Its inward voices repeated them to him.

They said, quoting some old religious orator: "When we abandon ourselves to irregularities of conduct, even to those regarded as least culpable in the opinion of the world, we render ourselves liable to commit the most reprehensible actions.

We perceive, from the most frightful examples, that voluptuousness leads to crime." These maxims, upon which he had never reflected, suddenly assumed for him a precise and austere meaning.

He thought the matter over seriously.
But since his mind was not deeply religious, and since he was incapable of cherishing exaggerated scruples, he was conscious of only a passable degree of edification, which was steadily diminishing.

Before long he decided that such scruples were out of place and that they could not possibly apply to the situation.