"I think not, but I am what is just as bad, perhaps—terribly unforgiving."
"Even your beloved Stevenson was not too meek," he reminded her. "Do you remember his essay 'Ordered South'?"
She nodded.
"If I am quoting correctly, he says in speaking of a man's duties: 'He, as a living man, has some to help, some to love, some to correct; it may be, some to punish.' And," he was speaking to himself now rather than to her, "the spirit of retaliation is strong within me."
She answered, "They've been very unjust to you, but I did not think you'd noticed."
He laughed aloud.
"To me? Do you think I'd trouble myself for anything they might say or do to me?"
Her eyes widened—
"You don't mean because of——"
"You? Exactly. Aren't we friends—the best of friends—Essie Tisdale?"