The miserable creature clutched the money fast, but showed no other sign of satisfaction, and turned her back on them without going through the form of thanks.
“My God! And is there no remedy for such misery as that?” exclaimed Maximilian, as soon as she was out of hearing.
“That is a question you can put to the Chancellor,” was the response. “We think there is one. In our scheme a woman like that would become entitled to a pension from the State when her husband was killed. But, you see, in order to give it to her, we should have to plunder the wealthy classes. And what chance do you suppose such a measure would have of passing through the assembly whose debates we have listened to to-day?”
“Ah! And what would you do with these fearful children?”
“Take them into homes provided by the State. Not huge pauper establishments, but cottages scattered through the country, with a matron in charge of each half-dozen youngsters. There they would be taught to read and write, and brought up to useful trades. If it were possible to make good citizens of them, we should do it; if any of them proved incorrigible, we should transfer them to institutions where they would be under restraint, and have no opportunity of perpetuating the race. In that way the hereditary pauper and criminal class would die out.”
The King nodded his head gravely. They had left the immediate neighbourhood of the stalls, and were approaching one of the taverns, which was at that moment vomiting forth a troop of sodden drinkers.
“Shall we question one of these fellows?” Johann inquired doubtfully.
“Yes. Let us go through with it, now we are here,” answered the King.
The revolutionary picked out a man who seemed in a slightly less degraded condition than the rest, and beckoned him aside.
“What do you want?” asked the man, suspiciously.