“ ‘I see you keep a hawk out there?’
“ ‘Yes. Fine bird. Quite an attraction!’
“ ‘People like to look at it?’
“ ‘Just so. They’re uncommon—that sort.’
“ ‘Well,’ I said, ‘I call it cruel to keep a hawk shut up like that.’
“ ‘Cruel? Why? What’s a hawk, anyway—cruel devils enough!’
“ ‘My dear sir,’ I said, ‘they earn their living just like men, without caring for other creatures’ sufferings. You are not shut up, apparently, for doing that. Good-bye.’ ”
As he said this, my friend looked at me, and added:
“You think that was a lapse of taste. What would you have said to a man who cloaked the cruelty of his commercial instincts by blaming a hawk for being what Nature had made him?”
There was such feeling in his voice that I hesitated long before answering.