"I am really very sorry."

"Don't protest! I cannot blame you. It is hard for people who have led
uneventful lives and seen little of the seamy side of human nature to
believe that under the veneer of civilization and the mask of convention,
hatreds are still as fierce, men still as revengeful as ever they were in
olden times.... I hope I did not make a mistake in sparing young
Griscelli's life."

"Sparing his life! How?"

"He sought my life, and I had a perfect right to take his."

"That is not a very Christian sentiment, Mr. Fortescue."

"I did not say it was. Do you always repay good for evil and turn your
check to the smiter, Mr. Bacon?"

"If you put it in that way, I fear I don't."

"Do you know anybody who does?"

After a moment's reflection I was again compelled to answer in the
negative. I could not call to mind a single individual of my acquaintance
who acted on the principle of returning good for evil.

"Well, then, if I am no better than other people, I am no worse. Yet,
after all, I think I did well to let him go. Had I killed the brigand,
there would have been a coroner's inquest, and questions asked which might