"Suppose he is her lover, so what?" one of Lancedale's partisans
demanded. "You say, yourself, that she's a Literate. That ought to
remove any objection. Why, if she were to come forward and admit and
demonstrate her Literacy, there'd be no possible objection from the
Fraternities' viewpoint to her marrying young Prestonby."

"And as for Prestonby's action in teaching Literacy to her and to her
brother," Cardon spoke up, "I think he deserves the thanks and
commendation of the Fraternities. He's put a period to four
generations of bigoted Illiterates."

Wilton Joyner was on his feet. "Will Literate Graves yield for a
motion?" he asked. "Thank you, Harvey. Literate President, and brother
Literates: I yield to no man in my abhorrence of Black Literacy, or in
my detestation for the political principles of which Chester Pelton
has made himself the spokesman, but I deny that we should allow the
acts and opinions of the Illiterate parent to sway us in our
consideration of the Literate children. It has come to my notice, as
it has to Literate Graves', that this young woman, Claire Pelton, is
Literate to a degree that would be a credit to any Literate First
Class, and her brother can match his Literacy creditably against that
of any novice in our Fraternities. To show that we respect Literate
ability, wherever we find it; to show that we are not the monopolistic
closed-corporation our enemies accuse us of being; to show that we are
not animated by a vindictive hatred of anything bearing the name of
Pelton--I move, and ask that my motion be presented for seconding,
that Claire Pelton, and her brother, Raymond Pelton, be duly elected,
respectively, to the positions of Literate Third Class and Literate
Novice, as members of the Associated Fraternities of Literates!"