FRIENDS IN COUNCIL.
There was a mournful council held in Mrs. Allen's house on the morning
after Katharine was carried away to prison. Old Mr. Thrasher and his
wife had gone to the widow's residence early in the day, in great
humility, seeking to share her sorrows, and take the burthen of
Katharine's defence upon themselves. In words, they kept the promise
that the poor girl had extorted, and never mentioned their son in
connection with her, but the truth broke out from their innocent bosoms
in every way. It breathed in their voices, and looked kindly forth from
their eyes. They called Mrs. Allen sister, and there was a tenderness in
the words that no common ideas of brotherhood ever possessed. They spoke
of Katharine as the dear child on whom God had laid a heavy hand, but
who had proved as brave as she was innocent.
All this comforted Mrs. Allen. She had great faith in the justice of
God, and would not believe but that the truth must prevail even against
the iron rule of law. She did not hesitate to accept the aid which Mr.
Thrasher offered, and in one hour those three persons who had been so
far apart two days before formed one little community of grief, and
consoled each other like members of one household.
At first the two women had their secret misgivings, and, dear old
cowards as they were, regretted that Katharine had even rendered herself
up to the laws. Flight seemed to them the only sure way of escaping the
horrors that threatened her. But the old man silenced these secret
repinings with his firm Christian faith. His faith in divine goodness
was perfect; believing Katharine innocent, he trusted her to the laws,
certain that in some way her safety would be wrought out. Still he was
not one of those men who indolently resign every thing into divine hands
without individual effort. While ready to trust, he was equally ready to
work for her deliverance in any way that seemed best.
The doctor came while these three persons were consulting together. A
long ride was before him that day, but he scouted all ideas of fatigue,
and left a host of patients to wait while he rode off to the widow
Allen's in pity to her forlorn condition. Under the eccentricities which
marked this man's character was a fund of sterling good sense and shrewd
worldly knowledge, both of which he brought into the general council,
where it was greatly needed, for three more inexperienced and single
hearted creatures than he found in that kitchen seldom existed, even in
New England, before stage-coaches gave way to railroads. Every face in
the little group brightened when the doctor came in with his usual
quaint joviality, which often covered more true benevolence than people
suspected.
"That's right! all in Indian council round the fire. Something to be
done; you're ready to go at it, and I'm here to help. I say, Thrasher,
if you can't save that girl, don't ever dare to pray in the face of
heaven again."
"It must be a greater than I who saves her," answered the old man,
reverently; "but all that an honest man has power to do I am ready for."
"Well, now give me a chair, Mrs. Allen; don't keep me standing, it's bad
policy; I may be a widower some of these days, can't you understand
that!"
Mrs. Allen got up and placed a chair for her old friend, who dropped
into it, deposited his crutches conveniently, and began to rub his hands
before the fire.
"Well, now, to begin at the root of the matter, Thrasher. This thing
wants money."
"I have some in the house and more out at interest. Tell me how to use
it best."
"You're a prime old chap. A church full of such members would be enough
to save the whole country, bad as it is. How much money in all,
brother?"
I am afraid the word brother broke into a slight sarcasm on the doctor's
lips, for he rather disliked these empty titles of endearment, and was
apt to laugh at them a little in ordinary times. This one word had
sprung from his heart in spontaneous warmth, but it was so strange to
the lips that they threw it off irreverently.
Mr. Thrasher named a sum of money larger than any one could have
believed at his command.
"It isn't mine," he said, noticing the look of surprise. "My son brought
home all his profits and savings the last voyage, and told me to put
them out at interest, and always consider them as mine if I wanted
means. I shall use this money now--every cent, if needful for her safety
or support."
"You think the girl innocent, then?" said the doctor.
"Innocent as I am," answered the good old man.
"As a baby," chimed in the mild voice of Mrs. Thrasher.
"As the children of heaven," said Mrs. Allen, standing up, and speaking
with all the authority of conviction.
"And this is why you would not let the poor thing run away?" inquired
the doctor, sharply.
The two women looked at each other guiltily. They had been willing
enough that she should run away. It was the sublime faith of the old
man, appealing to a consciousness of innocence in the girl herself, that
had wrought the noble act of self-abnegation, carried out in Katharine's
return.
As for the kind-hearted women, to them Katharine's safety was the first
thought; it was with heavy hearts that they had seen her return like a
bird to the snare.
"Innocent or guilty she was in the hands of her God," answered the old
man. "It was not for weak man like me to wrest her therefrom."
"Perhaps not; but I shall do my best to put all that stuff out of the
lawyers' heads," answered the doctor, dryly.
The two women sighed heavily. Mrs. Thrasher looked a little shocked, and
was troubled with vague misgivings that no lawyer of less strict
principle would be tolerated by her husband.
"We must try and get a conscientious lawyer, if possible," said the old
man, coloring under the doctor's words.
The doctor took up his crutches, and crossed them angrily before him.
"Look here, my old friend, we must divide this work, I see. You shall
take the church and I'll take the law. You pray night and morning, I'll
work morning and night; and if we don't save that poor child in the end,
why it wont be for want of a suitable division of labor."
Mr. Thrasher yielded to this, for he had the great good sense which
gives to every man a clear insight into his own capacities.
"I never had any thing to do with the law in my life," he said, meekly;
"and for the whole world I wouldn't injure her by meddling with what I
don't understand. If you'll undertake it, doctor, I'll----"
"Be content to play second fiddle--that's exactly what I am up to. Leave
these law matters to me, and if you can do any thing to comfort her--if
your religion can teach the poor thing to be cheerful or patient, my
part wont be the most important after all. Well, now, Mrs. Allen, what
are you good for? Why didn't you go with the girl?"
"I wished it; but they wouldn't let me. The jail was only for those who
commit crimes, the constable said, and I had no right there."
"But you shall have a right, if I have to sin for you," said the doctor,
dashing his crutch on the floor. "This is what you must arrange. Shut up
the house here; take some of Thrasher's money, and go down to New Haven,
take board close by the jail, and I'll answer for it you shall spend
half your time with Katharine. If Thrasher and his wife could go with
you, all the better--plenty of time to convert her in the prison. If the
worst comes to the worst, she'll need you, and you can do more good than
fifty ministers."
"Is it really your advice that I go?" said Mrs. Allen, with painful
eagerness.
"It's my opinion that you should all go; nothing to do in the country at
this time of year. You can comfort one another, and do her a world of
good."
"I'm sure he's right," said Mrs. Thrasher, casting an appealing glance
at her husband. "We might be a great comfort to her. How can we spend
Nelson's money better?"
The old man arose and went out with the doctor, and the two consulted
together some minutes by the gate, then Mr. Thrasher returned.
"There is a thing we have not considered," he said; "these two
strangers. What can be done with them?"
Mrs. Allen went to a cupboard and took from one of the shelves a New
York Journal, dated months back, in which Mrs. Prior's advertisement for
scholars and boarders was conspicuous.
"These people live in my native town," she said; "it's a long time since
I left it; but Paul would be much better off with this good minister
than here with a broken-hearted old woman. My son has forwarded money
for his support. While this trouble hangs over us, I will send the child
to a happier home; as for Jube, he can stay on the place."
Jube heard this, and clasped his great hands with the sudden shock of
her words. What! part from his little master--let the boy go off alone
among strangers! It was more than he could bear. But obedience had been
the first lesson of his life, and though every nerve of his heart
protested, he uttered no complaint. Still, as he went heavily about his
work that day, tears were constantly dropping from his eyes, and once he
approached the window with such creeping humility that she half
relented, and was tempted to let him go with his young charge.
But with a true Connecticut woman, industry is one of the leading
virtues. The idea of a stalwart man passing his life in petting a little
boy, was out of the question. True, it was very painful for her to
separate these two singularly matched friends, but it was not in her
nature to encourage idleness, so Paul's destiny for a time was decided.