r
opinions that I have, but it isn't square to cut up an animal alive,
just because you're the stronger and there's no law to prevent you.
You know it isn't square!"

In the accusing silence, Ralph left the room, and was shortly on his
way uphill, with Araminta's promised cat mewing in his coat pocket.

The grim, sardonic humour of the situation appealed strongly to Doctor
Dexter. "To think," he said to himself, "that only last night, that
identical cat was observed as a fresh and promising specimen,
providentially sent to me in the hour of need. And if I hadn't wanted
Ralph to help me, Araminta's pet would at this moment have been on the
laboratory table, having its heart studied--in action."

Repeatedly, he strove to find justification for a pursuit which his
human instinct told him had no justification. His reason was fully
adequate, but something else failed at the crucial point. He felt
definitely uncomfortable and wished that Ralph might have avoided the
subject. It was none of his business, anyway. But then, Ralph himself
had admitted that.

His experiments were nearly completed along the line in which he had
been working. In deference to a local sentiment which he felt to be
extremely narrow and dwarfing, he had done his work secretly. He had
kept the door of the laboratory locked and the key in his pocket. All
the doors and windows had been closely barred. When his subjects had
given out under the heavy physical strain, he had buried the pitiful
little bodies himself.

He had counted, rather too surely, on the deafness of his old
housekeeper, and had also heavily discounted her personal interest in
his pursuits and her tendency to gossip. Yet, through this single
channel had been disseminated information and conjecture which made it
difficult for Ralph to buy a pet for Araminta.

Anthony Dexter shuddered at his narrow escape. Suppose Araminta's cat
had been sacrificed, and he had been obliged to tell Ralph? One more
experiment was absolutely necessary. He was nearly satisfied, but not
quite. It would be awkward to have Ralph make any unpleasant
discoveries, and he could not very well keep him out of the laboratory,
now, without arousing his suspicion. Very possibly, a man who would
torture an animal would also torture a human being, but he was
unwilling to hurt Ralph. Consequently, there was a flaw in the
logic--the boy's reasoning was faulty, unless this might be the
exception which pr