"
"Oh, you are a socialist!" Alexina looked at him with frank curiosity. "I
never saw one before."
He was obviously disconcerted. Then his face flushed with anger. "Yes, I'm
a socialist all right, and you'll see more of us before you're many years
older."
"You might tell me about it if you _will_ walk with me. I am a long
way from my destination, and that would be far more interesting than
personalities."
"I've got more personalities where those came from. It makes me sick to see
the difference between you and these poor kids--ready to sell their souls
for pretty clothes and a little fun. There's nothing that has done so much
to inflame class hatred as the pampered delicate satin-skinned women of
your class, who have expensive clothes and 'grooming' to take the place of
slathers of paint and cheap perfume. Raised in a hot house for the use
of the man on top. It's the crowning offense of capitalism, and when the
system goes, they'll all be like you, or you'll be more like them. You'll
come down about a thousand pegs, and the ones down below will be shoved up
to meet you."
Alexina stood still and faced him.
"Are you poor?" she asked.
"What a hell of a question. Have I been talkin' like a plutocrat?"
"Oh, there are, still, different grades. I was wondering if you would be so
inconsistent as to earn a little money from me and two friends of mine. We
have read socialism a bit, but, we don't understand it very well.
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