Clara Hopgood

'Probably,' said Madge, 'nobody except his daughter believed he was

not a thief. For her sake he endured the imputation of common

larceny, and was content to leave the world with only a remote chance

that he would ever be justified.'

'I wonder,' said Frank, 'that he did not admit that it was his

daughter who had taken the handkerchief, and excuse her on the ground

of her ailment.' 'He could not do that,' replied Madge. 'The object of his life was

to make as little of the ailment as possible. What would have been

the effect on her if she had been made aware of its fearful

consequences? Furthermore, would he have been believed? And then--

awful thought, the child might have suspected him of attempting to

shield himself at her expense! Do you think you could be capable of

such sacrifice, Mr Palmer?' Frank hesitated. 'It would--'

'The question is not fair, Madge,' said Mrs Hopgood, interrupting

him. 'You are asking for a decision when all the materials to make

up a decision are not present. It is wrong to question ourselves in

cold blood as to what we should do in a great strait; for the

emergency brings the insight and the power necessary to deal with it.

I often fear lest, if such-and-such a trial were to befall me, I

should miserably fail. So I should, furnished as I now am, but not

as I should be under stress of the trial.'

'What is the use,' said Clara, 'of speculating whether we can, or

cannot, do this or that? It IS now an interesting subject for

discussion whether the lie was a sin.'

'No,' said Madge, 'a thousand times no.'

'Brief and decisive. Well, Mr Palmer, what do you say?'

'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.'