"
"And you?" Dan was smiling now.
The answer came through a cloud of smoke. "Just a pipe and a book."
Dan's smile vanished. "I fear your treatment would not agree with my
constitution," he said grimly. "My system does not permit me to use the
remedy you prescribe."
"Oh, I see. You mean the pipe." A puff of smoke punctuated the remark.
The physician was watching his friend's face now, and the fun was gone
from his voice as he said gravely, "Pardon me. Brother Matthews; I meant
no slur upon your personal conviction touching--"
"Brother Matthews!" interrupted Dan, sharply, "I thought we had agreed to
drop all that. It's bad enough to be dodged and shunned by every man in
town without your rubbing it in. As for my personal convictions, they
have nothing to do with the case. In fact, my system does not permit me
to have personal convictions."
Dr. Harry's eyes twinkled. "This system of yours seems to be in a bad
way, Dan. What's wrong with it?"
"Wrong with it! Wrong with my system? Man alive, don't you know this is
heresy! How can there be anything wrong with my system? Doesn't it
relieve me of any responsibility in the matter of right and wrong?
Doesn't it take from me all such burdens as personal convictions. Doesn't
it fix my standard of goodness, and then doesn't it make goodness my
profession? You, poor drudge; you and the rest of the merely humans must
be good as a matter of sentiment! Thanks to my system my goodness is a
matter of business; I am paid for being good.
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