“Uh-huh.”

“I told him I couldn’t see anything wrong with that, even though I did get stuck with that vacuum cleaner that time. But he sounded like a nice fellow. So he asked me—Ella, now, I wish you’d go into the other room.”

Ella said “Oh,” pleadingly; she looked very interested.

“Go on,” Tom said. “Ella’s old enough to take part in what happens around here. What’d the guy ask you?”

“I’ll—well, I’ll give you his words, exactly. He said: ‘Ma’am, I’d like to know if you have any children in high school.’ I told him yes, I did. A girl. Then he said: ‘I’d like to know what you think about your child going to the same school and maybe sitting in the same classroom with a bunch of niggers.’ ”

“I see,” Tom said slowly. “Well, what’d you tell him?”

“I didn’t exactly know what to say, but I told him the truth, that I didn’t like the idea.”

“Yes. And then what?”

“He asked me if I was willing to work to keep it from hap­pening.”

Tom set his coffee cup down on the saucer.

“I said of course, but what could a person do? He said, ‘Plenty.’ ”

“Oh, he did?”

“Yes. He said he was the head of an organization that was perfectly legal and he knew he could get rid of this problem for us in a hurry . . . if we’d all pitch in and help. And he went on like that, and I told him he’d better talk to you, and he said of course and he’d phone you tomorrow or speak to you at the office. I told him who you were and where you worked.”

Tom leaned back. “That’s pretty interesting, all right,” he said. “Did this fellow ask you for money?”

“No. At least we didn’t discuss it.”

“And he says he has a legal way to stop integration.”

“That’s what he said.”

“Did he give his name?”

“He might have, but I forgot.”

“Well, if he’s on the level, I’ll be glad to see him. It’s probably some crackpot, you know, but I suppose it’s possible that there’s some loophole we didn’t think of. I can’t imagine what it would be.” Tom poured some more coffee. “What’s making you so nervous about it?”

“Dad,” Ruth said, rubbing her hand on her apron nervously. “He got awful excited, you know, the way he gets some-times.”

“Oh.”

“And you know what Doctor Meehan said about him staying absolutely quiet.”

“That’s a lot of goddamn nonsense!”