I winced. The conversation was extracting opinions from me which were just as well concealed, but I answered frankly:
“I am sure of it.”
“So am I.”
I continued whimsically:
“Don’t you think society would be much happier if, instead of these horrible punishments and immurings, people who had been convicted of a crime should be compelled to wear some outward sign that they were not to be trusted in that particular direction? It should be treated as a disease, not as a disgrace.”
“A little difficult to enforce, eh?”
“Not at all. We should all be up in arms if Brown came to lunch without the governmental mark that he was not to be trusted with forks and spoons, and without the least acrimony we should call in a policeman who would correct the matter.”
“It might be carried still further, and people might be obliged to wear the evidence of their particular moral failing.”
“Everybody would lie, and which do you think would be the most popular hypocrisy?”
“In England, drink; because in the eyes of the average citizen of this country it would carry with it the least shame.”