"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. My system says that your pipe and, perhaps your book, are bad--sinful. I have nothing to do with it. I only obey and draw my salary." "Oh, well," said Harry, soothingly, "there is the old Doctor's remedy. It's probably better on the whole." "I tried that the other day," Dan growled. "Worked, didn't it?" Dan grinned in spite of himself. "At first the effects seemed to be very beneficial, but later I found that it was, er--somewhat irritating, and that it slightly aggravated the complaint." The doctor was smiling now. "Suppose you try a little physical exercise occasionally--working in the garden or--" Dan threw up his hands with a tragic gesture. "Suicide!" he almost shouted. Then they both lay back in their chairs and fairly howled with laughter. "Whew! That does a fellow good!" gasped Dan. "I guess we have arrived," said Harry, with a final chuckle. "Thought we were way off the track once or twice; but I have located your liver trouble, all right. When did they call?" "This afternoon. Did you know?" The doctor nodded. "I have been expecting it for several days. I guess you were about the only person in Corinth who wasn't." "Why didn't you tell me?" "If I can avoid it, I never tell a patient of a coming operation until it's time to operate; then it's all over before they can get nervous." Dan shuddered--the laugh was all out of him now. "I have certainly been on the table this afternoon," he said. "I need to talk it out with someone. That's what I came to you for." "Perhaps you had better tell me the particulars," said Harry, quietly. So Dan told him, and when he had finished they had both grown very serious. "I was afraid of this, Dan," said Harry. "You'll need to be very careful--very careful."