The wrong done to us had been answered, lawfully, completely, by people whose job it was to answer such things, and once it had been answered there was nothing left for me to do but set it down and walk away from it.

Justice, when it is done properly, frees the wronged from the burden of it; that is half of what justice is actually for, though we forget it, and imagine its whole purpose is the punishment of the guilty rather than the release of the innocent.

I let the law carry Julian and Victoria, and I carried, instead, my son, and my work, and my gratitude, which were lighter and far better company.

I have never once regretted the trade.