your class, but would pose as a representative of the class I had
personally abandoned. Am I right?''

``Go on, Victor,'' she said.

``That's about all. Now, there are just two objections to your
plan. The first is, it wouldn't work. My associates would be
`on to' me in a very short time. They are shrewd, practical,
practically educated men --not at all the sort that follow Davy
Hull or are wearing Kelly's and House's nose rings. In a few
months I'd find myself a leader without a following-- and what is
more futile and ridiculous than that?''

``They worship you,'' said Jane. ``They trust you implicitly.
They know that whatever you did would be for their good.''

He laughed heartily. ``How little you know my friends,'' said
he. ``I am their leader only because I am working with them,
doing what we all see must be done, doing it in the way in which
we all see it must be done.''

``But THAT is not power!'' cried Jane.

``No,'' replied Victor. ``But it is the career I wish-- the only
one I'd have. Power means that one's followers are weak or
misled or ignorant. To be first among equals--that's worth
while. The other thing is the poor tawdriness that kings and
bosses crave and that shallow, snobbish people admire.''

``I see that,'' said Jane. ``At least, I begin to see it. How