. We're too close to
ourselves to get the perspective."

"I am relieved," Thatcher said. "If it is only a question of
inconsistency I'll take a chance on holding my own. But sometimes we are
not so inconsistent as we seem. The 'other fellow' thinks he has a joke
on us when in reality he only sees part of the situation. This
'nefarious trust,' for example which you cite as a hideous illustration
of grinding monopoly, took hold of an industry, twenty years ago, and
brought system out of chaos, shouldered all the risk, taught
manufacturers how to make money out of their business, and enabled small
factories to become big ones by leasing them machines which they could
not afford to buy. The trust has prospered, but so have the
manufacturers. Who shall say that those who took the risks are not
entitled to the rewards, or that the system introduced and developed by
the trust was not as much in the interests of the people as this
trolley-line we are proposing?"

"There isn't much of anything we can't prove if we argue long enough, is
there?" Cosden retorted. "If I hadn't heard all that before, and if I
hadn't seen the way the 'system' worked out, I should be almost
persuaded. Some one told me once that there were two sides to every
story except that of Cain and Abel, but I came across an Icelandic myth
a while ago in which Abel was the murderer, and since then I've refused
to believe anything until I know the other side. Probably the only way
for you and me to agree on this question is for each of us to buy some
stock in the other fellow's company."

* * * * *

XV

* * * * *

Edith had secured the necessary records for the victrola from the hotel
office, and she and Cosden were alone in the ball-room ready for the
first lesson in modern dancing. Cosden had never before noticed how
enormous the room was, or how many of its windows opened onto the
piazza, or how curious the average hotel guest is when a novice is about
to be initiated into the mysteries of terpsichorean art.

"Pay no attention to them," Edith reassured him. "Those who know how to
dance have had to go through it, and those who haven't learned are
perishing for an opportunity. Listen!" she cried, as the music began.
"Can you possibly make your feet behave when you hear that heavenly
one-step? Look!"

Lifting her skirts gracefully above her ankles, Edith made herself a
veritable part o