"'Perhaps,' they admitted then. Alas, that was the way of the world.
But it was wrong!

"'Sure,' I agreed again. 'Sure. You're telling me no news. But if the
whole world's wrong, who am I to stand out? Who am I?' I wanted to know.
'Let's make it unanimous.'

"'The wages of sin,' they tried it again. They'd expected to put me down
for the count with that one, and they hated to see it go to waste.

"'Can you show me something just as good?' I asked. 'Half as good? A
tenth as good? I want to be straight. I'd rather be straight. Here's a
proposition. You folks have got more than you can ever spend on
yourselves. Pool a little of it--ten of you--and give me a job that you
don't figure sinful. I'm willing to work. I've proved that to you.
Guarantee me something a tenth as good as the wages I've mentioned, at
the end of ten years--I'll not be thirty then; I'll take a chance on
still being able to enjoy 'em--guarantee me that and I'll scrub floors
for you in the meantime.'

"And then they pulled the prize crack of them all. I hadn't heard it
before. It was a new one on me.

"'Virtue,' they said, 'virtue is its own reward.'

"Honest, I laughed. I couldn't help it. I didn't want them to see that
I was wise to them. I didn't even want to hurt their feelings. It was
pretty serious to them, this step that I was taking. But I couldn't help
it. I laughed. And then I got mad.

"'Virtue is its own reward? Is it?' I asked. 'Is it? Go out there and
stand on Fifth Avenue,' I said, 'and watch 'em roll by. Your daughter!
And yours! And yours! Ten thousand of 'em, no younger than I am, no
prettier, and no more moral right now. Go out and watch them roll by and
then try to tell me that. Violets and silver fox! Is virtue their only
reward?'

"Well, they'd not meant it the same way, in my case. I kept getting 'em
wrong, they said. They'd meant it in the abstract, applied to me. 'But
what about the wages of sin, in my case?' Had they been abstract there?
'Death--the gutter.' That was concrete, wasn't it? It sounded like
bedrock to me. Then they wanted to explain. I wouldn't let 'em.

"'If you had been on the level I could have respected you,' I said. 'If
you had told me, sure this is a selfish world and we are of it, I'd have
liked you fine. I'm strong for a rascal, if he's an honest rascal. But
I hate a hypocrite.'

"I'd got 'em between me and the ropes where I wanted 'em, at last.

"'I'