She earnestly besought him again to leave the Congregation of Salem—­ the greater portion of which had already deserted him and his cause—­ and to return to Plymouth, where a safe and a happy home might yet be afforded to them, and where no persecution for conscience’ sake, need be feared.  But all her arguments and her persuasions were alike ineffectual.  On this one point she found her Roger firm and inflexible—­for on this point he felt that his honor and his conscience were both concerned; and, even for Edith’s sake; he could not act contrary to their dictates.  He knew that danger hung over his head; and, though he would not shrink from it himself, he besought her to seek a temporary refuge with her parents, and remain at Plymouth until the threatened storm had blown over.  But it was now Edith’s turn to show herself firm and decided; and so clearly did Roger perceive that separation would be to her a far greater trial than any other that could befall her in his company, that he forbore to urge a measure that it wrung his own heart to propose.

At length the boding storm began to break over his head.  For all his supposed offences he was again summoned before the General Assembly at Boston; and, in fear and anxiety, Edith saw him depart.  She knew full well that he would never renounce, or even soften down, his opinions, through any fear of man; and she did not, for a moment, desire that he should thus lower himself in her estimation and his own.  But she also knew the bitterness of the enmity felt towards him by the authorities at Boston, and she could not repress her apprehensions of its consequences.

As she anticipated, Roger refused to acknowledge himself guilty of an offence against the church or state; nor would he even yield one point of his religious or political opinions, during a long disputation with the celebrated pastor Hooker.  He was, therefore, declared contumacious by the government:  and, with the assent of all the assembled clergy, except his friend Elliot, he was banished from the territory of Massachusetts.

Six weeks were allowed him by the General Assembly to make his preparations, and remove beyond the boundary of their dominions:  but as this term would have brought the time of his banishment to the winter season, when such a journey would have been impracticable, he was afterwards permitted to remain at Salem until the spring.

With great apparent unconcern he returned to his home, where his fond and admiring wife welcomed him with joy, and strengthened his spirit by the cheerful manner in which she received the news of their sentence of banishment.  She had felt an undefined dread of something much more hard to bear—­of something which might possibly separate her husband from her:  but banishment with him was only a change of home, and, let their lot be cast where it might, she could be happy.  Indeed, she entertained a hope that.  Roger would consent to remove to Plymouth,