Marguerite’s slap was a provocation, and the provocation had a purpose, whether she consciously knew it or not.

It was an invitation to a fight she could win.

On the ground of physical violence, an elderly woman with a bruise to photograph beats a wealthy younger woman every time, in the court of law and the court of public sympathy alike.

She was inviting me onto that ground because it was the only ground on which she had any chance at all.

And the whole of my victory consisted in refusing the invitation — in declining to fight her where she was strong, and instead fighting her where I was strong, which was not in the foyer with my hands but in the contract with my lawyer.

This is not passivity.