Would it help perhaps if I told you that, had your father returned to me alone,...

Would it help perhaps if I told you that, had your father returned to me alone, I would have sent him on his way unharmed?"
"You would!" I said; it was half a shriek. "You mean that I came here for nothing?"
A shadowy movement like the shaking of a great shaggy head. "No. Not what you would count as nothing. He would have returned to you, and you would have been glad, but you also would have been ashamed, because you had sent him, as you thought, to his death. Your shame would have grown until you came to hate the sight of your father, because he reminded you of a deed you hated, and hated yourself for. In time it would have ruined your peace and happiness, and at last your mind and heart.