The
sight of Oldham was intolerable to him.
The words were said, and the decision made. In his heart he knew the
matter irrevocable. For a few moments he experienced a feeling of relief
and freedom, as when a swimmer first gets his head above the surf that
has tumbled him. These fine-spun matters of ethical balance had confused
and wearied his spirit. He had become bewildered among such varied
demands on his personal decision. It was a comfort to fall back on the
old straight rule of right conduct no matter what the consequences. The
essentials of the situation were not at all altered: Baker was guilty of
the rankest fraud; Welton was innocent of every evil intent and should
never be punished for what he had been unwillingly and doubtfully
persuaded to permit; Orde senior had acquired his lands quite according
to the customs and ideas of the time; George Pollock should have been
justified a thousand times over in sight of God and man. Those things
were to Bob's mind indisputable. To deprive the one man of a very small
portion of his fraudulently acquired property, it was apparently
necessary to punish three men who should not be punished.
Pages:
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
781
782
783
784
785
786
787
788
789
790
791
792
793
794
795
796
797