Page:The Fruit of the Tree (Wharton 1907).djvu/444

Rh originality, his verbal audacities and ironies, Mr. Langhope was the creature of accepted forms, inherited opinions: he had never really thought for himself on any of the pressing problems of life.

But Amherst was different. Close contact with many forms of wretchedness had freed him from the bondage of accepted opinion. He looked at life through no eyes but his own; and what he saw, he confessed to seeing. He never tried to evade the consequences of his discoveries.

Justine’s remembrance ﬂew back to their ﬁrst meeting at Hanaford, when his conﬁdence in his own powers was still unshaken, his trust in others unimpaired. And, gradually, she began to relive each detail of their talk at Dillon’s bedside—her ﬁrst impression of him, as he walked down the ward; the ﬁrst sound of his voice; her surprised sense of his authority; her almost involuntary submission to his will.… Then her thoughts passed on to their walk home from the hospital—she recalled his sober yet unsparing summary of the situation at Westmore, and the note of insight with which he touched on the hardships of the workers.… Then, word by word, their talk about Dillon came back.… Amherst’s indignation and pity … his shudder of revolt at the man’s doom.

“In your work, don’t you ever feel tempted to set a poor devil free?” And then, after her conventional [ 428 ]