said Sybil. "There is no wisdom like frankness. Had
you told me, he would not have been here today. He met and addressed me,
and I only recognised an acquaintance who had once contributed so much
to the pleasantness of our life. Had he not accompanied me to this door
and met my father, which precipitated an explanation on his part which
he found had not been given by others, I might have remained in an
ignorance which hereafter might have produced inconvenience."

"You are right," said Morley, looking at her rather keenly. "We have all
of us opened ourselves too unreservedly before this aristocrat."

"I should hope that none of us have said to him a word that we wish to
be forgotten," said Sybil. "He chose to wear a disguise, and can hardly
quarrel with the frankness with which we spoke of his order or his
family. And for the rest, he has not been injured from learning
something of the feelings of the people by living among them."

"And yet if anything were to happen to-morrow," said Morley, "rest
assured this man has his eye on us. He can walk into the government
offices like themselves and tell his tale, for though one of the
pseudo-opposition, the moment the people move, the factions become
united."

Sybil turned and looked at him, and then said, "And what could happen
to-morrow, that we should care for the government being acquainted with
it or us? Do not they know everything? Do not you meet in their very
sight? You pursue an avowed and legal aim by legal means--do you not?
What then is there to fear? And why should anything happen that should
make us apprehensive?"

"All is very well at this moment," said Morley, "and all may continue
well; but popular assemblies breed turbulent spirits, Sybil. Your father
takes a leading part; he is a great orator, and is in his element in
this clamorous and fiery life. It does not much suit me; I am a man
of the closet. This Convention, as you well know, was never much to
my taste. Their Charter is a coarse specific for our social evils. The
spirit that would cure our ills must be of a deeper and finer mood."

"Then why are you here?" said Sybil.

Morley shrugged his shoulders, and then said "An easy question.
Questions are always easy. The fact is, in active life one cannot afford
to refine. I could have wished the movement to have taken a different
shape and to have worked for a different end; but it has not done this.
But it is still a movement and a great one, and I