stood or
loitered, affecting an abstraction, feigning to gaze upon the shrubs,
feigning to talk, feigning to be weary and to rest upon the benches.
M'Guire was no child in these affairs; he instantly divined one of the
plots of the Machiavellian Gladstone.

A chief difficulty with which we have to deal is a certain nervousness
in the subaltern branches of the corps; as the hour of some design draws
near, these chicken-souled conspirators appear to suffer some revulsion
of intent; and frequently despatch to the authorities, not indeed
specific denunciations, but vague anonymous warnings. But for this
purely accidental circumstance, England had long ago been an historical
expression. On the receipt of such a letter, the Government lays a trap
for its adversaries, and surrounds the threatened spot with hirelings.
My blood sometimes boils in my veins, when I consider the case of those
who sell themselves for money in such a cause. True, thanks to the
generosity of our supporters, we patriots receive a very comfortable
stipend; I myself, of course, touch a salary which puts me quite beyond
the reach of any peddling, mercenary thoughts; M'Guire, again, ere he
joined our ranks, was on the brink of starving, and now, thank God!
receives a decent income. That is as it should be; the patriot must not
be diverted from his task by any base consideration; and the distinction
between our position and that of the police is too obvious to be stated.

Plainly, however, our Leicester Square design had been divulged; the
Government had craftily filled the place with minions; even the
pensioner was not improbably a hireling in disguise; and our emissary,
without other aid or protection than the simple apparatus in his bag,
found himself confronted by force; brutal force; that strong hand which
was a character of the ages of oppression. Should he venture to deposit
the machine, it was almost certain that he would be observed and
arrested; a cry would arise; and there was just a fear that the police
might not be present in sufficient force to protect him from the
savagery of the mob. The scheme must be delayed. He stood with his bag
on his arm, pretending to survey the front of the Alhambra, when there
flashed into his mind a thought to appal the bravest. The machine was
set; at the appointed hour, it must explode; and how, in the interval,
was he to be rid of it?

Put yourself, I beseech you, into the body of that patriot. There he
was,