l system at last? that the two feudal
chiefs (who could be named) are rebels against highest authority?
A smile from the sophisticated one. This duke and baron have merely
stopped to pluck a bird; it matters not whether or not the bird is an
erstwhile friend--he has been outlawed by highest authority, and is fair
game. The bird (with the toothpick in his mouth) creates a smile from
other chiefs of the system in good standing who are not too busy to
look at him. They have ceased all attempts to buttonhole him, for he is
unapproachable.

The other bird, the rebel of Leith, who has never been in the feudal
system at all, they have stopped laughing at. It is he who has brought
the Empire to its most precarious state.

And now, while strangers from near and far throng into town, drawn by
the sensational struggle which is to culminate in battle to-day, Mr.
Crewe is marshalling his forces. All the delegates who can be collected,
and who wear the button with the likeness and superscription of Humphrey
Crewe, are drawn up beside the monument in the park, where the Ripton
Band is stationed; and presently they are seen by cheering crowds
marching to martial music towards the convention hall, where they
collect in a body, with signs and streamers in praise of the People's
Champion well to the front and centre. This is generally regarded as a
piece of consummate general ship on the part of their leader. They are
applauded from the galleries,--already packed,--especially from one
conspicuous end where sit that company of ladies (now so famed) whose
efforts have so materially aided the cause of the People's Champion. Gay
streamers vie with gayer gowns, and morning papers on the morrow will
have something to say about the fashionable element and the special car
which brought them from Leith.

"My, but it is hot!"

The hall is filled now, with the thousand delegates, or their
representatives who are fortunate enough to possess their credentials.
Something of this matter later. General Doby, chairman of the
convention, an impressive but mournful figure, could not call a roll
if he wanted to. Not that he will want to! Impossible to tell, by the
convenient laws of the State, whether the duly elected delegates of
Hull or Mercer or Truro are here or not, since their credentials may
be bought or sold or conferred. Some political giants, who have not
negotiated their credentials, are recognized as they walk down the
aisle: the statesmanli