Larry realized that it
is only human nature for a wronged man to wish for and attempt
revenge; but that in the economy of life revenge has no value, serves
no purpose; that it usually only makes a bad situation worse.
A tremendous wrong had been done here, a wrong which showed a
malignant, cunning, patient mind. But as Larry finally saw the matter,
the point for first consideration was not the valueless satisfaction
of making the guilty man suffer, but was to try to restore to the
victims some part of those precious things of which they had been
unconsciously robbed.
And then Larry had what seemed to him an inspiration: his inspiration
being only a sane thought, and what the Duchess, though she had not
pointed the way to him, had thought he would do. Maggie was the
important person in this situation!--Maggie whose life was just
beginning, and whose nature he still believed to be plastic! Not Joe
Ellison or Old Jimmie Carlisle, who had almost lived out their lives
and whose natures were now settled into what they would be until the
end. By playing upon the finer elements in Maggie's character he had
all but succeeded in rousing to dominance that best nature which
existed within her. He would privately tell Maggie the truth, and tell
only her and leave the using of that knowledge to her alone.
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