No Longer Human ( PDFDrive )

90
of my punishment depended solely on his decision.
I made up a confession absurd enough to satisfy—
more or less—his prurient curiosity.
"llinnim. I've got a pretty good idea now. We
always take it into consideration when a prisoner
answers everything honestly."
"Thank you very much. I hope you will do what
you can to help me."
My performance was all but inspired—a great
performance which brought me no benefit whatsoever.
In the morning I was called before the police
chief. This time it was the real examination.
As soon as I opened the door and entered his
office, the police chief said, "There's a handsome lad
for you! It wasn't your fault, I can see. Your mother's
to blame for having brought such a handsome boy into
the world."
He was still young, a dark-complexioned man
with something about him which suggested a university
education. His words caught me off-guard,
and made me as wretched as if I had been born deformed,
with a red macula covering half my face.
The examination conducted by this athleticlooking
police chief was simple and to the point, a
world removed from the furtive, tenaciously obscene
"examination" the old policeman had given me the