“Your whiskey and soda, Peabody,” he said as he set a drink on the small table. “I have made amends with the crew and sent the camel back to its owner. I will wait until you have availed yourself of adequate nourishment before we continue our previous conversation.”

“Conversation? That is not the word I would use to describe your irrational diatribe, Emerson. Do try the smoked salmon sandwiches with cucumber. They are quite tasty.” I took a swallow of my drink and closed my eyes, wishing the whiskey could soften my memory of the recent events.

“I lost my appetite hours ago when I deduced where you had gone.” He stuffed three or four of the delicate little sandwiches in his mouth and masticated grimly, as if he were enduring a punishment. “I will restrain myself from further irrational diatribes, but we must come to an agreement. You are driving your family mad with your disregard for your personal safety. I would like nothing better than to order Daoud to stay within a foot of you from the moment you finish breakfast until we have retired to the marital chamber for the night. I cannot lose you, Peabody. You are my life, my raison d’être, despite the fact that you are more headstrong than an elephant and more fearless than a jackal.”

“I do seem to have that reputation,” I acknowledged as I took a bite of sesame seed cake. “I should not have gone after Herr Morgenstern, but I felt I had no choice. Yes, it was my Christian duty—and also my moral imperative to rescue a fellow human being who was mentally incapacitated. We cannot cast aside those who are ‘the least of these, our brethren.’”

“Does that include the Godwin brothers?”

I thought this over. “In the sense that they are mentally incapacitated by their deranged desire for revenge, I suppose so. I would never wish such gruesome deaths on anyone, including my most evil enemies. Even worse are the cold-blooded executions orchestrated by the judicial system. The Ten Commandments include the dictate ‘Thou shalt not kill.’ There are no exceptions in a footnote at the bottom of the page.”

Emerson snorted. “Then what should we do with them? Send them to a seaside resort for rehabilitation? Force them to take up hobbies that do not include mayhem and murder? We must do what is in the best interest of society.”

“A civilized society does not condone violence. We no longer throw virgins into volcanoes or sacrifice children on a bloodstained altar. We do not haul those who displease us to a scaffold to be beheaded by a hooded executioner.”

Nefret came up the steps in time to hear my last few words. “Goodness, I hope we are not discussing Herr Morgenstern’s future.”

“Then he will survive?” I asked.