"What do you say, Jephson ?" "Well," replied Jephson, taking the pipe from between his lips, and speaking in that soothingly melancholy tone of voice that he never varies, whether telling a joke about a wedding or an anecdote relating to a funeral, "not altogether bad.

Bad, with good instincts, the good instincts well under control." "I wonder why it is," murmured MacShaughnassy reflectively, "that bad people are so much more interesting than good." "I don't think the reason is very difficult to find," answered Jephson.
"There's more uncertainty about them.

They keep you more on the alert.
It's like the difference between riding a well-broken, steady-going hack and a lively young colt with ideas of his own.

The one is comfortable to travel on, but the other provides you with more exercise.

If you start off with a thoroughly good woman for your heroine you give your story away in the first chapter.