not understand, and which they hate because they do not understand it?
Would it not fill them with joy if I had to make my living beating
stones on the public highway or cleaning out sewers? Do they find it
possible to pardon me for my life and the things that make up my life?
And yet you say there are no wolves? That they are not wolves? Tell me
that you are afraid of them, that you do not wish to turn them against
yourself; but don't tell me that you are committing an evil act when I
call you to me, you with your wings, and you come."

His arms were stretched out toward her on the top of the kitchen table;
they were trembling to the very tips of his fingers.

"The evil deed, Daniel," whispered Eleanore, "hasn't anything to do with
these people; it was committed against the higher law of morals, against
our feeling of right usage and established honour...."

"False," he hissed, "false! They have made you believe that. They have
preached that to you for centuries and centuries; your mother, your
grand-mother, your great-grand-mother, they have all been telling you
that. It is false; it is a lie; it is all a lie. It is with this very
lie that they support their power and protect their organisation. It is
truth on the contrary that fills my heart, fills it with joy, and helps
me along. What nature offers, obedience to nature, that is truth. Truth
lies in your thoughts, in your feelings, girl, in your choked feelings,
in your blood, in the 'yes' you speak in your dreams. Of course I know
that they need their lie, for they must be organised, the wolves; they
must go in packs, otherwise they are impotent. But I have only my truth,
only my truth as I stand on the marble slab above the abyss."

"Your truth, Daniel," said Eleanore, "_your_ truth. But your truth is
not my truth."

"No, Eleanore? No? Not yours? What then is the use of my talking with
you? And even if everything else were falsehood and error, I am as
convinced as I can be that my truth is also your truth."

"You can't stand out against the whole world," said Eleanore in anguish,
"you are after all in the world yourself."

"Yes, I will take my stand against the whole world," he said, "that is
precisely what I have made up my mind to do. I will pay them back in
their own coin. Just as they have all stood against me, just so will I
stand against them. I am no compromiser, no treaty-maker, no haggler, no
beggar. I live according to my own law. I _must_, where o