There are a great many Gabriels.

They are, in some ways, more dangerous than the Christians, because there are so many more of them, and because the Christians of the world can only do what they do when surrounded by Gabriels who see it and stay quiet.

I did not forgive him, because his silence had a price and I had paid it.

But I also came to understand that his late, imperfect courage was worth more than the pure inaction of everyone who never spoke at all — that a coward who finally acts is still, in the moment of acting, doing the thing the brave do, and that a justice system which refuses the help of the formerly silent will get very little help indeed.

So I let him be useful.