During this outburst, De Gollyer had deliberately removed his gloves, folded them and placed them in his breast pocket. His reputation for social omniscience had been attained by the simple expedient of never being convinced. As soon as the true situation had been unfolded, a slight, skeptical smile hovered about his thin, flouting lips, and, looking at his old friend, he was not unpleasantly aware of something comic in the attitudes of grief. He made one or two false starts, buttoning his trim cutaway, and then said in a purposely higher key: "My dear old chap, we must consider--we really must consider what is to be done." "There is only one thing to be done," cried Lightbody in a voice of thunder. "Permit me!" "Kill them!" "One moment!" De Gollyer, master of himself, never abandoning his critical enjoyment, softened his voice to that controlled note that is the more effective for being opposed to frenzy. "Sit down--come now, sit down!" Lightbody resisted. "Sit down, there--come--you have called me in. Do you want my advice? Do you? Well, just quiet down. Will you listen?" "I am quiet," said Lightbody, suddenly submissive. The frenzy of his rage passed, but to make his resolution doubly impressive, he extended his arm and said slowly: "But remember, my mind is made up. I shall not budge. I shall shoot them down like dogs! You see I say quietly--like dogs!" "My dear old pal," said De Gollyer with a well-bred shrug of his shoulders, "you'll do nothing of the sort. We are men of the world, my boy, men of the world. Shooting is archaic--for the rural districts. We've progressed way beyond that--men of the world don't shoot any more." "I said it quietly," said Lightbody, who perceived, not without surprise, that he was no longer at the same temperature. However, he concluded with normal conviction: "I shall kill them both, that's all. I say it quietly." This gave De Gollyer a certain hortatory moment of which he availed himself, seeking to reduce further the dramatic tension. "My dear old pal, as a matter of fact, all I say is, consider first and shoot after. In the first place, suppose you kill one or both and you are not yourself killed--for you know, dear boy, the deuce is that sometimes does happen. What then? Justice is so languid nowadays. Certainly you would have to inhabit for six, eight--perhaps ten months--a drafty, moist jail, without exercise, most indigestible food abominably cooked, limited society. You are brought to trial. A jury--an emotional jury--may give you a couple of years. That's another risk. You see you drink cocktails, you smoke cigarettes. You will be made to appear a person totally unfit to live with." Lightbody with a movement of irritation, shifted the clutch of his fingers.