Paul Theroux

'What about the rest of the people in the world?' Julian asked. His voice cracked a little - he was upset, and he seemed beseeching rather than challenging.

Van Arkady ignored Julian. He turned to the other dinner guests. But he answered Julian's question. He said, 'The rest don't really matter. A million dead here, two million there - it is part of a natural cycle. Yes, even massacres. There is murder in nature. Please don't think I'm insensitive. I believe the death of one man can change the course of history, when it is the right man and when we are fully conscious of it. But a million don't matter, because it isn't a number in any actual sense, unless it is applied to money. A million dollars is an easy thing, but a million men is impossible to imagine. My five thousand is reality, but' - and here he smiled at Julian Shuttle - 'a million men is a metaphor.'

Julian seemed to sulk at this, and at the end of the table Mrs Timothy Beach whispered, 'My cleaning lady said "A blue foulard - that's a kind of duck, isn't it?"'

'We don't feel a million,' Van Arkady was saying. 'You can't honestly say that you miss all those Ethiopians and Chinese. Their deaths don't change anything, and a truthful but callous person might argue that we're all a jolly sight better off without them. We make a pointless virtue out of keeping people alive. It is one of the follies of our century - it is a mere conceit, making us feel powerful. But it is sometimes much kinder to allow people to die in their own way than to keep them alive our way.'

Lauren was thrilled at this - not the details of the argument but the calm cruel way the man stated it, and she wanted him to notice her approval.

- Dr Slaughter