Quite palpably it was Mr. Bingle's
dilemma that inspired her to interest herself in these hitherto
neglected enterprises. She began her duties as a member and supporter
of the causes by at once declaring war upon poor Mr. Bingle. She put
him into a state of siege before he even suspected that hostilities
had begun, and then constituted herself Red Cross nurse, sanitary
expert, peace intermediary, and everything else that she could think
of at the time.
Operations began in November. She had Mr. Bingle brought into her
husband's private office at the bank, and there she explained the
motives and objects of the Society and talked unrestrainedly of the
rights of little children, calmly assuming that the astonished
bookkeeper had no rights of his own and therefore was not entitled to
a word in the shape of interruption.
"Purely as a matter of humanity, Mr. Bingle, it is necessary for the
Society to take these children away from you. We are taking children
away from their natural parents every day and finding suitable homes
for them, so it isn't reasonable for you to stand in our way,
realising, as you must, that you are not the father of a single one of
those poor innocents, all of whom are morally if not legally the
property of this or kindred societies.
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