Benny and the Bank Robber

by Mary C. Findley

Chapter Twelve: The Power of Persuasion

  "Are you Benjamin Richardson?" The man was driving in the shiniest carriage Ben had seen in a long time. He wore a fine black suit and his hair was very sleek and black. Benny had noticed him as soon as he came out of the school in Osage. The man brought his carriage up alongside Benny and stepped down.

  "Yes, Sir," Benny replied.

  "I am James, Mr. Horace Richardson's driver. He sent me to bring you to him at his hotel."

  "Who, sir?"

  "Mr. Richardson, your grandfather."

  "My ... my grandfather?" Benny had only known his mother's parents when they lived in Philadelphia. Benny had never heard his father's parents mentioned. He had assumed that they had died before he was born.

  "My boy, don't stand staring at me. Come along. Mr. Richardson doesn't care to be kept waiting."

  "Sir, my mother wouldn't want me to go anywhere with a stranger," Benny protested. "If you could just come with me to my Uncle Tom's house, we could -- "

  "I have explicit orders from my employer to have no dealings with your mother, Master Benjamin," James said. "Look, here, Mr. Richardson informed me that you might be ignorant as to your father's family. He told me to show you this."

  James took out a fine, expensive gold watch. He opened the case and showed Benny a wonderful hand-painted miniature inside.

  "That looks like my father," Benny gasped.

  "It is your father. As I said, your grandfather and grandmother have come to claim you. Let us go to them. Come along."

  James grasped Benny by the arm and pulled him up into the carriage. Benny was too astonished to resist. He kept staring at the picture of his father in the watch. It was some time before he realized the carriage was rolling quickly out of town the opposite way from the farm.

  "Where are we going?" Benny shouted out the window, frightened.

  "Jefferson City, of course," James informed him.

  "Does my mother know you're taking me there?"

  "She was informed by letter several months ago that Mr. and Mrs. Richardson would be coming to collect you."

  Benny couldn't think straight the whole way to Jefferson City. When they finally arrived James stopped the carriage outside the biggest hotel. He had to pull Benny out and drag him inside to a curtained sitting room.

  The richly dressed, white-haired gentleman stood up as Benny entered with James. James left Benny standing beside another tall, handsomely-dressed, much younger man and went out. The older man looked like Benny's father, but with thick side-whiskers and a cold, stern expression. The woman who remained seated beside him was dressed in violet silk and a large, feathered hat. Her neck and hands sparkled with jewels. Her hair was gray as iron and stiffly piled atop her head. Neither of them smiled a welcome as Benny stopped before them.

  "Look at the child's clothing, Horace," the woman murmured. "Come here, boy. Probably made them herself. Disgraceful." Benny stopped just short of the woman's outstretched hand.

  "Kiss your grandmother, Benjamin," the gentleman said coldly. "We have come a long way to see you. Has that woman taught you no manners at all?"

  "She has taught him nothing," the woman said. "He moves like a common tradesman's child. Of course, she has made him live on a farm. Does she cut your hair herself, too, boy? And she has you in a common school! Shocking. We shall have much to do to correct all this."

  "Look at the boy. He does not even know who we are. We are your grandparents, Benjamin," said the man. "Your father married your mother against our wishes and cut off all contact with us. We were not informed of your birth. We were not told that he had been killed. We have searched for you ever since we learned the truth that woman kept from us all these years."

  "Your mother poisoned your father's mind against us," Benny's grandmother went on. "She stole our only son and forced him into a life of poverty and hardship. She made him common like she was. And she tried to keep us from finding you after he died."

  "Excuse me, Sir, Ma'am, but are you talking about my mother?" Benny demanded. "You must have made a mistake. My mother isn't like that at all. Maybe you have the wrong person."

  "There is no mistake," his grandfather responded. "We have come to take you home with us to our estate in New York. You will live the life your father abandoned because of that scheming woman."

  "You don't know the Lord, do you?" Benny asked. "I don't think you would talk this way if you did. I'll bet my father left you because he wanted to serve God and you wouldn't let him."

  "How dare you?" thundered his grandfather. "We have contributed generously to the church all our lives. My wife directs all the service activities. We have always been Christians."

  "Pardon me, sir, but nobody's born a Christian," Benny replied. "You have to repent of your sins and ask Christ to save you."

  "We'll soon get these ridiculous notions out of your head," snapped his grandmother. "You will come back with us. That mother of yours will have no further opportunity to ruin you."

  "Thank you very much for offering, but I would rather stay with my mother," Benny said as politely as he could. "It was nice of you to visit. Perhaps you can come again."

  "Nonsense," his grandfather said. "Trevor, take the boy to his room and see that he stays there. No one is to visit him or interfere in any way."

  Benny followed Trevor, the man who had stood beside him, up the stairs to a room. "Don't make them angry now, Master Benjamin," Trevor admonished. "There's nothing to be done. Mr. Richardson's got a proper slew of legal documents. He's going to get his way. He always does."

  Benny heard a key turning in the lock as Trevor closed the door and left him alone. He sat down in a chair and stared at the wall. His grandparents couldn't just take him away from his mother, could they? Had she really gotten a letter from them? Why hadn't she told him? Did that mean it was all right with her and he really was never going to see her or Jeremy or Uncle Tom or Doc Daniel ever again? She hadn't even tried to tell him good-bye.

  Some time later he heard a commotion in the hall. He put his ear to the keyhole and heard Uncle Tom's voice say, "You just open up that door and let us see my nephew or I'll break it down. Whatever legal papers you got don't give you the right to kidnap him without his mother even saying good-bye."

  The door swung open and Benny jumped back. Benny's mother and Uncle Tom burst in and his mother grabbed him in her arms. Wisps of hair fell down out of her lop-sided bonnet. Her face was flushed and she still wore her big work apron. Uncle Tom squeezed his shoulders and glared at Benny's grandfather, who stood in the hall.

  "Benny, darling!" his mother hugged him tightly. "Mr. Carter said a strange man picked you up after school and he heard him say he was taking you to Jefferson City. I realized it must be your grandfather. Are you all right, darling?"

  "I was scared, mother," Benny whispered. "You never said a word about this. I thought you were going to let them take me."

  "No, no, Darling, not if I can help it," Benny's mother soothed.

  "Trevor, please give the woman these documents," Benny's grandfather said icily. Trevor passed a thick sheaf of papers from his employer to Benny's mother. "I presume you can read, Madam. These papers are drawn up by my attorney and approved by the local justice. They give us the authority to take our grandson into our custody and return him with us to our estate in New York. If you resist this legal order, we shall make public facts about your unfitness as a mother that I am sure you would not want revealed in an open court. You may go now. The boy will remain with us until we can depart tomorrow afternoon."

  "You – you can't just take Benny away," Benny's mother breathed. "He's my son."

  "You have practiced deceit and treachery in depriving us of contact with our son and grandson. Only by hiring private detectives were we able to find your dwelling in Philadelphia. Can you imagine how we felt, learning that our son had died and we had not been informed?"

  "I sent a letter ... " Benny's mother faltered. "You didn't receive it?"


  "There was no letter!" snapped Benny's grandmother, joining her husband in the hall. "More lies!"

  "Just when we located you, you vanished," Benny's grandfather continued. "Did you think dragging the boy off to this wilderness would keep us from finding you? Did you think hiring a criminal running from the law to spirit our grandson away would work? Oh, yes, we know about that, too. That clever rascal managed to give my detectives the slip. It's a good thing he's behind bars where he belongs. Pity you didn't join him. What judge would call you a fit mother? The boy lives in poverty and ignorance. You cannot care for him. How dare you presume to raise our grandson?"

  Benny's mother took a deep breath and straightened. "Benny, darling, your grandfather has said you must stay here at the hotel tonight. Please obey him."

  "But mother – "

  "Benny, please, no more arguing. Stay here with Mr. and Mrs. Richardson tonight. May I come to see him before you depart, Sir?" Benny's mother asked.

  "I see no reason why you should be denied time to say your good-byes," Mr. Richardson said. "Shall we say two o'clock?"

  Benny's mother curtseyed. "Until then, Sir. Madam," she added, making another curtsy toward Mrs. Richardson, who simply looked away.

  "Good night, then, Darling," Benny's mother said softly, stroking his hair and looking into his eyes. "Be my good, obedient son, Benny. You will, won't you?"

  "Yes, Mother," Benny whispered. "I love you."

  Benny's mother kissed him. "I love you, too, my Benny." She turned quickly and left the room.

  The rest of the day passed miserably for Benny. He spent some time in the sitting room that connected his room with his grandparents'. His grandmother scarcely spoke at all, except to complain about his handmade clothes. Mr. Richardson sent out his valet Trevor to try to find a place to buy new clothes, but nothing suited their demands. They ate in the private sitting room because his grandmother wouldn't be seen in the dining room with such a shabby grandson. Benny tried to eat, but nothing would go down. His grandfather quizzed Benny about his school studies and seemed surprised by how much Benny knew.

  Benny's grandmother complained of exhaustion after doing nothing but complain all day and went to their room. His grandfather went off to mail some letters. Trevor seemed actually to be trying to make Benny feel more comfortable. He was kind and patient, and after dinner engaged Benny in a game of chess. Benny and Trevor went down into the parlor to set up their game. After they had played a few minutes Jason Owens suddenly burst into the room.

  "Jason! How did you get here?" Benny asked.

  "'Scuse me, Mister, are you workin' for Mr. Richardson?" Jason demanded, ignoring Benny. Trevor nodded. "He wants you upstairs right away. Better get hoppin'!"

  Trevor stared at Jason in frank disbelief. "Is this young gentleman an acquaintance of yours, Benjamin?" Trevor asked with a little smile.

  "Yes, Sir," Benny said. "Mr. Trevor, this is Jason Owens."

  "Well, Jason Owens, I am pleased to make your acquaintance," Trevor said. "I believe if Mr. Richardson had actually required my services he would have communicated with one of the hotel staff. Is it your wish to have some private communication with Master Benjamin?"

  Jason turned red. "I gotta talk to him, Mister," Jason begged. "His ma told us what – that he's leavin' – Can't I just –?"

  "I shall permit you a few minutes alone, Master Jason," Trevor said as he rose. "However, I must warn you that any escape plan you concoct with Master Benjamin will surely fail, and will only make his relationship with his grandparents more strained. Please do not raise false hopes. Adieu for now." Trevor strode out of the room.

  "Ben, c'mon!" Jason blurted out as soon as Trevor's coattails disappeared through the doorway. "I got two horses outside. We'll light out for the woods an' keep goin' till nobody can find us."

  "Jason, I can't," Benny said. He prayed that the tears he had been choking back all evening wouldn't start pouring out now. "I promised Mother I'd stay with my grandparents. And you heard what Trevor said."

  "I can't understand half a' what that beanpole spouts," Jason grumbled.

  "He said I'd get caught and there'd be worse trouble if I try to get away," Benny said. "There's no way out of this, Jason. I'll have to go with them."

  "Are they as awful as he is?" Jason jerked his head toward Trevor, who strolled by the door.

  "Trevor's not so bad," Benny grinned, catching the valet's encouraging wink. "But my grandparents – well – Oh, it doesn't matter. Mother said I stay, and I stay."

  "My ma and dad don't even know I came up here," Jason said. "C'mon, Ben, come with me. I can do that guy like I did Caleb Sutter. At least you'd get away."

  "There's nothing anybody can do, Jason," Benny said, growing angry. He had thought of a hundred plans during this horrible day and he knew all of them were hopeless.

  'I wish Jeremy was here," Jason said unexpectedly. "He could cook up an escape plan that'd work. He's so smart."

  Benny, too, had thought that if anybody could save the day, Jeremy could. And the thought of never seeing Jeremy again made it almost impossible to stop the tears. His throat ached and he closed his eyes and breathed deeply.

  "We need a lawyer and a million dollars. That's the only way we could beat my grandfather. And we haven't got either of those, so just forget it. It was nice knowing you, Jason." He shook hands with Jason.

  The smaller boy seemed to be having some kind of fit. Then he burst into tears. Benny had never seen Jason actually cry. His friend tore out of the parlor and crashed headlong into a large brass urn full of umbrellas. With a horrible clang the umbrellas and urn scattered everywhere. Trevor picked him up and took a look at Jason's tear-streaked face.

  "Courage, lad," he said gently. "On your way, now. I'll see to this."

  Jason vanished. Benny and Trevor picked up the umbrellas together. Benny avoided Trevor's eyes, but he knew the valet was staring at him.

  "Perhaps it won't be as bad as all that, Master Benjamin," Trevor ventured.

  It was the wrong thing to say. Benny, too, began to sob. Trevor hastily set the umbrella stand upright and hustled Benny off, up to the sitting room. He closed the drapes and then stood by Benny while he lay on the settee and wept, choking and shuddering as he tried to get himself under control. Trevor patted his shoulder and spoke gentle words of encouragement.

  "I went into service when I was about your age, Master Benjamin," Trevor said. "Left my mum behind. It all comes right with time. You adjust. Master and Madam really want to do the right thing for you. You'll feel better about them before you know it."

  "They said all those terrible things about my mother," Benny said. "I hate them."

  "Now, now, Master Benjamin," soothed Trevor, "you spoke of knowing the Lord. I know Him too, and I know that Master and Madam do not. But how can you hope to make them see Christ, Who loves the sinner, though he hates the sin, when they will see only your hate? We must show them Christ, you and I. We must show them Christ."

  Benny had not thought he would be able to sleep at all, but in fact it was broad daylight when he awoke.

  "I admire you, Master Benjamin," Trevor said warmly. "I looked in on you a time or two during the night, expecting you to be restless, but you slept like Peter in prison. I hope you do not feel you are going to be executed today?"

  "Well, I don't think the Lord's going to send an angel to let me out of jail," grumbled Benny. "Sorry, Trevor. I'm trying to do what you said, but it's hard. If it weren't for the way they treated mother, it would be easier. It just makes me so angry. And I – I can't say good-bye to – "

  "To your friend in prison?" Trevor prompted. "I'm sorry, Master Benjamin. I'm sure things look dark to you today. 'Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy path.'"

  A knock sounded at Benny's door. Trevor opened it. Benny was astonished to see Dan Connors standing in the hall, dressed in his finest suit and hat.


  "I beg your pardon," Dan said. "The hotel staff must have given me the wrong room. I am looking for Mr. Horace Richardson. It is most urgent that I speak with him."

  "I am Mr. Richardson's valet, Sir," Trevor said. "He has the suite next door. May I say who is calling, please?"

  "Daniel Connors of Virginia," Dan answered. "I hope Mr. Richardson can spare me a few moments of his valuable time. I could not refrain from coming to pay my respects when I was informed that he had come. You may wish to tell him that I can claim a mutual acquaintance. My brother is Senator Robert Connors of New York."

  "Yes, indeed, Sir, I shall tell him at once." Benny was surprised by how impressed Trevor seemed. He hurried past Dan and knocked on the door of the next room. Dan swept into the room and folded Benny up in an embrace that squeezed the breath out of him.

  "Take that as coming from your mother," Dan whispered in his ear. "I am so sorry it came off like this. We knew it was coming, but I couldn't get here any sooner. If this works, you can thank that sly fox Jeremy. It was his idea."

  Dan pressed an envelope into his hand. Benny heard the murmur of Trevor's voice calling Dan into his grandfather's room. Dan squeezed Benny's shoulder hard and followed Trevor out of sight.

  Someone brought Benny breakfast and he realized how hungry he was. He found a note from his mother in the envelope.

  "My darling Benny," it read. "I may not have an opportunity to speak freely to you again. How I love you, my boy, and how I shall miss you if you are taken from me. But I believe God is gracious and will give us strength for whatever comes. Remember all that he has brought us through in the past. 'God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.' Be obedient and dutiful, and learn to love your grandparents.

  "I know this must have shocked you very much, to learn of them in this way. I did not agree with your father when he decided never to mention them, but I would not go against his wishes. It was he who broke with his parents, not I who forced him to choose between us. He had tried to make them understand their need of the Lord, and of his need to do God's will. They could not understand. They could not accept his wishes. He had to go far away from them or they would have ruined any hopes he had of ministering for the Lord. At least, that was your father's belief. Seeing how they have behaved with you I fear he was correct.

  "The Scriptures say that we must separate ourselves from those who not only will not believe, but who oppose our belief in God and service to Him. This is why your father left his parents and never spoke of them. It was not for my sake, but because he believed he would not be free to serve the Lord and still live as their son, so violent was their opposition.

  "Apparently they have not changed in all these years. I pray that they will not stifle your faith, Benny, if you should go to live with them. I hope that you will find a path of obedience to the Lord and also to them. The Lord will go with you. I spoke to the gentleman called Trevor. I am glad he has faith in God. He is a good man and will help you all he can. Be strong in the Lord, my Benny. Do not lose hope.

  "Our dear Mr. Carlisle was just as stricken as I was when I received their letter, but you see the difference between us. While I could only despair, his busy mind made a plan that just may save the day. He sent me a note, which I was to give you if something like this happened and I enclose it herein. With all a mother's love in Christ I close for now."

  Benny had found the message from Jeremy folded up inside his mother's. The paper was coarse, as Jeremy's writing paper always was, and the writing blotched with hurry. Benny almost broke down again, thinking it might be the last communication he would have with Jeremy.

  "If you think for one minute we're going to let you go without a fight, Mr. Benjamin Richardson, you're sadly mistaken," (Jeremy had written). "Dan Connors has called me a fox before, but I'm not sure any fox ever had to do this much from his den before. I wish I could get out and punch Grandfather Richardson in the nose." (Benny had to laugh out loud picturing that.)

  "I can imagine what he has written to your mother, judging by the state in which she wrote me. It just makes me admire the man your father must have been all the more. Dan Connors shall be the star of my little scheme to thwart this plan of your grandfather's. I shan't tell you not to cry, for I've shed some tears myself over this." (Benny understood the real reason for the blotchy paper) "But I say, as the Lord said to Joshua, 'Be strong, and of good courage, be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee, withersoever thou goest.'

  "Have I ever told you that I love you, Ben, my boy? No, I think I never have, fool that I was. You led me to Christ. You have lighted my very darkest days. I love you, and I thank you with all my heart. God guard you and let me see you again. Jeremy."

  "I've only been thinking about myself," Benny marveled. "I never thought how sad mother would be, or Jeremy, or even Dan Connors and Doc Daniel and Jason. They've cried and worried about losing me, and all I could think of was how bad I felt. And they've got a plan to help me. Oh, Lord God, help me to be more grateful for the wonderful people I have around me. Even if I do have to go with my grandparents, I know I don't deserve these good friends and this mother of mine."

  "Benjamin?" Trevor stood in the doorway. Benny hastily stowed his letters in the envelope and stood up. "Your grandfather wishes to see you in his sitting room."

  Benny followed Trevor into the next room. His grandfather and Dan Connors stood looking out the window. Benny was struck by the fact that his friend was, if anything, more elegant and gentlemanly than his stiffly formal grandfather. Benny thought of Doc Daniel and how he had seemed to be a coarse-grained mountain man when he first saw him the night of Jeremy's cougar attack, wearing buckskins and pumping shots into the big cat that had almost taken Jeremy's life. The two men turned and looked at Benny.

  Neither of them spoke at first. Benny wanted to scream. What was the plan? Did it work? Am I going to get to stay?

  "Benjamin, I had no idea Doctor Daniel Connors was an acquaintance of yours," his grandfather said. "I know his son Robert very well. There is hardly a man in the country so well-known and well-respected as your 'Doc Daniel.' I do not think you were aware of that, were you?"

  "I didn't know about him being famous or any of that, no, Sir," Benny answered. "He's a great man, and he's been very good to my mother and me. He's taught me to love and know God a whole lot better. I was just thinking about how I haven't appreciated all the people here enough."

  "And you're very much afraid of losing them all, aren't you?" his grandfather said. Benny swallowed hard and choked.

  "Now, now, no tears. You're afraid of losing everyone you love and being forced to live with people you fear, and probably could hate, if it were in your nature to hate. I used to think your father hated us. Your grandmother still thinks it. But at long last I think I understand. There is a Scripture that says, 'If any man will come after me, and does not hate his father and mother, he is not worthy of me.' I thought of that verse a hundred thousand times when your father broke with us. It could not be a true part of the Word of God, I insisted. I wanted to scratch it out of my Bible.

  "But we cannot pick and choose what we want to believe in the Scriptures, can we? We must take the whole. We must accept the part that says, 'It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven'. I thought my wealth gave me the ability to serve God better. But my wealth, like my righteousness, is but filthy rags. God does not want it, just as he did not want the hypocritical sacrifices of the Jews who scorned God in their hearts by having no pity for the poor and robbing God's house while they filled their storehouses and built more and bigger ones.

  "Benjamin, your father made you a better boy than we could ever hope to. He consecrated you to God, and made you His child. Your grandmother and I thought only of ourselves. We reached out and grasped what belonged to God – our son's life and his duty. When that slipped through our fingers, we determined to get another child to make into
our twisted image – you.

  "But now I know what your father tried so hard to tell me, oh, so many times. This gentleman gained an audience with me by his handsome credentials because he knew my pride and vanity. But he did not waste time with politeness or flattery. He called me what I was, a bitter, warped sinner looking for more lives to blight. But I thank God I am such no more. I have repented, Benjamin. At last I truly know Christ."

  He held out his arms, and Benny came into them without hesitation. "I'm so glad, Grandfather," Benny whispered. They held each other for a long time.

  "Horace?" Grandfather Richardson straightened at the sound of his wife's shrill, complaining voice from the next room. "Horace, who is out there? What is going on?"

  "Your – your grandmother is a late riser," Grandfather Richardson said uneasily. "I wonder how she will take my news."

  "It'd probably be best if you see her alone, Mr. Richardson," Dan suggested.

  "Indeed. I'm sure it would," Grandfather Richardson nodded. "Take Benjamin, Mr. Connors – Dan. Take him to his mother. Say that I will engage rooms here for her and her brother and I will visit that good lady after I have spoken to my wife. Let Trevor go with you, and inquire when it would be convenient for me to wait upon her – to pay my respects long overdue and shamefully neglected. And let us see you again, Dan, if your leisure serves you and you can remain. My wife will have to make some adjustments ... indeed she will ... I know not how to begin ... "

  Benny marveled at the changes his grandfather had gone through. From stiff and formal to warm and smiling to worried and uncertain all in a few moments. Dan grasped his hand and drew him close in a warm embrace.

  "God give you wise words, my brother in Christ," Dan said. "We will pray for you."

  Benny's grandparents left a few days later. Benny did not see his grandmother again, except from a distance. He heard that she had raged and wept hysterically and threatened all kinds of things. She was angry about his grandfather's conversion, she was angry that Benny wasn't leaving with them, she was angry about being in a place with few of the luxuries she was used to.

  Benny felt very sorry for his grandfather. He was eager to embrace Benny's mother, eager to accept the Bible Doc Daniel gave him to study. But his wife had become more stubborn than ever. His grandfather never complained, though.

  "She doesn't know the Lord, my dears," he had simply said. He had invited Benny and his mother for dinner at the hotel and his wife had leaped up from the table and stormed off to her room upon seeing Benny and his mother arrive. "She doesn't know the Lord."

  "I must see your embezzler, you know, Benjamin," his grandfather said. "I feel as if I owe everything to him. I have gained so much more than I will lose by leaving you here."

  Benny's grandparents left in a big carriage piled with luggage. His grandmother wore black clothes and a heavy veil as if someone had died. Trevor shook hands heartily with Benny.

  "Now I've a new master, Master Benjamin," he exclaimed. "My faith was so small. I never really dreamed it would happen. Now if only Madam – "

  "We'll pray for you, too, Trevor," Benny grinned. Trevor bowed to Benny's mother and climbed into the carriage. Grandfather Richardson hugged Benny and his mother both close to him.

  "You will both write to me, of course?" he pleaded.

  "Of course," Benny's mother said, kissing him on the cheek. "God bless you, my dear Father Horace. How we shall miss you."

  "Horace! Come along! Cannot you hurry?" wailed Grandmother Richardson.

  Grandfather Richardson looked sadly in at the muffled figure. "Farewell, Benjamin. Let us see what can be done about setting that young fox Jeremy free of his den so he can be about his work. He is needed badly out here."

  Jeremy was reluctant to meet Grandfather Richardson, but once more, Dan Connors put his powers of persuasion to work. Benny got a letter from Dan describing the meeting.

  Your grandfather and I arrived at Jeremy's cell and found him about the hopeless task of making the dreary gray room fit for "his lordship," as Jeremy calls Grandfather Richardson. I am sure he was also fretting about this elegant gentleman seeing his terrible scars. He need not have worried.

  "My dear Mr. Carlisle," Grandfather Richardson said, taking Jeremy's hand. "No, this won't do. Jeremy, I must greet you as befits the man who is really my father in Christ, and my dearest friend." He put his arms around Jeremy, who stared over his shoulder at me in utter astonishment.

  "Sir, to say – to say that I'm honored would be – words much too poor," Jeremy stammered. "All I did was throw Dan in where I thought there might be a breach. He fought the good fight and finished the course. I take no credit."

  "Ah, but Dan would never have been brought to the breach if not for you," Grandfather Richardson replied with a huge smile. I confess I was amazed, too, to see that your grandfather looked straight at Jeremy, as if the scars didn't bother him at all. Even I have a hard time doing that.

  "You are such a young man to be so wise –" he went on "– to know exactly what it would take to solve a dilemma that must have seemed hopeless to everyone else. God will no doubt do great things with you. He will bring you out of this place and wherever you go, you and those you influence will plant souls that will bear fruit for Him. I pray that you will soon be free to serve God as you long to do."

  Jeremy was silent for a moment. Then he said, "And here I was casting about for some words of encouragement to say to you, a new babe in Christ. Doesn't pride always knock us flat? Thank you, Horace. I'll never stop praying for your wife. It can't be easy."

  "Find a woman who loves the Lord, my friend," your grandfather said soberly. Then he glanced at me. He looked back at Jeremy, who blushed suddenly.

  "Well ... " Grandfather Richardson said slowly, "perhaps you already have. You could not do better. 'Hold her, and do not let her go. She will do you good, and not evil, all your days.'"

  "Mother, Grandfather thinks Jeremy's already picked out a wife," Benny said. "I wonder who it is?"

  Benny's mother blushed red. "Why, Darling, it's hard to say," she replied. "Mr. Carlisle doesn't confide everything to me."

  "How could he meet anybody when he's in prison?" Benny persisted.

  "These things happen, Darling," his mother said. "Some very odd things can happen when a person is in prison. Very unexpected, wonderful things."