So he held himself under no obligation to be guided by
their moral dictums. He was critical of accepted standards because he
had observed that an act might be within the law and still outrage
humanity; it might be legally sanctioned and socially approved and
spread intolerable misery in its wake. Contrariwise, he could conceive
a thing beyond the law being meritorious in itself. With the Persian
tent-maker, Hollister had begun to see that "A hair, perhaps, divides
the false and true."
There was no falsity in his love, in his aching desire to lay hold of
happiness out of the muddle of his life, to bestow happiness if he
could upon a woman who like himself had suffered misfortune. Within
him there was the instinct to clutch firmly this chance which lay at
hand. For Hollister the question was not, "Is this thing right or
wrong in the eyes of the world?" but "Is it right for her and for me?"
And always he got the one answer, the answer with which lovers have
justified themselves ever since love became something more than the
mere breeding instinct of animals.
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