The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan

FAITHFUL: "Until I could stay no longer; for right after you left, there
was great talk that our city would soon be burned down to the ground
with fire from Heaven!”
CHRISTIAN: "What! Did our neighbors really talk so?”
FAITHFUL: "Yes, for a while it was the talk of the town!"
CHRISTIAN: "Were you the only one who fled to escape the danger?”
FAITHFUL: "Though there was, as I said, great talk about the eminent
destruction of our city — yet I do not think they truly believed it. For in
the heat of the discussions, I heard some of them deridingly speak of
you, and of your desperate journey — for so they called your
pilgrimage. But I did believe, and still do, that our city will be destroyed
with fire and brimstone from above — and therefore I have made my
escape!"
CHRISTIAN: "Did you hear any talk of neighbor Pliable?"
FAITHFUL: "Yes, I heard that he followed you until he came to the
Swamp of Despond, where, as some said, he fell in. Yet he would never
admit to having done so — but I am sure he was bedabbled with the
mire from the swamp."
CHRISTIAN: "And what did the neighbors say about him?"
FAITHFUL: "Since his coming back to the city, he has been harshly
derided by all sorts of people! Some mock and despise him — and
Page
102 of 253