Men are as bad
as ever, and wrong--the wrong which deprived me of my right in
society--has been as active and prevailing a principle of human action
as before he died. It is in his name now that they do the wrong, and in
his name, since his death, they have contrived to find a sanction for
all manner of crime. Speak no more of this, Ellen; you know nothing
about it. It is all folly."
"To you, Guy, it may be. To the wise all things are foolish. But to the
humble heart there is a truth, even in what are thought follies, which
brings us the best of teachings. That is no folly which keeps down, in
the even posture of humility, the spirit which circumstances would only
bind and crush in every effort to rise. That is no folly which prepares
us for reverses, and fortifies us against change and vicissitude. That
is no folly which takes away the sting from affliction--which has kept
me, Guy, as once before you said, from driving a knife into your heart,
while it lay beating against the one to which yours had brought all
manner of affliction.
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