shall be one fold and one Shepherd, and the least shall be equal with the
greatest."

"Then there will be no more slaves?" asked Melissa, in growing
amazement.

"Not one," replied her companion, and a gleam of inspiration seemed to
light up his stern features. "All shall be free, and all united in love
by the grace of Him who hath redeemed us."

But Melissa shook her head, and Andreas, understanding what was passing
in her mind, tried to catch her eye as he went on:

"You think that these are the impossible wishes of one who has himself
been a slave, or that it is the remembrance of past suffering and
unutterable wrong which speaks in me? For what right-minded man would
not desire to preserve others from the misery which once crushed him to
earth with its bitter burden?--But you are mistaken. Thousands of free-
born men and women think as I do, for to them, too, a higher Power has
revealed that the fullness of time is now come. He, the Greatest and
Best, who made all the woes of the world His own, has chosen the poor
rather than the rich, the suffering rather than the happy, the babes
rather than the wise and prudent; and in his kingdom the last shall be
first--yea, the least of the last, the poorest of the poor; and they,
child, are the slaves."

He ended his diatribe with a deep sigh, but Melissa pressed the hand
which held hers as they walked along the raised pathway, and said:
"Poor Andreas! How much you must have gone through before Polybius set
you free!"