Page:Meda - a tale of the future.djvu/301

Rh himself together, and casting all sympathy from him, he spoke, simply saying:—

"Young man, we are sorry for you. You are a man of wonderful refinement of thought and feeling considering the antiquity of your origin, yet we can make no more distinction in your case than in that of any other culprit; our forefathers have made, and we have carried out this law for over six hundred years. We have found it to be beneficial to the morality of our people, and while perhaps it is, as you have described it, refined in its cruelty, it is the law and as such we respect it. Guards, remove the prisoner."

I was now taken back to my dungeon to await my fate.

After I was left alone, I lay down on the floor and slept the sleep of the exhausted. What hour it was when I awoke, I cannot tell; but I found the dungeon lighted with a glow lamp, and five men of the guide type sitting around me. After I awoke, I continued to look at them with apathetic indifference. I wondered what