“Why not?—­our weapons would bear polishing.”

“Yes; you have a high reputation, Mr. Eden, both for learning and Christian feeling; in fact, the general consideration in which you are held has made us more lenient in this case than we should have been with another man in your office.”

“There you are all wrong.”

“You can’t mean that; make us some return for this feeling.  You know and feel the value of peace and unity?”

“I do.”

“Then be the man to restore them to this place.”

“I will try.”

“The governor and you cannot pull together—­one must go.”

“Clearly.”

“Well, then, no stigma shall rest on you—­you will be allowed to offer us your voluntary resignation.”

“Excuse me, I propose to arrive at peace and unity by another route.”

“But I see no other.”

“If I turn Mr. Hawes out it will come to the same thing, will it not?”

“Mr. Hawes?”

“Mr. Hawes.”

“But you can’t turn him out, sir,” sneered Williams.

“I think I can.”

“He has our confidence and our respect, and shall have our protection.”

“Still I will turn him out with God’s help.”

“This is a defiance, Mr. Eden.”

“You cannot really think me capable of defying three justices of the peace!” said Mr. Eden in a solemn tone, his eyes twinkling.

“Defiance! no,” said Mr. Palmer innocently.

“Well, but, Palmer, his opposition to Mr. Hawes is opposition to us, and is so bitter that it leaves us no alternative.  We must propose to the bench to remove you from your office.”

Mr. Eden bowed.

“And meantime,” put in Mr. Williams, “we shall probably suspend you this very day by our authority.”  Mr. Eden bowed.

“We will not detain you any longer, sir,” said Williams, rather insolently.

“I will but stay to say one word to this gentleman, who has conducted himself with courtesy toward me.  Sir, for your own sake do not enter on this contest with me; it is an unequal one.  A boy has just been murdered in this prison.  I am about to drag his murderer into the light; why hang upon his skirts and compel me to expose you to public horror as his abettor?  There is yet time to disown the fell practices of—­hell!” He looked at his watch.  “There is half an hour.  Do not waste it in acts which our superiors will undo.  See here are the prison rules; a child could understand them.  A child could see that what you call ‘the discipline’ is a pure invention of the present jailer, and contradicts the discipline as by law established, and consequently that Josephs and others have been murdered by this lawless man.  These are the prison rules, are they not? and here are the jailer’s proceedings in the month of January—­compare the two, and separate your honorable name from the contact of this caitiff, whose crimes will gibbet him in the nation’s eyes, and you with him, unless you seize this chance and withdraw your countenance from him.”