"I forget," said the newspaper man, "but I remember Haywood. The trial, of course, had something to do with the war. The war was going on then, you remember."
"Oh, yes, indeed," exclaimed the hostess. "It will take a long time to forget the war." And her eyes brightened.
* * * * *
"You were going to tell us about the I.W.W. trial," pursued the hostess a few minutes later.
"Oh, there's nothing much about that," said the newspaper man. "I was principally interested in Bill Haywood for a moment. You know they sent him to jail for twenty years or so. Anyway, that was his sentence."
"The scoundrel ran away," said the very satisfied one. "Funny they should let a man as unprincipled and dangerous as Haywood slip through their hands after sending him to jail."
"Yes, they let him escape to Russia, of all places," declared the hostess with indignation. "Where he could do the most harm. Oh, the government is so stupid at times it simply drives one furious. Or makes you laugh. Doesn't it?"
"Yes, he skipped his bond or something," said the newspaper man, "and became an exile."
The satisfied one snorted.
"Exile!" he derided. "You don't call a man an exile who runs away from a country he has always despised and fought against?"