"At first. ... Then there was a fellow on a barrel making a speech
about us. ... I listened, and found out the workingmen realize that
we are sort of czars or some such thing--and resent it. I supposed
things were different. This Dulac was sent here to organize our men
into a union--just why I didn't understand, but he promised to
explain it to me."

"WHAT?" demanded Bonbright Foote VI, approaching nearer than his wife
had ever seen him to losing his poise.

"You talked to him?" asked Hilda, leaning forward in her interest.

"I was introduced to him; I wanted to know. ... He was a handsome
fellow. Not a gentleman, of course--"

"Oh!" Lightener pounced on that expression. "Not a gentleman, eh? ...
Expect to find the Harvard manner in a man preaching riot from a
potato barrel? ... Well, well, what did he say? How did HE affect
you?"

"He seemed to think the men resented our power over them. Just how
correctly he stated their feeling I don't know, of course. They
cheered his speech, however. ... He said father had the power to buy
mother a diamond necklace to-morrow, and cut their wages to pay for
it--and they couldn't help themselves."

"Well--could they?"

"I don't know. I didn't understand it all, but it didn't seem right