Moral force is a fine thing, friend Morley,
but the public spirit is inflamed here. You are a leader of the people.
Let us have another meeting on the Moor! you can put your fingers in a
trice on the man who will do our work. Mowbray Castle in their
possession, a certain iron chest, painted blue, and blazoned with the
shield of Valence, would be delivered to you. You shall have L10,000
down and I will take you back to London besides."

"The effort would fail," said Stephen Morley. "Wages must drop still
more, and the discontent here be deeper. But I will keep the secret; I
will treasure it up."

_V.--Liberty--At a Price_

While Mr. Baptist Hatton and Stephen Morley discussed the possible
recovery of the papers, much happened in London. Gerard became a marked
man in the Chartist Convention, a member of a small but resolute
committee. Egremont, now deeply in love with Sybil, declared his suit.

"From the first moment I beheld you in the starlit arch of Marney, your
image has never been absent from my consciousness. Do not reject my
love; it is deep as your nature, and fervent as my own. Banish those
prejudices that have embittered your existence. If I be a noble, I have
none of the accidents of nobility. I cannot offer you wealth, splendour,
and power; but I can offer you the devotion of an entranced being,
aspirations that you shall guide, an ambition that you shall govern."

"These words are mystical and wild," said Sybil in amazement. "You are
Lord Marney's brother; I learnt it but yesterday. Retain your hand, and
share your life and fortunes! You forget what I am. No, no, kind
friend--for such I'll call you--your opinion of me touches me deeply. I
am not used to such passages in life. A union between the child and
brother of nobles and a daughter of the people is impossible. It would
mean estrangement from your family, their hopes destroyed, their pride
outraged. Believe me, the gulf is impassable."

The Chartist petition was rejected by the House of Commons
contemptuously. Riots took place in Birmingham. Sybil grew anxious for
her father's safety.

Egremont's speech in parliament on the presentation of the national
petition created some perplexity among his aristocratic relatives and
acquaintances. It was free from the slang of faction--the voice of a
noble who had upheld the popular cause, who had pronounced that the
rights of labour were as sacred as those of property, that the social
happiness of the m