Grey after doing my duty by the Demonstration.

The newsboys were putting a good deal of feeling into their crying of
special editions when I reached the streets again; but I was not
inclined to waste further pence upon the _Sunday News'_ moralizings over
the evolution of _canards_. I took a mess of some adulterated pottage at
a foreign restaurant in Notting Hill, as I had no wish to return to
Bloomsbury before the Demonstration. The waiter--either a Swiss or a
German--asked me:

"Vad you sink, sare, of ze news from ze country?"

I asked him what it was, and he handed me a fresh copy of the _Sunday
News_, headed: "Special Edition. Noon."

"By Jove!" I thought; "no Sunday dinner for Wardle! They couldn't have
printed this in the small hours."

But the only new matter in this issue was a short announcement, headed
in poster type, as follows:

"EAST ANGLIA'S ISOLATION
RAILWAY COMMUNICATION STOPPED
STRANGE SUPPORT OF INVASION CANARD
_IS THIS A TORY HOAX?_
(SPECIAL)

"The preposterous rumour of a German invasion of England is receiving
mysterious support. We hear from a reliable source that some Imperialist
and Navy League cranks have organized a gigantic hoax by way of
opposition to the Disarmament Demonstration. If the curious breakdown of
communication with the east coast does prove to be the work of political
fanatics, we think, and hope, that these gentry may shortly be
convinced, in a manner they are never likely to forget, that, even in
this land of liberty, the crank is not allowed to interfere with the
transaction of public business.

"No trains have reached Liverpool Street from the northeast this
morning, and communication cannot be established beyond Chelmsford.
Whatever the cause of this singular breakdown may be, our readers will
soon know it, for, in order finally to dispel any hint of credence which
may be attached in some quarters to the absurd invasion report, we have
already despatched two representatives in two powerful motor-cars,
northeastward from Brentwood, with instructions to return to that point
and telegraph full particulars directly they can discover the cause of
the stoppage of communication.

"Further special editions will be issued when news is received from East
Anglia."

"Yes," I said to the waiter; "it's a curious affair."

"You believe him, sare--zat Sherma