"
"Then he's an ass. No one who wasn't an ass could possibly expect
Doyle to pass a vote of censure on the doctor for not prosecuting him
about his drains. You needn't elaborate that point further. I admit
it. But I don't see yet that you've proved any actual malice. Lots of
quite good men are asses, and mean to do what's right. Simpkins may
have been acting from a mistaken sense of duty."
"He wasn't. He was acting from a fiendish delight in worrying
peaceable people."
"Prove that," said Meldon, "and I'll make the man sorry for himself.
There's no crime I know more detestable than nagging and worrying with
the intention of making other people uncomfortable. In a properly
civilised society men who do that would be hanged."
"I wish Simpkins was hanged."
"Prove your point," said Meldon, "and I'll see that he is hanged, or at
all events killed in some other way."
"There's no use talking that way, J. J. You can't go out and murder
the man."
"It won't be murder in this case," said Meldon. "It will be a
perfectly just execution, and I shan't do it myself. I'm a clergyman,
and not an executioner. But I'll see that it's done once I'm perfectly
satisfied that he deserves it.
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