"But  surely,"  I  ventured,  "you  don't  feel  any  regrets
X)ncerning  your  career,  Mr.  Watling?"

"No,"  he  said,  "that's  just  the  point.  But  no  two  of  us
xre  made  wholly  alike.  I  hadn't  practised  law  very  long
before  I  began  to  realize  that  conditions  were  changing,  that
the  new  forces  at  work  in  our  industrial  life  made  the  older
legal  ideals  impracticable.  It  was  a  case  of  choosing  between
efficiency  and  inefficiency,  and  I  chose  efficiency.  Well,
that  was  my  own  affair,  but  when  it  comes  to  influencing
others — "  He  paused.  "I  want  you  to  see  this  as  I  do,
not  for  the  sake  of  justifying  myself,  but  because  I  honestly
believe  there  is  more  to  it  than  expediency,  —  a  good  deal
more.  There's  a  weak  way  of  looking  at  it,  and  a  strong
way.    And  if  I  feel  sure  you  understand  it,  I  shall  be  satisfied.
"  Because  things  are  going  to  change  in  this  country,  Hugh.
They  are  changing,  but  they  are  going  to  change  more.  A
man  has  got  to  make  up  his  mind  what  he  believes  in,  and  be
ready  to  fight  for  it.  We'll  have  to  fight  for  it,  sooner  per-
haps than  we  realize.  We  are  a  nation  divided  against
ourselves;  democracy  —  Jacksonian  democracy,  at  all
events,  is  a  flat  failiu"e,  and  we  may  as  well  acknowledge  it.
