r my life, but he'll be here directly.
You must make it right, mother--you must."

"Ay, ay, lad; I'll speak to your fayther. He shan't beat you. Just
keep out of the road till he's cooled down a bit. Eh! here he comes for
sure, and a lot of his mates with him. There--just creep under the
couch-chair, lad. They'll not tarry so long. Fayther'll be off to the
`George' as soon as he's had his tea."

So the poor boy crept under the couch, the hanging drapery effectually
hiding him from the view of any who might come in. Another moment, and
Will Jones the father entered the house with half-a-dozen companions.

"Well, and what's up now?" asked the wife, as the men seated
themselves--some on chairs, and one or two on the couch.

"Never you heed, Martha," said her husband; "but just clap to the door,
and take yourself off to Molly Grundy's, or anywhere else you've a
mind."

"I can tell you I shall do nothing of the sort," was the reply. "A
likely thing, indeed, as I'm to take myself off and leave my own hearth-
stone while a parcel of chaps is turning the house out of the windows.
If you're up to that sort of game, or if you want to be talking anything
as decent folk shouldn't hear, you'd better be off to the `George.'
It's the fittest place for such work."

"Eh! don't vex Martha," said one of the men. "She'll promise not to
split, I'll answer for it. Won't you, Martha?"

"Eh, for sure," said Martha, "if you're bound to have your talk here,
you needn't be afraid of me; only I hope you're not going to do anything
as'll bring us into trouble."

"Never fear," said her husband; "there, sit you down and mend your
stockings, and the less you heed us the less you'll have to afterthink."

The men then began to talk together in a loudish whisper.

"Tommy Jacky'll be making a fine tale about you and me," said Jones.
"Eh, what a sighing and groaning there will be; and then we shall see in
the papers, `Mr Johnson finished his speech amidst loud applause.'"

"Eh, but we must put a stopper in his mouth," said another.

"But how must we do it?" asked a third. "Thomas is not the chap to be
scared out of what he's made up his mind to."

"No," remarked another; "and there's many a one as'd stand by him if we
were to try anything strong."

"Can't we shame him at the meeting?" asked another.

"Nay," said Jones, "he's gradely. You couldn't shame him by telling
folks what he was; and all as knows him knows as he's kept hi