'Then all that life in London and Paris means to men with great
fortunes.' Ryder was smiling as he spoke. 'Then to seize and enjoy all
that smug respectability is willing to give to the wealthy, and much that
it is unwilling to give, but which it shall be our pleasure to take. Then
to exact our revenge for all we have endured at the hands of society by
making it in some measure the slave to minister to our needs and our
desires. I positively tremble, my brother, when I think of the little
mischief one man can work; but with money and ingenuity, combined with
devotion to purpose, we may succeed in accomplishing quite a decent
vengeance.'
'I have no desire for revenge upon society.'
'To be sure, you have not sat through the long black night in, a cold
cell with the rats, a wet rag thrown over your lacerated back, the chains
eating into your flesh like the nibbling of tiny teeth, thinking of the
good people who rule England, sitting at their blazing fires or smiling
round the laden tables.'
'No, thank God!'
'If you had you might appreciate the subtle delight of sinning against
your enemies. I am going back to England to devote what arts I know, what
cunning I have, and what attractions I can assume, to the gratification
of the only passion left me. When I think of the fair daughters and the
fair sons of the comfortable middle class, Jim, I have exquisite hopes.'
Ryder rolled the cigar between his fingers, and smiled at his brother in
a gentle, kindly way. 'If I can bring an honoured son of reputable
parents to taste the joys of the hulks and feel the caresses of the
leaded cat, I shall, I feel, be almost reconciled to my past. They talk
of stopping transportation and abolishing the system. I never cease to
pray that the system may be spared to us. If it is done away with before
I have gratified the magnificent malice I have stored up in this breast,
morsel by morsel, hoarding it with the greed of a miser, I am afraid I
shall lose my faith in a just Providence.'
'This is simply hideous exclaimed Jim. 'But you are joking. You speak
without bitterness.
'I speak without bitterness because I would not waste any jot of it. When
my moments come (and I have had a few) I desire to experience the perfect
emotion. Revenge is only sweet when it opens the flood-gates of a pent-up
hatred.'
'Richard!' cried the young man, 'for God's sake put this black evil out
of your heart! Here is a clean world--come into it, take part in it with
the good men. Your soul is poisoned--purge it. Open your eyes to the
sun. I'll help you!'
Ryder placed his cigar on the log beside him, and turning back the left
wrist of the silk undershirt he wore, struck a match, and showed Jim a
broad red wheal encircling the arm like the scar of a deep burn.
'Would you like to see my ankle?' he said. 'Or my back? It's a pretty
sight. I am a hunted man. But if I were not, I would not consent to
sacrifice my exquisite desires merely because the sun shines and girls
are merry.'
'But I have been happy. I'll have none of this ugly gospel of hatred and
revenge.'
'Happy! Because you are free for a moment; because you are not treated
quite as a pariah because that black-eyed houri down at the shanty smiles
at you? You'll sicken of this presently. I tell you you must come back to
your healthy hatred. The spirit of revolt is in your blood; the contempt
is with you. I shall win you over.'