.

CONSCIENCE. What will _he_ do with the establishment when he gets it?

DISTILLER. You must ask him, and not me. But whatever he may do with it,
_I_ shall be clear.

CONSCIENCE. I wish I could be sure of that; but let us see. Though you
will not make poison by the hundred barrels any longer yourself, you
will sell this laboratory of death to another man, for the same horrid
purpose. You will not, with your own hands, go on forging daggers for
maniacs to use upon themselves and their friends, provided you can get
some one to take your business at a fair price. You will no longer drag
the car of Juggernaut over the bodies of prostrate devotees, if you can
_sell out the privilege to good advantage_!

DISTILLER. Was ever any man's conscience so captious before? You seem
determined not to be satisfied with any thing. But beware; by pushing
matters in this way you will produce a violent "reaction." Even
professors of religion will not bear it. For myself, I wish to treat you
with all possible respect; but forbearance itself must have its limits.

CONSCIENCE. Possibly you may be able to hold me in check a little
longer; but I am all the while gathering strength for an onset which you
cannot withstand; and if you cannot bear these kind remonstrances now,
how will you grapple with "the worm that never dies?"

DISTILLER. Enough, enough. I will obey your voice. But why so pale and
deathlike?

CONSCIENCE. O, I am sick, I am almost suffocated. These tartarean fumes,
these dreadful forebodings, these heart-rending sights, and above all,
my horrid dreams, I cannot endure them. There comes our nearest
neighbor, stealing across the lots, with his jug and half bushel of rye.
What is his errand, and where is his hungry, shivering family? And see
there too, that tattered, half-starved boy, just entering the yard with
a bottle--who sent him here at this early hour? All these barrels--where
are the wretched beings who are to consume this liquid fire, and to be
consumed by it?

DISTILLER. Spare me, spare me, I beseech you. By going on at this rate a
little longer you will make me as nervous as yourself.

CONSCIENCE. But I cannot close this interview till I have related one of
the dreams to which I just alluded. It was only last night that I
suffered in this way, more than tongue can tell. The whole terrific
vision is written in letters of fire upon the tablet of my memory; and I
feel it all the while burning deeper and deeper.