MR. Y. And probably it would be much easier for you to do this if
the--hm!--the thief had not been prompted by actual need, but by a
mania for collecting, for instance--or by scientific aspirations--
by the ambition to keep a discovery to himself. Don't you think
so?

MR. X. You mean that I could not acquit him if actual need had
been the motive? Yes, for that's the only motive which the law
will not accept in extenuation. That motive makes a plain theft of
it.

MR. Y. And this you couldn't excuse?

MR. X. Oh, excuse--no, I guess not, as the law wouldn't. On the
other hand, I must admit that it would be hard for me to charge a
collector with theft merely because he had appropriated some
specimen not yet represented in his own collection.

MR. Y. So that vanity or ambition might excuse what could not be
excused by need?

MR. X. And yet need ought to be the more telling excuse--the only
one, in fact? But I feel as I have said. And I can no more change
this feeling than I can change my own determination not to steal
under any circumstances whatever.

MR. Y. And I suppose you count it a great merit that you cannot--
hm!--steal?

MR. X. No, my disinclination to steal is just as irresistible as