Читать книгу Dangerous Dilemmas: Startling but True онлайн

10 страница из 41

"And the daughter you saved; she became your wife?"

"Not so, alas! When I went back for her she had disappeared."

"Is that all, Baron?"

"Not quite. The banker was grateful; I was made a partner in the firm and received the other daughter in marriage."

"You do come out of difficulties with flying colours. It would I suppose have made a great difference to you if you had saved the young lady instead of her father?"

"Immense; that was the turning point of my life; the poor girl who perished was betrothed to her cousin, so you see she could not have rewarded me with her hand."

"Lucky Baron!"

"It is true fortune has not been unkind to me, but I believe some such accidents occur to everyone and that they make or mar the future."

These striking narratives made a lasting impression on me, and first put into my head the thought that a collection of such dilemmas would not be uninteresting. Much experience of men and cities has forced me to the same conclusion as the Baron—viz., that at various periods of his life man holds his destiny, so to speak, in the hollow of his hand, and by his conduct at these critical moments his future prosperity or adversity is assured. The proofs of this theory are now before you. When my last witness has spoken I hope you—the jury—will at least admit that I have not been negligent in hunting up my evidence.