He is unclean and clever, a frightful combination. Consider
the class of readers he has! The majority of the people who read
Brown, read only Brown. His readers are the great commonalty of
America, the source, once, of all that was best in our life. Brown
tells them nasty stories, not about people alone, but about systems;
systems of money, systems of work, systems of government. And because
nasty stories are always luscious reading, and because it is easier to
believe evil than good about anything, twice every day, as he produces
his morning and evening editions, Brown is polluting the head waters of
our national existence. I say, why not let me kill him? What more
useful and direct thing could I do than rid the nation of him? And O
Diana, when I think of the smut to which he coupled your loveliness, I
feel that I am less than a man to have hesitated this long."
Enoch closed the book, replaced it in the bag, and sat for a long hour
staring into the fire. Then he went to bed.
CHAPTER XI
THE PERFECT ADVENTURE
"Who cares whether or not my hands are clean? Does God? Wouldn't God
expect me to punish evil? God is mercilessly just, is He not? Else
why disease and grief in the world? If you could only tell
me!"--_Enoch's Diary_.
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