"They were your friends?Yes, they were my friends.And they will leave you to suffer alone?Now I see it.And until this, were they friends you could trust?I could trust them.I see what you mean. You mean they were the kind of friends that a good man could choose, upright, hard-working, obeying the law?Tell me, were they such friends?And now they leave you alone?Did you not see it before?I saw it."
Alan Paton was a South African novelist, educator, and anti-apartheid activist. He is best known for the novel Cry, the Beloved Country. He also played a public role in liberal opposition to apartheid-era policy.