'That is rather an awkward question. A lie is a lie.'

'But not,' broke in Madge, vehemently, 'to save anybody whom you
love. Is a contemptible little two-foot measuring-tape to be applied
to such an action as that?'

'The consequences of such a philosophy, though, my dear,' said Mrs
Hopgood, 'are rather serious. The moment you dispense with a fixed
standard, you cannot refuse permission to other people to dispense
with it also.'

'Ah, yes, I know all about that, but I am not going to give up my
instinct for the sake of a rule. Do what you feel to be right, and
let the rule go hang. Somebody, cleverer in logic than we are, will
come along afterwards and find a higher rule which we have obeyed,
and will formulate it concisely.'

'As for my poor self,' said Clara, 'I do not profess to know, without
the rule, what is right and what is not. We are always trying to
transcend the rule by some special pleading, and often in virtue of
some fancied superiority. Generally speaking, the attempt is fatal.'

'Madge,' said Mrs Hopgood, 'your dogmatic decision may have been
interesting, but it prevented the expression of Mr Palmer's opinion.'

Madge bent forward and politely inclined her head to the embarrassed
Frank.

'I do not know what to say. I have never thought much about such
matters. Is not what they call casuistry a science among Roman