this news about your defection from the
Church, you will tie your own hands immediately.

Rosmer. Do you think so?

Mortensgaard. Yes, you may be certain that there is not much that you
would be able to do hereabouts. And besides, Mr. Rosmer, we have quite
enough freethinkers already--indeed, I was going to say we have too
many of those gentry. What the party needs is a Christian
element--something that every one must respect. That is what we want
badly. And for that reason it is most advisable that you should hold
your tongue about any matters that do not concern the public. That is
my opinion.

Rosmer. I see. Then you would not risk having anything to do with me if
I were to confess my apostasy openly?

Mortensgaard (shaking his head). I should not like to, Mr. Rosmer.
Lately I have made it a rule never to support anybody or anything that
is opposed to the interests of the Church.

Rosmer. Have you, then, entered the fold of the Church again lately?

Mortensgaard. That is another matter altogether.

Rosmer. Oh, that is how it is. Yes, I understand you now.

Mortensgaard. Mr. Rosmer--you ought to remember that I, of all people,
have not absolute freedom of action.

Rosmer. What hampers you?

Mortensgaard. What hampers me is that I am a marked man.

Rosmer. Ah--of course.

Mortensgaard. A marked man, Mr. Rosmer. And you, of all people, ought
to remember that--because you were responsible, more than any one else,
for my being branded.

Rosmer. If I had stood then where I stand now, I should have handled
the affair more judiciously.

Mortensgaard. I think so too. But it is too late now; you have branded
me, once for all--branded me for life. I do not suppose you can fully
realise what such a thing means. But it is possible that you may soon
feel the smart of it yourself now, Mr. Rosmer.

Rosmer. I?

Mortensgaard. Yes. You surely do not suppose that Mr. Kroll and his
gang will be inclined to forgive a rupture such as yours? And the
"County News" is going to be pretty bloodthirsty, I hear. It may very
well come to pass that you will be a marked man, too.

Rosmer. On personal grounds, Mr. Mortensgaard, I feel myself to be
invulnerable. My conduct does not offer any point of attack.

Mortensgaard (with a quiet smile). That is saying a good deal, Mr.
Rosmer.

Rosmer. Perhaps it is. But I have the right to say as much.

Mortensgaard. Even if you were inclined to overhaul your conduct as
thoroughly as