Blue Peter was resolved to abide
the stroke of wrong, and not resist the powers that were, believing
them in some true sense, which he found it hard to understand when
he thought of the factor as the individual instance, ordained of
God. He had a dim perception too that it was better that one, that
one he, should suffer, than that order should be destroyed and law
defied. Suffering, he might still in patience possess his soul,
and all be well with him; but what would become of the country if
everyone wronged were to take the law into his own hands? Thousands
more would be wronged by the lawless in a week than by unjust powers
in a year. But the young men were determined to pursue their plan
of resistance, and those of the older and soberer who saw the
uselessness of it, gave themselves little trouble to change the
minds of the rest.
Peter, although he knew they were not for peace, neither inquired
what their purpose might be, nor allowed any conjecture or suspicion
concerning it to influence him in his preparations for departure.
Not that he had found a new home. Indeed he had not heartily set
about searching for one; in part because, unconsciously to himself
he was buoyed up by the hope he read so clear in the face of his
more trusting wife--that Malcolm would come to deliver them.
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