ly and inevitably," said Obed, solemnly. "All others
are idle beside this one." He dropped abruptly the half gasconading
manner in which he had been indulging, and, in a low voice, added,
"In real earnest, Windham, there is one thing in America which is,
every year, every month, every day, forcing on a war from which there
can be no escape; a war which will convulse the republic and endanger
its existence; yes, Sir, a war which will deluge the land with blood
from one end to the other."

His solemn tone, his change of manner, and his intense earnestness,
impressed Windham most deeply. He felt that there was some deep
meaning in the language of Obed Chute, and that under his careless
words there was a gloomy foreboding of some future calamity to his
loved country.

"This is a fearful prospect," said he, "to one who loves his country.
What is it that you fear?"

"One thing," said Obed--"one thing, and one only---slavery! It is
this that has divided the republic and made of our country two
nations, which already stand apart, but are every day drawing nearer
to that time when a frightful struggle for the mastery will be
inevitable. The South and the North must end their differences by a
fight; and that fight will be the greatest that has been seen for
some generations. There is no help for it. It must come. There are
many in our country who are trying to postpone the evil day, but it
is to no purpose. The time will come when it can be postponed no
longer. Then the war must come, and it will be the slave States
against the free."

"I never before heard an American acknowledge the possibility of such
a thing," said Windham, "though in Europe there are many who have
anticipated this."

"Many Americans feel it and fear it," said Obed, with unchanged
solemnity; "but they do not dare to put their feelings or their fears
in words. One may fear that his father, his mother, his wife, or his
child, may die; but to put such a fear in words is heart-breaking. So
we, who have this fear, brood over it in secret, and in every
shifting scene of our national life we look fearfully for those
coming events which cast their shadows before. The events which we
watch with the deepest anxiety are the Presidential elections. Every
four years now brings a crisis; and in one of these the long
antagonism between North and South will end in war. But I hate to
speak of this. What were we talking of? Of Lombardy and the Italian
war. What do you