"I think Charles was a very bad boy."
"Not so much worse than many others, perhaps, as you may suppose. You judge of the boy's conduct by the consequences of it. If he had been successful in his trout-fishing, and no accident had happened to his mother, you would not have thought half as much of his guilt in acting contrary to his mother's wishes."
"Certainly not."
"But the boy would have been just as bad, for all that."
"I can't see how, father."
"Why, the boy, when he was thinking what he would do about going on that fishing excursion, could not have foreseen all that would happen if he went. Do you think he could?"
"No, sir, not all, I suppose. But I am sure he was a very bad boy, whether he knew what would happen or not."
"Yes, no doubt. But I want you to see exactly where his guilt lay. It was simply in his not yielding to his mother's wish, when she so kindly left him at liberty to do as he chose; especially as he knew she was ill, and needed his assistance."
"Charley deserved a good whipping."
"Well, he was punished severely."