"Perhaps just because I like to talk to you, Judge."
The Judge bowed a sincere acknowledgment.
"I have already told you," he said, "that I think you could go far if you were cooler. Now you are confusing possible legitimate influence—I say possible, not certain—with physical attack."
"They've both seemed probable, Judge."
"The former may be. As to the latter—well, like most young enthusiasts, you have forgotten that elections go by majorities, and that the majorities are controlled by the lower forces of society. That is the one flaw in our republican system, and nothing but social evolution, generations of free education, will cure it. You have not only very wrongly assailed legitimate business; you have quite properly threatened to close to the criminal classes their chief sources of revenue. It is their livelihood against yours. My friends can have nothing in common with these people. We cannot control them. You must know that."
Luke shrugged his shoulders. Stein continued:
"As a politician and a lawyer, you must have counted on the opposition of the criminal classes when you began your campaign. If you did not" the Judge bent his head to the roses—"well, I don't want to alarm you, but if I were in your place, I should leave the fight."
Luke got up.
"The alternative?" he inquired.
The Judge did not answer. He merely looked at Luke.