the doctor were going to live cannot be any reason for my not doing it
when I believe that he is likely to die! I am not called upon to do
wrong simply because I see that I am not wholly unselfish in doing
right. I am not asked to face a supposition, but a fact. I shall not
pride myself on any righteousness that I do not possess; but I must not
be kept from doing my duty because I am not a perfect man."

"You are right," said Mantel, but his assent seemed more like a
concession than a conviction. He had grown to regard the passing
panorama of life as a great spectacular exhibition. The actors seemed
swayed by powers external to themselves, their movements exhibiting
such gross inconsistencies as to make it impossible to predict, and
almost impossible to guess them. He looked on with more curiosity than
interest, as at the different combinations in a kaleidoscope. He could
not conceive that David, or any one, could so come under the dominant
influence of a conviction as to act coherently and consistently upon it
through any or all emergencies. But he was kind and sympathetic, and his
heart responded to the passionate earnestness of his friend with a new
interest and pleasure.




CHAPTER XXIX.

AS A TALE THAT IS TOLD


"First our pleasures die--and then
Our hopes and then our fears--and when