We were all silent and very grave, and I thought that Thorndyke seemed
somewhat moved. Perhaps Mr. Jellicoe's last intent look--which I suspect
he knew to be the look of a dying man--lingered in his memory as it did
in mine. Half-way down Chancery Lane he spoke for the first time; and
then it was only to ejaculate, "Poor devil!"
Jervis took him up. "He was a consummate villain, Thorndyke."
"Hardly that," was the reply. "I should rather say that he was
non-moral. He acted without malice and without scruple or remorse. His
conduct exhibited a passionless expediency which was rather dreadful
because utterly unhuman. But he was a strong man--a courageous,
self-contained man, and I had been better pleased if it could have been
ordained that some other hand than mine should let the axe fall."
Thorndyke's compunction may appear strange and inconsistent, but yet his
feeling was also my own. Great as were the misery and suffering that
this inscrutable man had brought into the lives of those I loved, I
forgave him; and in his downfall forgot the callous relentlessness with
which he had pursued his evil purpose.
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