The twenty-second of November, the day before the total abstinence
meeting, arrived in a storm of wind and rain. Everything was favourable
to the conspirators. They had met several times to arrange their plans,
but had always talked them over in the open air and in the dark, under a
hedge, or at the end of a lane. Martha never alluded to the subject
with her husband. He had once said to her himself--
"Mind what you've promised."