These men
were, furthermore, all dear to Bob personally. It did not seem right
that his decision should plunge them into undeserved penalties. But now
the situation was materially altered. Bob also stood in danger from his
action. He, too, must suffer with the others. All were in the same
boat. The menace to his own liberty justified his course. The innocent
must suffer with the guilty; but now the fact that he was one of those
who must so suffer, raised his decision from a choice to a necessity.
Whatever the consequences, the simplest, least perplexing, most
satisfying course was to follow the obvious right. The odium of
ingratitude, of lack of affection, of disloyalty, of self-reproach was
lifted from him by the very fact that he, too, was one of those who must
take consequences. In making the personal threat against the young man's
liberty, Oldham had, without knowing it, furnished to his soul the one
valid reason for going ahead, conscience-clear.
Though naturally Oldham could not follow out this psychology, he was
shrewd enough to understand that he had failed. This surprised him, for
he had entertained not the slightest doubt that the threat of the
penitentiary would bring Bob to terms.
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