Demos

gentleman was at home; he received the visitor in his study-a spacious room luxuriously furnished, with a large window looking upon a lawn. The day was sunny and wa

omewhat awed by the man-servant at the door, the furniture of the hall, the air of refinement in the

elessness of his attire prepared one for the genial sincerity which marked his way of speaking. He wore a velvet jacket, a grey waistcoat buttoning up to the throat, grey trousers, fur-bordered slippers; his colla

ted. People were occasionally found to say that his books had a tang of acerbity; possibly this was the safety-valve at work, a hint of what might have come had the old hunger-demons kept up their goading. In the man himself you discovered an extreme simplicity of feeling, a frank tenderness, a noble indignation. For one who knew him it was not difficult to understand that he should have taken up extreme social views, still less that he should act upon his convictions. All his writing foretold such a po

scious of the necessity of subduing his voice, and had a certain pleasure in the eas

reference to Richard's loss of his employment, of which, as editor

e then a very unexpected

stlake's satisfaction. Cheerful news concerning h

his head,

I'm not sure that we shall not have to

egal routine in which he hoped Mr. Westlake

dinary use of this fortune. As yet I've only been able to hit on a few general ideas; I'm clear as to the objects I shall k

and a lady half

lone,' she remarked to Mr

friend Mutimer. You

few weeks before. She was not frequently present at such meetings, but ha

? Join our council, will you?' he added to h

e exquisite relief to features of the purest Greek type. In listening to anything that held her attention her eyes grew large, and their dark orbs seemed to dream passionately. The white swan's down at her throat-she was perfectly attired-made t

d told him, and the latter proceeded

conducted on Socialist principles. Practically I can devote the whole of my income; my personal expenses will not be worth taking into account. The men must be paid on a just scheme, and the margin of profit that remains, all that we can spare from the extension of the works, shall be devoted to the Socialist propaganda. In fact, I should like to make the executive comm

e kept her listening attitude unchanged;

l, but the Cause. There'll be no attempt to carry out the idea of every man receiving the just outcome of his labour; not because I shouldn't be willing to share in that way, but simply because we have a greater end in view than to enrich ourselves. Our men must all be members of the Union, and their prime interest must be the advancement of the principles of the Union. We shall b

Commonwealth Hall; in Mr. Westlake's study it was

last a possibility of action. I ask nothing better than to be allowed to work with you. It happens very luckily that

ing with a man named Rodman, a mining engineer, who has been working on the estate. He seems just

all a special meeting of the Committee? Or woul

thing, of course, is to get the financial details of our scheme put into shape. I go to Bel

e for the most

occupied just now, but I s

the country, Stella?' Mr.

ing in her breath, and u

lway misses it by about three miles, but Rodman tells me we can easily run a private line to Agworth station. However, the first thing is to

in town o

lecture in Isli

do, then. Is th

as much encouragement out of i

tain

question of the prudence which must necessarily be observed in publishing a project so undigested. Mr. Westlake, who was responsible for the paper, was not likely to transgress the limits of good taste, and when Richard, on Saturday morning, searched eage

-workmen the news spread quickly. Talk was rife on the subject of Mutimer's dismissal from Longwood Brothers', and the sensational rumour which followed so quickly found an atmosphere well prepared for its transmission. Hence the unusual concourse at the meeting-plac

op, ordinarily used for festive purposes; benches were laid across the floor, and an estrade at the upper end exalted chairman and lecturer. The walls were adorned with more or less striking advertisements of non-alcoholic beverages, and with a few prints from the illustrated papers. The atmosphere was tobaccoey, an

e middle of the room to the platform. As soon as he was well in the eye of the meeting, a single pair of hands-Daniel Dabbs owned them-gave the signal for uproar; feet made play on the boarding, and one or two of the more enthusiastic revolutionists fairly gave tongue. Richard seated h

to them as the lecturer of the evening. 'We're always glad to hear him, and to-night, if I may be allowed to 'int as much, we're particularly glad to hear him. Our friend and comrade is going to talk to us about the Land. It's a question we can't talk or think too much about, and Comrade Mutimer has thought about it as much and more than any of us, I think I may say. I don't know,' the chairman

il, was unmistakably hanged. He had been wont to begin his address with short, stinging periods, with sneers and such bitterness of irony as came within his compass. To-night he struck quite another key, mellow, confident, hinting at personal satisfaction; a smile was on his lips, and not a smile of

of economic theory; he sat down by the waters of Babylon; he climbed Pisgah. Had he but spoken of backslidings in the wilderness! But for that fatal omission, the lecture was, of its kind, good. By degrees Richard forgot his pose and the carefully struck note of mellowness; he began to believe what he was saying, and to say it with the right vigour of popular oratory. Forget his struggles with the h-fiend; forget his syntactical lapses; you s

ed questions, prel

, with bent shoulders, and wore spectacles-probably a clerk of forty years' standing. In his h

questions. I will read them in order; I h

knee. He jots a word or two after ea

n of seven queries, who, after repeating this and the other of the seven, profes

e man; he is not well-washed, his shirt-front s

sn't 'old with these kind o' theor

'Of course he will!'-'Who ever re

ke wages higher, or enable the poor man to get his beef and beer at a lower rate? What's the d-d good of it all? Figures, oh? He never heered yet as figures made a meal for a man as hadn't got one; nor yet as they provided sh

ries someone from

say as there was no fair 'earing for a

ockery. Mockery comes from every side, an angry note

ak! 'Ear him

red the Conservative working man has thrust his hat upon his

He has got hold of a new word, and that the verb to 'exploit.' I am exploited, thou art exploited,-he exploits! Who? Why, such men as that English duke whom the lecturer gripped and flagellated. The English duke is Mr. Cullen's bugbear; never a speech from Mr. Cullen but that duke is most horribly mauled. His ground rents,-yah! Another word of which Mr. Cullen is fond is 'strattum,'-usually spelt and pronounced with but one t midway. You and I have the misfortune to belong to a social 'strattum' which is trampled flat and hard beneath the

Mr. Cullen. He makes a point and pauses to observe the effect upon his hearers. He prides himself upon his grammar, goes back to correct a concord, emphasises eccentricities of pronunciation; for instance, he accents 'capitalist' on the second syllable, and repeats the words with grave challenge to all and sundry. Speaking of s

quivers, the hand he raises shakes paralytic. His clothes are of the meanest; what his age may be it is impossible to judge. As his voice gathers strength, the hearers begin to feel the influence of a terrible earnestness. He does not rant, he does not weigh his phrases; the stream of bitter prophecy flows on smooth and dark. He is supplying the omission in Mutimer's harangue, is bidding his class know itself and chasten itself, as an indispensable preliminary to any great chan

s a fit. In five minutes he is restored, b

xt speaker, and he stands forth in the person of a rather smug little shopkeeper, who declares that he knows of no single parti

rises, hems, pulls down his waistcoat; there is bubbling laughter. Mr. Kitshaw brings back the debate to its original subject; he talks of the Land. He is a little haphazard at first,

ploited classes don't exist! All are equal, my friends. Up an' down the fields they goes, all day long, arm-in-arm, Jack and Jerry, aye, and Liza an' Sairey Ann; for they have equality of the sexes, mind you! Up an' down the fields, I say, in a devil-may-care sort of way, with their sweethearts and their wives. No factory smoke, dear no! There's the rivers, with tropic

re to credit the English workman with too much imagination. Resonance of applause rewarded the sparkling rhetorician. A few of the audience av

at about the poisonous air of garrets and cellars? What about excessive toil and inability to procure healthy recreation? What about defects of education, due to poverty? What about diseased bodies inherited from over-slaved parents?' Messrs. Cowes and Cullen had accompanied these queries with a climax of vociferous approval; when Richard paused, they led the tumult of hands and heels. 'Look at that poor man who spoke to us!' cried Mutimer. 'He's gone, so I shan't hurt him by speaking plainly. He spoke well, mind you, and he spoke from his heart; but what sort of a life has his been, do you think? A wretched cripple, a miserable weakling no doubt from the day of his birth, cursed in having ever seen the daylight, and, such as he is, called upon to fight for his bread. Much of it he gets! Who would blame that man if he drank himself into unconsciousness every time he picked up a sixpence?' Cowes and Cullen bellowed their delight. 'Well, he doesn't do it; so much you can be

p on to the very benches and yell a

certain announcements; then the assembly broke up. The estrade was invaded; everybody wished to shake hands with Mutimer. Mr. Cullen tried to obtain Richard's attention to certain remarks of value; failing, he went off with a scowl. Mr. Cowes attempted to button-hole the popular hero; finding Richard conversing with someone else at the

Again he tip-toed at a window. The glimpse reassured him; he passed quickly through the doorway, stepped to the bar, gave an order. Then he turned, and behold, on a seat just under the window sat Mr. Cowes, & short p

o wind up with,' he

says,' returned

mer means what he says! Only the way of sayin

fter that the

ympathetically. Mr. Cullen

ali

l of his own clay; they put their

'll do,' observed tall Mr. Cowes, sen

ssented short Mr. Cul

asy to

as tell

er si

'll get much of it,' Mr.

your eye without winkin',' was

d till clo