aceable, prudent man, seized him by the arm, and whispered, "What
are you about? Consider for what you are here: another word may rob the
assembly of your presence. A man bent on a public cause must not, on the
eve of its trial, enlist in a private quarrel."

"True, my friend, true," said Wolfe, swallowing his rage and eying Lord
Ulswater's retreating figure with a menacing look; "but the time may yet
come when I shall have license to retaliate on the upstart."

"So be it," quoth the other; "he is our bitterest enemy. You know,
perhaps, that he is Lord Ulswater of the ---- regiment? It has been at
his instigation that the magistrates proposed to disturb the meeting. He
has been known publicly to say that all who attended the assembly ought
to be given up to the swords of his troopers."

"The butchering dastard, to dream even of attacking unarmed men: but
enough of him; I must tarry yet in the street to hear what success our
intercessor has obtained." And as Wolfe passed the house in which the
magisterial conclave sat, Mordaunt came out and accosted him.

"You have sworn to me that your purpose is peaceable." said Mordaunt.

"Unquestionably," answered Wolfe.

"And you will pledge yourself that no disturbance, that can either be
effected or counteracted by yourself and friends, shall take place?"

"I will."

"Enough!" answered Mordaunt. "Remember that if you commit the least act
that can be thought dangerous I may not be able to preserve you from the
military. As it is, your meeting will be unopposed."

Contrary to Lord Ulswater's prediction, the meeting went off as quietly
as an elderly maiden's tea-party. The speakers, even Wolfe, not only
took especial pains to recommend order and peace, but avoided, for the
most part, all inflammatory enlargement upon the grievances of which
they complained. And the sage foreboders of evil, who had locked up
their silver spoons, and shaken their heads very wisely for the last
week, had the agreeable mortification of observing rather an appearance
of good humour upon the countenances of the multitude than that
ferocious determination against the lives and limbs of the well-affected
which they had so sorrowfully anticipated.

As Mordaunt (who had been present during the whole time of the meeting)
mounted his horse and quitted the ground, Lord Ulswater, having just
left his quarters, where he had been all day in expectation of some
violent act of the orators or the mob demandin