"Why?"
"Because the means of rising that you propose to yourself I do not believe to be just."
"It's the custom in our profession, and he who neglects to fall into it, will be apt to remain in status quo."
"I must still doubt that. Had I chosen law for a profession, instead of medicine, I would have tried the honest course."
"And remained a poor devil of a lawyer all your life," said Dunbar, a little rudely. The plain words of his old friend had touched him a little, indifferently as he treated them.
"As to the result, I never think of that," returned Hudson. "I ask myself, 'Is it right?' and trustfully await the issue. I feel that I have talents, and I believe that if we possess ability and use it faithfully for the good of others, we shall have our reward,—if in nothing else, an approving conscience."
Dunbar tossed his head with a slight air of contempt, as he said—
"How soon do you expect your profession, conducted on your principles, to give you an income of two thousand dollars a year?"
"I don't know that it ever will."
"And can you be content with that, or less than that?"