“Humph! Well?”
“Before he decided to take the terrible risk of capturing Bessie and carrying her away as his prisoner, he must have made up his mind that all outlawry, save that one act upon which his mind was resolved, must be a thing of the past.”
“Perhaps so. Who knows?”
“I think I know. I think I am putting myself in the place of that man. ‘Put yourself in his place’ is a pretty good maxim, when you wish to get at the real inwardness of an act committed by another.”
“I believe that. Go on, please.”
“When he got away with the Shadow and resolved to capture Bessie, he figuratively took the bit in his teeth.”
“I should say he did.”
“But you must not forget that he could not place himself in a worse position than that in which he already found himself, so far as his future and his desires were concerned. In short, old man, he has thought it all over with great calmness, and, as calmly, he has selected—Bessie, or death.”
“By Jove, Nick!”