s conviction that the rights of labour
were as sacred as those of property; that if a difference were to be
established, the interests of the living wealth ought to be preferred;
who had declared that the social happiness of the millions should be the
first object of a statesman, and that if that were not achieved, thrones
and dominions, the pomp and power of courts and empires, were alike
worthless.

With a heart not without emotion; with a kindling cheek, and eyes
suffused with tears, Sybil read the speech of Egremont. She ceased;
still holding the paper with one hand, she laid on it the other with
tenderness, and looked up to breathe as it were for relief. Before her
stood the orator himself.

Book 5 Chapter 2

Egremont had recognized Sybil as she entered the garden. He was himself
crossing the park to attend a committee of the House of Commons which
had sat for the first time that morning. The meeting had been formal and
brief, the committee soon adjourned, and Egremont repaired to the spot
where he was in the hope of still finding Sybil.

He approached her not without some restraint; with reserve and yet with
tenderness. "This is a great, an unexpected pleasure indeed." he said in
a faltering tone. She had looked up; the expression of an agitation, not
distressful, on her beautiful countenance could not be concealed. She
smiled through a gushing vision: and with a flushed cheek, impelled
perhaps by her native frankness, perhaps by some softer and irresistible
feeling of gratitude, respect, regard, she said in a low voice, "I was
reading your beautiful speech."

"Indeed," said Egremont much moved, "that is an honour,--a pleasure,--a
reward, I never could have even hoped to have attained."

"By all," continued Sybil with more self-possession, "it must be read
with pleasure, with advantage, but by me--oh! with what deep interest."

"If anything that I said finds an echo in your breast," and here he
hesitated, "--it will give me confidence for the future," he hurriedly
added.

"Ah! why do not others feel like you!" said Sybil, "all would not then
be hopeless."

"But you are not hopeless," said Egremont, and he seated himself on the
bench, but at some distance from her.

Sybil shook her head.

"But when we spoke last," said Egremont, "you were full of
confidence--in your cause, and in your means."

"It is not very long ago," said Sybil, "since we thus spoke, and yet
time in the interval has tau