The Squire stopped and faced his son. "That's a very foolish thing to say," he said with a frown. "A man of principle doesn't act dishonourably on the spur of the moment. Doesn't honour count for anything with you?"
Humphrey walked on, and the Squire walked with him.
"I say you don't know what you'd do if an unexpected temptation came. You don't know how strong your principles are till they are tried."
"They are tried. They are always being tried, in little ways. A man leads an upright life, as far as in him lies, and if a big question comes up, he's ready for it."
"It depends on how much he is tried," said Humphrey. "I say you never know."
CHAPTER VI
THE YOUNG BIRDS
"It's a horrid thing for a young girl to have to go through."
John Spence fitted two walnuts together in the palms of his big hands and cracked them with a sudden tightening of the muscles. His good-humoured ruddy face was solicitous. "I think they ought to have kept her out of it," he said.