Part 40 (1/2)
Grace placed chairs. The two visitors seated themselves near the table.
Doctor Herode commenced a discourse. It had reached his ears that a serious misfortune had befallen his host. The Durande had been lost. He came as Lethierry's pastor to offer condolence and advice. This s.h.i.+pwreck was unfortunate, and yet not without compensations. Let us examine our own hearts. Are we not puffed up with prosperity? The waters of felicity are dangerous. Troubles must be submitted to cheerfully. The ways of Providence are mysterious. Mess Lethierry was ruined, perhaps.
But riches were a danger. You may have false friends; poverty will disperse them, and leave you alone. The Durande was reported to have brought a revenue of one thousand pounds sterling per annum. It was more than enough for the wise. Let us fly from temptations; put not our faith in gold; bow the head to losses and neglect. Isolation is full of good fruits. It was in solitude that Ajah discovered the warm springs while leading the a.s.ses of his father Zibeon. Let us not rebel against the inscrutable decrees of Providence. The holy man Job, after his misery, had put faith in riches. Who can say that the loss of the Durande may not have its advantages even of a temporal kind. He, for instance, Doctor Jaquemin Herode had invested some money in an excellent enterprise, now in progress at Sheffield. If Mess Lethierry, with the wealth which might still remain to him, should choose to embark in the same affair, he might transfer his capital to that town. It was an extensive manufactory of arms for the supply of the Czar, now engaged in repressing insurrection in Poland. There was a good prospect of obtaining three hundred per cent. profit.
The word Czar appeared to awaken Lethierry. He interrupted Dr. Herode.
”I want nothing to do with the Czar.”
The Reverend Jaquemin Herode replied:
”Mess Lethierry, princes are recognised by G.o.d. It is written, 'Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's.' The Czar is Caesar.”
Lethierry partly relapsed into his dream and muttered:
”Caesar? who is Caesar? I don't know.”
The Rev. Jaquemin Herode continued his exhortations. He did not press the question of Sheffield.
To contemn a Caesar 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 Herode, ”is an inst.i.tution recognised by Scripture. It is written, 'If a man smite his slave, he shall not be punished, for he is his money.'”
Grace and Douce at the door of the room listened in a sort of ecstacy to the words of the Reverend Doctor.
The doctor continued. He was, all things considered, as we have said, a worthy man; and whatever his differences, personal or connected with caste, with Mess Lethierry, he had come very sincerely to offer him that spiritual and even temporal aid which he, Doctor Jaquemin Herode, dispensed.
If Mess Lethierry's fortune had been diminished to that point that he was unable to take a beneficial part in any speculation, Russian or American, why should he not obtain some government appointment suited to him? There were many very respectable places open to him, and the reverend gentleman was ready to recommend him. The office of Deputy-Vicomte was just vacant. Mess Lethierry was popular and respected, and the Reverend Jaquemin Herode, Dean of Guernsey and Surrogate of the Bishop, would make an effort to obtain for Mess Lethierry this post. The Deputy-Vicomte is an important officer. He is present as the representative of His Majesty at the holding of the Sessions, at the debates of the _Cohue_, and at executions of justice.
Lethierry fixed his eye upon Doctor Herode.
”I don't like hanging,” he said.
Doctor Herode, who, up to this point, had p.r.o.nounced his words with the same intonation, had now a fit of severity; his tone became slightly changed.
”Mess Lethierry, the pain of death is of divine ordination. G.o.d has placed the sword in the hands of governors. It is written, 'An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.'”
The Reverend Ebenezer imperceptibly drew his chair nearer to the Reverend Doctor and said, so as to be heard only by him:
”What this man says, is dictated to him.”
”By whom? By what?” demanded the Reverend Jaquemin Herode, in the same tone.
The young man replied in a whisper, ”By his conscience.”
The Reverend Jaquemin Herode felt in his pocket, drew out a thick little bound volume with clasps, and said aloud:
”Conscience is here.”