k half your teeth out!'

He was capable of doing it. 'Arry got to his morning meal in silence.

In the course of the morning Mr. Keene called. Mutimer received him
in the dining-room, and they smoked together. Their talk was of the
meetings to be held in the evening.

'There'll be nasty doings up there,' Keene remarked, indicating with his
head the gathering place of Comrade Roodhouse's adherents.

'Of what kind?' Mutimer asked with indifference.

'There's disagreeable talk going about. Probably they'll indulge in
personalities a good deal.'

'Of course they will,' assented the other after a short pause.
'Westlake, eh?'

'Not only Westlake. There's a more important man.'

Mutimer could not resist a smile, though he was uneasy. Keene understood
the smile; it was always an encouragement to him.

'What have they got hold of?'

'I'm afraid there'll be references to the girl.'

'The girl?' Richard hesitated. 'What girl? What do you know about any
girl?'

'It's only the gossip I've heard. I thought it would be as well if I
went about among them last night just to pick up hints, you know.'

'They're talking about that, are they? Well, let them. It isn't hard to
invent lies.'

'Just so,' observed Mr. Keene sympathisingly. 'Of course I know they'd
twisted the affair.'

Mutimer glanced at him and smoked in silence.

'I think I'd better be there to-night,' the journalist continued. 'I
shall be more useful there than at the hall.'

'As you like,' said Mutimer lightly.

The subject was not pursued.

Though the occasion was of so much importance, Commonwealth Hall
contained but a moderate audience when Mr. Westlake rose to deliver
his address. The people who occupied the benches were obviously of a
different stamp from those wont to assemble at the Hoxton meeting-place.
There were perhaps a dozen artisans of intensely sober appearance, and
the rest were men and women who certainly had never wrought with their
hands. Near Mrs. Westlake sat several ladies, her personal friends.
Of the men other than artisans the majority were young, and showed the
countenance which bespeaks meritorious intelligence rather than ardour
of heart or brain. Of enthusiasts in the true sense none could be
discerned. It needed but a glance over this assembly to understand
how very theoretical were the convictions that had brought its members
together.

Mr. Westlake's address was interesting, very interesting; he had
prepared it with