THE CITY                 633

  GEORGE. The only excuse I have, if you can

call it an excuse, is that I didn't realize what I

was doing! I did what others I had been

taught to respect, to pattern on, did before me,

-what others were doing around me! I ac-

cepted cheating for business diplomacy. I ex-

plained lying as the commercial code! I looked

on stealing as legitimate borrowing! But I was

a grown man, and in possession of my senses,

and I had no real excuse! Eleanor, I've been a

business "crook," in a big way, perhaps, but

still a "crook," and I'm not good enough for

you!                                 [A pause.

  ELEANOR. What are you going to do

  GEORGE. Give up all the positions I haven't

any right to fill. Pay back interest I hadn't

any right to get, and money I hadn't any right

to use! Give up principal I gained on somebody