ttle Madge could go nowhere, and ceased to wish to go anywhere, to
find herself brushing against offended skirts whose owners drew them
away from pollution.

'In all my foolish life,' Paul told Ralston, 'I have known one
thoroughly good woman.'

'Lucky bargee!' said Ralston. 'Not one man in a million has your
chance.'

'One woman,' Paul went on, 'as pure as a daisy, who could surrender her
whole life for the sake of love--a creature who never spoke an unkind
word or thought an unkind thought of any living sister, or dead one, for
that matter.'

He choked. He could go no further for the time.

'I know her,' said Ralston--'I know her.'

'And women,' said Paul, 'who are not worthy to unlace her shoes
cold-shoulder her, and look at her with contempt. I dare cry the history
of two or three on the housetops.'

'And if you dared--what good?' Ralston asked.

'There is no God,' cried Paul; 'there is no justice in the world.'

'There is a God,' said Ralston, 'and there is very little justice. Who
are we that we should cry out for justice? We are here to learn. And
look here, Paul Armstrong: the biggest and hardest lesson set us is to
learn long views.'

'Long views?' said Paul, staring at him.

'Long views,' Ralston repeated steadily. 'I know what I'm talking about
We are learners, and learners in the lowest class. That's nonsense,' he
corrected himself, 'and I hate exaggeration, though I am guilty of it a
hundred times a day. But we are learners, and, whether our class is high
or low makes little difference to the fact that there is much to learn.
The man who is the stronger and the better for his trouble is the
scholar who goes to the top of the class. Look ahead, man, and ask
whether Paul Armstrong is to be a firmer or a flabbier small element in
God's great universe for what is now befalling him. Your own action has
chosen you to be a sort of martyr in a big cause. We are on the fringe
of the sex-fight, so far; but before our children are grown men and
women, the battle will be in full swing. We have got to settle this
question of the sanctity of marriage. What a certain kind of animal
calls "free love" is of the beast and bestial; but a reasoned and loyal
love between man and woman is a beautiful and noble thing, and it is not
the less beautiful and noble because it has not been sanctified by
the payment of seven-and-sixpence to the Inland Revenue. You have a
principle to fight for, and you have Madge to fight