Theft | Page 5

our position--father's
and Tom's, I mean--it doesn't seem just right for you to be seeing so
much of such an enemy of theirs. He has abused them dreadfully, you
know. And there's that dreadful speech he is going to give to-morrow.
You haven't seen the afternoon papers. He has made the most terrible
charges against everybody--all of us, our friends, everybody.
{Margaret}
You mean Mr. Knox, of course. But he wouldn't harm anybody, Connie,
dear.
{Connie}
(Bridling,) Oh, he wouldn't? He as good as publicly called father a
thief.
{Margaret}
When did that happen? I never heard of it.
{Connie}
Well, he said that the money magnates had grown so unprincipled,
sunk so low, that they would steal a mouse from a blind kitten.
{Margaret}
I don't see what father has to do with that.

{Connie}
He meant him just the same.
{Margaret}
You silly goose. He couldn't have meant father. Father? Why, father
wouldn't look at anything less than fifty or a hundred millions.
{Connie}
And you speak to him and make much of him when you meet him
places. You talked with him for half an hour at that Dugdale reception.
You have him here in your own house--Tom's house--when he's such a
bitter enemy of Tom's. (During the foregoing speech, Anthony
Starkweather makes entrance from rear. His face is grave, and he is in
a brown study, as if pondering weighty problems. At sight of the two
women he pauses and surveys them. They are unaware of his
presence.)
{Margaret}
You are wrong, Connie. He is nobody's enemy. He is the truest,
cleanest, most right-seeking man I have ever seen.
{Connie}
(Interrupting.) He is a trouble-maker, a disturber of the public peace, a
shallow-pated demagogue--
{Margaret}
(Reprovingly.)
Now you're quoting somebody---- father, I suppose. To think of him
being so abused--poor, dear Ali Baba--
{Starkweather}

(Clearing his throat in advertisement of his presence.) A-hem.
(Margaret and Connie turn around abruptly and discover him.)
{Margaret}
And Connie Father!
(Both come forward to greet him, Margaret leading.)
{Starkweather}
(Anticipating, showing the deliberate method of the busy man saving
time by eliminating the superfluous.) Fine, thank you. Quite well in
every particular. This Ali Baba? Who is Ali Baba?
(Margaret looks amused reproach at Connie.)
{Connie}
Mr. Howard Knox.
{Starkweather}
And why is he called Ali Baba?
{Margaret}
That is my nickname for him. In the den of thieves, you know. You
remember your Arabian Nights.
{Starkweather}
(Severely.) I have been wanting to speak to you for some time,
Margaret, about that man. You know that I have never interfered with
your way of life since your marriage, nor with your and Tom's
housekeeping arrangements. But this man Knox. I understand that you
have even had him here in your house--

{Margaret}
(Interrupting.) He is very liable to be here this afternoon, any time,
now.
(Connie displays irritation at Margaret.)
{Starkweather}
(Continuing imperturbably.) Your house--you, my daughter, and the
wife of Senator Chalmers. As I said, I have not interfered with you
since your marriage. But this Knox affair transcends household
arrangements. It is of political importance. The man is an enemy to our
class, a firebrand. Why do you have him here?
{Margaret}
Because I like him. Because he is a man I am proud to call "friend."
Because I wish there were more men like him, many more men like
him, in the world. Because I have ever seen in him nothing but the best
and highest. And, besides, it's such good fun to see how one virtuous
man can so disconcert you captains of industry and arbiters of destiny.
Confess that you are very much disconcerted, father, right now. He will
be here in a few minutes, and you will be more disconcerted. Why?
Because it is an affair that transcends family arrangements. And it is
your affair, not mine.
{Starkweather}
This man Knox is a dangerous character--one that I am not pleased to
see any of my family take up with. He is not a gentleman.
{Margaret}
He is a self-made man, if that is what you mean, and he certainly hasn't
any money.
{Connie}

(Interrupting.) He says that money is theft--at least when it is in the
hands of a wealthy person.
{Starkweather}
He is uncouth--ignorant.
{Margaret}
I happen to know that he is a graduate of the University of Oregon.
{Starkweather}
(Sneeringly.) A cow college. But that is not what I mean. He is a
demagogue, stirring up the wild-beast passions of the people.
{Margaret}
Surely you would not call his advocacy of that child labor bill and of
the conservation of the forest and coal lands stirring up the wild-beast
passions of the people?
{Starkweather}
(Wearily.) You don't understand. When I say he is dangerous it is
because he threatens all the stabilities, because he threatens us