They have spent their
lives as beggars, and can not work now even if they would. For such I
have made provision, although they, too, have been given small tasks
to keep them from appearing beggars. But they are the last of their
kind. There shall in future be no idlers in Marut. From thenceforward
every man shall work honestly and faithfully for his daily bread, and
I will see that he has no need to starve. The mine will employ the
strongest, and then, later, Travers and I intend to revive the various
industries suited to the people's taste and talent."
"You have already done a great deal," she said, moved to real
admiration. "I tremble to think what it has cost you." As she spoke,
the hidden irony in her casually spoken words came home to her, and
she felt the old fear clutch at her heart.
"I have given the best I have--myself," he answered gravely. "Of
material wealth I have only retained what is beautiful; for beauty
must not be sold to be given as bread among the poor. That would be a
crime--as though one would sell Heaven for earth. Travers wished me to
sell the old jeweled statues and relics, but I would not. They belong
to my people, and one day, when they have learned to see and
understand, they will thank me that I have kept the splendors intact
for them."
"You are wise," she said thoughtfully--"wiser than Travers and many
others."
"In my first enthusiasm, I meant to sell everything, and live as the
poorest of them all," he went on; "but I soon saw that that was wrong.
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