outside, so to speak — and the pity of it was, that it was true:

“Madame, your people will adore you for this.”

Quite true, but I meant to hang her for it some day if I lived. Some of those laws were too bad, altogether too bad. A master might kill his slave for nothing — for mere spite, malice, or to pass the time — just as we have seen that the crowned head could do it with his slave, that is to say, anybody.

A gentleman could kill a free commoner, and pay for him — cash or garden-truck. A noble could kill a noble without expense, as far as the law was concerned, but reprisals in kind were to be expected. Any body could kill some body, except the commoner and the slave; these had no privileges. If they killed, it was murder, and the law wouldn’t