e!" I said, grasping
his arm and laughing. But the laugh was half a failure, and there was a
suspicious moisture in my eyes, which I turned my face away to conceal.

During the day I had a last interview with Mr. Bradlaugh and Mrs. Besant
at 63 Fleet Street. Mr. Bradlaugh told me he could find no flaw in
our Indictment, and his air was that of a man who sees no hope, but is
reluctant to say so. Mrs. Besant was full of quiet sympathy, proffering
this and that kindness, and showing how much her heart was greater than
her opportunity of assistance.

In the evening I attended the monthly Council meeting of the National
Secular Society. Mr. Ramsey was also present. We both expressed our
belief that we should not meet our fellow-councillors again for some
time, and solemnly wished them good-bye, with a hope that, if we were
sent to prison, they would seize the opportunity, and initiate an
agitation against the Blasphemy Laws. I then drove home, and finished
the notes for my defence.

Early the next morning I was at 28 Stonecutter Street. Being
apprehensive of a fine as well as imprisonment, I made hasty
arrangements for removing the whole of the printing plant to some empty
rooms in a private house. Mr. A. Hilditch was the friend on whom I
relied in this emergency; and I am indebted to him for aid in many other
difficulties arising from my prosecution. My foreman printer, Mr. A.
Watkin, superintended the removal. By the evening not a particle of
our plant remained at the office. Mr. Watkin stuck loyally to his
duty during my long absence, and on my return I found how much the
_Freethinker_ owed to his unassuming devotion.

One ordeal was left. I had to say good-bye to my wife. It was a dreadful
moment. Reticence is wisdom in such cases. I will not inflict sentiment
on the reader, and I was never given to wearing my heart upon my sleeve.
Let it suffice that I fought down even the last weakness. When I stepped
into the Old Bailey dock I was calm and collected. All my energies were
strung for one task--the defence of my own liberty and of the rights of
Freethought.

That very morning the _Freethinker_ appeared with its usual
illustration. It was the last number I edited for twelve months. My
final article was entitled, "No Surrender," and I venture to quote it
in full, as exhibiting my attitude towards the prosecution within the
shadow of the prison walls:--

"The City Corporation is lavishly spending other people's