It is a ghastly thing to be judge and jury and executioner all in one,
and for a private and personal wrong--to condemn and strike and kill.

Pity comes after--when it is too late, fortunately--the wretched
weakness of pity! Pooh! no Calcraft will ever pity _me_, and I do not
want him to.

* * * * *

He had his long, snaky knife against my stick; he, too, was a big strong
man, well skilled in self-defence! Down he went, and I struck him again
and again. "O my God! O Christ!" he shrieked....

"It will ring in my heart and my ears till I die--till I die!"

* * * * *

There was no time to lose--no time to think for the best. It is all for
the best as it is. What might he not have said if he had lived!

* * * * *

Thank Heaven, pity is not remorse or shame; and what crime could well
be worse than his? To rob one's dearly beloved dead of their fair shame!

* * * * *

He might have been mad, perhaps, and have grown in time to believe the
lies he told himself. Such things have been. But such a madman should no