senburgh is come." He swallowed in his throat. "Julian
Felsenburgh!" There was a world of sudden passion in his gentle voice,
and Oliver's own heart responded.

"I know, sir," he said; "I know all that you mean."

"Oh! to have a Saviour at last!" cried Francis. "One that can be seen
and handled and praised to His Face! It is like a dream--too good to be
true!"

Oliver glanced at the clock, and rose abruptly, holding out his hand.

"Forgive me, sir. I must not stay. You have touched me very deeply.... I
will speak to Snowford. Your address is here, I understand?"

He pointed to the papers.

"Yes, Mr. Brand. There is one more question."

"I must not stay, sir," said Oliver, shaking his head.

"One instant--is it true that this worship will be compulsory?"

Oliver bowed as he gathered up his papers.

II

Mabel, seated in the gallery that evening behind the President's chair,
had already glanced at her watch half-a-dozen times in the last hour,
hoping each time that twenty-one o'clock was nearer than she feared. She
knew well enough by now that the President of Europe would not be
half-a-minute either before or after his time. His supreme punctuality
was famous all over the continent. He had said Twenty-One, so it was to
be twenty-one.

A sharp bell-note impinged from beneath, and in a moment the drawling
voice of the speaker stopped. Once more she lifted her wrist, saw that
it wanted five minutes of the hour; then she leaned forward from her
corner and stared down into the House.

A great change had passed over it at the metallic noise. All down the
long brown seats members were shifting and arranging themselves more
decorously, uncrossing their legs, slipping their hats beneath the
leather fringes. As she looked, too, she saw the President of the House
coming down the three steps from his chair, for Another would need it in
a few moments.

The house was full from end to end; a late comer ran in from the
twilight of the south door and looked distractedly about him in the full
light before he saw his vacant place. The galleries at the lower end
were occupied too, down there, where she had failed to obtain a seat.
Yet from all the crowded interior there was no sound but a sibilant
whispering; from the passages behind she could hear again the quick
bell-note repeat itself as the lobbies were cleared; and from Parliament
Square outside once more came the heavy murmur of the crowd that had
been inaudible f