yet in investigating their finances he had learnt so much about them both : stella with her determination to always do what she thought was right , and this often leaving others in difficult situations ; and as for charlie well , grey wasnt sure the man could have saved himself from destitution without stellas help and all this for the man she had once battled across the floor of the council chamber , and who as chief advocate for the new estate she so opposed must have seemed to her no less than the destroyer of her town .