At first he was very bitter against Good, who, he said, was no
longer to be trusted, having designedly allowed Sorais to escape
by some secret stair when it was his duty to have handed her
over to justice. Indeed, he spoke in the most unmeasured terms
on the matter. I let him run on awhile, reflecting to myself
how easy we find it to be hard on the weaknesses of others, and
how tender we are to our own.
'Really, my dear fellow,' I said at length, 'one would never
think, to hear you talk, that you were the man who had an interview
with this same lady yesterday, and found it rather difficult
to resist her fascinations, notwithstanding your ties to one
of the loveliest and most loving women in the world. Now suppose
it was Nyleptha who had tried to murder Sorais, and _you_ had
caught her, and she had pleaded with you, would you have been
so very eager to hand her over to an open shame, and to death
by fire? Just look at the matter through Good's eyeglass for
a minute before you denounce an old friend as a scoundrel.'
He listened to this jobation submissively, and then frankly
acknowledged that he had spoken hardly. It is one of the
best points in Sir Henry's character that he is always ready
to admit it when he is in the wrong.
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