"Yes, that is so."
"Then what was the good of all your fuss and bothering? It was no use doing so much harm, considering that it served no purpose."
Philippe shook his head:
"It had to be. Certain actions must be performed and they should not be judged by the consequences which accident thrusts upon them, but by those which we expected of them, in all human logic and in all good faith."
"Empty phrases!" she said, obstinately. "You ought not to have done it.... It was a very useless piece of heroism...."
"Don't think that, mother. There was no need to be a hero to act as I did. It was enough to be an honest man. No one with the same clear vision as myself of what might happen would have hesitated any more than I did."
"So you regret nothing?"
He took her hand and, sadly:
"Oh, mother, how can you talk like that, you who know me? How can I be indifferent to all this break-up around me?"