"Why need I give her pain!" he thought.
Everything in his soul hurt him.
"Why did I go on that voyage with Herman?" he asked himself again. "It was in those first days of rest that I began to think so much. And yet Professor Barzia says, 'Rest!' ... What does he know about me? What does one person know about another?... Djalo!" he cried.
The collie ran up, wriggling, joyfully.
"Djalo, what is right? How ought the world to be? Must there be kings and emperors, Djalo, or had we better all disappear?"
The dog looked at him, wagging its tail violently; suddenly it jumped up and licked his face.
"And why, Djalo, need one man always make the other unhappy? Why need princes make their people unhappy? Will life always remain the same, for ages and ages?..."
Othomar sank into a heap on the couch; his hand fell on the dog, which licked it passionately.
"Oh!" he sobbed. "My people, my people!..."