to make up your mind to do your duty whether you like it or not.”
He stopped to look out the window, at the roofs below; and his point of view broadened accordingly. “The morals of the situation are rather mixed. Society—people—the human family—have decided that if they ’re to live together they must n’t kill, or steal from, or otherwise injure one another. They have made laws against these acts. And they punish the man or woman who breaks the laws. In case of war, of course, killing and stealing are permitted by one branch of the family against another branch. But in time of peace, the officers of the law, as agents of society, are the only ones allowed to kill or otherwise injure their fellows. And then only in defense of society.” He turned on Barney. “Do you understand?”
Barney said he did.
“Well, then—” He came forward—“as a detective, you ’re allowed to do a great many things that would be punished in the private
