lars replied. "I
hoped you were a hundred miles away. I was never sorry to have your
company till now! How does it happen?"

Penn made him sit down again, giving him Stackridge's coat for a
cushion, and related briefly his adventures.

"It is very singular," said the old man, thoughtfully. "It seems almost
providential that you are here."

"I think it is so," said Penn. "I think I am here because I may be of
service to you."

"Ah!" replied the old man, with a tender smile, "my life is of but
little value compared with yours. I am a worn-out servant; my day of
usefulness is past; I am ready to go home. I do not speak repiningly,"
he added. "If I can serve my country or my God by suffering--if nothing
remains for me but that--then I will cheerfully suffer. Our heavenly
Father orders all things; and I am content. All will be well with us, if
we are obedient children; all will yet be well with our poor country, if
it is true to itself and to Him."

"O, do not say thy day of usefulness is past, as long as thou canst
speak such words!" said Penn, deeply moved.

"Thank God, I have faith! Even in this darkest hour of my life and of my
country, I think I have more faith than ever. And I have love, too--love
even for those violent men who have thrown us into this dungeon. They
know not what they do. They act in ignorance and passion. They seek to
destroy our dear old government; but they will only destroy what they
are striving so madly to build up."

"Yes," said one of the prisoners, "the institution will be ruined by
those very men! They are worse than the abolitionists themselves; and I
hate 'em worse!"

"Hate their errors, Captain Grudd, hate their crimes, but hate no man,"
Mr. Villars softly replied.

"And you would have us submit to them?"

"Submit, when you can do no better. But even for their sakes, even for
the love of them, my friend, resist their crimes when you can. No man
will stand by and see a maniac murder his wife and children. It will be
better for the poor maddened wretch himself to prevent him; don't you
think so, Penn?"

"I do," said Penn, who knew that the argument was meant for himself, not
for the rest. "I am thoroughly convinced. You were always right on that
subject; and I was always wrong."

"I perceive," said the old man, "that you have had experience. It is not
I that have convinced you; it is the logic of events."

One by one, the prisoners from above followed Penn down the dismal
s