"And the Consul?" gasped Norman. "The Consul is an agent of the British Government, and the British Government, tired of wanting a strong Turkey, happens at this moment to want a strong Alsander." "And Vorza?" "Vorza is a fool," said the young man, but with less conviction than usual. "And the King himself. What shall we do with him?" pursued Norman. "What of him? One of the guards knows of a little tap invented by the Japanese, as simple as the Jiu-jitsu trick with which I felled you in the shop the other day. The King really is the last person to be considered." "But, really, if you want me to have anything to do with it," cried Norman, in horror, "I cannot touch murder." "Not murder, but removal. What use is the poor devil's life to him or to the world?" So saying, Arnolfo sat down in the armchair facing his interlocutor and eyed him with interest. "I am not an Alsandrian. In England we view these things differently," said Norman, pompously, shocked that his gentle companion should be capable of designing such an atrocious outrage. But Arnolfo answered unperturbed: "In England I believe on one occasion you gave a King a mock trial and then beheaded him under circumstances of inconceivable barbarity. Ah! you're an Englishman, and mad like all of them, as mad as Andrea. Come, I love argument; let's have it out. One life, one rotten, miserable life to buy the happiness of a country, and you won't spend it. You call it principle. When you go to war, what do you care for life? You are not religious in the matter. It's just that fetish you call law. I did not ask you to kill the imbecile yourself; it will be done quietly." "I will have nothing to do with any filthy, cold-blooded murder. It isn't fetish: it's simply because I won't." "And if we deal with you instead of with him?" "Try. I do not like your cynicism." "I am sorry. But it is unreason on your part, or else sheer cowardice. By what code of ethics in the world do you justify yourself? You are just frightened to do something that would make your conscience uncomfortable. On what do you base your morality?" "On feeling." "Would your feelings let you kill a man who was just going to kill some one else?" "Certainly." "Then why not a man whose existence does harm to others?" "Others might think my existence did harm to them." "But a life that is worthless to itself?" "May not the poor fool's life be happier than yours or mine?" said Norman, who was always fond of abstract argument and apt to grow eloquent in the realm of ideas. "He lives with his ideal. His cobwebbed, cracked-plaster room is for him a most elegant palace; he sees the phantom courtiers all day long; they bring him presents of fruits and flowers and spices and gold. He is for himself the great Emperor of the World, for all we know." "Then you will not justify a political assassination?"