“No, not that. The hypothesis is self-proving. There’s no doubt as to the truth. But—dash it all, Markham!—I refuse to accept it until every scrap of evidence has been incontestably sustained.”
“Is the evidence of such a nature that I can use it in a court of law?”
“That is something I refuse even to consider. Criminal proceedings seem utterly irrelevant in the present case. But I suppose society must have its pound of flesh, and you—the duly elected Shylock of God’s great common people—will no doubt wield the knife. However, I assure you I shall not be present at the butchery.”
Markham studied him curiously.
“Your words sound rather ominous. But if, as you say, you have discovered the perpetrator of these crimes, why shouldn’t society exact punishment?”
“If society were omniscient, Markham, it would have a right to sit in judgment. But society is ignorant and venomous, devoid of any trace of insight or understanding. It exalts knavery, and worships stupidity. It crucifies the intelligent, and puts the diseased in dungeons. And, withal, it arrogates to itself the right and ability to analyze the subtle sources of what it calls ‘crime,’ and to condemn to death all persons whose inborn and irresistible impulses it does not like. That’s your sweet society, Markham—a pack of wolves watering at the mouth for victims on whom to vent its organized lust to kill and flay.”
Markham regarded him with some astonishment and considerable concern.
“Perhaps you are preparing to let the criminal escape in the present case,” he said, with the irony of resentment.
“Oh, no,” Vance assured him. “I shall turn your victim over to you. The Greene murderer is of a particularly vicious type, and should be rendered impotent. I was merely trying to suggest that the electric chair—that touchin’ device of your beloved society—is not quite the correct method of dealing with this culprit.”
“You admit, however, that he is a menace to society.”