When the Interpreter spoke again his deep voice was colored with gentle patience. "Why have you come to me like this, Adam Ward? What is it that you want?" Adam moved uneasily. "Why--nothing particular--I just thought I would call--happened to be going by and saw your light." There had been no light in the hut that evening. The Interpreter waited. The surrounding darkness of the night seemed filled with warring spirits from the gloomy Flats, the mighty Mill, the glittering streets and stores and the cheerfully lighted homes. Adam tried to make his voice sound casual, but he could not altogether cover the nervous intensity of his interest, as he asked the question that was so vital to the entire community. "Will the Mill workers' union go out on a sympathetic strike?" "No." The Mill owner drew a long breath of relief. "I judged you would know." The Interpreter did not answer. Adam spoke with more confidence. "I suppose you know this agitator Jake Vodell?" "I know who he is," replied the Interpreter. "He is a well-known representative of a foreign society that is seeking, through the working people of this country, to extend its influence and strengthen its power." "The unions are going too far," said Adam. "The people won't stand for their bringing in a man like Vodell to preach anarchy and stir up all kinds of trouble." The Interpreter spoke strongly. "Jake Vodell no more represents the great body of American union men than you, Adam Ward, represent the great body of American employers." "He works with the unions, doesn't he?" "Yes, but that does not make him a representative of the union men as a whole, any more than the fact that your work with the great body of American business men makes you their representative." "I should like to know why I am not a representative American business man." It was evident from the tone of his voice that the Mill owner controlled himself with an effort. The Interpreter answered, without a trace of personal feeling, "You do not represent them, Adam Ward, because the spirit and purpose of your personal business career is not the spirit and purpose of our business men as a whole--just as the spirit and purpose of such men as Jake Vodell is not the spirit and purpose of our union men as a whole." "But," asserted the Mill owner, "it is men like me who have built up this country. Look at our railroads, our great manufacturing plants, our industries of all kinds! Look what I have done for Millsburgh! You know what the town was when you first came here. Look at it now!" "The new process has indeed wrought great changes in Millsburgh," suggested the Interpreter.