“The people said you would, for the sake of order.” Mayor Orden stood behind a chair and gripped its back with his hands. “Do the people want order, Molly?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “They want to be free.”
“Well, do they know how to go about it? Do they know what method to use against an armed enemy?”
“No,” Molly said, “I don’t think so.”
“You are a bright girl, Molly; do you know?”
“No, sir, but I think the people feel that they are beaten if they are docile. They want to show these soldiers they’re unbeaten.”
“They’ve had no chance to fight. It’s no fight to go against machine guns,” Doctor Winter said
Orden said, “When you know what they want to do, will you tell me, Molly?”
She looked at him suspiciously. “Yes—” she said
“You mean ‘no.’ You don’t trust me.”
“But how about Alex?” she questioned.
“I’ll not sentence him. He has committed no crime against our people,” said the Mayor.
Molly was hesitant now. She said, “Will they—will they kill Alex?”
Orden stared at her and he said, “Dear child, my dear child.”
She held herself rigid. “Thank you.”
Orden came close to her and she said weakly, “Don’t touch me. Please don’t touch me. Please don’t touch me.” And his hand dropped. For a moment she stood still, then she turned stiffly and went out of the door.
She had just closed the door when Joseph entered. “Excuse me, sir, the colonel wants to see you. I said you were busy. I knew she was here. And Madame wants to see you, too.”
Orden said, “Ask Madame to come in.”
Joseph went out and Madame came in immediately.
“I don’t know how I can run a house,” she began; “it’s more people than the house can stand. Annie’s angry all the time.”
“Hush!” Orden said.
Madame looked at him in amazement. “I don’t know what—”
“Hush!” he said. “Sarah, I want you to go to Alex Morden’s house. Do you understand? I want you to stay with Molly Morden while she needs you. Don’t talk, just stay with her.”
Madame said, “I’ve a hundred things—”
“Sarah, I want you to stay with Molly Morden. Don’t leave her alone. Go now.”
She comprehended slowly. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, I will. When will it be over?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “I’ll send Annie when it’s time.”
She kissed him lightly on the cheek and went out. Orden walked to the door and called, “Joseph, I’ll see the colonel now.”
Lanser came in. He had on a new pressed uniform with a little ornamental dagger at the belt. He said, “Good morning, Your Excellency. I wish to speak to you informally.” He glanced at Doctor Winter. “I should like to speak to you alone.”
Winter went slowly to the door and as he reached it Orden said, “Doctor!”
Winter turned “Yes?”
“Will you come back this evening?”
“You will have work for me?” the doctor asked.
“No—no. I just won’t like to be alone.”
“I will be here,” said the doctor.
“And, Doctor, do you think Molly looked all right?”
“Oh, I think so. Close to hysteria, I guess. But she’s good stock. She’s good, strong stock. She is a Kenderly, you know.”
“I’d forgotten,” Orden said. “Yes, she is a Kenderly, isn’t she?”
Doctor Winter went out and shut the door gently behind him.
Lanser had waited courteously. He watched the door close. He looked at the table and the chairs about it. “I will not tell you, sir, how sorry I am about this. I wish it had not happened.”
Mayor Orden bowed, and Lanser went on, “I like you, sir, and I respect you, but I have a job to do. You surely recognize that.”
Orden did not answer. He looked straight into Lanser’s eyes.
“We do not act alone or on our own judgment.”
Between sentences Lanser waited for an answer but he received none.
“There are rules laid down for us, rules made in the capital. This man has killed an officer.”
At last Orden answered, “Why didn’t you shoot him then? That was the time to do it.”
Lanser shook his head “If I agreed with you, it would make no difference. You know as well as I that punishment is largely for the purpose of deterring the potential criminal. Thus, since punishment is for others than the punished, it must be publicized. It must even be dramatized.” He thrust a finger in back of his belt and flipped his little dagger.
Orden turned away and looked out of the window at the dark sky. “It will snow tonight,” he said.
“Mayor Orden, you know our orders are inexorable. We must get the coal. If your people are not orderly, we will have to restore that order by force.” His voice grew stern. “We must shoot people if it is necessary. If you wish to save your people from hurt, you must help us to keep order. Now, it is considered wise by my government that punishment emanate from the local authority. It makes for a more orderly situation.”
Orden said softly, “So the people did know. That is a mystery.” And louder he said, “You wish me to pass sentence of death on Alexander Morden after a trial here?”
“Yes, and you will prevent much bloodshed later if you will do it.”
Orden went to the table and pulled out the big chair at its head and sat down. And suddenly he seemed to be the judge, with Lanser the culprit. He drummed with his fingers on the table. He said, “You and your government do not understand. In all the world yours is the only government and people with a record of defeat after defeat for centuries and every time because you did not understand people.” He paused. “This principle does not work. First, I am the Mayor. I have no right to pass sentence of death. There is no one in this community with that right. If I should do it, I would be breaking the law as much as you.”
“Breaking the law?” said Lanser.
“You killed six men when you came in. Under our law you are guilty of murder, all of you. Why do you go into this nonsense of law, Colonel? There is no law between you and us. This is war. Don’t you know you will have to kill all of us or we in time will kill all of you? You destroyed the law when you came in, and a new law took its place. Don’t you know that?”
Lanser said, “May I sit down?”
“Why do you ask? That is another lie. You could make me stand if you wished.”
Lanser said, “No; it is true whether you believe it or not: personally, I have respect for you and your office, and”—he put his forehead in his hand for a moment—“you see, what I think, sir, I, a man of a certain age and certain memories, is of no importance. I might agree with you, but that would change nothing. The military, the political pattern I work in has certain tendencies and practices which are invariable.”
Orden said, “And these tendencies and practices have been proven wrong in every single case since the beginning of the world.”
Lanser laughed bitterly. “I, an individual man with certain memories, might agree with you, might even add that one of the tendencies of the military mind and pattern is an inability to learn, an inability to see beyond the killing which is its job. But I am not a man subject to memories. The coal miner must be shot publicly, because the theory is that others will then restrain themselves from killing our men.”
Orden said, “We need not talk any more, then.”
“Yes, we must talk. We want you to help.”
Orden sat quietly for a while and then he said, “I’ll tell you what I’ll do. How many men were on the machine guns which killed our soldiers?”
“Oh, not more than twenty, I guess,” said Lanser.
“Very well. If you will shoot them, I will condemn Morden!”
“You’re not serious!” said the colonel.
“But I am serious.”
“This can’t be done. You know it.”
“I know it,” said Orden. “And what you ask cannot be done.”
Lanser said, “I suppose I knew. Corell will have to be Mayor after all.” He looked up quickly. “You will stay for the trial?”
“Yes, I’ll stay. Then Alex won’t be so lonely.”
Lanser looked at him and smiled a little sadly. “We have taken on a job, haven’t we?”
“Yes,” said the Mayor, “the one impossible job in the world, the one thing that can’t be done.”
“And that is?”
“To break man’s spirit permanently.”
Orden’s head sank a little toward the table, and he said, without looking up, “It’s started to snow. It didn’t wait for night. I like the sweet, cool smell of the snow.”