Lord of the World

lty Offices in Trafalgar Square to see Oliver deliver his speech o

. It was he who had given immense impetus to that secret movement by his declaration in the House that the key of future progress and brotherhood of nations was in the hands of the Order. It was through this alone that the false unity of the Church with its fantastic spiritual fraternity could be counteracted. St. Paul had been right, he declared, in his desire to break down the

k. A platform was erected round the bronze statue at such a height that the statesman appeared to be one of the speakers, though at

pace about the platform where room was reserved for them. The windows on every side were packed with faces; tall stands were erected along the front of the National Gallery and St. Martin's Church, garden-beds of colour behind the mute, white statues that faced outwards round the square; from Braithwaite in front, past the Victorians

sky. Not less than one hundred thousand persons, it was estimated in the ev

eared from behind the statue and came forward, and, i

of the Government, and sat for Manchester (3); and it was he who was to be chairman on this auspicious occasion. Behind him came Oliver, bareheaded and spruce, and even at that distance his mother and wife could see his brisk movement, his sudden smile an

ll the music of massed bands followed it as a flag follows a flag-stick. The hymn was one composed ten years before, and all Engla

dwells in ear

; the unintelligent Christian could sing them without a qualm; yet their sense was plain enough-the old human creed that man was all. Even Ch

s fixed on her husband's dark figure a hundred yards away, and her soul pouring through

g forward on the edge of the platform, and his thin, metallic voice piped a sentence or two acro

*

Mabel slipped a paper, smiling tremulously, into the

it was an analysis of her son's speech, and awa

nt. Fifty years ago, the speaker said, poverty was still a disgrace, now it was so no longer. It was in the causes that led to poverty that the disgrace or the merit lay. Who would not honour a man worn out in the service of his country, or overcom

its reward, and that, he supposed, together with a few periods on t

Braithwaite, treating him as the Precur

d back in her seat,

silent now, craning forward, watching, too, with parted lips: a couple of women with an old man directly behind, and other faces visible again

nting, as a murmur of applause drowned for an instant the minute, resonant voice. Then again he was forward, half crouching-for he was a born actor-and a st

n a moment, and simultaneously a violent commotion bubbled and heaved like water about a rock at a point in the cro

tand. A great roaring filled the square, the heads tossed this way and that, like corn under a squall of wind. Then Oliver was forward again, pointing and cr

ear, what is i

quick babble of talk and exclamations from behind made it