“I came in answer to your letter, sir. The Bill is at a great crisis, and my father’s vote on the right side is needed. And I was glad to come, if I can do good in any way.”
“Oh, yes, sir, there are things to do, and words to say that I cannot do or say—and the need is urgent.”
“Then let us go forward. I was shocked by the village as I passed through it. I did not meet a single man. I saw only a few sickly looking women, and some piteous children.”
“The men have gone somewhere four days ago. I suppose they were called by their society. They did not tell me where they were going and I thought it was better not to ask any questions. The women are all sick and despairing, the children suffer all they can bear and live. That is one phase of the trouble; but there is another coming that I thought you would like to be made acquainted with.”
“Not the cholera, I hope? It has reached London, you know, and the doctors are paralyzed by their ignorance of its nature and can find no remedy for it.”
“Our people think it a judgment of God. I am told it broke out in Bristol while the city was burning and outrages of all kinds rampant.”
“You know, sir, that Bristol is one of our largest seaports. It is more likely to have been brought here by some traveler from a strange country. I heard a medical man who has been in India with our troops say that it was a common sickness in the West Indies.”
“It was never seen nor heard of in England before. Now it is going up the east coast of Britain as far north as the Shetland Isles. These coast people are nearly all fishermen, very good, pious men, and they positively declare that they saw a gigantic figure of a woman, shadowy and gray, with a face of malignant vengeance, passing through the land.”
“God has sent such messengers many times—ministers of His Vengeance. His Word is full of such instances.”
“But a woman with a malignant face! Oh, no!”