“Say what you want—­be quick—­and get away,” Isaac muttered.  “I am not here to receive visitors—­not your sort, any way.  You understand that?”

“You seem to be prepared to receive some one in a most unpleasant manner,” Arnold said gravely.  “Is that sort of thing worth while, Isaac?”

“Worth while!”

There was a brief pause.  Arnold, having asked his question, was looking at his companion, half in horror, half in pity.  Isaac, white with passion, seemed unable for the moment to make any intelligible reply.  Then, drawing in his breath as though with an effort, he walked past Arnold and stood for a moment on the threshold of the door, listening intently.  Satisfied, apparently, that there was nothing to be heard save the usual street noises, he closed the door softly and came back into the room.

“You,” he said to Arnold, “are one of the clods of the earth, to whom it is not given to understand.  You are one of those who would fall before the carriages of the rich and hold out your hands for their alms.  You are one of those who could weep and weep and watch the children die, wringing your hands, while the greedy ones of the world stuff themselves at their costly restaurants.  The world is full of such as you.  It is full, too, of many like myself, in whose blood the fever burns, into whose brain the knowledge of things has entered, in whose heart the seared iron burns.”

“That’s all right for Hyde Park,” Arnold declared, bluntly, “but do you imagine you are going to help straighten the world by this sort of thing?”

“In my way, I am,” Isaac snarled.  “What do you know of it, you smooth-faced, healthy young animal, comfortably born, comfortably bred, falling always on your feet in comfortable fashion, with the poison of comfort in your veins?  You look at my pistol as an evil thing, because it can spell the difference between life and death.  I will tell you what it represents to me.  It represents my rebellion and the rebellion of my class against what you choose to call here law and order.  Law and order are good enough things, but they have become the tools with which the smug rich keep themselves in luxury in the fat places of the world, while millions of others, gripping vainly at the outside of life, fall off into the bottomless chasm.”

“It’s the wrong method, Isaac,” Arnold insisted, earnestly.

Isaac threw out his hand—­a little gesture, half of contempt, not altogether without its touch of dignity.

“This isn’t any place for words,” he said, “nor is it given to you to be the champion of your class.  Let me alone.  Speak your errand and be gone!  No one can tell when the end may come.  It will be better for you, when it does, that you are not here.”

“I have come on account of your niece, whom you left penniless and homeless,” Arnold said sternly.  “With your immense sympathy for others, perhaps you can explain this little act of inattention on your part?”