“There. Don’t thank me, but attend to what I say. Driscoll, that negro is a poor laboring man like you. He has as good a right to his freedom as you have. When you joined those men to keep him in that boat, you were guilty of a great sin. Never do such a thing again! You say you are grateful to me. Then be kind to negroes for my sake. Be kind to them for your own sake. You are a poor man, and you ought to be kind to the poor.”
Driscoll looked abashed and touched. Perhaps the words moved him less than the solemn and gentle voice which uttered them.
“Sorra the harm I’ll ever work wan o’ thim, sir,” he murmured. “Deed, I didn’t know it was a sin.”
“And now, Driscoll,” pursued Harrington, “I have reasons for wishing this matter kept secret, and I want you to swear to me that you will never speak of this to any person whatever. Never tell anybody that you were in that boat—that Mr. Atkins hired you—or that you came here and told me. Never speak of this at all in any way.”
“I’ll swear it, sur. Deed I will.”
Harrington turned to his shelves, and took down a Douai Bible, its covers blazoned with a golden cross.
“Driscoll,” said he, “you are a Catholic. Here is the Catholic Bible. It is opposed to slavery. There have been great men of your church who hated slavery. The Pope himself has cursed slavery. See, here is the cross of your church on the cover. Take this book in your hands, and swear that you will never speak to any person, man or woman, of what you have done, of what passed between Mr. Atkins and you, of what has passed between us here. Swear it.”
Driscoll reverently received the Bible in his hands, took the oath, and kissed the cross.
“That is all,” said Harrington, receiving the Bible, and restoring it to its place. “I am very grateful to you for having told me of this, Driscoll. You have done me the greatest good that any man could do me.”
Driscoll stood in silence, awed and wonder-stricken at what had passed, and subdued by the majestic gentleness of Harrington’s demeanor. In a moment he took the gold piece from the table, and moved to the door.