He chose to hold himself to the law, to fairness, to the letter of every contract, precisely because he could have done otherwise.

His restraint was not weakness or mercy.

It was the truest expression of his strength, and the sharpest possible rebuke to Victoria’s entire understanding of what strength was.

She had used her small power to humiliate a blind woman.

He used his enormous power to refuse to break a single rule.

Between those two uses of power lies the whole distance between the Caldwells and the Whitmores, and it has nothing at all to do with money.

Chapter 9 — The Notices