“Nonsense!”
“I don’t, I tell you. I did once. But I’m awake. No ‘threats of hell or hopes of any sugary paradise’ 97 influence me. Nor does custom and convention. Nor do the laws and teachings of our present civilisation matter one straw to me. I’d break every law if it suited me.”
He laughed and lifted her hand from her lap: “You funny child,” he said, “you wouldn’t steal, for example––would you?”
“I don’t desire to.”
“Would you commit perjury?”
“No!”
“Murder?”
“I have a law of my own, kind sir. It doesn’t happen to permit murder, arson, forgery, piracy, smuggling–––”
Their irresponsible laughter interrupted her.
“What else wouldn’t you do?” he managed to ask.