Vera.
Yes, yes; I know. I always feel it. Only that is why I cannot hear you to be plotting. I want always to say what the Bhojâlis said: "He has no fear, and his justice is the justice of a god."
Carlyon.
Do you know what they meant by the justice of a god? That is the very thing you dare not face. A god has his great ends which men know not of, and woe to the men or the nations that block those ends! And so it is with me. So it has been with all great rulers and conquerors of men. You cannot judge them, you cannot judge me, step by step, detail by detail. You need only know that ultimately, taken all in all, what I will is good, and I have never yet failed.
Vera.
[Moved.] Oh, it is true; I always knew it.
Carlyon.
You want to think me purer and juster than other men? So I am. I have a high and clear standard, and never swerve from it without cause. I am merciful, because I have seldom needed to be cruel; I speak the truth, because I am seldom afraid. But, once or twice, here and there, when things were different, I have never been turned from my purpose by the mere nervous horror of a crime that most men feel; and where the first step led to a second and a third, I have gone on without flinching.
Vera.
I can understand you, father. You have broken ordinary laws, because you listened to higher laws. You have followed your own conscience.