"[To Ellen, during dinner] My father was a judge. That surprised you. He used to make my mother and me watch people being hanged, for our improvement. One day, he said there was too much bad in this world. He took a bullet, put it in his gun, spun the chamber, and took it in turns clicking it at each of us – [chuckles bitterly] – until he finally blew the back of his head off with the final click. Understand this. There is nothing on this earth that frightens me now. Nothing."