stincts, and perhaps convictions, of what is right and proper; but it
is plain that you allow yourself to be led and influenced by
unprincipled companions. You should avoid even the outskirts of evil.
You may not know that the proposed enterprise is a bad one, but you
should not take part in it unless you know that it is a good one. In
such cases you should be rigid."

The man turned toward my aunt, and looked steadfastly at her, and as he
gazed his face grew sadder and sadder.

"Rigid," he repeated; "that is hard."

"Yes," I remarked, "that is one of the meanings of the word."

Paying no attention to me, he continued:--

"Madam," said he, with a deep pathos in his voice, "no one can be
better aware than I am that I have made many mistakes in the course of
my life; but that quality on which I think I have reason to be satisfied
with myself is my rigidity when I know a thing is wrong. There occurs to
me now an instance in my career which will prove to you what I say.

"I knew a man by the name of Spotkirk, who had invented a liniment for
the cure of boils. He made a great success with his liniment, which he
called Boilene, and at the time I speak of he was a very rich man.

"One day Spotkirk came to me and told me he wanted me to do a piece of
business for him, for which he would pay me twenty-five dollars. I was
glad to hear this, for I was greatly in need of money, and I asked him
what it was he wanted me to do.

"'You know Timothy Barker,' said he. 'Well, Timothy and I have had a
misunderstanding, and I want you to be a referee or umpire between us,
to set things straight.'

"'Very good,' said I, 'and what is the point of difference?'

"'I'll put the whole thing before you.' said he, 'for of course you
must understand it or you can't talk properly to Timothy. Now, you see,
in the manufacture of my Boilene I need a great quantity of good yellow
gravel, and Timothy Barker has got a gravel pit of that kind. Two years
ago I agreed with Timothy that he should furnish me with all the gravel
I should want for one-eighth of one per cent. of the profits on the
Boilene. We didn't sign no papers, for which I am sorry, but that was
the agreement; and now Timothy says that one-eighth of one per cent.
isn't enough. He has gone wild about it, and actually wants ten per
cent., and threatens to sue me if I don't give it to him.'

"'Are you obliged to have gravel? Wouldn't something else do for your
purpose?'

"'There's n