always stand on a basis of
equality between the two parties. Shake hands on it."

The Householder put his hand behind his back.

"You insult me," said he. "If I were your equal I should die of shame.
Waive the comparison. What about the damage you have done here? Who
shall repair it?"

"All the world," cried the Burglar eagerly; "everybody will
help--especially your big neighbor across the lake. He is a fool with
plenty of money. You cannot expect me to contribute. I am poor, but as
honest as my profession will permit. This damage in your house is not
wilful injury. It is merely one of the necessary accompaniments of my
practice of burglary. You ought not to feel sore about it. Why do you
call attention to it, instead of talking politely and earnestly about
the blessings of Peace?"

"I am talking to you as politely as I can," said the Householder,
moistening his dry lips, "but while I am doing it, I feel as if I were
smeared with mud. Tell me, what have you to say about my children and my
servants whom you have tortured and murdered?"

"Ah, that," answered the Burglar, shrugging his shoulders and spreading
out his hands, palms upward, so that he looked like a gigantic toad,
"--that indeed is so very, very sad! My heart mourns over it. But how
could it be avoided? Those foolish people would not lie down, would not
be still. Their conduct was directly contrary to my system; see section
417, chapter 93, in my 'Great Field-Book of Burglary,' under the title
'Schrecklichkeit.' Perhaps in the excitement of the moment I went a
little beyond those scientific regulations. The babies need not have
been killed--only terrified. But that was a mere error of judgment which
you will readily forgive and forget for the sake of the holy cause of
Peace. Will you not?"

The Householder turned quickly and spat into the fireplace.

"Blasphemer," he cried, "my gorge rises at you! Can there be any
forgiveness until you repent? Can there be any Peace in the world if you
go loose in it, ready to break and enter and kill when it pleases you?
Will you lay down your weapons and come before the Judge?"

The Burglar rose slowly to his feet, twisting up his mustache with
bloody brass-knuckled hands.

"You are a colossal ass," he growled. "You forget how strong I am, how
much I can still hurt you. I have offered you a chance to get Peace.
Don't you want it?"

"Not as a present from you," said the Householder slowly. "It would
poison me. I