* * * * *

Then, pausing not, he spoke to her of white slavery, of girls and women by the uncounted thousand forced to barter their own bodies for a mockery of life; and, stinging as a nagaika, he laid the lash of blame on Capitalism, evil cause of an evil and rotten fruit, of disease and crime, and misery, and death.  He told her of political corruption beyond belief; of cheating, lying, trickery and greed, for power.  Of war, he told her, and made all its inner, hideous motives clear.  She seemed verily to see the trenches, the “red rampart’s slippery edge,” the spattered blood and brains and all the horror of Hell’s nethermost infamy—­and then the blasted, wrecked and wasted homes, the long trail of mourning and of hopeless ruin—­the horror of this crime of crimes, all for profit, all for gold and markets, all for Capitalism!

And then, while the girl stood there listening, spell-bound by her first insight, her first understanding of the true character of this, our striving, slaving world, held by a few for their own inordinate pride and power, the man’s voice changed.

With new intonations and a deeper tone, he launched into some outlines of the great hope, the splendid vision, the Wondrous Ideal—­Socialism, the world-salvation.

Sentence by sentence, imagery of this vast, noble thought flowed from his inspired lips.  Clearly he showed this woman all the causes of the world’s travail and pain; and clearly made her see that only in one way, only through the ownership of the world by the world’s children as a whole, could peace and justice, life and joy and plenty and the New Time come to pass, dreamed of and yearned for by many sages and prophets, and now close at hand on the very threshold of reality!

Socialism!  It leaped from his spirit like a living flame, consuming dross and waste and evil, lighting up the future with its shining beacon, its message of hope to the hopeless, of rest and cheer and peace to all who labored and were heavy laden.

Socialism!  The glory of the vision seemed to blind and dazzle Catherine.  In its supernal light, things grievous to be understood and borne were now made clear.  For the first time in all her life, the woman saw, and knew, and grasped the truths of this strange nexus of conflict, pain and sorrow, that we know as our existence.

“Socialism!  The Hope of the World!” Gabriel finished.  “And for this, and for what I know about its enemies, I stand here in this cell and may yet go to a living death.  This is my crime, and nothing else—­this battle for the freedom and the joy of the world—­this struggle against the powers of ignorance and darkness, priestcraft and greed, lust, treachery and foulness, cruelty and hate and war!  This, and this only.  You have heard me.  I have spoken!”

He fell silent, crossed his arms upon the bars of the cage that pent him, and laid his head upon them with a motion of weariness.