This and the following incident show the play of social reaction upon
conduct. For the approbation of a friendly, trusting man, who showed
that he believed Oldham to be a boy of honor, Oldham cheerfully did his
task honestly and well; to old John, distrustful and discourteous,
Oldham responded with the trickery he invited. Oldham should have been
more deeply grounded in principles of honesty, of course; he should have
been indifferent to a childish, ill, old man’s acidity. But Oldham was
very human in the personality of his attitude; the world abounds in
people like him.