human
Yes, a woman's fate is involved in it.
gpt
Your wife's?
human
No, not my wife's.
gpt
In that case, said Almer slowly,
human
You guess aright--a man's honour is concerned.
gpt
Yours?
human
Mine.
gpt
To men suspicious of each other--as most men naturally are, and generally with reason--such a turn in our conversation, and indeed the entire conversation in which we have indulged, might be twisted to fatal disadvantage. In the way of conjecture I mean--as to what is the essence of the secret which I do not reveal to my dearest friend, and the essence of that which my dearest friend does not reveal to me. It is fortunate, Christian, that you and I stand higher than most. We have rarely hesitated to speak heart to heart and soul to soul; and if, by some strange course of events, there has arisen in each of our inner lives a mystery which we have decided not to reveal, it will not weaken the feeling of affection we entertain for each other. Is that so, Christian?
human
Yes, it is so, Edward.
gpt
Men of action, of deep thought, of strong passion, of sensitive natures, are less their own masters than peasants who take no part in the turmoil of the world. An uneventful life presents fewer temptations, and there is therefore more freedom in it. We live in an atmosphere of wine, and often miss our way. Well, we must be indulgent to each other, and be sometimes ready to say, 'The position of difficulty into which you have been thrust, the error you have committed, the sin--yes, even the sin--of which you have been guilty, may have fallen to my lot had I been placed in similar circumstances. It is not I who will be the first to condemn you.'
human
Even, said Almer,
gpt
Yes, even in that case. I should be taking a narrow view of an argument if I applied to all the world what I hesitated to apply to myself.
human
So that the committal of a great wrong may be justified by circumstances?
gpt
Yes, I will go as far as that. The fault of the child or the fault of the man, is but a question of degree. Some err deliberately, some are hurried into error by passions which master them.
human
By natural passions?
gpt
All such passions are natural, although it is the fashion to condemn them when they clash with the conditions of social life. The workings of the moral and sympathetic affections are beyond our own control.
human
Of those who have erred with deliberate intention and those who have been hurried blindly into error, which should you be most ready to forgive?
gpt
The latter, replied the Advocate, conscious that in his answer he was condemning himself;
human
You pause, said Almer, a sudden thrill agitating his veins.
gpt
Why?
human
I thought I heard a sound--like a suppressed laugh! Did you not hear it?
gpt
No. I heard nothing.