The word Czar appeared to awaken Lethierry. He interrupted Dr. Hérode.
“I want nothing to do with the Czar.”
The Reverend Jaquemin Hérode replied:
“Mess Lethierry, princes are recognised by God. It is written, ‘Render unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar’s.’ The Czar is Cæsar.”
Lethierry partly relapsed into his dream and muttered:
“Cæsar? who is Cæsar? I don’t know.”
The Rev. Jaquemin Hérode continued his exhortations. He did not press the question of Sheffield.
To contemn a Cæsar was republicanism. He could understand a man being a republican. In that case he could turn his thoughts towards a republic. Mess Lethierry might repair his fortune in the United States, even better than in England. If he desired to invest what remained to him at great profit, he had only to take shares in the great company for developing the resources of Texas, which employed more than twenty thousand negroes.
“I want nothing to do with slavery,” said Lethierry.
“Slavery,” replied the Reverend Hérode, “is an institution recognised by Scripture. It is written, ‘If a man smite his slave, he shall not be punished, for he is his money.’”