As not an hour was to be lost, on account of the time necessary
for the healing of the operations, he would either have to despatch
Bagley's business very quickly or neglect it altogether. In the latter
case, what about the money in his hands? The sum was nearly equal to
that which Bagley had morally defrauded him of.
"This coincidence, coming at that moment, seemed like the work of fate.
Bagley was to be absent from town a week, and Murray Davenport was about
to undergo a metamorphosis that would make detection impossible. It
really appeared as though destiny had gone in for an act of poetic
justice; had deliberately planned a restitution; had determined to
befriend the new man as it had afflicted the old. For the new man would
have to begin existence with a very small cash balance, unless he
accepted this donation from chance. If there were any wrong in accepting
it, that wrong would not be the new man's; it would be the bygone Murray
Davenport's; but Murray Davenport was morally entitled to that much--and
more--of Bagley's money. To be sure, there was the question of breach of
trust; but Bagley's conduct had been a breach of friendship and common
humanity. Bagley's act had despoiled Davenport's life of a hundred times
more than this sum now represented to Bagley.
"Well, Davenport was pondering this on his way home from Bagley's rooms,
when he met Larcher. Partly a kind feeling toward a friend he was about
to lose with the rest of his old life, partly a thought of submitting the
question of this possible restitution to a less interested mind, made him
invite Larcher to his room.
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