THE BARGAIN OF FAMINE
Sir John Hampden had not to wait until the morning to meet the
deputation of Ministerialists again. Late the same evening a few men,
arriving together, presented themselves at one of the barricades that
closed the Mayfair street, and were at once admitted. Many of the
residential west-end districts which were not thoroughfares for general
traffic were stockaded in those days and maintained their street guard.
The local officials protested, the inhabitants replied by instancing a
few of the cases where an emergency had found the authorities powerless
to extend protection, and there the matter ended. It was scarcely worth
while stamping out a spark when they stood upon a volcano.
Sir John received the members in the library--a disspirited handful of
men who had written their chapter of history and were now compelled to
pass on the book to other scribes, as every party must. Only this party
had thought that it was to be the exception.
"Events are moving faster than the clock," apologised Cecil Brown, with
a rather dreary smile. He was present as the representative of that body
in the House which was not indisposed to be courteous and even
conciliatory in attitude towards an opponent, while it yielded nothing
of its principles: a standpoint unintelligible to most of the rank and
file of the party. "Doubtless we are not unexpected, Sir John Hampden?"
"Comrade," corrected a member who was made of sterner metal. They were
there to deliver up their rifles, but this stalwart soldier of Equality
clung tenaciously to an empty cartridge case.
"I am no less desirous than yourselves of coming to a settlement,"
replied Sir John. "If there is still any matter of detail----?"
The plenipotentiaries exchanged glances of some embarrassment.
"Have you not heard?" asked Mr Soans, whose voice was the voice of the
dockyard labourers.
"I can scarcely say until I know what you refer to," was the plausible
reply. "I have found that all communication has been cut during the last
few hours." He lightly indicated the instruments against the wall.
They all looked towards Cecil Brown, the matter being rather an
unpleasant one.
"The fact is, the House has been invaded by a tumultuous rabble. They
overcame all resistance by the mere force of numbers, and"--he could not
think of a less ominous phrase at the moment--"well, simply turned us
out.... Quite Cromwellian proceedings. We left them passing very large
and comprehensive resolutions," he concluded.
"Your people!" said the uncompromising man accusingly.
"Scarcely," protested Hampden with a smile. "The ends may be the ends of
Esau, but the means----"
"Not our people; they couldn't possibly be ours to come and turn on us
like that."
"Suppose we say, without defining them further," said Sir John, "that
they were simply"--he paused for a second to burn the thrust gently home
with a little caustic silence--"simply The People."
Mr Vossit made a gesture of impatience towards his colleague.
"Whether Queen Anne, died of gout or apoplexy isn't very material now,"
he said with a touch of bitterness. "We are here to conduct the
funeral."
"I wish to meet you in every possible way I can," interposed Hampden,
"but I must point out to you that at so short a notice I am deprived of
the counsel of any of my associates. I had hoped that by the time of the
meeting to-morrow morning----"
"Is that necessary if the Memorandum is accepted by the Government?"
"Without discussion?"
Mr Vossit shrugged his shoulders. "As far as I am concerned, Sir John.
The concession of a word or two, or a phrase here and there, can make no
difference. It is our Sedan, and the heavier you make the terms, the
more there will be for us to remember it by."
"I am content," subscribed Mr Guppling. "We have been surprised and
routed, not by the legitimate tactics of party strife, but by methods
undistinguishable from those of civil war."
Hampden's glance was raised mechanically to an inscribed panel that hung
upon the wall in easy view, where it formed a curious decoration. The
ground colour was dull black, and on it in white lettering was set forth
a trenchant sentiment selected from the public utterances of every
prominent member of the Government and labelled with his name. It was a
vindication and a spur that he had kept before his eyes through the
years of ceaseless preparation, for in each extract one word was picked
out in the startling contrast of an almost blinding crimson, and that
one word was WAR. Even Sir John's enemies, those who called Salt a
machine of blood and iron, admitted him to be a kindly gentleman, and
his glance had been involuntary, for he had no desire to emphasise
defeat upon the vanquished. The thing was done, however, and following
the look every man who sat there met his own flamboyant challenge from
the past; for all, without exception, had thrown down the gauntlet once
in no uncertain form. War--but that had meant them waging war against
another when it was quite convenient for them to do so, not another
waging war against themselves out of season. War--but certainly not war
that turned them out of office, only war that turned their opponents out
of office.
The rather strained silence was broken by the sound of footsteps
approaching from the hall.
"We are still short of the Home Secretary and Comrade Tirrel," explained
Mr Chadwing to the master of the house. "We divided forces. They were
driving I understand. Perhaps----"
It was. They came in slowly, for the Home Secretary faltered in his gait
and had a hunted look, while Tirrel led him by the arm. Both carried
traces of disorder, even of conflict.
"Oh yes; they held us up," said Tirrel with a savage laugh, as his
colleagues gathered round. "He was recognised in Piccadilly by a crowd
of those ungrateful dogs from the pits. I shouted to the cabman to drive
through them at a gallop, but the cur jumped off his seat howling that
he was their friend. I was just able to get the reins; we bumped a bit,
but didn't upset, fortunately. I left the cab at the corner of the
street, here." He turned his back on the Home Secretary, who sat huddled
in a chair, and, facing the others, made a quick gesture indicating that
Mr Tubes was unwell and had better be left alone.
"I brought him here, Sir John," he said, crossing over to the baronet
and speaking in a half-whisper, "because I really did not know where
else to take him. For some reason he appears to be almost execrated just
now. His house in Kilburn will be marked and watched, I am afraid. And
in that respect I daresay we are all in the same boat."
"He appears to be ill," said Hampden, rising. "I will----"
"Please don't," interrupted Tirrel decisively. "Any kind of attention
distresses him, I find. It is a collapse. He has been shaken for some
time past, and the attack to-night was the climax. His nerve is
completely gone."
"As far as his safety is concerned," suggested the host with an
expression of compassion, "I think that we can ensure that here against
any irregular force. And certainly it would be the last place in which
they would think of looking for him. For the night, at least, you had
better leave him in our charge."
"Thank you," said Tirrel; "it is very good of you. I will. Of course,"
he added, as he turned away, "we shall have to assume his acquiescence
to any arrangement we may reach. Unofficially I can guarantee it."
They seated themselves round the large table, Sir John and his private
secretary occupying one end, the plenipotentiaries ranging around the
other three sides. As they took their places Mr Drugget and another
member were announced. They did not appear to have been expected, but
they found seats among their colleagues. The Home Secretary sat apart,
cowering in an easy-chair, and stretching out his hands timorously from
time to time to meet the radiant heat of the great oil stove.
The composition of the meeting was not quite the same as that of the
deputation which had paved the way to it earlier in the day. It was more
official, for the action of the deputation had forced the hand of the
Cabinet--to the relief of the majority of that body, it was whispered.
But there was one notable Minister absent.
"I represent the Premier," announced Mr Drugget, rising. "If his
attendance in person can be dispensed with, he begged to be excused."
"I offer no objection," replied Hampden. "If in the exceptional
circumstances the Prime Minister should desire to see me privately, I
will meet him elsewhere."
"The Premier is indisposed, I regret to say."
"In that case I would wait upon him at his own house, should he desire
it," proffered Sir John.
"I will convey to him your offer," replied Mr Drugget. "In the meantime
I am authorised to subscribe Mr Strummery's acquiescence to the terms,
subject to one modification."
"One word first, please," interposed Sir John. "I must repeat what I had
already said before you arrived. I am unable just now to consult my
colleagues, in concert with whom the Memorandum was drafted. If it is
necessary to refer back on any important detail----"
Mr Tubes half rose from his chair with a pitiable look of terror in his
eyes and gave a low cry as a turbulent murmur from some distant street
reached his ears.
"It's all right, comrade," said Cecil Brown reassuringly. "You're safe
enough here, Jim."
"Aye, aye," whispered Tubes fearfully; "but did you hear that
shout?--'To the lamp-post!' They fling it at me from every crowd. It
haunts me. That is what I--I--yes, that is what I fear."
"No good arguing," muttered Tirrel across the table. "Leave him to
himself; there's nothing else to be done just now."
"I can at least express the Premier's views" resumed Mr Drugget. "He
would prefer the Bill for Amending the Franchise to be brought forward
as a private Bill by a member of the Opposition rather than make it a
Government measure. The Government would grant special facilities, and
not oppose it. The Premier would advise a dissolution immediately the
Bill passed."
There was a knock at the library door. The secretary attended to it with
easy discretion, and for a minute was engaged in conversation with some
one beyond.
Sir John looked at Mr Drugget in some amazement, and most of the members
of his own party regarded their leader's proxy with blank surprise.
"I was hardly prepared for so fundamental an objection being raised at
this hour," said the baronet. "It amounts, of course, to bringing an
alternative proposal forward."
"The result would be the same; I submit that it is scarcely more than a
matter of detail."
"Then why press it?"
Mr Drugget's expression seemed to convey the suggestion that he had no
personal wishes at all in the matter, but felt obliged to make the best
case he could for his chief.
"The Premier not unnaturally desires that the real authors of so
retrogressive and tyrannical an Act should be saddled with the nominal
as well as the actual responsibility," he replied. "Possibly he fears
that in some remote future the circumstances will be forgotten, and his
name be handed down as that of a traitor."
The private secretary took the opportunity of the sympathetic murmur
which this attitude evoked to exchange a sentence with Sir John. Then he
turned to the door and beckoned to the man who stood outside.
"I must ask your indulgence towards a short interruption, gentlemen,"
said Hampden, as a cyclist, in grey uniform, entered and handed him a
despatch. "It is possible that some of my friends may even now be on
their way to join me."
They all regarded the messenger with a momentary curious interest; all
except two among them. Over Mr Drugget and the comrade who had arrived
with him the incident seemed to exercise an absorbing fascination. After
a single, it almost seemed a startled, glance at the soldier-cyclist,
their eyes met in a mutual impulse, and then instantly turned again to
fix on Hampden's face half-stealthily, but as tensely as though they
would tear the secret from behind his unemotional expression.
"It's all very well, Drugget--in justice," anxiously murmured Mr Vossit
across the table, "but, as things are, we've got to be quick, and accept
considerably less than justice. For Heaven's sake, don't prolong the
agony, after to-day's experience."
"If you hang on to that," warned Mr Guppling, "you will only end in
putting off till to-morrow not a whit better terms than you can make
to-night."
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait," muttered Mr Drugget impatiently, not
withdrawing his fascinated gaze.
In the silence of the room they again heard the crescive ululation of
the street, distant still, but sounding louder than before to their
strained imagination, and terrible in its suggestion of overwhelming,
unappeasable menace. Mr Tubes started uneasily in his chair.
"Will _that_ wait?" demanded Mr Guppling with some passion.
"A very little time longer; your coming here to-night has thrown us
out," pleaded Mr Drugget's companion, in a more conciliatory whisper.
"To-morrow morning, a few hours, an hour--perhaps even----"
The messenger had been dismissed without an answer. Looking up with
sudden directness, Hampden caught one man's eyes fixed on him with a
furtive intensity that betrayed his hopes and fears.
"The attack on Hanwood has completely failed," quietly announced Sir
John, holding the startled gaze relentlessly. "The guns have been
captured and brought in. The troops have been surrounded, disarmed, and
dispersed, with the exception of those of the higher rank who are
detained. There have, unfortunately, been casualties on both sides."
"I--I--I--Why do you address yourself to me, Sir John?" stammered the
disconcerted man, turning very white, and exhibiting every painful sign
of guilt and apprehension.
"Are we to understand that your property at Hanwood has been attacked by
an armed force of regulars?" asked one with sincere incredulity, as
Hampden remained silent.
"It is unhappily true."
"And defended by an evidently superior force of armed men, unlawfully
assembled there," retorted a militant comrade defiantly.
"In view of the strained position to which the circumstances must give
rise, I will take the responsibility of withdrawing the Premier's one
objection to the Memorandum as it stands," announced Mr Drugget with dry
lips.
"In that case I will ask Mr Lloyd to read the terms of the agreement
formally before we append our signatures," said Hampden, without
offering any further comment.
A printed copy of the Articles was passed to each delegate; on the table
before Sir John lay the engrossed form in duplicate. From one of these
the secretary proceeded to read the terms of the agreement, which was
frankly recognised on both sides as the death-warrant of socialistic
ascendency in England.
From the Government the League required only one thing: the immediate
passing of "A Bill to amend the Qualifications of Voters in
Parliamentary Elections," to be followed by a dissolution and its
inevitable consequence, a general election. But of the result of that
election no one need cherish any illusions, for it would be decided
according to the new qualification; and shorn of its parliamentary
phraseology, the new Act was to sweep away the existing adult suffrage,
and, broadly, substitute for it a L10 occupation qualification, with,
still worse, a plurality of voting power in multiples of L10, according
to the rateable value of the premises occupied. It was wholly immoral
according to the democratic tendency of the preceding age, but it was
wholly necessary according to the situation which had resulted from it.
A genial Autocrat, Professor, and Poet has set forth in one of his
works, for the sake of the warning it conveys, the story of a little boy
who, on coming into the possession of a nice silver watch, and examining
it closely, discovered among the works "a confounded little _hair_
entangled round the balance-wheel." Of course his first care was to
remove this palpable obstruction, with the result that the watch
accomplished the work of twenty-four hours in an insignificant fraction
of a second, and then refused to have anything more to do with practical
chronometry. On coming into possession of their new toy the Socialists
had discovered many "confounded little _hairs_" wrapped away among the
works of that elaborate piece of machinery, the English Constitution,
all obviously impeding its free working. Recklessly, even gaily, they
had pulled them out one after another, cut them across the middle and
left pieces hanging if they could not find the ends, dragged out lengths
anyhow. For a time the effect had been dazzlingly pyro-technical when
seen from below. The Constitution had gone very, very, very fast; it had
covered centuries in a few years; and as it went it got faster. But
unfortunately it had stopped suddenly. And every one saw that while it
remained in the hands of its nominal masters it would never go again.
Had the times been less critical some other means of effecting the same
end might have been found. But although it was scarcely more than
whispered yet, for four hours England had been involved in actual,
deadly, civil war; and water once spilled is hard to gather up. Under
ordinary circumstances the expedient of disenfranchising a party would
have proved unpopular even with the bitterest among that party's
enemies. As it was, it was simply accepted as the necessary
counterstroke to their own policy of aggression.
"If the 'most business-like Government of modern times' can instance a
single business where eleven shareholders to the amount of a sovereign
apiece can come in and outvote ten shareholders who have each a stake of
a thousand pounds in the concern, and then proceed to wreck it," was a
remark typical of the view people took, "then--why, then the record of
the Government will lose its distinction as an absolutely unique blend
of fatuous imbecility and ramping injustice, that's all."
So there was to be a general election very soon in which the issue would
lie between the League party and the shattered, shipwrecked
Administration that had no leaders, no coherence, and scarcely a name to
rally to. It was estimated that Labour of one complexion or another
might hold between thirty and forty seats, if the working classes cared
to support representatives after the Payment of Members Act had been
repealed. It was computed that in more than four hundred constituencies
League candidates would be returned unopposed. There could be no denying
that our countrymen of 1918 (_circa_) lived through an interesting
period of their country's history. The League party would go to the poll
with no pledges, and their policy for the present was summed up in the
single phrase, "As in 1905." It was to be the cleanest of slates.
"How soon can the Bill become law under the most expeditious handling?"
Hampden had asked of those who formed the earlier deputation, and the
answer had been, "Three days!" Solely from the "business" point of view
it was magnificent, and it was certainly convenient as matters stood. In
three more days a general election could be in full swing, waged, in the
emergency, on the existing register supplemented by the books of the
local authorities and the voters' receipts for rates or taxes. In a
single day it could be over. Within a week England would have
experienced a change in her affairs as far-reaching as the Conquest or
the Restoration.
Mr Lloyd, to return to Sir John Hampden's library, read the first
article to the breathless assembly. It had been tacitly agreed that the
time had come when the conditions must be accepted without discussion;
but when the fateful clause was finished a deep groan, not in empty
hostile demonstration, but irresistibly torn from the unfeigned depths
of their emotion, escaped many of the Ministers. Boabdil el Chico's
sigh, when he reached the point where the towers and minarets of Granada
were lost to him for ever, was not more sincere or heart-racked. Even
Sir John could not have claimed that he felt unmoved.
The secretary read on. The League entered into certain undertakings. It
guaranteed that the normal conditions of the home coal trade should be
restored, and the men called back to the pits by an immediate order for
ten million tons. Temporary relief work of various kinds would be
instituted at once to meet the distress. The Unemployed Grant would be
reopened for nine weeks to carry over the winter; for three weeks fully,
for three weeks at the rate of two-thirds, and for the last period
reduced to one-third. The colliers in London would be carried back to
their own districts as fast as the railways could get out the trains.
There were many other points of detail, and they all had a common
aim--the obliteration of the immediate past and the restoration of that
public confidence which in a country possessing natural resources is the
foundation stone of national prosperity. Already there were facts for
the present and portents for the future. Men of influence and position,
who had been driven out of England by the terrible atmosphere of
political squalor cast over an Empire by a Government that had learned
to think municipally, were even now beginning to return; and that most
responsive seismograph which faithfully reflected every change in the
world's condition for good or ill predicted better times. In other
words, consols had risen in three months from 54-1/2 to 68 and the bulk
of the buying was said to be for investment.
"If it is not trenching on the forbidden ground, I should like to ask
for an assurance on one point," said a member with a dash of acrimony.
The secretary had finished his task, and then for perhaps ten seconds
they had sat in silence, speculating half unconsciously upon the future,
as each dimly saw it, that lay beyond the momentous step they were about
to take. "I refer to the question of coal export. It is, of course, a
more important outlet than the domestic home consumption. Is the League
in a position to guarantee that the taxation will be rescinded without
delay?"
"I think it would be a very unwarrantable presumption for us to assume
that any one outside the governments of the countries interested
possesses that influence, and that it would be a very undesirable, a
very undiplomatic, proceeding to hint at the possibility of any such
concession in the document I have before me," replied Sir John suavely.
"Beyond that, I would add that it will be manifestly to the interest of
the next government to restore the bulk of foreign trade to a normal
level; and that should the League party find itself in office, it will
certainly make representations through the usual channels."
"Quite like old times," said Mr Soans dryly. "I suppose that we shall
have to be content with that. Let us hope that it will prove a true
saying that those who hide can find."
He picked up a pen as he finished speaking, signed the paper that had
been passed to him first by reason of his position at the table, and
thrust it vehemently from him to his neighbour. Mr Chadwing held up his
pen to the light to make sure that it contained no obstruction on so
important an occasion, signed his name with clerkly precision, and then
carefully wiped his pen on the lining of his coat. Cecil Brown looked
down with the faint smile that covered his saddest moments as he added
the slender strokes of his signature, and Tirrel dashed off the
ink-laden characters of his with tightened lips and a sombre frown.
Consciously or unconsciously every man betrayed some touch of character
in that act. Mr Vossit made a wry grimace as he passed the paper on; and
Mr Guppling, with an eye on a possible line in Fame's calendar, snapped
his traitorous pen in two and cast the pieces dramatically to the
ground.
When the last signature had been written, some of the members stood up
to take their leave at once, but Hampden and Tirrel made a simultaneous
motion to detain them. The master of the house gave way to his guest.
"I am not up to cry over spilled milk," said Tirrel with his customary
bluntness. "What is done, is done. We shall carry out the terms, Sir
John Hampden, and you and your party will be in office in a week. But
you are not merely taking over the administration of a constitution: you
are taking over a defeated country. I ask you, as the head of your party
and the future Premier, to do one thing, and I ask it entirely on my own
initiative, and without the suggestion or even the knowledge of my
friends or colleagues. Let your first act be to publish a general
amnesty. It does not touch me.... But there have been things on both
sides. You may perhaps know my views; I would have crushed your League
by strong means when it was possible if I had had my way. None the less,
there is not the most shadowy charge that could hang over me to-day, and
for that reason it is permissible for me to put in this petition. The
nation is shattered, torn, helpless. Do not look too closely into the
past ... pacify."
"The question has not arisen between my associates and myself, but I do
not imagine that we should hold conflicting views, and I may say that
for my part I enter cordially into the spirit of the suggestion,"
replied Hampden frankly. "Anything irregular that could come within the
meaning of political action in its widest sense I should be favourable
towards making the object of a general pardon.... While we are together,
I will go a step further, and on this point I have the expressed
agreement of my friends. You, sir, have assumed without any reserve that
our party will be returned to office. I accept that assumption. You have
also compared our work to the pacification of a conquered nation. That
also may be largely admitted. We shall be less a political party
returned to power by the even chances of a keenly-fought election, and
checked by an alert opposition, than a social autocracy imposing our
wishes--as we believe for the public good--on the country. For twenty
years, as I forecast the future, there will be no effective opposition.
Yet a great deal of our work will have reference to the class whom the
opposition would represent, the class upon whose wise and statesmanlike
pacification the tranquillity, and largely the prosperity, of the
country, will depend."
Some few began to catch the drift of Hampden's meaning, and those who
did all glanced instinctively towards Cecil Brown.
"You have used, and I have accepted, the comparison of a conquered
nation," continued Sir John. "When a country has been forcibly occupied
the work of pacification is one of the first taken in hand by a prudent
conqueror. There is usually a Board or Committee of Conciliation, and in
that body are to be found some of the foremost of those who resisted
invasion while resistance seemed availing.... It would be analogous to
that, in my opinion, if a supporter of the present Government was
offered and accepted a position in the next. There would be no
suggestion--there would be no possibility--of his being in accord with
the Cabinet in its general policy. He would be there as an expert to
render service to both parties in the work of healing the scars of
conflict. If the proposal appears to be exceptional and the position
untenable at first sight, it is only because the prosaic parliamentary
machinery of normal times has by a miracle been preserved into times
that are abnormal."
There was an infection of low laughter, amused, sardonic, some
good-natured and a little ill-natured, and a few cries of "Cecil Brown!"
in a subdued key.
"The moment seemed a favourable one for laying the proposal before the
members of the Government," went on Hampden, unmoved, "though, of
course, I do not expect an answer now. On the assumption that we are
returned to power, it is our intention to create a new department to
exist as long as the conditions require it, and certainly as long as the
next Parliament. Its work will be largely conciliation, and it will deal
with the disorganisation of labour. In the same confidential spirit with
which you have spoken of the future without reserve, I may say that
should I be called upon to form a Ministry, I shall--and I have the
definite acquiescence of my colleagues--offer the Presidentship of the
Board to Mr Cecil Brown ... the office of Parliamentary Secretary to Mr
Tirrel."
If Hampden had wished to surprise, he certainly succeeded. The open
laugh that greeted the first name was cut off as suddenly and completely
as the light is cut off when the gas-tap is turned, by the gasp that the
second name evoked. To many among them the offer had been the merest
party move; Cecil Brown's name a foregone conclusion. The addition of
Tirrel, whose rather brilliant qualities and quite fantastic sense of
honour they were prone to lose sight of behind his vehement
battle-front, was stupefying.
It was Tirrel who was the first to break the silence of astonishment on
this occasion, not even waiting, with characteristic impetuousness, for
his chief-designate to offer an opinion.
"You say that you do not want an answer now, Sir John, but you may have
it, as far as I am concerned," he cried, with the defiant air that
marked his controversial passages. "From any other man of your party the
proposal would have been an insult; from you it is an amiable mistake.
_You_ do not think that you can buy us with the bribe of office, but you
think that there is no further party work for us to do: that Socialism
in England to-day is dead. I tell you, Sir John Hampden, with the
absolute conviction of an inspired truth, that it will triumph yet. You
will not see it; I may not see it, but it is more likely that the hand
of Time itself should fail than that the ideals to which we cling should
cease to draw men on. We, who are the earliest pioneers of that
untrodden path, have made many mistakes; we are paying for them now; but
we have learned. Some of our mistakes have brought want and suffering to
thousands of your class, but for hundreds of years your mistakes have
been bringing starvation and misery to millions of our class. From your
presence we go down again into the weary years of bondage, to work
silently and unmarked among those depths of human misery from which our
charter springs. I warn you, Sir John Hampden--for I know that the
warning will be dead and forgotten before the year is out--that our
reign will come again; and when the star of a new and purified Socialism
arises once more on a prepared and receptive world the very forces of
nature would not be strong enough to arrest its triumphant course."
"Hear! hear!" said Mr Vossit perfunctorily, as he looked round
solicitously for his hat. "Well, I suppose we may as well be going."
Cecil Brown recalled his wistful smile from the contemplation of a
future chequered with many scenes of light and shade.
"I thank you, Sir John," he replied with a look of friendly
understanding, "but I also must go down with my own party."
"I hope that the decision in neither case will be irrevocable," said
Hampden with regret, but as he spoke he knew that the hope was vain.
They had already begun to file out of the room, with a touch here and
there of that air of constraint that the party had never been quite able
to shake off on ceremonial occasions. They left Mr Tubes cowering before
the stove, and raising his head nervously from time to time to listen to
the noises of the street.
Mr Guppling, determined that his claims should not escape the eye of
Fame, paused at the door.
"When we leave this room, John Hampden," he proclaimed in a loud and
impressive voice, and throwing out his hand with an appropriate gesture,
"we leave Liberty behind us, bound, gagged, and helpless, on the floor!"
"Very true, Mr Guppling," replied Sir John good-humouredly. "We will
devote our first efforts to releasing her."
Mr Guppling smiled a bitter, cutting smile, and left the shaft to
rankle. It was not until he was out in the street that a sense of the
possible ambiguity of his unfortunate remark overwhelmed him with
disgust.