THE FAITHFUL HELPMATE. " My Lord," she said, bravely, " I make bold to come to you again, to know what may be done with my husband ?" " Woman," replied the Judge, " I told thee before I could do thee no good, because they have taken that for a conviction which thy husband spoke at the sessions, and unless there be something done to undo that, I can do thee no good." " My Lord," she pleaded, " he is kept unlawfully in prison ; they clapped him up there before there were any proclamations against the meetings. The indictment, also, is false ; besides, they never asked him whether he was guilty or no ; neither did he confess the indictment." As she spoke, one of the justices who stood by said, " My Lord, he was lawfully convicted." " It is false," rejoined Mrs. Bunyan, " for when they said to him, ` Do you confess the indictment ?' he said on this, that he had been at several meetings, both where there were preaching the Word and prayer, and that they had God's presence among them." " What !" ejaculated Judge Twisden, very an- grily, " do you think we can do what we list ? Your husband is a breaker of the peace, and is convicted by law." Of this Judge Hale seemed to have some doubts, for he called for the statute-book, in order to ascer- tain the fact, while Elizabeth said to him, " But, my Lord, he was not lawfully convicted." 23
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