the poor devils."

"You don't. always act on that principle, Denzil," said Lilian, with
a rallying smile. "Not, for instance, when beggars are concerned."

"Beggars! Would you have me support trading impostors? As for the
genuine cases--why, if I found myself penniless in the streets, I
would make such a row that all the country should hear of it! Do you
think I would go whining to individuals? If I hadn't food, it would
be the duty of society to provide me with it--and I would take
good care that I _was_ provided; whether m workhouse or gaol
wouldn't matter much. At all events, the business should be managed
with the maximum of noise."

He emptied his wine-glass, and went on in the same vigorous tone.

"We know very well that there are no such things as natural rights.
Nature gives no rights; she will produce an infinite number of
creatures only to torture and eventually destroy them. But
civilization is at war with nature, and as civilized beings we
_have_ rights. Every man is justified in claiming food and shelter
and repose. As things are, many thousands of people in every English
county either lack these necessaries altogether, or get them only in
return for the accursed badge of pauperdom. I, for one, am against
this state of things, and I sympathize with the men who think that
nothing can go right until the fundamental injustice is done away
with."

Glazzard listened with an inscrutable smile, content to throw in a
word of acquiescence from time to time. But when the necessity of