But after the tempest cometh peace. And the eyes of Faith beholds through the mists and the darkness the sunshine of a calmer time, the peace and the rest of a fair country, and a free one. God grant more wisdom to the great commonwealth of this nation, those whose wills are spoken out by their ballots, to the makers and the doers of law. But I am a eppisodin’, and to resoom, and continue on. Felix and Hester, by some good chance, or by the grace of God, had not been obliged yet to leave their pretty home, so they worked on, tryin’ to be so peaceable and friendly that no fault could be found with them. Col. Seybert’s attention when he wuz at Seybert Court wuz very annoyin’ to Hester, but she dared not tell Felix, fearin’ that he would avenge himself on the Colonel, and bloodshed would result. So she tried to be very careful. She had an old negro woman stay with her; she took in work all she could at home, and when she went out to work she wuz prudent and watchful, and, fortunately for her peace of mind, the Colonel made short stays at his home—he found more potent attractions elsewhere. So stood matters when Felix wuz appointed Justice of the Peace at Eden Centre. He wuz honestly appointed and honestly elected. Victor had always declined any office, and had Felix taken his advice he would also have refused the office. But perhaps Felix had some ambition. And maybe he had some curiosity to see what honesty and a pure purpose could accomplish in political matters, to see what such a marvellous thing could amount to. Anyway, he accepted the nomination and received the office. And the night after he wuz elected he and Hester talked the matter over with some pardonable pride as they sot in the door of their pretty little parlor in the warm moonlight. The creepin’ vines on the trellis cast pleasant shadows of leaf and blossom down over their heads and on the pretty carpet at their feet. This carpet Hester had bought with her own money and wuz proud of. The moonlight lay there warm and bright, weavin’ its magic tapestry of rose leaf and swingin’ vine tendrils long after they wuz asleep in their little white-draped room near by. Baby Ned lay fast asleep, with a smile on his moist, flushed face, in his love-guarded cradle near them. The little boy did not dream of anything less sweet and peaceful than his mother’s good-night kiss that had been his last wakin’ remembrance. But about midnight other shadows, black and terrible ones, trod out and defaced the swayin’, tremblin’ rose images and silvery moonlight on the floor. Tall men in black masks, a rough, brutal gang, surrounded the place and crashed in the door of the little cottage. Amongst the foremost wuz Nick Burley, a low, brutal fellow, one of Col. Seybert’s overseers and boon companions. He had wanted the office, and his friends greatly desired it for him, thinkin’ no doubt it would prove many times a great convenience to them.