"
"I do; so would others, if he were not vindictive, if he did not use his
great financial strength against us."
"I don't think he does this, certainly not to my knowledge. He only seeks
to make all he can, like other business men."
"Mr. Houghton, you haven't been very much in Charleston. Even your
vacations have been spent mainly elsewhere, I think, and your mind has
been occupied with your studies and athletics. You are more familiar with
Greek and Roman history than with ours, and you cannot understand the
feelings of persons like Captain Bodine and his cousin, old Mrs. Bodine,
who passed through the agony of the war, and lost nearly
everything--kindred, property, and what they deem liberty. You cannot
understand your own father, who lost his son. You think of the present and
future."
Houghton again sighed deeply as he said: "I admit the force of all you
say. I certainly cannot feel as they do, nor perhaps understand them."
Then he added: "I wouldn't if I could. Why should I tie the millstone of
the past about my neck?"
"You should not do so; but you must make allowance for those to whom that
past is more than the present or future can be."
"Why can't they forgive and forget, as far as possible, as you do?"
"Because people are differently constituted. Besides, young man, I am not
old enough to be your grandmother. I was very young at the time of the
war, and have not suffered as have others.
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