“Mrs. Garvin is there now.  She was received as a friend, as a guest —­not as an inmate, a recipient of charity.  I shall never forget how that woman ran out in the sun when she saw us coming, how proud she was to be able to do this thing, how she ushered us into the little parlour, that was all swept and polished, and how naturally and warmly she welcomed the other woman, dazed and exhausted, and took her hat and veil and almost carried her up the stairs.  And later on I found out from Miss Grower, who lives here, Mrs. Bledsoe’s history.  Eight or nine years ago her husband was sent to prison for forgery, and she was left with four small children, on the verge of a fate too terrible to mention.  She was brought to Mr. Bentley’s attention, and he started her in life.

“And now Mrs. Garvin forms another link to that chain, which goes on growing.  In a month she will be earning her own living as stenographer for a grain merchant whom Mr. Bentley set on his feet several years ago.  One thing has led to the next.  And—­I doubt if any neighbourhood could be mentioned, north or south or west, or even in the business portion of the city itself, where men and women are not to be found ready and eager to do anything in their power for him.  Of course there have been exceptions, what might be called failures in the ordinary terminology of charity, but there are not many.”

When he had finished she sat quite still, musing over what he had told her, her eyes alight.

“Yes, it is wonderful,” she said at length, in a low voice.  “Oh, I can believe in that, making the world a better place to live in, making people happier.  Of course every one cannot be like Mr. Bentley, but all may do their share in their own way.  If only we could get rid of this senseless system of government that puts a premium on the acquisition of property!  As it is, we have to depend on individual initiative.  Even the good Mr. Bentley does is a drop in the ocean compared to what might be done if all this machinery—­which has been invented, if all these discoveries of science, by which the forces of an indifferent nature have been harnessed, could be turned to the service of all mankind.  Think of how many Mrs. Garvins, of how many Dalton Streets there are in the world, how many stunted children working in factories or growing up into criminals in the slums!  I was reading a book just the other day on the effect of the lack of nutrition on character.  We are breeding a million degenerate citizens by starving them, to say nothing of the effect of disease and bad air, of the constant fear of poverty that haunts the great majority of homes.  There is no reason why that fear should not be removed, why the latest discoveries in medicine and science should not be at the disposal of all.”

The genuineness of her passion was unmistakable.  His whole being responded to it.

“Have you always felt like this?” he asked.  Like what?”