On that formula Bob Hewett was brooding;
in the hours of this Saturday evening he exerted his mind more
strenuously than ever before in the course of his life. And to a
foregone result. Here is a man with no moral convictions, with no
conscious relations to society save those which are hostile, with no
personal affections; at the same time, vaguely aware of certain
faculties in himself for which life affords no scope and encouraged
in various kinds of conceit by the crass stupidity of all with whom
he associates. It is suggested to him all at once that there is a
very easy way of improving his circumstances, and that by exercise
of a certain craft with which he is perfectly familiar; only, the
method happens to be criminal. 'Men who do this kind of thing are
constantly being caught and severely punished. Yes; men of a certain
kind; not Robert Hewett. Robert Hewett is altogether an exceptional
being; he is head and shoulders above the men with whom he mixes; he
is clever, he is remarkably good-looking. If anyone in this world,
of a truth Robert Hewett may reckon on impunity when he sets his
wits against the law. Why, his arrest and punishment is an
altogether inconceivable thing; he never in his life had a charge
brought against him.
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