At last the officer lowered his arm:
“I can’t do it,” he said.
“Nonsense,” said Don Luis. “Get on with the work.”
“No. . . . No. . . .”
“But, in Heaven’s name, why not?”
“I can’t.”
“You can’t? Shall I tell you the reason? You are thinking of that man as if he were your father.”
“Perhaps it’s that,” said the officer, speaking very low. “There’s a chance of it, you know.”
“What does it matter, if he’s a beast and a blackguard?”
“No, no, I haven’t the right. Let him die by all means, but not by my hand. I haven’t the right.”