nsults offered the 'under dog' because he is helpless
to fight back--he discovers it all, and when all is done he has little
faith in human nature left.

"This experience I had at your hands, to the last ounce. I know the
'friendship' that couldn't 'stand the gaff' of public opinion, the
ingratitude that makes no count of personal sacrifice, the rapacity that
takes it to the border of dishonesty to attain its end. Yet, curiously
enough, after the lapse of years these things shrink into comparative
insignificance beside the uncalled for insolence, unwarranted affronts,
which were offered me by many of you with whom I had not even a speaking
acquaintance.

"My friendlessness aroused no pity in your hearts; I was only an
unresisting target at which to throw a convenient stone. For years I
stood out in the open, as it were, with the storms to whip the life out
of me, and not one of you offered me a cloak.

"Upon any nature this experience would have had its effect--most women,
I think, it would have crushed. In me it developed traits that in other
circumstances might always have lain dormant. Along with a pride that
was tremendous, it aroused a desire for revenge that was savage in its
ferocity. I've lived for some such hour as this--worked, and sacrificed
my happiness for it.

"If it could have been of my own planning I could not have conceived of
a more gratifying situation than this.

"I know how much my decision means to you; I know that there isn't one
here who would not be affected directly or indirectly by the collapse of
this project; that it will take years for you to get back even to the
position you were in when you came, quite as well as I realize that its
completion would put you on your feet."

She stopped again while they waited for her to go on in a silence that
was painful.

"When I've visualized 'The Day' in my waking dreams, I've wondered if I
should weaken and forgive my enemies as they always do in books--if any
argument could move me to relent--if any impulse would soften me toward
you--if I might not even pity you.

"One never knows, but I thought not. And I was right. The desperation of
your situation isn't the sort of pathos that appeals to me. I find that
in my nature there is nothing 'noble' that pleads for you. I neither
pity nor forgive you.

"Yet this moment is a disappointment. Instead of the sweetness of
revenge, I feel only indifference, for I realize as never before how I
magnif