"Very well. This conduct of Marston shows him to be internally
unworthy of my regard; shows him to possess a trait of character
that unfits him to be my friend. I have been mistaken in him. He now
stands revealed in his true light, a mean-spirited fellow."

"Don't use such language towards Marston, my young friend."

"He has no principle. He wished to render me ridiculous and do me
harm. A man who could act as he did, cannot possess a spark of
honourable feeling. Does a good fountain send forth bitter waters?
Is not a tree known by its fruit? When a man seeks wantonly to
insult and injure me, I discover that he wants principle, and wish
to have no more to do with him."

"Perhaps," said the individual with whom Herbert Arnest was
conversing, "it is your wounded self-love, more than your high
regard for principle, that speaks so eloquently against Marston."

"Mr. Welford!"

"Nay, my young friend, do not be offended with me. Your years, twice
told, would not make mine. I have lived long enough to get a cool
head and understand something of the springs of action that lie in
the human heart. The best, at best, have little to be proud of, and
much to lament over, in the matter of high and honourable impulses.
It is a far easier thing to do wrong than right; far easier to be
led away by our evil passions than to compel ourselves always to
regard justice and judgment in our dealings with others. Test
yourself by this rule. Would your feelings for Marston be the same