Garret sprang up as Arthur entered the bare but not unwholesome room where he was confined.  He had grown very thin with the long strain of flight, imprisonment, and hardship that had been his portion of late.  He greeted Arthur eagerly, his eyes aglow, and on hearing somewhat of his errand he broke out into rapid and excited speech.

“Tell Dalaber that the time is not ripe—­that it lingers yet.  I have been warned of God in a dream.  My hour has not yet come.  There is work yet for me to do, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!  Yes; you need not shrink from me as from a blasphemer.  I hold that every man must follow in the steps of the Lord, and drink of His cup, and be baptized with His baptism.  But He waited for His hour.  He hid Himself and fled and conveyed Himself away.  He paid tribute to kings and rulers.  He submitted Himself to earthly parents, earthly potentates.  And shall we not do likewise?  I would lay down my life in His service, and He knows it.  But something within me tells me that my work is not yet done.  And the church is yet holy, though she has in part corrupted herself.  If she will but cleanse herself from her abominations, then will we work in her and not against her.  Even the cardinal has spoken of the purifying which must be accomplished.  Yes, he has used good and godly words, and I will wait and hope and trust.  The Lord would be served by one body, of which He is the Head.  He wants one, and not many.  Let us have patience.  Let us wait.  Let us watch and pray.  And if we have to submit ourselves to painful humiliation in this life, let us fix our eyes upon the crown of glory which is laid up for us in the heavens, and which fadeth not away.”

Arthur was convinced of the truth of what Dr. Higdon had spoken, and saw that Garret’s mind was made up to do what was required of him.  The young man was glad enough that this should be the case; but he felt a certain contempt for the facile disposition of the man, who, after spending years of his life and running innumerable perils in the circulation of these books, could in a few weeks consent to become a participant in the ceremony of solemnly burning them, in acknowledgment that they were dangerous and evil in their tendencies.  Far greater was his admiration for Clarke, who, in obedience to the vows he had taken, would have no hand in distributing the forbidden volumes, yet in the hour of trial and peril refused to take part in the ceremony which would be regarded by the spectators and by the world at large as an admission that the Word of God was not for the people, and that he, as a teacher and preacher, had spoken unadvisedly with his lips in expounding the living Word to his hearers.

With his mind full of these things Arthur found his way to the prison, and was conducted to Dalaber’s cell, which was more closely guarded than at first.  The young man, who had been prostrated by fever at the first, had recovered in a measure now, but looked very gaunt and wan and haggard; and he seized Arthur’s hands, and wrung them closely in his, whilst tears of emotion stood in his eyes.