He knew that it was not all lovely, that somewhere there were lean and
hungry kittens and lean and hungry folks--but why remind her at such a
moment?
VI
On the way over Anne sat with Winifred. She had insisted that Amy should
have the front seat with Max. Amy was much better. Life had begun to
flow into her veins like wine. She had written to Murray: "It is as if a
miracle had happened."
Winifred, on the back seat, talked to Anne. She had a great deal to say
about Maxwell's future. "I am sorry he bought the farm."
"Oh, not really." Anne's attention strayed. She had one of the puppies
in her lap. He kept peeping out from between the folds of her cape with
his bright eyes. "Isn't he a darling, Winifred?"
"He ought to sell it." Winifred liked dogs, but at this moment she
wanted Anne's attention. "He ought to sell the farm. He has a great
future before him. Everybody says it. He simply must not settle down."
"Oh, well, he won't," said Anne easily.
"He will if you let him."
"If I let him?"
"If he thinks you like it."
There was a deep flush on Winifred's cheeks. She was really a very
handsome girl, with bright brown hair and brown eyes. She wore a small
brown hat and a sable collar. The collar was open and showed her strong
white throat.
"If he thinks you like it," she repeated, "he will stay; and he belongs
to the world; nobody must hold him back. He's the biggest man in his
party to-day. There is no limit to his powers."
Anne stared at her. "Of course there isn't." She wondered why Winifred
seemed so terribly in earnest about it. She pulled the puppy's ears.
"But I should hate to have him sell the farm."
Winifred settled back with a sharp sigh and gazed at the long gray road
ahead of her. She gazed indeed into a rather blank future. Her talents
would be, she felt, to some extent wasted. If Max rose to greater
heights of fame it would be because of his own unaided efforts. This
child would be no help to him.
The speech Max made to his constituents was not cool and clear-cut like
the speeches which Anne had heard him make to his colleagues in the
House. He spoke now with warmth and persuasiveness. Anne, sitting in the
big car on the edge of the crowd, found herself listening intently. She
was aware, as he went on, of a new Max. The mass of men who had gathered
were largely foreigners who knew little of the real meanings of
democracy. Max was telling them what it meant to be a good American. He
told it simply, but he was in dead earnest. Anne felt that this
earnestness was the secret of his power. He wanted men to be good
Americans, he wanted them to know the privileges they might enjoy in a
free country, and he was telling them how to keep it free-not by
violence and mob rule but by remembering their obligations as citizens.
He told them that they must be always on the side of law and order, that
they must fight injustice not with the bomb and the red flag but with
their votes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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