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legislation or by any human action whatever. They obey fixed scientific laws, which have been ascertained and settled finally by the highest economic authorities. Naturally I do not at this distance of time remember the exact process of reasoning; but I can get up the case again at any time in a couple of days; and you may rely on me absolutely, should the occasion arise, to deal with all these ignorant and unpractical people in a conclusive and convincing way, except, of course, as far as it may be advisable to indulge and flatter them a little so as to let them down without creating ill feeling in the working-class electorate. In short, I can get that lecture up again almost at a moment’s notice. Savvy But, Mr. Lubin, I have had a university education too; and all this about wages and distribution being fixed by immutable laws of political economy is obsolete rot. Franklyn Shocked. Oh, my dear! That is not polite. Lubin No, no, no. Don’t scold her. She mustn’t be scolded. To Savvy. I understand. You are a disciple of Karl Marx. Savvy No, no. Karl Marx’s economics are all rot. Lubin At last a little taken aback. Dear me! Savvy You must excuse me, Mr. Lubin; but it’s like hearing a man talk about the Garden of Eden. Conrad Why shouldn’t he talk about the Garden of Eden? It was a first attempt at biology anyhow. Lubin Recovering his self-possession. I am sound on the Garden of Eden. I have heard of Darwin. Savvy But Darwin is all rot. Lubin What! Already! Savvy It’s no good your smiling at me like a Cheshire cat, Mr. Lubin; and I am not going to sit here mumchance like an old-fashioned goody goody wife while you men monopolize the conversation and pay out the very ghastliest exploded drivel as the latest thing in politics. I am not giving you my own ideas, Mr. Lubin, but just the regular orthodox science of today. Only the most awful old fossils think that Socialism is bad economics and that Darwin invented Evolution. Ask Papa. Ask Uncle. Ask the first person you meet in the street. She rises and crosses to Haslam. Give me a cigarette, Bill, will you? Haslam Priceless. He complies. Franklyn Savvy has not lived long enough to have any manners, Mr. Lubin; but that is where you stand with the younger generation. Don’t smoke, dear. Savvy, with a shrug of rather mutinous resignation, throws the cigarette into the fire. Haslam, on the point of lighting one for himself, changes his mind. Lubin Shrewd and serious. Mr. Barnabas: I confess I am surprised; and I will not pretend that I am convinced. But I am open to conviction. I may be wrong. Burge In a burst of irony. Oh no. Impossible! Impossible! Lubin Yes, Mr. Barnabas, though I do not possess Burge’s genius for being always wrong, I have been in that position once or twice. I could not conceal from you, even if I wished to, that my time has been so completely filled by my professional work as a lawyer, and later on by my duties as leader of the House of Commons in the days when Prime Ministers were also leaders⁠— Burge Stung. Not to mention bridge and smart society. Lubin Not to mention the continual and trying effort to make Burge behave himself, that I have not been able to keep my academic reading up to date. I have kept my classics brushed up out of sheer love for them; but my economics and my science, such as they were, may possibly be a little rusty. Yet I think I may say that if you and your brother will be so good as to put me on the track of the necessary documents, I will undertake to put the case to the House or to the country to your entire satisfaction. You see, as long as you can show these troublesome half-educated people who want to turn the world upside down that they are talking nonsense, it really does not matter very much whether you do it in terms of what Miss Barnabas calls obsolete rot or in terms of what her granddaughter will probably call unmitigated tosh. I have no objection whatever to denounce Karl Marx. Anything I can say against Darwin will please a large body of sincerely pious voters. If it will be easier to carry on the business of the country on the understanding that the present state of things is to be called Socialism, I have no objection in the world to call it Socialism. There is the precedent of the Emperor Constantine, who saved the society of his own day by agreeing to call his Imperialism Christianity. Mind: I must not go ahead of the electorate. You must not call a voter a Socialist until⁠— Franklyn Until he is a Socialist. Agreed. Lubin Oh, not at all. You need not wait for that. You must not call him a Socialist until he wishes to be called a Socialist: that is all. Surely you would not say that I must not address my constituents as gentlemen until they are gentlemen. I address them as gentlemen because they wish to be so addressed. He rises from the sofa and goes to Franklyn, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Do not be afraid of Socialism, Mr. Barnabas. You need not tremble for your property or your position or your dignity. England will remain what England is, no matter what new political names may come into vogue. I do not intend to resist the transition to Socialism. You may depend on me to guide it, to lead it, to give suitable expression to its aspirations, and to steer it clear of Utopian absurdities. I can honestly ask for your support on the most advanced Socialist grounds no less than on the soundest Liberal ones. Burge In short, Lubin, you’re incorrigible. You don’t believe anything is going to change.