“If I had taken him yesterday,” replied Freyberger, “it would have meant a life saved—who knows? Perhaps several lives saved. He is loose now, like a wild beast, and the question we have to consider is this. If he is seriously alarmed, if he suspects that we know of his monomania, may fear overcome his madness and cause him to withhold his hand?”
“What is your opinion on that point?” asked the chief. “You have considerable knowledge of the psychology of crime.”
“Well, sir, it is my belief that, if he is really alarmed, fear will cause him to withhold his hand—for awhile.
“But fear, though checking, will not stay his desire to kill. He will at first be careful, then, as time goes on and he gets farther away from this murder, his caution will slacken and the desire become unchained.”
“You think fear is a check upon lunacy?”
“Not much. But I conceive the mind of this man to be essentially not the mind of a lunatic.
“If I might use a simile, I would liken this man’s mind to a country peopled with evil persons, and possessing one town peopled with devils—that is the lunatic spot.”
“You almost speak as though you believe lunacy to be possession by devils.”
“Absolutely, I believe that,” replied Freyberger. “Firstly, from a prolonged study of lunacy; secondly, because my Bible bids me believe it. I am a Protestant.”
“You have heard the report we have had about those clothes you brought here this morning in the valise?”