“That’s needless,” said Caleb, waving his hand, bowing his head slightly, and not swerving from the tone which had in it the merciful intention to spare this pitiable man. “What he has said to me will never pass from my lips, unless something now unknown forces it from me. If you led a harmful life for gain, and kept others out of their rights by deceit, to get the more for yourself, I dare say you repent⁠—you would like to go back, and can’t: that must be a bitter thing”⁠—Caleb paused a moment and shook his head⁠—“it is not for me to make your life harder to you.”

“But you do⁠—you do make it harder to me,” said Bulstrode constrained into a genuine, pleading cry. “You make it harder to me by turning your back on me.”