ll think it out. We might begin with
a moderate supply of books; we might find some building that would do
at first; a real library could be built when the people had begun to
appreciate what was offered them. Better, no doubt, if they would tax
themselves for the purpose, but they have burdens enough.'

'They won't give a farthing towards a library,' said Grail, 'until they
know its value; and that they can't do until they have learnt it from
books.'

'True. We'll break the circle.'

He pondered again, then added cheerfully:

'I say _we_. I mean you and the others who come to my lecture. I want,
if possible, to make this class permanent, to make it the beginning of
a society for purposes I have in my mind. I must tell you something of
this, for I know you will feel with me, Mr. Grail.'

The reply was a look of quiet trust. Egremont had not thought to get so
far as this to-night, but Grail's personality wrought upon him, even as
his on Grail. He felt a desire to open his mind, as he had done that
evening in the garden by Ullswater. This man was of those whom he would
benefit, but, if he mistook not, far unlike the crowd; Grail could
understand as few of his class could be expected to.

'To form a society, a club, let us say. Not at all like the ordinary
clubs. There are plenty of places where men can meet to talk about what
ought to be done for the working class; my idea is to bring the working
class to talk of what it can do for itself. And not how it can claim
its material rights, how to get better wages, shorter hours, more
decent homes. With all those demands I sympathise as thoroughly as any
man; but those things are coming, and it seems to me that it's time to
ask what working men are going to do with such advantages when they've
got them. Now, my hope is to get a few men to see--what you, I know,
see clearly enough--that life, to be worthy of the name, must be first
and foremost concerned with the things of the heart and mind. Yet
everything in our time favours the opposite. The struggle for existence
is so hard that we grow more and more material: the tendency is to
regard it as the end of life to make money. If there's time to think of
higher things, well and good; if not, it doesn't matter much. Well, we
have to earn money; it is a necessary evil; but let us think as little
about it as we may. Our social state, in short, has converted the means
of life into its end.'

He paused, and Gilbert looked hear