ies of his youth, would
certainly incur no needless risk to his own valuable scalp.

The throng thickened; it was impossible that the speakers should be
audible to the whole assembly. Hastily it was decided to arrange two
centres. Whilst Mutimer was speaking at the lower end of the Green,
Redgrave would lift up his voice in the opposite part, and make it
understood that Mutimer would repeat his address there as soon as he
had satisfied the hearers below. The meeting was announced for three
o'clock, but it was half an hour later before Mutimer stood up on the
cart and extended his hand in appeal for silence. It at first seemed as
if he could not succeed in making his voice heard at all. A cluster
of Roodhouse's followers, under the pretence of demanding quiet, made
incessant tumult. But ultimately the majority, those who were merely
curious, and such of the angry East-Enders as really wanted to hear
what Mutimer had to say for himself, imposed silence. Richard began his
speech.

He had kept Adela's warning in mind, and determined to be calmly
dignified in his refutal of the charges brought against him. For five
minutes he impressed his hearers. He had never spoken better. In the
beginning he briefly referred to the facts of his life, spoke of the use
he had made of wealth when he possessed it, demanded if it was likely
that he should join with swindlers to rob the very class to which he
himself was proud to belong, and for which he had toiled unceasingly.
He spoke of Rodman, and denied that he had ever known of this man's
connection with the Company--a man who was his worst enemy. He it was,
this Rodman, who doubtless had written the letter which first directed
suspicion in the wrong quarter; it was an act such as Rodman would be
capable of, for the sake of gratifying his enmity. And how had that
enmity arisen? He told the story of the lawsuit; showed how, in that
matter, he had stood up for common honesty, though at the time Rodman
was his friend. Then he passed to the subject of his stewardship.
Why had he put that trust money into a concern without sufficient
investigation? He could make but one straightforward answer: he had
believed that the Company was sound, and he bought shares because the
dividends promised to be large, and it was his first desire to do the
very best he could for those who had laid their hard-earned savings in
his hands.

For some minutes he had had increasing difficulty in holding his voice