"Who knows? He was, perhaps, a savage. Yet he may have been tender-hearted. I hope so, if he is going to be fixed in bronze for the ages to stare at."
"Did you," Becky asked, deliberately, "ever want to tie a man to a stake and build a fire under him?"
He turned and stared at her. "My dear child, what ever put such an idea in your head?"
"Well, did you?"
He considered it. "There was a time in France when I wanted to do worse than that."
"But that was war."
"No, it was a brute in my own company. He broke the heart of a little girl that he met in Brittany. He—he—well he murdered her—dreams."
"Perhaps he didn't know what he was doing."
"He knew. Every man knows."