"The preliminary requirement is fixed then," Hamar said. "Now for the
week of wild oats! Lying, stealing, cheating--anything to counteract
the code of Moses! Let's take them in turn. Lying won't trouble us
much. Every one lies. Lying is the stock-in-trade of doctors, lawyers,
sky pilots, storekeepers--"

"And dentists!" Curtis chimed in.

"And shop girls!" Kelson added.

"All women--rich as well as poor!" Hamar went on. "Lying is woman's
birthright. She lies about her age, her looks, her clothes--everything.
With a lie she sends callers away, and when she is in the mood,
entertains them with lies. Women are born liars, but they are not the
only liars. In these days of keen competition every one lies--every
editor, publisher, undertaker, piano-tuner, dustman--they couldn't live
if they didn't. Moreover lying is natural to us all. Every child lies
as soon as it can speak; and education merely teaches him to lie the
more effectually. Lying comes just as natural as sweating--"

"Or kissing," Kelson interrupted.

"Or any of the other so-called vices," Hamar continued. "So we can
manage that all right. As to cheating--having nothing to cheat
with--according to instructions we've got to keep in with each other,
so present company is excepted--we must pass over that. Now--how about
thieving!"

"Never done any yet, so can't say," Curtis exclaimed.