Beyond my gift for pleading and a retentive memory, I
have no real talents for a successful legal career. You look at me
with those thoughtful, tender gray eyes of yours. Ah, Lucy, you are so
much wiser than I, wise with the brooding, mystical wisdom of the
Canyon in the starlight. You have intimated to me several times that
law was not my end. You are right, as usual. Law has its face forever
turned backward. It is searching always for precedent rather than
justice. A man who is going into politics should be ever facing the
future. He should use the past only in helping him to avoid mistakes
in going forward. And, perhaps I am wrong. I am willing to admit that
my unfortunate boyhood may have made me over inclined to brood, but it
seems to me very difficult to stick to the law, make money, and be
morally honest, in the best sense. If I clear Bill Jones, who is, as I
know, ethically as guilty as Satan, though legally within his rights,
can I face you as a man who is steel true and blade straight? I hope I
get that appointment! I was tired to-night, Lucy, but this little talk
with you has rested me, as usual."
"March 29.--I have the appointment, Lucy. This is the beginning of my
political career--the beginning of the end of Minetta Lane.
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