in his hands, in an agony of conflict.

The tone of the Military Governor's reprimand had left no room for
speculation as to his true intents and purposes. Whatever rebuke had
been administered to him was intended for the Catholic population,
otherwise there was no earthly reason for holding up to reprobation the
conduct of the body governing the republic. The mere fact that the
Governor despised the Congress was an unworthy as well as an
insufficient motive for the base attack.

The humiliated soldier felt incapable of bearing the insult without
murmuring, yet he chose to accept it with perfect resignation and
submission. For a time he had fought against it. But in the church he
felt seized by an invisible force. On a sudden this invisible tension
seemed to dissolve like a gray mist, hovering over a lake, and began to
give place to a solemn and tender sweetness.

"Miserere mei Deus."

He sought refuge in the arms of God, crying aloud to Him for His mercy.
He would give his soul up to prayer and commit his troubled spirit into
the hands of his intercessors before the throne of Heaven.

"Accept my punishments for the soul who is about to be released."

To the souls in Purgatory, then, he poured forth the bitterness of his
heart, offering in their behalf through the intercession of the Virgin
Mary, the cross which had been imposed upon him. The injustice of his
trial which he knew, or thought he knew, had been tempered by the spirit
of intolerance, was brought home to him now in full vigor by the
severity of his reprimand. He did not deserve it, no--he could not force
himself to believe that he did. Still he accepted it generously though
painfully, in behalf of the sufferings of his friends.

He besought them to pray for him, that he might the more worthily endure
his cross. He prayed for his tormentors that they might be not held
culpable for their error. He entrusted himself entirely into the hands
of his departed ones and renewed with a greater fervor his act of
consecration.

"I beseech Thee, O my God, to accept and confirm this offering for Thy
honor and the salvation of my soul. Amen."

He arose from his pew, made a genuflection before the Blessed
Sacrament, pronouncing as he did, "My Lord and My God," crossed himself
with the holy water, and left the church.

IV

In the meantime an event of rare importance had occurred in the garden
of the Shippen home. There, in the recesses of the tulips sheltered