With his mind's eye, Fandor saw this foreign spy system under the form of an immense—a vast spider's web. Could one but lay hands on the originator of the initial thread, or the master-spider himself, then they could strike at the extreme ends of this evil tissue.
Fandor admonished Vinson for a long time. Our journalist was now eloquent, now persuasive: he heaped argument on argument, he appealed to his self-respect, to duty! When at last he saw that the young corporal hesitated, that a faint gleam of hope appeared, that a vague desire for rehabilitation was born in him, he stopped short and demanded abruptly:
"Vinson, are you still bent on killing yourself?"
The corporal communed with himself a moment, closed his eyes, and, without a touch of insincerity, replied in a steady voice:
"Yes, I have decided to do it."
"In that case," said Fandor, "will you look on the deed as done, and take it that you are no longer in existence?"
The corporal stared at Fandor, speechless, absolutely dumbfounded. Fandor made his idea more definite.
"From this moment you do not exist any more, you are nothing, you are no longer Corporal Vinson."...
"And then?"...