and Eliza La Heu--had been absent. Eliza's

declining to share in that was well-nigh inevitable, but Miss Josephine
was another matter. Perhaps she had considered her sister's going there

to be enough; at any rate, she had not been party to the surrender, and
this gave me whimsical satisfaction. Moreover, it had evidently

occasioned no ruffle in the affectionate relations between herself and
John.

"John," said she, "as you drive by, do get me a plumber."
"Much better get a burglar, Aunt Josephine. Cheaper in the end, and

neater work."
It was thus, at the outset, that I came to believe John's spirits were

high; and this illusion he successfully kept up until after we had left
the plumber and Kings Port several sordid miles behind us; the approach

to Kings Port this way lies through dirtiest Africa. John was loquacious;
John discoursed upon the Replacers; Mrs. Weguelin St. Michael had quite

evidently expressed to her own circle what she thought of them; and the
town in consequence, although it did not see them or their automobiles,

because it appeared they were gone some twenty miles inland upon an
excursion to a resort where was a large hotel, and a little variety in

the way of some tourists of the Replacer stripe,--the town kept them well
in its mind's eye. The automobiles would have sufficed to bring them into

disrepute, but Kings Port had a better reason in their conduct in the
church; and John found many things to say to me, as we drove along, about

Bohm and Charley and Kitty. Gazza he forgot, although, as shall appear in
its place, Gazza was likely to live a long while in his memory. Beverly

Rodgers he, of course, recognized as being a gentleman--it was clear that
Beverly met with Kings Port's approval--and, from his Newport

experiences, John was able to make out quite as well as if he had heard
Beverly explain it himself the whole wise philosophic system of joining

with the Replacers in order that you be not replaced yourself.
"In his shoes mightn't I do the same?" he surmised. "I fear I'm not as

Spartan as my aunts--only pray don't mention it to them!"
And then, because I had been answering him with single syllables, or with

nods, or not at all, he taxed me with my taciturnity; he even went so far
as to ask me what thoughts kept me so silent--which I did not tell him.

"I am wondering," I told him instead, "how much they steal every week."
"Those financiers?"

"Yes. Bohm is president of an insurance company, and Charley's a
director, and reorganizes railroads."

"Well, if other people share your pleasant opinion of them, how do they
get elected?"

"Other people share their pleasant spoils--senators, vestrymen--you can't
be sure who you're sitting next to at dinner any more. Come live North.

You'll find the only safe way is never to know anybody worth more than
five millions--if you wish to keep the criminal classes off your visiting

list."
This made him merry. "Put 'em in jail, then!"

"Ah, the jail!" I returned. "It's the great American joke. It reverses
the rule of our smart society. Only those who have no incomes are

admitted."
"But what do you have laws and lawyers for?"

"To keep the rich out of jail. It's called 'professional etiquette.'"
"Your picture flatters!"

"You flatter me; it's only a photograph. Come North and see."
"One might think, from. your account, the American had rather be bad than

good."
"O dear, no! The American had much rather be good than bad!"

"Your admission amazes me!"
"But also the American had rather be rich than good. And he is having his

wish. And money's golden hand is tightening on the throat of liberty
while the labor union stabs liberty in the back--for trusts and unions

are both trying to kill liberty. And the soul of Uncle Sam has turned
into a dollar-inside his great, big, strong, triumphant flesh; so that

even his new religion, his own special invention, his last offering to
the creeds of the world, his gatherer of converted hordes, his Christian

Science, is based upon physical benefit."
John touched the horses. "You're particularly cheerful to-day!"

"No. I merely summarize what I'm seeing."
"Well, a moral awakening will come," he declared.

"Inevitably. To-morrow, perhaps. The flesh has had a good, long,
prosperous day, and the hour of the spirit must be near striking. And the

moral awakening will be followed by a moral slumber, since, in the
uncomprehended scheme of things, slumber seems necessary; and you needn't

pull so long a face, Mr. Mayrant, because the slumber will be followed by
another moral awakening. The alcoholic society girl you don't like will

very probably give birth to a water-drinking daughter--who in her turn
may produce a bibulous progeny: how often must I tell you that nothing is

final?"
John Mayrant gave the horses a somewhat vicious lash after these last

words of mine; and, as he made no retort to them, we journeyed some
little distance in silence through the mild, enchanting light of the sun.

My deliberateallusion to alcoholic girls had made plain what I had begun
to suspect. I could now discern that his cloak of gayety had fallen from

him, leaving bare the same harassed spirit, the same restless mood, which
had been his upon the last occasion when we had talked at length together

upon some of the present social and political phases of our republic--
that day of the New Bridge and the advent of Hortense. Only, upon that

day, he had by his manner in some subtle fashion conveyed to me a greater
security in my discretion than I felt him now to entertain. His many

observations about the Replacers, with always the significant and
conspicuous omission of Hortense, proved more and more, as I thought it

over, that his state was unsteady. Even now, he did not long endure
silence between us; yet the eagerness which he threw into our discussions

did not, it seemed to me, so much proceed from present interest in their
subjects (though interest there was at times) as from anxiety lest one

particular subject, ever present with him, should creep in unawares. So
much I, at any rate, concluded, and bided my time for the creeping in

unawares, content meanwhile to parry some of the reproaches which he now
and again cast at me with an earnestness" target="_blank" title="n.认真，急切；坚定">earnestness real or feigned.

We had made now considerable progress, and were come to a space of sand
and cabins and intersecting railroad tracks, where freight cars and

locomotives stood, and negroes of all shapes, but of one lowering and
ragged appearance, lounged and stared.

"There used to be a murder here about once a day," said John, "before the
dispensary system. Now, it is about once a week."

"That law is of benefit, then?" I inquired.
"To those who drink the whiskey, possibly; certainly to those who sell

it!" And he condensed for me the long story of the state dispensary,
which in brief appeared to be that South Carolina had gone into the

liquor business. The profits were to pay for compulsory education; the
liquor was to be pure; society and sobriety were to be advanced: such had

been the threefold promise, of which the threefold fulfillment was--
defeat of the compulsory education bill, a political monopoly enriching

favored distillers, "and lately," said John, "a thoroughly democratic
whiskey for the plain people. Pay ten cents for a bottle of X, if you're

curious. It may not poison you--but the murders are coming up again."
"What a delightful example of government ownership! I exclaimed.

But John in Kings Port was not in the way of hearing that cure-all policy
discussed, and I therefore explained it to him. He did not seem to grasp

my explanation.
"I don't see how it would change anything," he remarked, "beyond

switching the stealing from one set of hands to another."
I put on a face of concern. "What? You don't believe in our patent

American short-cuts?"
"Short-cuts?"

"Certainly. Short-cuts to universal happiness, universalhonesty,
universal everything. For instance: Don't make a boy study four years for

a college degree; just cut the time in half, and you've got a short-cut
to education. Write it down that man is equal. That settles it. You'll

notice how equal he is at once. Write it down that the negro shall vote.
You'll observe how instantly he is fit for the suffrage. Now they want it

written down that government shall take all the wicked corporations,
because then corruption will disappear from the face of the earth. You'll

find the farmers presently having it written down that all hens must