“Ah! but it doesn’t.”
“I am not quite sure of that. I believe it does—for every man has a better and a worse self, and everything depends upon which part of the man’s nature is influenced by the woman whom he loves.”
At this point of the conversation Tom asked a very peculiar and personal question, which brought the colour to her friend’s face.
“Margaret, have you any money?”
“I have a little, enough for my needs.”
“What I have been wondering is whether you and I together could spare some for the rent of a drawing-room in London near that particular public-house, where we could try our Darentdale plan with those creatures who are neither boys nor men. People say that almost any lad, even the roughest, will treat a gentlewoman with courtesy. We could invite them, before they go into that place, to come into ours, and there you might talk to them in your own way, and perhaps I in mine. We might give two evenings in a week. Our people would not mind if we were together, and we could get home easily, though a little late, for the trains are so good. If we can only succeed in a small way it is worth while to try.”
“Oh, Tom, how brave you are! Something of the kind has been floating in my own mind, but I should never have had the courage to try without you.”
When the true history of the world comes to be written it will be seen how much in this remarkably formative period in England was commenced in just such a simple manner as this talk between our two friends.
It was on a cold, drizzling night, when the London streets were as uncomfortable as only London streets can be, that two well-dressed young ladies went up to a group of boys, all somewhere in their teens, and invited them to come in and have a cup of hot coffee and some buttered toast. The fair, smiling faces of the girls and their friendly and gracious manners forced the boys to courtesy, and eight of them—about half the number—consented. They looked at their dirty hands and boots when they were taken into the drawing-room with comical seriousness.
“Oh, never mind!” said Tom. “Look at my boots; you cannot keep clean on such a night as this. Have the coffee while it is hot. And here are some potted beef sandwiches. Perhaps you have not yet had your teas?”