“By the modern right of giving the public what it craves and pays for: the revelation of evil, the worse the merrier. It used to be how I found the true light; now it is how I went plumb to Hell.”
“How you did perhaps, but not how I did.”
“In most instances one touches close upon the other, I’m afraid. It is a platitude of course (I ask your pardon, Dorn) to remark that we none of us can sin alone, but it is true nevertheless. Even the person that hears the tale of a crime is somehow affected. I feel the need of clearing my decks, of things heard and committed.”
“I doubt it would earn you a free pass through the pearly gates, supposing your proposed act comes off. Mark I say proposed.”
“Is that your glove, Blake? You must be able to get gloves at a discount.”
“My glove, yes, but not concealing the dagger beneath.”
“I’ll meet you where and when you please.”
“With Ordway Belknap as your second, I suppose? No, thank you; there are safer ways.”
“Then make it fast, man,” Whittaker cried in a suddenly broken voice as the dew of intense pain stood out on his forehead and he drooped a little forward over the table. “The time is short for both of us.”
“Quick, Mr. Belknap,” Nadia exclaimed, “Romany is fainting.”