“Exactly,” said Gaudissart.  “The fathers of the Saint-Simonian faith have authorized me to send them all the commodities I—­But allow me to tell you about their noble newspaper.  You, who have understood the whole question of insurance so thoroughly, and who are willing to assist my work in this district—­”

“Yes,” said Margaritis, “if—­”

“If I take your wine; I understand perfectly.  Your wine is very good, Monsieur; it puts the stomach in a glow.”

“They make champagne out of it; there is a man from Paris who comes here and makes it in Tours.”

“I have no doubt of it, Monsieur.  The ‘Globe,’ of which we were speaking—­”

“Yes, I’ve gone over it,” said Margaritis.

“I was sure of it!” exclaimed Gaudissart.  “Monsieur, you have a fine frontal development; a pate—­excuse the word—­which our gentlemen call ‘horse-head.’  There’s a horse element in the head of every great man.  Genius will make itself known; but sometimes it happens that great men, in spite of their gifts, remain obscure.  Such was very nearly the case with Saint-Simon; also with Monsieur Vico,—­a strong man just beginning to shoot up; I am proud of Vico.  Now, here we enter upon the new theory and formula of humanity.  Attention, if you please.”

“Attention!” said the fool, falling into position.

“Man’s spoliation of man—­by which I mean bodies of men living upon the labor of other men—­ought to have ceased with the coming of Christ, I say Christ, who was sent to proclaim the equality of man in the sight of God.  But what is the fact?  Equality up to our day has been an ‘ignus fatuus,’ a chimera.  Saint-Simon has arisen as the complement of Christ; as the modern exponent of the doctrine of equality, or rather of its practice, for theory has served its time—­”

“Is he liberated?” asked the lunatic.

“Like liberalism, it has had its day.  There is a nobler future before us:  a new faith, free labor, free growth, free production, individual progress, a social co-ordination in which each man shall receive the full worth of his individual labor, in which no man shall be preyed upon by other men who, without capacity of their own, compel all to work for the profit of one.  From this comes the doctrine of—­”

“How about servants?” demanded the lunatic.

“They will remain servants if they have no capacity beyond it.”

“Then what’s the good of your doctrine?”

“To judge of this doctrine, Monsieur, you must consider it from a higher point of view:  you must take a general survey of humanity.  Here we come to the theories of Ballance:  do you know his Palingenesis?”

“I am fond of them,” said the fool, who thought he said “ices.”

“Good!” returned Gaudissart.  “Well, then, if the palingenistic aspects of the successive transformations of the spiritualized globe have struck, stirred, roused you, then, my dear sir, the ‘Globe’ newspaper, —­noble name which proclaims its mission,—­the ‘Globe’ is an organ, a guide, who will explain to you with the coming of each day the conditions under which this vast political and moral change will be effected.  The gentlemen who—­”