ut I do contest its right to fetter the thought and the
liberty of speech of all who enter it. I make no submission. The Lady
Cynthia came here under my protection, and if any undue influence has
been used, it has been used by Lucius, whom I treated with a confidence
he has abused. And I here appeal to a higher power and a higher court,
which may indeed permit this unhappy community to make its own
regulations, but will not permit any gross violation of elementary
justice."

I was carried away by great indignation in the course of my words, which
had a very startling effect. A large number of the audience left the
hall in haste. The judge grew white to the lips, whether with anger or
fear I did not know, said a few words to his neighbour, and then with a
great effort to control himself, said to me:

"You put us, sir, by your words, in a very painful position. You do not
know the conditions under which we live--that is evident--and
intemperate language like yours has before now provoked an invasion of
our peace of a most undesirable kind. I entreat you to calm yourself, to
accept the apologies of the Court for the incidental and indeed
unjustifiable violence with which you were treated. If you will only
return to your own community, the nature of which I will not now stay to
inquire, you may be assured that you will be conducted to our gates with
the utmost honour. Will you pledge yourself as a gentleman, and, as I
believe I am right in saying, as a Christian, to do this?"

"Yes," I said, "upon one condition: that I may have an interview with
the Lady Cynthia, and that she may be free to accompany me, if she
wishes."

The President was about to reply, when a sudden and unlooked-for
interruption occurred. A man in a pearly-grey dress, with a cloak
clasped with gold, came in at the end of the hall, and advanced with
rapid steps and a curiously unconcerned air up the hall. The judges rose
in their places with a hurried and disconcerted look. The stranger came
up to me, tapped me on the shoulder, and bade me presently follow him.
Then he turned to the President, and said in a clear, peremptory voice:

"Dissolve the Court! Your powers have been grossly and insolently
exceeded. See that nothing of this sort occurs again!" and then,
ascending the dais, he struck the President with his open hand hard upon
the cheek.

The President gave a stifled cry and staggered in his place, and then,
covering his face with his hands, w