"Of course you do, my dear fellow, and you can. But something has put strength into you! That's what I need."
"Well, let me put it into you! Lean on me. I can't bear to leave you here and see you go down! Come, brace up. Make an effort. Decide. Tear yourself away!"
"You actually make my heart flutter, Davy; I feel as if I would really like to do it. But I can't. It's no use. I shouldn't get across the ferry before I'd begin to hang back."
"But you don't belong to this life. You are above it, naturally. You ought to be a force for good in the world. Society needs such men as you are, and needs them badly. Come! If I can break these meshes you can."
"No, my dear fellow, that's a non-sequitur. There is different blood flowing in our veins, and we have had a different environment and education. As far back as I know anything about them, my people have all lived on the surface of life, and I have floated along with them. But, by heavens—I have at least seen down into the depths!"
"Well, I have my inheritance of bad blood also. I had a father who was not only weak but wicked."
"Yes, but think of your mother."
"Mantel, you are carrying this too far. A man is something more than the mere chemical product of his ancestor's blood and brains! Every one has a new and original endowment of his own. He must live and act for himself."
"Maybe so, but everything seems, at least, to be a fixed and inevitable consequence of what has gone before. I don't want to disparage this last act of yours, but see how far back its roots reach into the past. See what a chain of events led up to it, and what frightful causes have been operating to bring you up to the sticking point! How long ago was it that you were just as ready to throw up the game?"
"Horrible! Don't speak of it! It makes me tremble. I am not worthy to defend or even advocate a life of endeavor and victory, Mantel, and I will not try; but I know that I am right."