radiant with relief and gratitude; and the young
man heard him murmur to himself: "_Nunc dimittis, nunc dimittis!_"

The consternation of the populace was indescribable: the whole of Golden
Square was alive with men, women, and children, running wildly to and
fro, and, like rabbits in a warren, dashing in and out of the house
doors, and under favour of this confusion, Somerset dragged away the
lingering plotter.

"It was grand," he continued to murmur: "it was indescribably grand. Ah,
green Erin, green Erin, what a day of glory! and, oh, my calumniated
dynamite, how triumphantly hast thou prevailed!"

Suddenly a shade crossed his face; and pausing in the middle of the
footway, he consulted the dial of his watch.

"Good God!" he cried, "how mortifying! seven minutes too early! The
dynamite surpassed my hopes; but the clockwork, fickle clockwork, has
once more betrayed me. Alas, can there be no success unmixed with
failure? and must even this red-letter day be chequered by a shadow?"

"Incomparable ass!" said Somerset, "what have you done? Blown up the
house of an unoffending old lady, and the whole earthly property of the
only person who is fool enough to befriend you!"

"You do not understand these matters," replied Zero, with an air of
great dignity. "This will shake England to the heart. Gladstone, the
truculent old man, will quail before the pointing finger of revenge. And
now that my dynamite is proved effective----"

"Heavens, you remind me!" ejaculated Somerset. "That brick in your bag
must be instantly disposed of. But how? If we could throw it in the
river----"

"A torpedo," cried Zero, brightening, "a torpedo in the Thames! Superb,
dear fellow! I recognise in you the marks of an accomplished anarch."

"True!" returned Somerset. "It cannot so be done; and there is no help
but you must carry it away with you. Come on, then, and let me at once
consign you to a train."

"Nay, nay, dear boy," protested Zero. "There is now no call for me to
leave. My character is now reinstated; my fame brightens; this is the
best thing I have done yet; and I see from here the ovations that await
the author of the Golden Square Atrocity."

"My young friend," returned the other, "I give you your choice. I will
either see you safe on board a train or safe in gaol."

"Somerset, this is unlike you!" said the chemist. "You surprise me,
Somerset."

"I shall considerably more surprise you at the next police office,"
returned