There was a sharp and shrewd
intelligence in the eye of the latter speaker which showed that some
considerations of selfish and worldly wisdom might, by possibility,
mingle with his unerring notions of duty. Yet was he a man of great
piety and worth, and well fitted as a counsellor in times of peril and
distress.
"Ralph Bradshaw," replied the other, "thou hast been my tried friend and
my stay in this waste and howling wilderness, and I have found thy
counsel hitherto wholesome and pleasant; but," continued Marsh, with a
heavy sigh, "I have not told thee how Sir Roger Barton's servants have
made diligent search for me in Bolton, and have given strict charge to
my brother Robert that he should, by to-morrow at the latest, appear
with me at Smethells, else shall he and my poor mother answer before him
at their peril. By God's grace, I would not leave these weaklings of the
flock to suffer for my sake."
"Leave this matter until thou depart; I will devise some means for their
relief. I would not have thy life needlessly put in hazard, seeing how
few men have been raised up like unto thyself, privileged as thou art to
minister the bread of life to the hungry and famishing poor in this
barren corner of God's spiritual vineyard.
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