“Oscar finds your visits a very great pleasure,” Jeff told her.
“The dear madman!” Her eyes were shining softly. “Isn't he brave and optimistic?”
“Yes.”
Both of them were thinking how soon the arm of that unseen God of love and law he worshipped would enfold him.
Alice smiled tenderly, and for the moment the street in front of her danced in a mist. “And his perfect state! Shall we ever realize it?”
“We must hope so. Perhaps not in the form he sees it, but in the way we work it out through a species of evolution. Think of the progress we have made in the last five years. How many dark corners in the long disused houses of our minds have been flooded with light!”
“Yes. Why have we made more progress in the past few years?”
Jeff's eyes held a gleam of humor. “This is a big country with enormous resources. There used to be room for all the most active plunderers to grab something. But lately the grabbing hasn't been so good. We have discovered that the most powerful robbers are doing their snatching from us. So we've suffered a moral awakening.”
“You don't believe that,” she said quickly.
“There's a good deal in the bread and butter interpretation of history. The push of life, its pressure, drives us to think. Out of thought grow new hopes and a broader vision.”