Lucy Ellen Guernsey

“ Father Barnaby colored and bit his lip. "You are scarce civil, my son."
"I meant not to be uncivil," said Jack. "So far as you mean kindly, I thank you; but the things you propose have no charms for me at present. I am too near death not to see their true character. As a man would be a fool who should give away the inheritance of a kingdom for the sake of playing the king one day before the eyes of man, so do I hold him a million times a fool who barters his assured hope of a heavenly inheritance for aught this world has to give."
Father Barnaby sat silent for a moment. ”

“ Oh, sister, the way is so easy!"
"Easy! Yes, the way to hell is always easy," said Anne, with bitterness. "It is the other way that is hard. How dare you come bringing your heresies into this room where our mother died? How dare you speak them to me who am the promised bride of Christ? How dare you tell me that all my prayers and penances are worth nothing in God's sight, after all these years that I have striven to earn His favor and love?"
Jack was silent for a moment, startled by Anne's burst of passion so unlike her usual self-restraint. ”

“ It is quite time you should learn that your father's word is not to be disputed. Go and do as I bid you, or it will be the worse for you. There, I meant not to be over-sharp, Anne, but you must learn, my maid, that so long as you are under your father's roof, his word is your law."
"Dear father, do not be sharp with poor Anne," pleaded Jack, when his sister had left the room. "She means no harm, poor girl, only they have taught her at the convent to think nothing is of any account in comparison with church observances; and they are right, for aught I know, if it is as the priests tell us." ”

“ A man must do his duty, be he jailer or mayor; but he need not have a heart as hard as the nether millstone. I judged you and the old man would like to be together, so I clapped you in here; but do not you tell yonder monk so."
"Never fear," said Jack. "I do not love him so well as all that. Again I thank you, Master Davis, and so will my father. Be assured you shall be no loser. Come, we are better than we might be," said he after the man had closed the door. "I am heartily glad we have fallen into such good hands. Shall we awaken our companion? He sleeps soundly." ”

“ From this day forward Jack had a new interest and a new object in life—to find the old Bible. Day by day, he explored every possible hiding-place, turning things upside down in all directions, and rummaging, old Margery declared, worse than a rat or than the goblin which haunted her father's barn. Over and over again, did he take the false bottom out of the little footstool, where the book had once been concealed, and gaze into the empty space, as if he thought he might somehow have overlooked the cumbrous volume, and might perhaps find it by more careful search. ”

“ Fie, never take it to heart, lad! Better luck another time. One failure is no such great matter to break one's heart about. Many a man goes well enough through the world who never learned to know great A from little B."
"But I have not failed, dear father," said John, smiling, and, leaning on his father's broad shoulder, he drew from his breast a gold medal, and held it up before him. "See, I have gained the prize!"
"Gained the prize!" exclaimed the baker, starting. "Not the gold medal, and over the heads of all thy fellows! That can never be, surely!"
"But it is even so," replied Jack. ”

“ Never will I leave you for the sake of becoming a lazy drone, like the monks yonder, or a proud priest like their prior, who rides abroad in such state upon his mule, and grinds the faces of poor men, and robs widows and orphans as he does. I would rather be a shepherd on the hillside all day like my old uncle Thomas, or a sailor like Davy Brent, or a miner underground, than live such a life! ”

“ Jack took his father's hand in his own thin fingers and kissed it. "I should be a wretch indeed, to grieve you, father. You have been father and mother both to me ever since my mother died. I only wish I could do more for you in return."
"Tut, tut, lad! What could any one expect of you more than you have done? Only get well and strong, and never fear but you will do enough. Anne, why do you not see to the lad's chamber, instead of standing there like an image of stone?" ”

“ Mary Brent in her neat widow's weeds was always fit to be seen, and welcomed Sir John with all due humility.
"The dear young gentleman has been much better to-day," said she in answer to his inquiries. "He said he felt as though Master Jack had put new life into him. I hope your worship will see no harm in him," she added somewhat uneasily. "I could do nothing else than take him in when my son brought him home."
"You have done quite right, and I thank you, dame," said Sir John graciously. "If the young man proves, as I think he may, a kinsman of mine, you shall be no loser by your kindness." ”

“ I don't love them too well, but it pities me to think of them turned out all among strangers, and I have told Anne if she has any special friend among them she may ask her to stay with us till she can have time to turn herself."
"You are the very best man in the world, father!" said Jack. "I do believe there never was such another."
"Tut, tut, lad! I trust there are many better in our good town. I will say for Anne, she was very grateful, and thanked me prettily enough, poor child. But you and I have lived to see many changes, Uncle Thomas. ”

“ Jack understood at once the secret of David Brent's refusal to see the priest, and his dying, as his wife said, without the sacraments, yet as peaceful and calm as a babe. He felt, as he looked at the books written out with so much care by a hand evidently unused to holding a pen, like one who comes unexpectedly on the writing of a dear friend long dead; and he vowed that as long as he lived, David Brent's children should never want anything that he could do for them. ”

“ But you yourself are looking purely, Master Lucas, and your voice is like the knight's hunting horn. 'Tis not often I hear any one so plainly."
"Come now, I cannot have you young folks bandying fine speeches," said the shepherd. "Bestir yourself, Margery, and provide refreshment for Master Lucas and his man and for the beasts."
"Don't trouble yourself about the beasts," said Master Lucas. "The fine fresh grass will be a treat to the poor things. I have brought thee some linen and such like, my lad, and Cicely has packed a whole pannier of good things. Bid Simon bring them into the house." ”

“ The reverend fathers cannot be kept waiting."
"As you will," returned Jack. "Master Davis, since it may well be that I see you no more, I thank you for all your courtesies to me, and beseech you to convey these little tokens to my father with my love."
"What are they?" asked Brother Joseph.
"You may see them if you will," Jack was beginning, but the jailer interrupted him—
"What then? I am captain of this jail, I trow, and not you, Master Joseph. Take your prisoner way as quickly as you will, but I will have none of your airs here. Marry come up! You are no such great man. ”

“ No; that is—Jack, do you mean still to persist in your heresy? Do you mean to draw down disgrace and ruin on your father's house, to break his heart and mine, all that you may follow your own wicked and headstrong fancies? Are you so much wiser than all the world? What chance have you had to learn so much more than I, that you are so confident in your own opinion? ”

“ I trust your reverence to let me know if aught else is wanted. You know I esteem it a favor when you call on me."
"Ay, truly, 'tis a favor I do not spare you, Master Lucas," and bestowing his blessing upon the company, he left the shop.
"There is a priest now, worth bowing to!" said the baker. "A true shepherd, and no hireling fleecing the poor sheep to the very bones, ay, eating their flesh and drinking their blood to supply his own greed and luxury. If there were more like him, we should not hear such complaints of the decay of religion, and the spread of heresy. ”

“ With that engine of confession in their hands, the churchmen hold the inmost keys of every man's house and family."
"A plague take the whole of them!" exclaimed Master Lucas.
"A plague is like to take them, and that before long, if all we hear about the breaking up of the religious houses be true," said Jack. "It is because they know how it will take the power out of their hands, that the priests so oppose the spread of the true gospel. But I pray you, father, be kind to Anne, for my sake." ”

“ Michael's," said the baker. "They are not likely to do anything on that day, and we shall have time to think a little. But, Jack, if you have any of these books, I pray you hide or destroy them this very night."
"I will do so," said Jack. "Give me your blessing and your forgiveness, dearest father, before I leave you."
"Forgiveness is none when there has been no fault," said Master Lucas. "From thy cradle to this time, thou hast ever been to me a dutiful and good son. My blessing thou hast and wilt ever have, let this matter end how it will." ”

“ Alas, I know too well!" he added, sinking back again. "That I should ever live to find myself here in Bridgewater jail! And who is this new companion in misery? Surely, it is Master Lucas's son. Alas, young man, what has brought you hither?"
"The fear of God and the love of His Word," said Jack. "But come, sir, arise and eat, that you may be strengthened for the day's trial."
"And what will strength avail?" asked the ship-owner somewhat peevishly. "Can we break out of the dungeon by dint of strength? Or can we bend the hard hearts of our enemies?" ”

“ He was so absorbed as not to mark the passage of time, and he started to his feet and blushed deeply when the stranger gently opened the door and entered the hovel.
"Nay, never blush, my son," said Master Fleming kindly. "No man has cause to blush for being found on his knees. Rather let them be ashamed, who, pretending to be reasonable and immortal beings, live like the poor brutes that perish. But you have risen early."
"I have been up a long time," said Jack. "I could not sleep, and I have been reading in the book you gave us. ”

“ But, father, you would not have me false to my conscience, and traitor to my friends, like the man Arthur told us of?"
"God forbid!" returned his father solemnly. "Better a thousand deaths than that. But we will not anticipate evil," he added. "Some say our gracious prince favors the new gospel."
"I fear there is not much to be expected in that quarter," returned Jack; "but as you say, we will not borrow trouble. I have breathed more freely ever since Father Barnaby went away. I think him a most dangerous man. ”

“ Their road passing by the cottage door, the travellers had stopped for a parting word, and Margery had done her best to insure their good fortune by throwing an old shoe after them.
"A better boy than Master Jack never breathed the breath of life; and as for Master Fleming, he is a godly, quiet gentleman as ever I saw, none of your swearing, ruffling gallants, and knows what belongs to good manners," added Margery, contemplating with much satisfaction the kerchiefs and hood the merchant had bestowed upon her. "Do you not think, Thomas Sprat, that we shall be lonesome without Jack?" ”

“ Sometimes in the evening, or when they were alone on the hillside, Jack would catechise the shepherd, and draw from him accounts of what he had seen in his younger days.
For the old man had not always been a shepherd on the hillside. He had followed his master to foreign wars, and helped to uphold the honor of England on more than one stricken field. He might have ended his days in peace and idleness in the knight's hall corner, for Sir John was a liberal and worthy man, and honored the old retainer of his father; but Thomas had no fancy for an idle life. ”

“ Make the case your own, dear father, and tell me."
Master Lucas turned and looked at his son with tears in his honest blue eyes. "Jack, you are a strange lad for your years. I cannot understand what has made a man of you so suddenly. Even do as you will, and manage the matter your own way, my son. I cannot see what harm can come of it. If the knight should refuse to see his son, the poor young gentleman will at least be prevented from a bootless journey." ”

“ Cicely kissed and hugged him, held him off at arm's length to see how well he looked, and then kissed him again. His father was not one whit behind, and even Anne warmed up for once and was almost genial. Jack thought her looking much worse than when he left home. She was paler and thinner than ever, and her eyes had a frightened, almost a guilty, expression. As soon as he was alone with Cicely, he began to question her about his sister.
"Well, she is much as usual, poor thing," said Cicely. "No great comfort to any one, nor yet to herself, poor dear. ”

“ Jack hesitated a moment, and then came to his sister's side. He felt that he must speak, that to keep silence would be that denial of which Master Fleming had warned him to beware at all hazards.
"Anne, believe me, there is another way, an easy and safe way to mind and spirit, whatever it may be to the body in these evil times," said he. "God is far, far more merciful than you think. All these labors which are wearing out your life are none of His appointing. They are but the cunning devices of men. ”