”that is to say, I was, but am no longer; it is fifteen years since I gave up the office.

I still assist at executions, but no longer strike the blow myself — no, indeed.”

“You have, then, a repugnance to your profession?”

“So long as I struck in the name of the law and of justice my profession allowed me to sleep quietly, sheltered as I was by justice and law; but since that terrible night when I became an instrument of private vengeance and when with personal hatred I raised the sword over one of God’s creatures — since that day — — ”

The executioner paused and shook his head with an expression of despair.

“Tell me about it,”