Danny Orlis Goes to School by Bernard Palmer

grade trouble."
    Danny walked along in silence. Here was his opportunity to testify to Eric, to tell him about Jesus who had changed Peggy's life and his own. But he could not—not when Eric very likely knew about the lie he had promised to tell—not when Eric knew the truth about him.
    Someone called to him from a car just then. It was Clarence. Danny felt the color drain from his face as he walked over to the car.
    "I just happened to be in the neighborhood," the government agent said, "so I thought I'd drop in and see you. The last time I was on official business. Now I thought we'd just visit a little."
    Danny walked around the car and got in beside his friend.
    "Believe me, Danny," Clarence said as he pulled away from the curb. "I know how rough it's going to be for you to testify against your own cousin."
    Danny gulped a little and dropped his gaze so that Clarence couldn't see what was written there.
    "I was hoping that we could get by without calling on you to testify," Clarence went on. "But the way things have worked out, it looks as though you're going to be our most important witness."
    Danny said nothing.
    Clarence chatted on aimlessly. Danny sat there, but he wasn't listening. What would his friend think of him when he got up on the witness stand and lied?
    The next morning when Danny came to school, there was a note on his desk asking him to report to Mr. Sterling immediately.
    "I suppose this is it," Danny said to himself as he started toward the General Science room.
    There were only three or four students in the room when Danny went in to see the teacher.
    "I'm afraid I owe you an apology, Danny," Mr. Sterling began softly. "One of the older students was helping me average grades. She made a mistake in yours which made it appear that you weren't doing passing work in General Science, but I find now that you are."
    "You mean I'm not down?" Danny echoed.
    "That's right."
    He turned to go and was halfway to the door when Mr. Sterling called him back.
    "There's one more thing, Danny," the teacher said. "I could have told you about this yesterday, but I noticed that Steve was sitting so you could have a good look at his paper. So I decided to wait and see by your answers whether or not you copied. I just want to tell you that I'm proud of you."
    Danny stood there. In spite of everything tears came to his eyes. Mr. Sterling knew that he was a Christian. He knew about tracts and Peggy and the testifying Danny had done in school. By not cheating when he had the chance, Danny had won the teacher's respect.
    What if he had given in to temptation?
    In that very instant Danny knew that, regardless of what happened, he couldn't go through with his promise to Larry. He couldn't lie to save him from the reformatory!
    "But you can't do that," his cousin exclaimed bitterly when he told him. "You promised!"
    "I know that," Danny said miserably. "I promised something I should never have promised in the first place. It's wrong to break a promise. I know that, and as far as the Lord is concerned, it's as bad as actually doing it. But it's worse to keep a promise that will cause you to commit another sin. That's what I'd be doing, Larry, if I went ahead with my promise to lie for you."
    Danny expected his cousin to get mad and rage at him. But instead he just stood there pitifully. and stared at him. "They'll put me in the reformatory, Danny," he managed hoarsely. "They'll do it now for sure!"

    â€œ O God, I don’t want to cheat.”

Chapter Twenty
    MISSION COMPLETED
    I T had seemed to Danny Orlis that the day for Larry's trial would never come; it seemed that it was all an ugly nightmare and he would awaken to find that it had never happened at all—that it was only a dream. But it wasn't a dream. It was grim, dark, reality.
    Nobody at Uncle Claude's mentioned the trial to the young woodsman or said anything to him about the fact that he had decided to tell the truth when he took the witness stand. In fact,