“No, all by reason of that fool of a Grodsko.”
“And what has become of this excellent Grodsko, who broke his mother’s heart all for your sake?”
“The excellent Grodsko spends the summer in Vienna, and the winter at Monte Carlo. Both winter and summer he gambles to pass the time, and when he has lost he drowns his disappointment in drink.”
“Does he always lose?”
“Yes, so he is always drinking.”
“Here are a few corpses already, if I know how to count, to your credit, without mentioning the grief, despair, and shame of others. You have lived a very exciting life, though you have scarcely yet reached the age of thirty.”
“I was twenty-eight last week,” rectified the Baroness, coldly.
“You have trampled on humanity as on a carpet to gain your objects: luxury, pleasure, domination. And here you are to-day more brilliant, better loved, and more powerful than ever, with a strength of will which shrinks before nothing, and a conscience ready for anything. Am I right?”
She looked boldly at Lichtenbach, then, drawing from her pocket a cigarette-case of chased silver, she took out an Oriental cigarette, which she lit with perfect coolness; then she replied in gentle tones—
“Quite right, though incomplete. I am far more to be dreaded than you imagine. You are well aware of it, but are afraid of displeasing me by depicting me as I really am. You are in the wrong. I have such a scorn for mankind that you cannot vex me by declaring me to be ready to profit by it, as though it were a piece of merchandise. In my opinion, men are no more interesting than cattle destined for slaughter. They serve to feed and enrich me; it is for that they toil and die. Apparently, it is their function, since they cannot escape this fate, and as soon as one disappears another offers to replace him. Are you going to say that I am a destroying flail? Possibly. All over the world there are beings born for work, sacrifice, and suffering; as there are others born irremediably for idleness, egoism, and enjoyment. It is nature which has made it so. To some instinct manifests itself, leading to servitude, to others leading to tyranny. Beings exploited and exploiting, beasts of burden and beasts of prey. Is not that the sole social classification founded on common sense? Look all around you, Lichtenbach, it is an invariable rule: a flock of simpletons led away, fleeced, and strangled by a few audacious individuals. Will you reproach me for being of the number of those who strangle, rather than of those who fleece? We are both at the same game, Lichtenbach; the only difference is, I am bold enough to confess it, whilst you are hypocritical enough to say nothing. Our object is the same—the exploitation of the human race for our greatest mutual profit and pleasure. There you are! If I am wrong, prove it to me now.”