“‘I see, I see; but don’t let me be whipped with the cat-o’-nine-tails.’
“‘That I will not, for I am a hearty sailor. If any one is whipped it shall be me. I wanted to show you how the human heart feels.’
“Mr. Legality left the ship as fast as his legs would carry him, and somehow that story sometimes rises before me like a parable. I think I shall follow my heart with this new case that comes off to-morrow.”
“Do, do,” said the children, all five; and the mother, lovely Faith Trumbull, said, “Yes, Jonathan, do.”
“And now,” said the Governor, “let us read together the most beautiful chapter, as I mind, in all the Epistles.”
The snow fell gently without; the fire cracked, and they read together the chapter containing “Charity suffereth long, and is kind.”
“Beareth all things, endureth all things,” read little John. Then tears filled his eyes, and he said:
“Father, I love you.”
But there was another side to the love and loyalty of this sheltered town in the cedars. There were Tories here, and they did not like the patriarchal Governor. You must meet some of them, if it does change the atmosphere of the narrative.