"By the sovereign authority of the public good. By the inherited right of self-protection."
"You would shoot them down, like caged animals?"
"Those eleven individuals have ceased to exist as men. They represent an infection, a diseased spot which must be cut out. They stand for disorder and violence; to free them would be a crime, to give them arms to defend themselves would be merely to increase their evil."
"There is a child among them, too; would you have his death upon your conscience?"
"I told Gino he should come to no harm, and, God willing, he sha'n't."
"How can you hope to stem the rage of a thousand madmen? A mob will stop at no half measures. There are two men among the prisoners who are entitled to another trial. Do you think the people will spare them if they take the others?" He shrugged his shoulders doubtfully, and she shuddered. "You shall not have the death of those defenseless men upon your soul!" she cried. "Your hands at least shall remain clean."
"Please don't urge me," he said.
"But I do. I ask you to take no part in this barbarous uprising."
"And I must refuse you."
She looked at him wildly; her face was ashen as she continued: