MR. VOYSEY. Well?
EDWARD. [_summing it all up very simply._] It's not right.
MR. VOYSEY _considers his son for a moment with a pitying shake of the
head_.
MR. VOYSEY. Oh . . why is it so hard for a man to see clearly beyond the
letter of the law! Will you consider a moment, Edward, the position in
which I found myself? Was I to see my father ruined and disgraced
without lifting a finger to help him? . . not to mention the interest of
the clients. I paid back to the man who would have lost most by my
father's mistakes every penny of his money. He never knew the danger
he'd been in . . never passed an uneasy moment about it. It was I who
lay awake. I have now somewhere a letter from that man to my father
thanking him effusively for the way in which he'd conducted some matter.
It comforted my poor father. Well, Edward, I stepped outside the letter
of the law to do that. Was that right or wrong?
EDWARD. In its result, sir, right.
MR. VOYSEY. Judge me by the result. I took the risk of failure . . I
should have suffered. I could have kept clear of the danger if I'd
liked.
EDWARD. But that's all past. The thing that concerns me is what you are
doing now.
MR. VOYSEY. [_gently reproachful now._] My boy, you must trust me a
little. It's all very well for you to come in at the end of the day and
criticise. But I who have done the day's work know how that work had to
be done. And here's our firm, prosperous, respected and without a stain
on its honour. That's the main point, isn't it? And I think that
achievement should earn me the right to be trusted a little . .
shouldn't it?
EDWARD. [_quite irresponsive to this pathetic appeal._] Look here, sir,
I'm dismissing from my mind all prejudice about speaking the truth . .
acting upon one's instructions, behaving as any honest firm of
solicitors must behave . .
MR. VOYSEY. You need not, I tell no unnecessary lies. If a man of any
business ability gives me definite instructions about his property, I
follow them.
EDWARD. Father, no unnecessary lies!
MR. VOYSEY. Well, my friend, go and tell Mrs. Murberry that four hundred
and twenty pounds of her income hasn't for the last eight years come
from the place she thinks it's come from and see how happy you'll make
her.
EDWARD. But is that four hundred and twenty a year as safe to come to
her as it was before you meddled with the capital?