"Seldom speak again?" she repeated.
He took her words for a consent. "Judith," he asked, "what is this man Ellis to you? Do you realise that he is using you?"
Her indignation rose. "Using me!"
"To get among us," he explained. "He has no gratitude, no remorse. Once he has used a man he throws him aside like an old glove; he has never shown personal feeling for any one. Why do you have to do with him?"
"You envy his ability," she said.
"Not I," he answered. "I admire his firmness, his persistence, his capacity. But I cannot admire him. Judith, he is a bane, a poison in our system, a disease!"
"You mistake him," she cried.
"Not I. I know him, and am going to fight him."
"Fight him, then!" she returned.
He spoke more quietly. "We have been careless with him; he has brought corruption into the city. But small cities are not so conscienceless as big ones; the better elements are rising against him. This day I was formally asked to lead them, and I shall probably be against his man in the mayoralty contest next fall. It is a battle of principles: that is why I can never take salt with him."