"Oh," said Mallow, recalling Clara's letter; "then there is such a person as Jeremiah Trall." "Of course there is; he is one of us. But how did you know him?" "Mrs. Carson told me," remarked Mallow, carelessly. "Clara used to talk about her uncle." "The fool!" muttered Drabble. "I always said that girl was not to trusted." "Not to be trusted?" echoed Mallow. "Then she, too, is one of us?" The doctor looked at him with something approaching a scowl. "Your wisest plan," he said, "is to ask no questions in this place." "But you forget I am quite uninitiated yet," retorted Mallow. "I don't care about committing myself to a definite course unless I am quite sure what I am about." "Do you know what the Jesuits do with their pupils?" asked Drabble, irrelevantly. "Yes, as a rule, they make scoundrels of them." "Rather say they make machines of them--machines: because they are blindly obedient to those set in authority over them. That is one of their rules. It is one of ours also. Once you join us, you neither think for yourself nor act for yourself, you become a machine." "And if I transgress?" "Once you have taken our oaths I don't think you will care to do that," rejoined the doctor, coldly. "If you do--well, I won't answer for the consequences." "Are you a machine, Drabble?" "No; I am one having authority. I direct--others execute." "Really!" said Mallow. "And you fancy that a man of my capacity and experience will consent to become your tool. Understand, then, Drabble, if I join you I must know your ends, your aims, your ways, and your means. I also must be one having authority. On no other conditions will I join you. To speak plainly, I do not quite see why you want me. It is not for my money, for I possess none. It is not for my influence or my position, for what I have of either is not likely to serve you. I can only conclude, then, that it is in an intellectual capacity I am likely to be of use to you; yet you propose to place me in a position subservient to your own. No, my friend," and Mallow stood up, "if it is a fool you want, go out into the streets and choose. If you want a man, and a man with brains, I am ready; but I claim to be treated with the respect which is my due. If you cannot assure me that this will be, I must bid you good-day." "Sit down, my dear fellow," said Drabble, hastily; "you know one cannot generalize in these sort of things, and that is what you have been doing. I quite agree with all you say, generally speaking. But whether it will apply to you individually, it is impossible to decide for the moment. Rest assured that you will have every opportunity of exercising your capacity. Ours is not a system of government under which the clever man is repressed." "Government?" said Mallow. "I always understood that no government was the very essence of your being!"