“Brethren,” said the bishop, “this is, after all, possible that our brother has, by the mercy and providence of God, through his casual meeting with this remorseless man, been made the instrument of our safety.  As for myself, I am willing to embrace the crown of martyrdom, and to lay down my life, if necessary, for the faith that is in me.  You all know what I have already suffered, and you know that persecution drives a wise man mad.  My children,” he added, “it is possible, and I fear too probable, that some of us may never see each other in this life again; but at the same time, let it be our hope and consolation that we shall meet in a better.  And for this purpose, and in order to secure futurity of happiness, let us lead spotless and irreproachable lives, such as will enable ur to meet the hour of death, whether it comes by the hand of God or the persecution of man.  Be faithful to the principles of our holy religion—­be faithful to truth—­to moral virtue—­be faithful to God, before whose awful tribunal we must all appear, and render an account of our lives.  It would be mere wantonness to throw yourselves into the hands of our persecutors.  Reserve yourselves; for the continuance and the sustainment of our blessed religion; but if you should happen to fall, by the snares and devices of the enemy, into the power of those who are striving to work our extermination, and if they should press you to renounce your faith, upon the alternative of banishment or death, then, I say, banishment, or death itself, sooner than become apostates to your religion.  I shall retire to a neighborhood only a few miles distant from this, where the poor Catholic population are without spiritual aid or consolation.  I have been there before, and I know their wants, and were it not that I was hunted and pursued with a view to my death—­to my murder, I should rather say—­I would have remained with them still.  But that I considered it a duty to that portion of the Church over which God called upon me to preside and watch, I would not have avoided those inhuman traffickers in the blood of God’s people.  Yet I am bound to say that, from the clergymen of the Established Church, and from many Protestant magistrates, we have received kindness, sympathy, and shelter.  Their doors, their hearths, and their hearts have been open to us, and that, too, in a truly Christian spirit.  Let us, then, render them good for good; let us pray for their conversion, and that they may return to the right path.”

“They have acted generously and nobly,” added Reilly, “and in a truly Christian spirit.  Were it not for the shelter and protection which I myself received from one of them, my mangled body would probably be huddled down into some obscure grave, as a felon, and my property—­which is mine only by a necessary fiction and evasion of the law—­have passed into the hands of Sir Robert Whitecraft.  I am wrong, however, in saying that it could.  Mr. Hastings, a generous and liberal Protestant, took it in his own name for my father, but gave me a deed of assignment, placing it as securely in my hands, and in my power, as if I were Sir Robert Whitecraft himself; and I must add—­which I do with pleasure—­that the deed in question is now in the possession of the Rev. Mr. Brown, the amiable rector of the parish.”