against buildings, for instance. What is the
fetish of the hour that all the bourgeoisie recognize - eh, Mr. Verloc?«
    Mr. Verloc opened his hands and shrugged his shoulders slightly.
    »You are too lazy to think,« was Mr. Vladimir's comment upon that gesture.
»Pay attention to what I say. The fetish of to-day is neither royalty nor
religion. Therefore the palace and the church should be left alone. You
understand what I mean, Mr. Verloc?«
    The dismay and the scorn of Mr. Verloc found vent in an attempt at levity.
    »Perfectly. But what of the Embassies? A series of attacks on the various
Embassies,« he began; but he could not withstand the cold, watchful stare of the
First Secretary.
    »You can be facetious, I see,« the latter observed, carelessly. »That's all
right. It may enliven your oratory at socialistic congresses. But this room is
no place for it. It would be infinitely safer for you to follow carefully what I
am saying. As you are being called upon to furnish facts instead of
cock-and-bull stories, you had better try to make your profit off what I am
taking the trouble to explain to you. The sacrosanct fetish of to-day is
science. Why don't you get some of your friends to go for that wooden-faced
panjandrum - eh? Is it not part of these institutions which must be swept away
before the F. P. comes along?«
    Mr. Verloc said nothing. He was afraid to open his lips lest a groan should
escape him.
    »This is what you should try for. An attempt upon a crowned head or on a
president is sensational enough in a way, but not so much as it used to be. It
has entered into the general conception of the existence of all chiefs of state.
It's almost conventional - especially since so many presidents have been
assassinated. Now let us take an outrage upon - say a church. Horrible enough at
first sight, no doubt, and yet not so effective as a person of an ordinary mind
might think. No matter how revolutionary and anarchist in inception, there would
be fools enough to give such an outrage the character of a religious
manifestation. And that would detract from the especial alarming significance we
wish to give to the act. A murderous attempt on a restaurant or a theatre would
suffer in the same way from the suggestion of non-political passion; the
exasperation of a hungry man, an act