“Mr. Brice,” said the Judge, at length, “take off your coat, sir I will go her bond.”

It was Stephen’s turn to be taken aback.  He stood regarding the Judge curiously, wondering what manner of man he was.  He did not know that this question had puzzled many before him.

“Thank you, sir,” he said.

His hand was on the knob of the door, when Mr. Whipple called him back abruptly.  His voice had lost some of its gruffness.

“What were your father’s ideas about slavery, Mr. Brice?”

The young man thought a moment, as if seeking to be exact.

“I suppose he would have put slavery among the necessary evils, sir,” he said, at length.  “But he never could bear to have the liberator mentioned in his presence.  He was not at all in sympathy with Phillips, or Parker, or Summer.  And such was the general feeling among his friends.”

“Then,” said the Judge, “contrary to popular opinion in the West and South, Boston is not all Abolition.”

Stephen smiled.

“The conservative classes are not at all Abolitionists, sir.”

“The conservative classes!” growled the Judge, “the conservative classes!  I am tired of hearing about the conservative classes.  Why not come out with it, sir, and say the moneyed classes, who would rather see souls held in bondage than risk their worldly goods in an attempt to liberate them?”

Stephen flushed.  It was not at all clear to him then how he was to get along with Judge Whipple.  But he kept his temper.

“I am sure that you do them an injustice, sir,” he said, with more feeling them he had yet shown.  “I am not speaking of the rich alone, and I think that if you knew Boston you would not say that the conservative class there is wholly composed of wealthy people.  Many of may father’s friends were by no means wealthy.  And I know that if he had been poor he would have held the same views.”

Stephen did not mark the quick look of approval which Colonel Carvel gave him.  Judge Whipple merely rubbed his nose.

“Well, sir,” he said, “what were his views, then?”

“My father regarded slaves as property, sir.  And conservative people” (Stephen stuck to the word) “respect property the world over.  My father’s argument was this:  If men are deprived by violence of one kind of property which they hold under the law, all other kinds of property will be endangered.  The result will be anarchy.  Furthermore, he recognized that the economic conditions in the South make slavery necessary to prosperity.  And he regarded the covenant made between the states of the two sections as sacred.”

There was a brief silence, during which the uncompromising expression of the Judge did not change.

“And do you, sir?” he demanded.

“I am not sure, sir, after what I saw yesterday.  I—­I must have time to see more of it.”

“Good Lord,” said Colonel Carvel, “if the conservative people of the North act this way when they see a slave sale, what will the Abolitionists do?  Whipple,” he added slowly, but with conviction, “this means war.”