Reuben rubbed his forehead, and answered sullenly, like one about to be
convinced against his will: "Oh, I know what you mean, well enough, for that matter."
"Then you must know, Reuben, why it is that the wicked are suffered to
live so long on this earth! People often wonder at the mysterious ways
of Providence, when they see a good man prematurely cut off and a wicked
man left alive! Why, it isn't mysterious at all to me! The good man was
ready to go, and the Lord took him; the bad man was left to his chance
of repentance. Reuben, the Lord, who is the most of all offended by sin,
spares the sinner a long time to afford him opportunity for repentance!
If he wanted to punish the sinner with death in this world, he could
strike the sinner dead! But he doesn't do it, and shall we dare to? No!
we must bow in humble submission to his awful words--' Vengeance is
mine!'"
"Hannah, you may be right; I dare say you are; yes, I'll speak plain--I
know you are! but it's hard to put up with such! I feel baffled and
disappointed, and ready to cry! A man feels ashamed to set down quiet
under such mortification!"
"Then I'll give you a cure for that! It is the remembrance of the Divine
Man and the dignified patience with which he bore the insults of the
rabble crowd upon his day of trial! You know what those insults were,
and how he bore them! Bow down before his majestic meekness, and pay him
the homage of obedience to his command of returning good for evil!"
"You're right, Hannah!" said Gray, with a great struggle, in which he
conquered his own spirit. "You're altogether right, my girl! So you
needn't tell me the name of the wrong-doer! And, indeed, you'd better
not; for the temptation to punish him might be too great for my
strength, as soon as I am out of your sight and in his!"
"Why, Reuben, my lad, I could not tell you if I were inclined to do so.
I am sworn to secrecy!"
"Sworn to secrecy! that's queer too! Who swore you?"
"Poor Nora, who died forgiving all her enemies and at peace with all the
world!"
"With him too?"
"With him most of all! And now, Reuben, I want you to listen to me. I
met your ideas of vengeance and argued them upon your own ground, for
the sake of convincing you that vengeance is wrong even under the
greatest possible provocation, such as you believed that we had all had.
But, Reuben, you are much mistaken! We have had no provocation!" said
Hannah gravely.