"IF you can get her."
"I'll get her, all right," replied he. "No trouble about that. The woman I want'll want me."
"I'm eager to see her," said Jane. "She'll be a queer one."
"Not necessarily," said he. "But I'll make her a queer one before I get through with her—queer, in my sense, meaning sensible and useful."
"You remind me so often of Victor Dorn, yet you're not at all like him."
"We're in the same business—trying to make the human race fit to associate with. He looks after the minds; I look after the bodies. Mine's the humbler branch of the business, perhaps—but it's equally necessary, and it comes first. The chief thing that's wrong with human nature is bad health. I'm getting the world ready for Victor."
"You like him?"
"I worship him," said Charlton in his most matter-of-fact way.
"Yet he's just the opposite of you. He's an idealist."
"Who told you that?" laughed Charlton. "He's the most practical, sensible man in this town. You people think he's a crank because he isn't crazy about money or about stepping round on the necks of his fellow beings. The truth is, he's got a sense of proportion—and a sense of humor—and an idea of a rational happy life. You're still barbarians, while he's a civilized man. Ever seen an ignorant yap jeer when a neat, clean, well-dressed person passed by? Well, you people jeering at Victor Dorn are like that yap."