"When I poked my nose in, I thought you were in real trouble. But apparently you are home free. Why must you do anything, my husband?"

            "I need to kill him."

            "What? But you don't know which Tolliver is meant! Or why he should be dead. If he should be."

            "No, no, not Tolliver. Although it may develop that Tolliver should be dead. No, dear, the man who killed Schultz. I must find him and kill him."

            "Oh. Uh, I can see that he should be dead; he's a murderer. But why must you do it? Both are strangers to you-both the victim and whoever killed him. Actually it's not your business. Is it?"

            "It is my business. Schultz or whatever his name is was killed while he was a guest at my table. That's intolerably rude. I won't put up with it. Gwen my love, if one tolerates bad manners, they grow worse. Our pleasant habitat could decay into the sort of slum Ell-Five is, with crowding and unmannerly behavior and unnecessary noise and impolite language. I must find the oaf who did this thing, explain to him his offense, give him a chance to apologize, and kill him."

           

           

           

           

            III

            'One should forgive one*s enemies, but not before they are hanged.**

            HEINRICH HEINE 1797-1856

            My lovely bride stared at me. "You would kill a man? For bad manners?"

            "Do you know of a better reason? Would you have me ignore rude behavior?"

            "No but- I can understand executing a man for murder;

            I'm not opposed to capital punishment. But shouldn't you leave this to the proctors and the management? Why must you take the law into your own hands?"

            "Gwen, I haven't made myself clear. My purpose is not to punish but to weed... plus the esthetic satisfaction of retaliation for boorish behavior. This unknown killer may have had excellent reasons for killing the person who called himself Schultz... but killing in the presence of people who're eating is as offensive as public quarreling by married couples. Then this oaf capped his offense by doing this while his victim was my guest... which made retaliation both my obligation and my privilege."

            I went on, "The putative offense of murder is not my concern. But as for proctors and the management taking care of that matter, do you know of any regulation forbidding murder?"

            "What? Richard, there must be one."

            "I've never heard of one. I suppose the Manager might construe murder as a violation of the Golden Rule-"

            "Well, I would certainly think so!"

            "You do? I'm never certain what the Manager will think. But, Gwen my darling, killing is not necessarily murder. In fact it often is not. If this killing ever comes to the Manager's attention, he may decide that it was justifiable homicide.