human
You fellows claim to hold the keys of the conscience shop; suppose you open up and dole out a little of the precious commodity to me, Castner. Is it ever justifiable to do evil that good may come?
gpt
No.
human
I thought you'd say that. No qualifications asked for, no judicial weighing of the pros and cons--the evil of the evil, or the goodness of the good--just a plain, bigoted 'No.'
gpt
Extenuating circumstances--is that what you mean? There are no such things in the court of conscience--the enlightened conscience. Right is right and wrong is wrong. There is no middle ground of accommodation between the two. You know that as well as I do, Brouillard.
human
Well, then, how about the choice between two evils? You'll admit that there are times----
gpt
That is a lying proverb. No man is ever compelled to make that choice. He only thinks he is.
human
That is all you know about it! was the bitter retort.
gpt
What can you, or any man who sets himself apart as you do, know about the troubles and besetments of ordinary people? You sit on the bank of the river and see the water go by; what do you know about the agonies of the fellow who is fighting for breath and life out in the middle of the stream?
human
That is a fallacy, too, was the calm reply.
gpt
I am a man as other men, Brouillard. My coat makes no difference, as you have allowed at other times when we have been thrown together. Moreover, nobody sits on the bank in these days. What are your two evils?
human
Theories, he said half contemptuously.
gpt
And they never fit. See here, Castner; suppose it was clearly your duty, as a man and a Christian and to subserve some good end, to plant a thousand pounds of dynamite in the basement of this building and fire it. Would you do it?
human
The case isn't supposable.
gpt
There you are! Brouillard broke out impatiently.
human
I told you you were sitting on the bank. The case is not only supposable; it exists as an actual fact. And the building the man ought to blow to high heaven contains not only a number of measurably innocent people but one in particular for whose life and happiness the man would barter his immortal soul--if he has one.
gpt
You want counsel and you are not willing to buy it with the coin of confidence, he said at length, adding:
human
It is just as well, perhaps. I doubt very much if I am the person to give it to you.
gpt
Why do you doubt it? Isn't it a part of your job?
human
Not always. I am not your conscience keeper, Brouillard. Don't misunderstand me. I may have lived a year or so longer than you have, but you have lived more--a great deal more. That fact might be set aside, but there is another: in the life of every man there is some one person who knows, who understands, whose word for that man is the one only fitting word of inspiration. That is what I mean when I say that I am not your conscience keeper. Do I make it clear?
gpt
Granting your premises--yes. Go on.
human
I will. We'll paste that leaf down and turn another. Though I can't counsel you, I can still be your faithful accuser. You have committed a great sin, Brouillard, and you are still committing it. If you haven't been the leader in the mad scramble for riches here in this abandoned city, you have been only a step behind the leaders. And you were the one man who should have been like Cæsar's wife, the one whose example counted for most.
gpt
You are a man, Castner--and that is better than being a priest, he asserted soberly.
human
I'll take back all the spiteful things I've been saying. I'm down under the hoofs of the horses, and it's only human nature to want to pull somebody else down. You are one of the few men in Mirapolis whose presence has been a blessing instead of a curse--who hasn't had a purely selfish greed to satisfy.
gpt
There hasn't been much that I could do. Brouillard, it is simply dreadful--the hard, reckless, half-demoniac spirit of this place! There is nothing to appeal to; there is no room or time for anything but the mad money chase or the still madder dissipation in which the poor wretches seek to forget. I can only try here and there to drag some poor soul out of the fire at the last moment, and it makes me sick--sick at heart!
human
You mustn't look at it that way, said Brouillard, suddenly turning comforter.
gpt
You have been doing good work and a lot of it--more than any three ordinary men could stand up under. I haven't got beyond seeing and appreciating, Castner; truly I have not. And I'll say this: if I had only half your courage... but it's no use, I'm in too deep. I can't see any farther ahead than a man born blind. There is one end for which I have been striving from the very first, and it is still unattained. I'm past help now. I have reached a point at which I'd pull the whole world down in ruins to see that end accomplished.