--"I know him of old, Arthur, and you'll
find him out some day. There isn't such a reasonable fellow in the
world, to hear him talk. He never wants anything but what's right
and fair; only when you come to settle what's right and fair, it's
everything that he wants, and nothing that you want. And that's his idea
of a compromise. Give me the Brown compromise when I'm on his side."
"Now, Harry," said Tom, "no more chaff. I'm serious. Look here. This is
what makes my blood tingle." And he turned over the pages of his Bible
and read, "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego answered and said to the
king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this
matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from
the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O
king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve
thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up." He read
the last verse twice, emphasizing the nots, and dwelling on them as if
they gave him actual pleasure, and were hard to part with.
They were silent a minute, and then Arthur said, "Yes, that's a glorious
story, but it don't prove your point, Tom, I think. There are times when
there is only one way, and that the highest, and then the men are found
to stand in the breach."
"There's always a highest way, and it's always the right one," said Tom.
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