“You seem thoughtful, Woods,” said the captain, while his son had retired to his own room, in order to assume a disguise less likely to attract attention in the garrison than a hunting-shirt.  “Is it this unexpected visit of Bob’s that furnishes food for reflection?”

“Not so much his visit, my dear Willoughby, as the news he brings us.  God knows what will befall the church, should this rebellion make serious head.  The country is in a dreadful way, already, on the subject of religion; but it will be far worse if these ‘canters’ get the upper hand of the government.”

The captain was silent and thoughtful for a moment; then he laughingly replied—­

“Fear nothing for the church, chaplain.  It is of God, and will outlast a hundred political revolutions.”

“I don’t know that, Willoughby—­I don’t know that”—­The chaplain did not exactly mean what he said—­“’Twouldn’t surprise me if we had ‘taking up collections,’ ‘sitting under preaching,’ ’providentially happening,’ ‘exercised in mind,’ and ‘our Zion’ finding their way into dictionaries.”

“Quite likely, Woods”—­returned the captain, smiling—­“Liberty is known to produce great changes in things; why not in language?”

“Liberty, indeed!  Yes; ‘liberty in prayer’ is another of their phrases.  Well, captain Willoughby, if this rebellion should succeed, we may give up all hopes for the church.  What sort of government shall we have, do you imagine, sir?”

“Republican, of course,” answered the captain, again becoming thoughtful, as his mind reverted to the important results that were really dependent on the present state of things.  “Republican—­it can be no other.  These colonies have always had a strong bias in that direction, and they want the elements necessary to a monarchy.  New York has a landed gentry, it is true; and so has Maryland, and Virginia, and the Carolinas; but they are not strong enough to set up a political aristocracy, or to prop a throne; and then this gentry will probably be much weakened by the struggle.  Half the principal families are known to be with the crown, as it is; and new men will force them out of place, in a revolution.  No, Woods, if this revolution prosper, the monarchy is done in America, for at least a century.”

“And the prayers for the king and royal family—­what will become of them?”

“I should think they must cease, also.  I question if a people will continue long to pray for authorities that they refuse to obey.”

“I shall stick to the rubrics as long as I have a tongue in my head.  I trust, Willoughby, you will not stop these prayers, in your settlement?”

“It is the last mode in which I should choose to show hostility.  Still, you must allow it is a little too much to ask a congregation to pray that the king shall overcome his enemies, when they are among those very enemies?  The question presents a dilemma.”