Good God! Haven't you seen enough of
murder in the past four years? I could readily fancy you going in for some
sort of revenge but I should have expected something more original--"
"Murder's natural enough when you've seen nothing else as long as I have.
And as for human life--how much value do you suppose I place on it after
four years of war? I had almost reached the point where death seemed more
natural than life."
"Oh, yes...but later....There are tremendous reactions after war. Settled
down once more in our smiling land my ghost would be an extremely
unpleasant companion. You see, Gora, you are just now in that abnormal
state of mind known as inhibition. But, unfortunately, perhaps, in spite
of the fact that you have proved yourself to be possessed of a violence of
disposition--that I rather admire--you were not cut out to be the permanent
villain. You have great qualities. And for thirty-four years of your life
you have been a sane and reasonable member of society. For four of those
years you have been an angel of mercy....Oh, no. If you had killed me you
would have killed yourself later. You couldn't live with Gathbroke for you
couldn't live with yourself. Silly old tradition perhaps, but we are made
up of traditions....That was one reason I left Paris, gave up trying to
find him....I knew that I could have him. But I also knew that you had had
some sort of recent experience with him, that you had come to Paris to
find him, that possibly if left with a clear field you could win him.
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