many an act to which the law awards a very
insufficient punishment, but with cunning sufficient to keep within that
line, the passage beyond which would enable society to purge itself of
such a stain upon it; how to deal with him, I say, embarrasses me
greatly. I have committed him two or three times to prison already; and
I am inclined to regret that I did not, on this occasion, when he was in
the very act of breaking the law, send my sword through him, and I
should have been well justified in doing so."

"Nay, sir, methinks that would have been too much," replied his
companion; "he has had a fall, which, if I judge rightly, will be a
sufficient punishment for his assault upon you. According to the very
_lex talionis_, he has had what he deserves. If he has nearly broke your
arm, I think I have nearly broken his back."

"It is not his punishment for any offence to myself, sir, I seek,"
replied the baronet; "it is a duty to society to free it from the load
of such a man whenever he himself affords the opportunity of doing so.
Herein the law would have justified me, but even had it not been so, I
can conceive many cases where it may be necessary for the benefit of our
country and society to go beyond what the law will justify, and to make
the law for the necessity."

"Brutus, and a few of his friends, did so," replied the young stranger
with a smile, "and we admire them very much for so doing, but I am
afraid we should hang them, nevertheless, if they were in a position to
try the thing over again. The illustration of the gibbet and the statue
might have more applications than one, for I sincerely believe, if we
could revive historical characters, we should almost in all cases erect
a gallows for those to whom we now raise a monument."

Sir Philip Hastings turned and looked at him attentively, and saw his
face was gay and smiling. "You take all these things very lightly, sir,"
he said.

"With a safe lightness," replied the stranger.

"Nay, with something more," rejoined his companion; "in your short
struggle with that ruffian, you sprang upon him, and overthrew him like
a lion, with a fierce activity which I can hardly imagine really calmed
down so soon."

"O yes it is, my dear sir," replied the stranger, "I am somewhat of a
stoic in all things. It is not necessary that rapidity of thought and
action, in a moment of emergency, should go one line beyond the
occasion, or sink one line deeper than the mere reason.