...
To her I was, at that time, merely one of her husband's visiting
friends....
* * * * *
After little Daniel had manfully squared himself with his conscience,
Penton did not whip him. He came to me.
"I did not punish my boy: because it was you, Johnnie, that tempted
him," and he flushed angrily. "I'm sure you didn't consider what you
were doing. If I thought you did it out of deliberation, I would never
speak to you again ... you must learn not to tamper with the ideals of
others, Johnnie."
I apologised. I spoke of my reverence and regard for him and his
greatness. I asked him to forgive me, which he did. And, as I pronounced
him to be as great at Shelley, the Rousseau of America--his naive,
youthful face wreathed with smiles and peace fell between us again.
* * * * *
"I am thinking of going to live at Eden, the Single Tax Colony not far
from Philadelphia ... I want you to come there and visit us in the
spring. In the meantime don't let them make you bourgeois in Kansas ...
don't let them smash you into the academic mould."
"They haven't so far, have they?"
"But what in the world are you going back to Kansas for?"
"Because I have them trained there to accept me. I can do pretty much
as I choose at the university. But mainly I want to write my four-act
play in earnest--my New Testament drama, _Judas_.
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