The Protector replied calmly--"To the pardon for himself, I say, ay; to

the other conditions, no. Once spoken is enough. My words are for

eternity, young man; it is much that I pardon even him. Go to--what

hinders that I blow not his nest into the sky? what care I for the

vultures of his eyrie!

"But the doves, your Highness,--the doves that shelter there!"

"Look ye, sir ambassador," returned Cromwell, "were I to twine a wreath

of gunpowder round his nest, think ye he would suffer his child to

perish, whatever fate in desperation he might award himself?"

"My Lord, he can look the sun in the face at noon-day; he could weigh

with an unquailing eye the bullet that brought him death--he is a man of

unspeakable firmness."

"Granted," said the Protector; "but I am a father--so is he; you are

not, or you would feel that, were the female a vulture, not a dove,

still he could not peril her life. She is his child. I forget, while I

now speak, that which I am; for I could not speak thus if I remembered

it. I send you to Dalton, to tell him, that in humble, most humble,

imitation of the blessed God, whose unworthy servant I am, I say that

'though,' in the eyes of the world, 'his sins be as scarlet, they shall

be as wool;' they shall be blotted from my memory, and I will stretch

forth my right hand to save and not to punish; so much as regards

himself, I will not hint at his misdeeds, provided that----" he stopped

abruptly, and fixed his eye upon the timepiece that was set over the

chimney--a huge heavy iron machine, that one would fancy even Time found

it difficult to deal with. "You see the hour--the hand is on the stroke

of nine: provided that, before that same hand rests upon the single

figure which heralds in the morning, the Preacher, the Jewess, himself

and his daughter are within this room--provided they are here I will

seal his pardon: he shall go forth, or remain, a free subject of the

Commonwealth. And more than this, my soldiers sleep till midnight, so

that men, all men may travel in safety,--in safety by land, I mean;

for if the slightest attempt be made to rid the harbour of the

pestilential vessel, whose crew keep such careful, or rather such

prudent, watch upon her deck, if that the night were dark as blackness

itself, there are eyes that see, and hands that avenge! The ship must

not remain unpunished; of her, justice shall have its due. Your

Buccaneer should think of this, and bless the God that has made us

merciful."




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