“The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away,” he quoted earnestly. “Life is God’s gift and should be treasured as such. You may not return it until He calls, unless you would doubt His wisdom.”
Kalin nodded his head thoughtfully.
“Men have gone to certain death for those they love and been glorified for so doing,” he argued.
“A man may give his own life to save the life of another and be a hero,” returned Benson, “but he may not take his own life for any cause and be aught but a coward.”
“What matters it whether he takes it or gives it, so long as the purpose is the same?” asked Kalin.
Benson gripped the arm on which his hand lay and shook Kalin.
“Wake up!” he commanded sharply. “What’s the matter with you to-day?”
Kalin roused himself, as if from a dream, and laughed in a forced, dreary way.
“Nothing is the matter with me,” he replied. “I must have been reading something that gave my thoughts a morbid turn. Still, your reasoning seems to be that of a man who never has been tested. Your view has been my view, but I can see how a man’s views may change when he is confronted by the actual conditions concerning which he has previously only theorized. I don’t think you’re right.”
“It’s a disagreeable subject, even for abstract consideration,” asserted Benson. “Let’s drop it.”