Wentworth smiled disdainfully. "My dear Malcolm," he said, blowing an ash from his cigarette, "I spare you the humiliation of trying to tell me how. Do you not realise that party and ring rule are the necessary results of three of your dearest idols?--idols that you would defend, I believe, with your life. They are these: Manhood suffrage, rotation in office, and representative government. Until you are content to destroy these in your political revolution your attempts to abolish ring and partisan rule will fail." "They will not fail, for we shall abolish those abuses through making the control of the people over their representatives more absolute and direct." "The exact contrary of the result you hope for would follow from the course you suggest. I can't convince you of that now; grant the truth of your position for a moment, what would follow? You would simply substitute for the repulsive rule of the 'bosses' a dreary and fleeting government of emancipated slaves. We have seen the result of that in the South, where we made fatal error in giving the black slaves a measure of political power. You would do the same by giving the white slaves _all_ political power. I say, emancipate them,--and govern them." "By whom?" "Their King and their peers." "Where will you find them in this country?" "Choose them." "By whom?" "The people." "Aha! Then you lose your point." "By no means, for the franchise should be a privilege, not a right, and while the people should choose, only their leaders should govern." "You are a monarchist!" "Yes." "Then you are a reactionist, an aristocrat; no socialist!" "I am a monarchist and a vehement socialist." "That is a paradox." "So are most final truths, since a paradox is only a concise statement of the colour on each side of the shield; you remember the fable?" "Then you mean to say that socialism and monarchism do not negative each other?" "No more than the silver of one side of the shield negatives the gold of the other." "You are a vain theorist!" "It is you who are a vain theorist; my position is based on history. I know the record of the attempts to put the visionary theory of popular government into practice." "We have never had a true popular government yet." "I agree with you; but we have had true princes." "Where?" For answer Wentworth turned his head a little and raised his eyes toward a great picture hanging in the shadow. McCann followed his glance, and found himself looking at the sad face with the mournful eyes of Vandyke's portrait of King Charles I. of England. Curtains of old purple velvet wrought with Bourbon lilies of tarnished gold hung on either side, and from their midst the King seemed looking on them as in a vision. The picture annoyed McCann; it was the presentment of a King, a tyrant; he scowled at it ill-naturedly. "You keep that there because it is a good picture, I suppose," he said, turning to Aurelian, who had been listening silently.