Part 17 (1/2)

”I've met him,--an architect, isn't he? A dear old type!”

”That's the one. He has my application card.”

”My dear boy! You're much too precipitate. You ought to read--and think--a lot first.”

When she heard his achievements, she had to confess that what he had read already exceeded her desultory knowledge.

”But what will your father think of you!”

Pelham meditated, and spoke out of a divided mind. ”He thinks pretty straight. And he likes Wells. I'm going to talk it over with him.”

”Here's to a pleasant session! I envy you your courage, Pelham. What Auntie didn't say to me! Even Mrs. Anderson shrugs at my opinions. She's thoroughly bourgeois--charity, labor laws, factory reforms are as far as she dares contemplate.” A little smile curved her cheek bewitchingly, as the brilliance of her large eyes caressed him approvingly. ”Anything's bourgeois that we socialists don't like, you know.”

She went on, after an intimate moment of pondering. ”Let me tell you what we are trying to do, first. Mrs. Anderson's committee wants the state to pa.s.s a decent mining law. We're behind the rest of the country now in safeguards for miners; and our limping laws aren't observed. The Board of Trade has endorsed the new law, but the state labor federation has played off. Meet those men.... Most of the union bosses are crooks, you know.”

”I know the other side says that----” His tone was incredulous.

”There are crooks in both camps, Pelham. Just watch John Pooley and his gang! And, while you talk to the redoubtable Paul J., see what he thinks about our mining bill.”

”It's such a little thing, Jane, with socialism to fight for!”

She nodded her head, with a charming echoey dogmatism. ”Big movements go forward by little things.... What's the time?”

The radium face of his watch made his own expression fall. ”I'm afraid we must turn back, dear lady.... I'll sound my father, and let you know.”

His mother, the next morning, casually began to cross-examine him concerning his sudden friends.h.i.+p for the girl. He had not seen Dorothy, he reflected with a start, for two weeks now; Jane had told him that the Meades were leaving for the summer, perhaps to be gone the next year as well. He hardly minded. Dorothy was a closed alley; she did not think,--and even if he had loved her, he could not have married her. But this girl....

”Jane's splendid, mother. I like her immensely.”

”Mother knows her, Pelham. She is undeniably clever. She spoke at the State Federation of Women's Clubs in favor of our joining the National.

Clever, but very ... young. There are negro clubs in the National, you know. Don't you remember, dear, I told you how I defeated the resolution?”

”I don't remember your mentioning her.”

”She made the speech just after mine. She said, 'I am sure that Mrs.

Judson, if she met her negro mammy in heaven, would be glad to see her.'

And I answered, 'Yes; when I meet her, I expect to say, ”Mammy Sarah, how are you? And how are all your folks?” I wouldn't say, ”Well, Mrs.

Sarah Barbour, what is your opinion of the present state of the drama, and the influence of Kant and Sch.e.l.ling upon American philosophy?”' It floored her. The resolution was defeated.”

”I don't see anything so awful in it.”

”But--negro clubs, Pelham!”

He waived the point. ”She is clever.”

Mary pursed her lips. ”Her ideas seem ... radical. That's bad enough, in a man; in a woman, it's inexcusable. It gets her talked about.”

”People talk about Jane Addams, and Sara Bernhardt.”