"Can't say that it is. My idea is that when I take my rights and keep them, I'm as big as any one."
"Quite so; as big as any one—who takes his rights and keeps them. That's very true."
Ashley stopped, one hand behind him, the other supporting him as he leaned on the desk. "And that's what I propose to do," he said, aggressively.
"It's a very high ideal."
"I propose to accept the status quo without asking any more questions."
"I should think that would be a very good plan. A wise man—one of the wisest—wrote, apropos of well-disposed people who were seeking a standard of conduct: 'Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.' I should think you'd have every reason for that kind of self-approval."
"Do you mean that, sir? or are you—trying it on?"
"I'm certainly not trying it on. The man who takes his rights and keeps them can be amply justified. If there's a counsel of perfection that goes beyond that standard—well, it isn't given to all men to receive it."
"Then you think it isn't given to me. You'd put me down as a good sort of chap who comes in second best."
"What makes you think I should do that?"