"What a perverted point of view," she said, for the sake of saying something.
"Do you know what I think?" Mrs. Slawson continued. "I think now is the zoological moment to catch Buller, an' see what kind o' animal he is—if he's got the makin' of a man in'm. If he could be got to give up the drink, I do believe he might amount to somethin' yet. You can't know what a fella reely is, when he's always steepin' in licka. It's like pickles. You wouldn't know if they're dill, or sweet or what they are, till you take'm out o' soak an' test'm."
"I should think you might influence him," suggested Miss Crewe impersonally. "You're so strong and wholesome and steady."
"Land, no! Buller wouldn't listen to me," said Martha. "How would I be reformin' anybody, when so many is reformin' me?"
"Mrs. Peckett, then?"
"Mrs. Peckett's way o' doin' things makes some folks nervous. It's like as if she said: 'I'm goin' to raise the tone o' this town, if I have to raise it by the scruff of its neck!' She's a good woman, Mrs. Peckett is, more power to her! Yes, she's as good as old gold, and—just as dull."
Katherine was amused. "Does Mr. Buller require people to be so very brilliant, then?"
"Land, no! He don't. But his case does. There's a differnce. The fella that gets the whip-hand of'm is the fella he's goin' to respec'. No others need apply. If there was anybody in this town could kinda give'm the fright of his life on the licka question, it'd be dead easy tame him to'm afterwords."
Miss Crewe's face lost its apathetic expression. A light of interest shone in her eyes.
"I wonder if an idea that has just occurred to me would be of any use? Last winter I attended a course of lectures at Columbia College, and one of the lectures was illustrated by lantern-slides, showing the effect of alcohol on the body and mind of habitual drunkards. They were enough to give one the horrors! If Buller could see those pictures——!"