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20 - A Well-Met Problem PDF
20 - A Well-Met Problem PDF
20 - A Well-Met Problem PDF
A WELL-MET PROBLEM
Work awaited me upon my return to Caiphul, work to which I might attend without harm to my delicate
health, in fact rather tending to its improvement, furnishing a proper degree
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raiment stations were placed in given districts, and the people of Suern, the great peninsula of modern
Hindustan, with parts of Arabia, were taught the means of comfortable self-preservation and dependence
upon their knowledge. Not all of this was done, that is to say, supervised by me, but the initiation of it,
and during three and a half years the practical work of it was conducted by me and my vice-suzerains.
Perhaps I was not grateful to Incal; perhaps I never thought a second time, in these days of prosperity, of
the prayer of the moneyless and unknown youth upon Pitach Rhok. But perhaps I did, too. I rather think
that I was never for one moment forgetful of that morning and its vows. Yet, it is a strange fact that
human nature may swerve aside from what it knows to be the undeviating line of right; may be keenly
conscious of every infraction and still be able to feel that it has been true to its vows. Moral lapses are
the most frequent, those sins which are not strictly direct infractions of communal equities but rather of
the Magdalen type. Strange, also, is it that mankind is seldom lenient to the victims, though generally
quite sparing of censure for the real criminal. There can be no true justice in a decision on any subject in
the world until, in crimes of this sort, equal penalty is meted regardless of sex. Does my proposition
seem too sweeping? Consider then this: human justice is a system; if it be faulty in only one particular it
is faulty in all things, since justice means perfection, and that is not perfection which hath a blemish.
In the history of the Judaic race the later records of the deserving portion of the people of Suernis may
be found. Verily, my people, we have seen glory together and long suffering. We have stood together
since before the age that is, and that which passeth, was! My seed of strong, effort was sown in fallow
soil, and it returned more than a hundred fold. The end is not yet; the harvest is not garnered, nor the
Chosen People come yet into their reward for the Great Tribulation since Ernon of Suern ceased to strive
for them. The way was long, but, they shall come at last from out the desert they entered so long ago,
and Yeovah will give His children rest!
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As Rai Ernon had said, the Saldee general never returned to his native land. He wandered about the city,
little noticed by the people, and made his chief abiding place at the vailx of a certain Poseid commissary
stationed with others at Ganje.
One day, having become quite friendly with the latter, the Salda asked that his friend give him the
pleasure of an ascent into the air; he had never experienced a ride on a vailx and was desirous of so
doing. At the time the commissary was busy, and promised to do as requested on the morrow.
Accordingly, after dinner next day, which meal was served on the open promenade deck of the vailx, the
ascension was made. The general had taken too much strong wine and was rather unsteady in his
motions. One of the party was a Suerna who had been one of Rai Ernon's counsellors. The general
stalked to the taffrail of the vailx to look down into the nether air. Standing near was the Suerna. Neither
liked the other, and the Salda, also excited by wine, became quarrelsome. The Suerna, the same, by the
way, who had been so amazed by the failure of his occult powers when he made his attempt to kill me,
gave the general a sly push, and he fell against the rail. Being heavy, his weight bent it so as to cause a
still further loss of balance and he fell over the side, catching the rail with both hands in a very agile
manner. Here, unable to raise himself, he hung, calling for help in an agony of terror. The Poseid captain
was not a bad man, but he was somewhat stupid, as a result of a fall on his head, and while able to give
satisfaction as a commissary, he was not able to rise higher than some such subordinate position. He
had, previous to his injury, been a talented man, and was even yet an inventor of some small note. This
was a talent that did him small service now, however, because so many others outranked him in the
same direction. He had finally come to be a lunatic on the subject, and was ever seeking to utilize force
or to economize power. While the captain was standing in stupid indecision, the Suerna stepped in and
pushed him aside, himself grasping the terrified Salda by the arm. The next instant the ex-counselor and
the Salda general were swinging, whirling towards
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the earth, over a mile below. Then the Poseida looked over at them as they fell and, his mind all
occupied with his favorite mania for invention, exclaimed.
"What a waste of force! If only they could fall on some mechanism adjusted to raise a weight!" How it
happened, the commissary never knew, he averred, and for lack of witnesses, together with his obvious
culminated in anguish there in Atlantis and, phoenix-like, arose from the ashes of the dead centuries,
only a few short years ago. Verily, "the evil that men do lives after them."
Because it was so very obvious that her heartlessness was only that of undevelopment, I was not
disgusted with Lolix. I reproved her, indeed, but instead of turning away in unreasoning wrath at its
existence, I sought to induce a perception of the enormity of such an offense as cruelty of heart.
According to the custom of her people, Lolix wooed me to wed her. Of course I could not accede,
pleasant though it -was to have this beautiful girl doing her best to win my regard. I could not, while I
loved Anzimee. Of this love for my sweet, womanly little sister, I never told Lolix, disliking possible
contingencies. But I did worse--I told her an untruth, for I said that the Poseid law forbade marriage with
those of alien birth.
"Never an exception?" queried Lolix.
"Never one. Death is the penalty."
This was another falsehood, for in Poseid the death penalty was never inflicted, it being forbidden by the
law of the Maxin book.
"Well, then, it matters nothing. Thou art young and strong, and of good courage and handsome.
Wherefore I love thee. If the law forbid, it is all the same. None but ourselves need know."
The last barrier was fallen. Conscience slumbered. Thoughts of Anzimee were put aside as one would
shun an accusing angel. Did I think of Pitach Rhok and my days of sinlessness? Or of the mysterious
stranger whom I had heard in awe in the first of my life at Caiphul? Yea, I thought of these things. I
thought of Incal, and I said:
"Incal, my God, if I am about to do wrong in thy sight, in disregarding the laws of society and marriage,
smite me dead ere I sin."
But Incal smote, not then, but afterwards through the ages. He smote not then; conscience slept the
sounder, but passion awoke.