Page 100 - BraveNewWorld

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Henry Foster, was grave, wooden with severity.
“A public example,” he was saying. “In this room, because it contains more
high-caste workers than any other in the Centre. I have told him to meet me
here at half-past two.”
“He does his work very well,” put in Henry, with hypocritical generosity.

“I know. But that’s all the more reason for severity. His intellectual eminence
carries with it corresponding moral responsibilities. The greater a man’s talents,
the greater his power to lead astray. It is better that one should suffer than that
many should be corrupted. Consider the matter dispassionately, Mr. Foster,
and you will see that no offence is so henious as unorthodoxy of behaviour.
Murder kills only the individual-and, after all, what is an individual?” With
a sweeping gesture he indicated the rows of microscopes, the test-tubes, the
incubators. “We can make a new one with the greatest ease-as many as we
like. Unorthodoxy threatens more than the life of a mere individual; it strikes
at Society itseff. Yes, at Society itself,” he repeated. “Ah, but here he comes.”
Bernard had entered the room and was advancing between the rows of ferti-
lizers towards them. A veneer of jaunty self-confidence thinly concealed his
nervousness. The voice in which he said, “Good-morning, Director,” was ab-
surdly too loud; that in which, correcting his rnistake, he said, “You asked me
to come and speak to you here,” ridiculously soft, a squeak.

“Yes, Mr. Marx,” said the Director portentously. “I did ask you to come to me
here. You returned from your holiday last night, I understand.”
“Yes,” Bernard answered.

“Yes-s,” repeated the Director, lingering, a serpent, on the “s.” Then, suddenly
raising his voice, “Ladies and gentlemen,” he trumpeted, “ladies and gentle-
men.”
The singing of the girls over their test-tubes, the preoccupied whistling of the
Microscopists, suddenly ceased. There was a profound silence; every one loo-
ked round.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the Director repeated once more, “excuse me for thus
interrupting your labours. A painful duty constrains me. The security and sta-
bility of Society are in danger. Yes, in danger, ladies and gentlemen. This man,”
he pointed accusingly at Bernard, “this man who stands before you here, this
Alpha-Plus to whom so much has been given, and from whom, in consequen-
ce, so much must be expected, this colleague of yours-or should I anticipate and
say this ex-colleague?-has grossly betrayed the trust imposed in him. By his he-
retical views on sport and soma, by the scandalous unorthodoxy of his sex-life,
by his refusal to obey the teachings of Our Ford and behave out of office hours,

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