"It's so easy to speak about being brave," said Tom; "to talk of dashing amongst cannon and bullets, but to go one way when all the world goes another."
"To stand up for the right when every one else is hunting it down."
"This needs a desperate deal of courage," said Louis.
"It is often difficult even to reprove sin by example," remarked Mr. Presgrave. "I know a young civilian in the Indian service, one of the finest specimens of a pure-minded, noble-hearted man that I ever had the pleasure of meeting with."
"When a boy he had refused to join his schoolfellows in robbing the fruit of their master; and threatened to report their conduct if they persisted in it. When quite a young man, he was invited to the mess-table of a regiment in India, where the conversation after dinner became so improper, that the civilian, feeling it his duty to show his disapprobation, calmly rose from the table and left the place."
"I dare say that the officers jeered at him," said Bella.
"I dare say that they did, but they could not but respect him, and when they met him in future, they were more guarded in their language."
"One of the most distinguished generals in the Indian army," said Mrs. Gore, "who returned to Old England covered with laurels, told me himself that when a very young officer he had fairly run-off from a mess-table, where his comrades were endeavouring to induce him to drink. And it has always seemed to me that that run-off from temptation, when almost a boy, did him as much credit as the proudest of his victories when a man."
"I dare say that it required more courage," observed Willy.
"I wonder," exclaimed Bella, "that even Nesham's heroism could have roused any generous feelings in those horrible Jacobins! Those who could guillotine their own gentle king—" *