He tremblingly carries it to his lips, sips and sips;
then, with one gulp, empties the glass. At this moment the pedantic
physician makes his appearance, scents the whiskey, gives a
favourable opinion of its application as a remedy in certain cases.
The prescription is not a bad one. Climate, and such a rusty
constitution as Mr. M'Fadden is blest with, renders a little
stimulant very necessary to keep up the one thing needful-courage!
The patient complains bitterly to the man of pills and powders;
tells a great many things about pains and fears. What a dreadful
thing if the consequence had proved fatal! He further thinks that it
was by the merest act of Providence, in such a desperate affray, he
had not been killed outright. A great many bad visions have haunted
him in his dreams, and he is very desirous of knowing what the man
of salts and senna thinks about the true interpretation of such.
About the time he was dreaming such dreams he was extremely anxious
to know how the spiritual character of slave-holders stood on the
records of heaven, and whether the fact of slave-owning would cause
the insertion of an item in the mortal warrant forming the exception
to a peaceful conclusion with the Father's forgiveness. He felt as
if he would surely die during the night past, and his mind became so
abstracted about what he had done in his life,--what was to come, how
negro property had been treated, how it should be treated,--that,
although he had opinions now and then widely-different, it had left
a problem which would take him all his life-time to solve,--if he
should live ever so long.
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