only the
night before, almost mean. The fumes of the sudden elevation which had
disturbed him had cleared off and become transparent, and in the state
in which Gwynplaine had been seduced by a vanity he now saw but a duty.
That which had at first lessened now elevated him. He was illuminated by
one of those great flashes which emanate from duty.

All round Gwynplaine arose cries of "Hear, hear!"

Meanwhile, rigid and superhuman, he succeeded in maintaining on his
features that severe and sad contraction under which the laugh was
fretting like a wild horse struggling to escape.

He resumed,--

"I am he who cometh out of the depths. My lords, you are great and rich.
There lies your danger. You profit by the night; but beware! The dawn is
all-powerful. You cannot prevail over it. It is coming. Nay! it is come.
Within it is the day-spring of irresistible light. And who shall hinder
that sling from hurling the sun into the sky? The sun I speak of is
Right. You are Privilege. Tremble! The real master of the house is about
to knock at the door. What is the father of Privilege? Chance. What is
his son? Abuse. Neither Chance nor Abuse are abiding. For both a dark
morrow is at hand. I am come to warn you. I am come to impeach your
happiness. It is fashioned out of the misery of your neighbour. You have
everything, and that everything is composed of the nothing of others. My
lords, I am an advocate without hope, pleading a cause that is lost; but
that cause God will gain on appeal. As for me, I am but a voice. Mankind
is a mouth, of which I am the cry. You shall hear me! I am about to
open before you, peers of England, the great assize of the people; of
that sovereign who is the subject; of that criminal who is the judge. I
am weighed down under the load of all that I have to say. Where am I to
begin? I know not. I have gathered together, in the vast diffusion of
suffering, my innumerable and scattered pleas. What am I to do with them
now? They overwhelm me, and I must cast them to you in a confused mass.
Did I foresee this? No. You are astonished. So am I. Yesterday I was a
mountebank; to-day I am a peer. Deep play. Of whom? Of the Unknown. Let
us all tremble. My lords, all the blue sky is for you. Of this immense
universe you see but the sunshine. Believe me, it has its shadows.
Amongst you I am called Lord Fermain Clancharlie; but my true name is
one of poverty--Gwynplaine. I am a wretched thing carved out of the
stuff of