He threatened to sue Mr.Riddle for having the _Visiter_ printed and sold in his office, and, as for me, I was to suffer all the pains and penalties which law and public scorn could inflict.

He demanded a satisfactory retraction and apology as the least atonement he could accept for the insult.

These Mr.Riddle promised in my name, and I did not hesitate to make the promise good.
My next article was headed "An Apology," and in it I stated the circumstances which had called it out, and the pleasant prospect of my being sent to Mount Airy (our county jail) in case this, my apology, was not satisfactory.

I should of course do my best to satisfy his honor, but in case of failure, should take comfort in the fact that the Mount would make a good observatory.

From that height I should be able to use my telescope much better than in my present valley of humiliation.
Indeed, the mere prospect had so improved my glass, that I had caught a new view of our sunken star, and to-day, this dispenser of justice, this gentleman with the high sense of honor, was a criminal under sentence of death by the divine law.