"Why, I'm thrilled to death," she cried, hurriedly collecting her
thoughts from an adjacent hat. "Do go on."

"The other point of view is this. We do not wish for mitigation of
conditions in a system which we consider wrong. We want the entire
system swept away. . . . We want the entire propertied class removed.
We deny that there are any inherent rights which go with the possession
of property; and even if there are, we claim that the rights of the
masses far outweigh the property rights of the small minority of
owners. . . ."

"In other words," said Vane briefly, "you claim for the masses the
right to commit robbery on a large scale."

"For just so long as that view of robbery holds, Captain Vane, for just
so long will there fail to be any real co-operation between you and us.
For just so long as you are convinced that your vested right is the
true one, and that ours is false--for just so long will the final
settlement by quiet methods be postponed. But if you make it too long
the final settlement will not come by quiet means."

"Your proposal, then, is that we should commit suicide with a good
grace?" remarked Vane. "Really, Mr. Ramage, it won't do. . . . I,
personally, if I owned property, would go into the last ditch in
defence of what was mine." Into his mind there flashed Joan's
words. . . . "It's ours. I tell you, ours," and he smiled grimly.
"Why, in the name of fortune, I should give what I possess to a crowd
of scally wags who haven't made good, is more than I can fathom. . . ."

"It is hardly likely to go as far as that," said the other with a
smile. "But the time is coming when we shall have a Labour
Government--a Government which at heart is Socialistic. And their
first move will be to nationalise all the big industries. . . . How
far will property meet them and help them? Will they fight--or will
they co-operate? . . . It's up to property to decide. . . ."

"Because you will have forced the issue," said Vane; "an issue which, I
maintain, you have no right to force. Robbery is robbery, just the
same whether its sanctioned by an Act of Parliament, or whether it's
performed by a man holding a gun at your head. . . . Why, in God's
name, Mr. Ramage, can't we pull together for the side? . . ."

"With you as the leaders--the kind employers?"

"With those men as the leaders who have shown that they can lead," said
Vane doggedly. "They will come to the top in the future as they have