Part 17 (2/2)
”One to undo, as far as possible, the work of the other. The second army, not the first, is the test of humanity's advance; the army that tries to keep life in the man the other army has tried to kill, to give back what has been taken away, to help what has been hurt, to feed what has been starved, to clothe what is made naked, to build up what has been broken down. Each country that to-day gives fight, equips and trains and sends out two contrasting armies. They work together, but with opposing purposes. The second army--”
”Has a good many women in it. But it's so stupid, so wicked and wasteful, to fight over things that are rarely finally settled by fighting. It's bad business!” My hands twisted s.h.i.+veringly in my lap. ”Do you suppose the time will ever come when man will see it's the animal's way of getting what he wants, of keeping others from getting what he's got, of settling difficulties and defending points of view? Do you think he'll ever find a better way?”
”In a few thousand years--yes,” Selwyn again smiled and, changing his position, stood with his back to the fire. ”When we have the same code for nations as for individuals, the same insistence that what's wrong in and punishable for a man is wrong in and punishable for his country, or when we cease to think of ourselves as group people and remember we are but parts of a whole, we may cease to be fighting animals. Not until then, perhaps. Personally, I think war is a good thing every now and then. That is, in the present state of our undevelopment.”
”So do I.” David Guard's shoulders made energetic movement. ”War brings out every evil pa.s.sion of which man is possessed, but it has its redemptive side. It clears away befogging sophistries, delivers from deadening indulgences and indifferences; enables us to see ourselves, our manner of life, our methods of government, our obligations and our injustices, in perspective that reveals what could, perhaps, be grasped in no other way. It brings about readjustments and reaccountings, and puts into operation new forces of life, new conceptions of duty. It's a frightful way of making man get a firmer grip on certain essential realizations, of taking in more definitely the high purpose of his destiny, but at times there seems no other way. I pray G.o.d we may keep out of this, but if it means a stand for human rights--”
”We'll all enlist!” The faces of the men before me were sober, and quick fear made my voice unsteady. ”War may have its redemptive side; it may at times be necessary for the preservation of honor and the maintenance of principle, but that's because, I imagine, of our unpreparedness as human beings to--to be the right sort of human beings. When we are there'll be no time to kill one another. We'll need it all to help each other. I hate war as few hate it, perhaps, but should it come to us I'm as ready to join my army as you to join yours.” I got up and took the hand David Guard was holding out to me. ”I wish you didn't have to go. Must you?”
”Must. Got an engagement at nine-fifteen. I'll see you before the week is out about Clara Rudd. Good night.” He turned to Selwyn, shook hands, and was gone.
In the corner of the sofa I again sat down, and Selwyn, turning off the light in the lamp behind me, took a chair and drew it close to me. Anxiety he made no effort to control was in his eyes.
”Well--have you anything to tell me?”
”Not as much as I hoped. Mrs. Mundy hasn't been able to find Etta Blake yet. Until--”
”Etta Blake?” Selwyn's tone was groping. ”Oh, the little cas.h.i.+er-girl. I didn't expect you to tell anything of her. I wish you'd put her out of your mind.” His face darkened.
”I can't. She seems to be in no one else's. But we won't talk of her to-night. I saw the Swinks this afternoon.”
”I know you did. Mrs. Swink telephoned Harrie to-night. Did my apprais.e.m.e.nt approach correctness?”
”Of Mrs. Swink, yes. She's impossible. Most fat fools are. They're like feather beds. You could stamp on them, but you couldn't get rid of the fool-ness. It would just be in another place. She told me she was manicured on Mondays, ma.s.saged on Tuesdays, marcelled Wednesdays, and chiropodized on Thursdays, and one couldn't expect much of a daughter with that sort of a mother; still, the girl interested me. I feel sorry for her. She mustn't marry Harrie.”
”But who's going to tell her?” Selwyn's voice was querulously eager.
”I thought perhaps you might find--find--”
”I did.” I nodded in his flushed face. ”I don't think it will be necessary to tell her anything. She's very much in love, but not with Harrie.”
Selwyn sat upright. A certain rigidity of which he is capable stiffened him. He looked much, but said nothing.
”I've had an interesting time this afternoon. I never wanted to be a detective person, but I can understand the fascination of the profession. Luck was with me, and in less than thirty minutes after meeting her I was pretty sure Madeleine Swink was not in love with Harrie and was in love with some one else. A few minutes later I found out who she was in love with, found he was equally in love with her; that they were once engaged and still want to get married. Our job's to help them do it.”
Selwyn's seriousness is a heritage. Frowningly he looked at me.
”This is hardly a thing to jest about. I may be very dense, but I fail to understand--”
For an hour we talked of Madeleine Swink and Mrs. Swink, of Harrie and Tom Cressy, and in terms which even a man could understand I told how my discoveries had been made, of how I had managed to see Tom and Madeleine together, and of my frank questioning of the former. But what I did not tell him was that my thought was not of them alone.
By my side the little girl with the baby in her arms had seemed clinging to my skirt.
”What sort of a girl is she?” In Selwyn's voice was relief and anxiety. ”Has she courage enough to take things in her own hands?
I've no conscience so far as her mother is concerned. She deserves no consideration, but, being an interested party, I--”
”You needn't have anything to do with it. I'm not sure what sort she is, or how much courage she's got, but worms have been known to turn.
If a hundred years before they were born somebody had begun to train her parents to be proper parents she might have been a better product, still there seems to be something to her. For Tom's sake I hope so.”
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