“Everyone will think you a perfect swine.”
“Let them.”
“Won’t it mean anything to you to know that people loathe and despise you?”
“No.”
His brief answer was so scornful that it made my question, natural though it was, seem absurd. I reflected for a minute or two.
“I wonder if one can live quite comfortably when one’s conscious of the disapproval of one’s fellows? Are you sure it won’t begin to worry you? Everyone has some sort of a conscience, and sooner or later it will find you out. Supposing your wife died, wouldn’t you be tortured by remorse?”
He did not answer, and I waited for some time for him to speak. At last I had to break the silence myself.
“What have you to say to that?”
“Only that you’re a damned fool.”
“At all events, you can be forced to support your wife and children,” I retorted, somewhat piqued. “I suppose the law has some protection to offer them.”