nd graceful, bearing the unmistakable
stamp of high-breeding in every delicate movement. She might have been on
the platform of a London concert-hall as she faced her audience under the
shadowing hat.

They stared at her open-mouthed, spellbound, awed by the quiet dignity of
her. And in the hush that fell before her, Juliet began to sing.

Her voice was low, highly trained, exquisitely soft. She sang an old
English ballad with a throbbing sweetness that held her hearers with its
charm. And behind her Dick leaned against the table with his banjo and
very softly accompanied her.

His face was in shadow also as he bent over the instrument. Not once
throughout the song did he look up.

When she ended, there came that involuntary pause which is the highest
tribute that can be paid by any audience, and then such a thunder of
applause as shook the building. Saltash stepped forward to hand her back
to her chair, but the men in front of her yelled so hoarse a protest
that, laughing, he retired.

And Juliet sang again and again, thrilling the rough crowd as Dick had
never thrilled them, choosing such old-world melodies as reach the hearts
of all. Saltash watched her with keen appreciation on his ugly face. He
was an accomplished musician himself. But Dick with his banjo, though
he responded unerringly to every shade of feeling in the beautiful voice,
never raised his head.

It was he who at last came forward and led Juliet back to her chair, but
by that time the temper of the men had completely changed. They shouted
good-humoured comments to him and bandied jokes among themselves. The
whole atmosphere of the place had altered. The heavy sullenness had
passed like a thunder-cloud, and Ashcott no longer smoked his pipe in the
doorway with an air of gloomy foreboding.

Dick laid aside his banjo and came to the front of the platform. There
was absolute confidence in his bearing, a vital strength that imparted a
mastery that yet was largely compounded of comradeship.

He began to speak without effort--as a man speaks to his friends.

"I have something to say to you chaps," he said, "and I hope you will
hear me out fairly, even though it may not be the sort of thing you like
to listen to. I think you know that I care a good deal about your
welfare, and I am doing my level best to secure a decent future for you.
I haven't accomplished very much at present, but I'm sticking to it,
and I believe I shall win out some day. It won'