"But I don't understand," I persisted; for I saw that he labored under much suppressed feeling, and I wondered what had embittered him. "Collis McSheen I know, for I have had some experience of him; and Gillis, the agent, was a cool proposition; but the Argand Estate? Why, McSheen strung out a list of charities that the Argand Estate supported that staggered me. I only could not understand why they support a man like McSheen."
"The Argand Estate support charities! Yes, a score of them—all listed—and every dollar is blood, wrung from the hearts and souls of others—and there are many Argands."
"How do you mean?" For he was showing a sudden passion which I did not understand. He swept on without heeding my question.
"Why, their houses are the worst in the city; their tenements the poorest for the rent charged; their manufactories the greatest sweatshops; their corporate enterprises all at the cost of the working-class, and, to crown it all, they sustain and support the worst villains in this city, who live on the bodies and souls of the ignorant and the wretched."
"Whom do you mean? I don't understand."
"Why, do you suppose the Coll McSheens and Gillises and their kind could subsist unless the Argands and Capons of the Time supported them? They have grown so bold now that they threaten even their social superiors—they must rule alone! They destroy all who do not surrender at discretion."
"Who? How?" I asked, as he paused, evidently following a train of reflection, while his eyes glowed.
"Why, ah! even a man like—Mr. Leigh, who though the product of an erroneous system is, at least, a broad man and a just one."
"Is he? I do not know him. Tell me about him." For I was suddenly interested.
Then he told me of Mr. Leigh and his work in trying to secure better service for the public, better tenements—better conditions generally.