exchange, and as
such it is thought to be the best thing on earth. Yet the greed of it is
the root of all evil. I want to come back to first principles a little,
and exchange from man to man, without this pernicious medium that has
filled us with covetousness and a lack of consideration for others. I
want to see if people are really so callous and cold to each other as
they seem, or if this unreadiness to help is only because we are too
greatly separated by the many mediums interposed--which prove barriers
instead of channels. I want to find if every need cannot somehow,
somewhere, meet its fulfilment, unless death itself has shut out the
way. It is too limited a field, here, to learn absolutely, but it may
give us some idea, and then----"

Mr. Dalton had settled back into his chair with a non-committal
expression, and was drumming on the desk before him.

"I'm afraid," he murmured in a concise tone, "that you are talking above
my head."

Joyce, rudely aroused from her introspective vision, looked at him
rather blankly a moment, then sprang to her feet. At first she seemed
offended, then cried briskly, with a mischievous air,

"And through my hat? I know that is what you wanted to say! Well, never
mind. Some people hunt for north poles, some for new continents in the
tropics, some are content with finding an unclassified species of bug. I
want to experiment with human needs and longings a bit. It is my fad
just now. You know fads are fashionable."

"Miss Lavillotte, did any one ever tell you that you are a despot?"

"I?" Joyce's eyes opened their widest, "I a despot!"

"Yes. You want to rule as absolutely as any Czar; but not only that; you
want to play the part of Providence, and watch the workings of your
will----"

"Stop! Mr. Barrington said that, and I told him I wanted my people to
play that part to each other. And I am right. It was the teaching of
Christ. 'Do it in My name'--surely it _is_ right! Mr. Dalton, it is
unfair, even ridiculous, if I may so speak, to lay all our mistakes and
misdemeanors at the door of our Creator. He gives us sense, reason,
patience, ingenuity. What are they for? To be hidden in a napkin till
some crushing calamity comes and shakes us out of our indifference
enough to make us exercise them? No! They are given us to prevent
calamity, to wrest from earth, air, and sea what is needed for our
comfort. He gave man _dominion_. That does not mean just sitting back
and bearing with r