“Sin is an old force, though it may be applied in new ways.  Well, you will admit that the true sinner is the only true reformer and philosopher among men?  No?  I will explain, then.  The world is full of discordances, for which man is not to blame.  His endeavor to meet and harmonize this discordance is called sin.  His indignation at disorder, rebellion against it, attempts to right it, are crimes!  That is the vulgar argument which wise men smile at.”

“I may be very dull; but I think your explanations need explaining.”

“We’ll take some examples.  What is the liar, but one who sees the false relations of things, and seeks to put them in the true?  The mission of the thief, again, is to equalize the notoriously unjust distribution of wealth.  A fundamental defect in the principles of human association gave birth to the murderer; and as for the adulterer, he is an immortal protest against the absurd laws which interfere between the sexes.  Are not these men, and others of similar stamp, the bulwarks of true society,—­our leaders towards justice and freedom?”

Whether this were satire, madness, or earnest, Helwyse could not determine.  The night-fog had got into his brain.  He made shift, however, to say that the criminal class were not, as a mere matter of fact, the most powerful.

“Again you misapprehend me,” rejoined the voice, with perfect suavity.  “No doubt there are many weak and foolish persons who commit crimes,—­nay, I will admit that the vast majority of criminals are weak and foolish; but that does not affect the dignity of the true sinner,—­he who sins from exalted motives.  Ignorance is the only real crime, polluting deeds that, wisely done, are sublime.  Sin is culture!”

“Were I, then, from motives of self-culture, to kill you, I should be taking a long step towards rising in your estimation?” put in Helwyse.

“Admirable!” softly exclaimed the voice, in a tone as of an approving pat on the back.  “Certainly, I should be the last to deny it!  But would it not be more for the general good, were I, who have long been a student of these things, to kill a seeming novice like you?  It would assure me of having had one sincere disciple.”

“I wonder whether he’s really mad?” mused Balder Helwyse, shuddering a little in the dampness.

“But, badinage aside,” resumed this loquacious voice, “although there is so much talk and dispute about evil, very few people know what evil essentially is.  Now, there are some things, the mere doing of which by the most involuntary agent would at once stamp his soul with the conviction of ineffable sin.  He would have touched the essence of evil.  And if a wise man has done that, he has had in his hand the key to omnipotence!”

“It is easily had, then.  A man need but take his Leviticus and Deuteronomy, and run through the catalogue of crimes.  He would be sure of finding the key hidden beneath some of them.”