She stood close to the huge man, and looked straight up into his face.
He remained for a moment motionless, yielding again to that fascination which always held him when in her presence, and of which he could give no account to himself. That slight, girlish figure--how easily he could crush her!
"But you couldn"t, you know," she said cryptically, as she shook her head.
"Couldn"t what?" he demanded.
"Crush me."
He recoiled a step, struck by the sudden revelation that the girl had read his thought.
"You see, Mr. Ames," she continued, "what a craven error is before truth. It makes a coward of you, doesn"t it? Your boasted power is only a mesmerism, which you throw like a huge net over your victims.
You and they can break it, if you will."
"Miss Carmen!" exclaimed the President. "We really must consider our interview ended. Let us make an appointment for another day."
"I guess the appointment was made for to-day," the girl said softly.
"And by a higher power than any of us. Mr. Ames is the type of man who is slowly turning our Republican form of government into a despotism of wealth. He boasts that his power is already greater than a czar"s.
You bow before it; and so the awful monster of privilege goes on unhampered, coiling its slimy tentacles about our national resources, our public utilities, and natural wealth. I--I can"t see how you, the head of this great nation, can stand trembling by and see him do it.
It is to me incomprehensible."
The President flushed. He made as if to reply, but restrained himself.
Carmen gave no indication of leaving. A stern look then came into the President"s face. He stood for a few minutes in thought. Then he turned again to his desk and sat down.
"Please be seated," he said, "both of you. I don"t know what quarrel there is between you two, and I am not interested in it. But you, Miss Carmen, represent the press; Mr. Ames, business. The things which have been voiced here this morning must remain with us alone. Now let us see if we can not meet on common ground. Is the att.i.tude of your newspaper, Miss Carmen, one of hostility toward great wealth?"
"The Express raises its voice only against the folly and wickedness of the human mind, not against personality," replied the girl.
"But you are attacking Mr. Ames."
"No. We attack only the human thought which manifests in him. We oppose the carnal thought which expresses itself in the folly, the madness of strife for excessive wealth. It is that strife that makes our hospitals and asylums a disgraceful necessity. It makes the immigrant hordes of Europe flock here because they are attracted by the horrible social system which fosters the growth of great fortunes and makes their acquisition possible. Our alms-houses and prisons increase in number every year. It is because rich men misuse their wealth, trample justice under foot, and prost.i.tute a whole nation"s conscience."
"But the rich need not do that. They do not all--"
"It is a law of human thought," said Carmen in reply, "that mankind in time become like that which has absorbed their attention. Rich men obey this law with utmost precision. They acquire the nature and character of their G.o.d, gold. They rapidly grow to be like that which they blindly worship. They harden like their money. They grow metallic, yellow, calloused, unchanging, and soulless, like the coins they heap up. There is the great danger to our country, Mr. President.
And it is against the human thought that produces such beings--thought stamped with the dollar mark--that the Express opposes itself."
She hesitated, and looked in the direction of Ames. Then she added:
"Their features in time reveal to the world their metallic thought.
Their veins shrivel with the fiery l.u.s.t of gold. Their arteries harden. And then, at last, they crumble and sink into the dust of which their G.o.d is made. And still their memories continue to poison the very sources of our national existence. You see," she concluded, "there is no fool so mired in his folly as the man who gives his soul for great wealth."
"A very enjoyable little sermon, preached for my benefit, Miss Carmen," interposed Ames, bowing to her. "And now if you have finished excoriating my poor character," he continued dryly, "will you kindly state by whose authority you publish to the world my affairs?"
"G.o.d"s authority, Mr. Ames," returned the girl gently.
"Bah! The maudlin sentimentalism of such as you make us all suffer!"
he exclaimed with a gesture of disgust. "Hadn"t we better sing a hymn now? You"re obsessed with your foolish religious notions! You"re running amuck! You"ll be wiser in a few years, I hope."
The girl reflected. "And may I ask, Mr. Ames, by what right you own mines, and forests, and lands? Divine right, I suppose."
"By the divine right of law, most a.s.suredly," he retorted.
"And you make the law. Yes, divine right! I have learned," she continued, turning to the President, "that a bare handful of men own or control all the public utilities of this great country. It doesn"t seem possible! But," abruptly, "you believe in G.o.d, don"t you?"
He nodded his head, although with some embarra.s.sment. His religion labored heavily under political bias.
She looked down at the floor, and sat silent for a while. "Divine right," she began to murmur, "the fetish of the creatures made rich by our man-made social system! "The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fullness thereof, thou hast founded them." But, oh, what must be the concept of G.o.d held by the rich, a G.o.d who bestows these gifts upon a few, and with them the privilege and divine consent to oppress and crush their fellow-men! What a low order of intelligence the rich possess! An intelligence wherein the sentiments of love and justice have melted into money!"
"Mr. President," put in Ames at this juncture, "I think we have spent quite enough time moralizing. Suppose you now indicate your att.i.tude on the cotton tariff. I"d like to know what to expect."
Carmen glanced quickly up. Her sparkling eyes looked right into the President"s. A smile wreathed her mouth. "I admire the man," she said, "who dares to stand for the right in the face of the great taboo!
There are few men nowadays who stand for anything in particular."
"Look here!" exclaimed Ames, aware now that he had made a mistake in permitting the girl to remain, "I wish my interview to be with you alone, Mr. President."
Carmen rose. "I have embarra.s.sed you both, haven"t I?" she said. "I will go. But first--"
She went to Ames and laid a hand on his arm. "I wish--I wish I might awaken you," she said gently. "There is no victim at Avon in so desperate a state as you. More gold will not cure you, any more than more liquor can cure a slave to strong drink. You do not know that you are hourly practicing the most despicable form of robbery, the wringing of profits which you do not need out of the dire necessities of your fellow-beings."
She stopped and smiled down into the face of the man. His emotions were in a whirl. This girl always dissected his soul with a smile on her face.
"I wish I might awaken you and your poor victims by showing you and them that righteousness makes not for a home in the skies, but for greater happiness and prosperity for everybody right here in this world. Don"t you really want the little babies to have enough to eat down there at Avon? Do you really want the President to support you in the matter of the cotton schedule, and so increase the misery and sorrow at your mills? You don"t know, do you? that one"s greatest happiness is found only in that of others." She stood looking at him for a few moments, then turned away.
The President rose and held out his hand to her. She almost laughed as she took it, and her eyes shone with the light of her eager, unselfish desire.
"I--I guess I"m like Paul," she said, "consumed with zeal. Anyway, you"ll wear my rose, won"t you?"
"Indeed I will!" he said heartily.
"And--you are not a bit afraid about a second term, are you? As for party principle, why, you know, there is only _one_ principle, G.o.d. He is the Christ-principle, you know, and that is way above party principle."
Under the spell of the girl"s strange words every emotion fled from the men but that of amazement.
"Righteousness, you know, is right-thinking. And that touches just that about which men are most chary, their pocketbooks."
She still held his hand. Then she arched her brows and said navely: "You will find in yesterday"s Express something about Avon. You will not use your influence with Congress until you have read it, will you?" And with that she left the room.
A deep quiet fell upon the men, upon the great executive and the great apostle of privilege. It seemed to the one that as the door closed against that bright presence the spirit of night descended; the other sat wrapped in the chaos of conflicting emotions in which she always left him.
Suddenly the President roused up. "Who is she?" he asked.
"She"s the b.a.s.t.a.r.d daughter of a negro priest," replied Ames in an ugly tone.
"What--she? That beautiful girl--! I don"t believe it!"
"By G.o.d, she is!" cried the thoroughly angered Ames, bringing a huge fist down hard upon the desk. "And I"ve got the proof! And, what"s more, she"s head over heels in love with another renegade priest!
"But that"s neither here nor there," he continued savagely. "I want to know what you are going to do for us?"