leave my son with me. Oh do! He is
not in his right senses, he is not, indeed!'

'It is a bad sign of the wickedness of these times,' said Lord George,
evading her touch, and colouring deeply, 'that those who cling to the
truth and support the right cause, are set down as mad. Have you the
heart to say this of your own son, unnatural mother!'

'I am astonished at you!' said Gashford, with a kind of meek severity.
'This is a very sad picture of female depravity.'

'He has surely no appearance,' said Lord George, glancing at Barnaby,
and whispering in his secretary's ear, 'of being deranged? And even
if he had, we must not construe any trifling peculiarity into madness.
Which of us'--and here he turned red again--'would be safe, if that were
made the law!'

'Not one,' replied the secretary; 'in that case, the greater the zeal,
the truth, and talent; the more direct the call from above; the clearer
would be the madness. With regard to this young man, my lord,' he added,
with a lip that slightly curled as he looked at Barnaby, who stood
twirling his hat, and stealthily beckoning them to come away, 'he is as
sensible and self-possessed as any one I ever saw.'

'And you desire to make one of this great body?' said Lord George,
addressing him; 'and intended to make one, did you?'

'Yes--yes,' said Barnaby, with sparkling eyes. 'To be sure I did! I told
her so myself.'

'I see,' replied Lord George, with a reproachful glance at the unhappy
mother. 'I thought so. Follow me and this gentleman, and you shall have
your wish.'

Barnaby kissed his mother tenderly on the cheek, and bidding her be
of good cheer, for their fortunes were both made now, did as he was
desired. She, poor woman, followed too--with how much fear and grief it
would be hard to tell.

They passed quickly through the Bridge Road, where the shops were all
shut up (for the passage of the great crowd and the expectation of
their return had alarmed the tradesmen for their goods and windows),
and where, in the upper stories, all the inhabitants were congregated,
looking down into the street below, with faces variously expressive
of alarm, of interest, expectancy, and indignation. Some of these
applauded, and some hissed; but regardless of these interruptions--for
the noise of a vast congregation of people at a little distance, sounded
in his ears like the roaring of the sea--Lord George Gordon quickened
his pace, and presently arrived before St George's Fie