fight everything that comes near you, because you
can't see and you think it's an enemy. No, you wouldn't have been
jealous if you'd been I and I'd been you."

"And you're NOT?" The Rat's sharp voice was almost hollow. "You'll
swear you're not?"

"I'm not," said Marco.

The Rat's excitement even increased a shade as he poured forth his
confession.

"I was afraid," he said. "I've been afraid every day since I came
here. I'll tell you straight out. It seemed just natural that you and
Lazarus wouldn't stand me, just as I wouldn't have stood you. It
seemed just natural that you'd work together to throw me out. I knew
how I should have worked myself. Marco--I said I'd tell you straight
out--I'm jealous of you. I'm jealous of Lazarus. It makes me wild
when I see you both knowing all about him, and fit and ready to do
anything he wants done. I'm not ready and I'm not fit."

"You'd do anything he wanted done, whether you were fit and ready or
not," said Marco. "He knows that."

"Does he? Do you think he does?" cried The Rat. "I wish he'd try me.
I wish he would."

Marco turned over on his bed and rose up on his elbow so that he faced
The Rat on his sofa.

"Let us WAIT," he said in a whisper. "Let us WAIT."

There was a pause, and then The Rat whispered also.

"For what?"

"For him to find out that we're fit to be tried. Don't you see what
fools we should be if we spent our time in being jealous, either of us.
We're only two boys. Suppose he saw we were only two silly fools.
When you are jealous of me or of Lazarus, just go and sit down in a
still place and think of HIM. Don't think about yourself or about us.
He's so quiet that to think about him makes you quiet yourself. When
things go wrong or when I'm lonely, he's taught me to sit down and make
myself think of things I like--pictures, books, monuments, splendid
places. It pushes the other things out and sets your mind going
properly. He doesn't know I nearly always think of him. He's the best
thought himself. You try it. You're not really jealous. You only
THINK you are. You'll find that out if you always stop yourself in
time. Any one can be such a fool if he lets himself. And he can always
stop it if he makes up his mind. I'm not jealous. You must let that
thought alone. You're not jealous yourself. Kick that thought into
the street."

The Rat caught his breath and threw his arms up over his eyes. "Oh,
Lord! Oh, Lord!" he sai