"This kind of thing is rather a jump from what we have at the colony."
"Is the food bad there?" asked I.
"No, not bad; but nothing nice until we can afford to pay for it with the wages we earn."
This led to a long account by Harmes of how the colony was managed and the system—often proposed in my day—for slowly restoring the inmates of a reformatory to social life.
Harmes spoke so freely of the whole subject that I ventured to ask him:
"And Neaera—was it her fault or yours?"
Harmes' eye flashed a moment, and then looking around the table, and finally at Ariston, asked:
"Can I speak freely?"
"Certainly," said Ariston. "Our friend here knows, perhaps, more about Neaera than you do."