ind's made up. When the law breaks down, honest men must
find a remedy for themselves. I will not lift a finger to save this
reptile.

B. B. That is the word I was trying to remember. Reptile.

WALPOLE. I cant help rather liking you, Dubedat. But you certainly are a
thoroughgoing specimen.

SIR PATRICK. You know our opinion of you now, at all events.

LOUIS [patiently putting down his pencil] Look here. All this is no
good. You dont understand. You imagine that I'm simply an ordinary
criminal.

WALPOLE. Not an ordinary one, Dubedat. Do yourself justice.

LOUIS. Well youre on the wrong tack altogether. I'm not a criminal. All
your moralizings have no value for me. I don't believe in morality. I'm
a disciple of Bernard Shaw.

SIR PATRICK [puzzled] Eh?

B.B. [waving his hand as if the subject was now disposed of] Thats
enough, I wish to hear no more.

LOUIS. Of course I havnt the ridiculous vanity to set up to be exactly
a Superman; but still, it's an ideal that I strive towards just as any
other man strives towards his ideal.

B. B. [intolerant] Dont trouble to explain. I now understand you
perfectly. Say no more, please. When a man pretends to discuss science,
morals, and religion, and then avows himself a follower of a notorious
and avowed anti-vaccinationist, there is nothing more to be said.
[Suddenly putting in an effusive saving clause in parenthesis to
Ridgeon] Not, my dear Ridgeon, that I believe in vaccination in the
popular sense any more than you do: I neednt tell you that. But there
are things that place a man socially; and anti-vaccination is one of
them. [He resumes his seat on the dais].

SIR PATRICK. Bernard Shaw? I never heard of him. He's a Methodist
preacher, I suppose.

LOUIS [scandalized] No, no. He's the most advanced man now living: he
isn't anything.

SIR PATRICK. I assure you, young man, my father learnt the doctrine of
deliverance from sin from John Wesley's own lips before you or Mr. Shaw
were born. It used to be very popular as an excuse for putting sand in
sugar and water in milk. Youre a sound Methodist, my lad; only you don't
know it.

LOUIS [seriously annoyed for the first time] Its an intellectual insult.
I don't believe theres such a thing as sin.

SIR PATRICK. Well, sir, there are people who dont believe theres such
a thing as disease either. They call themselves Christian Scientists, I
believe. Theyll just suit your complaint. We can do nothing for you. [He
rises].