“Maybe he only meant to arouse interest—stir people up and leave the solution to others,” Bruce suggested.
“That was the way I took it,” said Mills. “The fact is, nobody has any solution short of a complete tearing down of everything. And that,” he added with a smile and a shrug, “would be very uncomfortable.”
“For us—yes,” Millicent replied quickly. “But a good many of our millions would probably welcome a chance to begin over again.”
“What with,” Mills demanded, “when everything had been smashed?”
“Oh, they’d be sure to save something out of the wreck!” Millicent replied.
“Well,” Mills remarked, “I’m hoping the smash won’t come in my day. I’m too old to go out with a club to fight for food against the mob.”
“You want us to say that you’re not too old,” laughed Millicent; “but we’re not going to fall into that trap!”
“But—what is going to happen?” asked Bruce.
“Other civilizations!” Mills replied, regarding the young man with an intent look. “We’ve had a succession of them, and the world’s about due to slip back into chaos and perhaps emerge again. It’s only the barbarians who never change; they know they’ll be on top again if they just wait.”
“What an optimist you are!” cried Millicent. “But you don’t really believe such things.”