"I care not if he be governor himself; he has no business here." The little fellow, whose face had grown alternately white and purple, stood squeezing his palms and ejaculating: "Oh, dear me!--oh, dear!--this is very extraordinary--what can this mean?" "Why do you dare enter this house?" demanded Robert, fiercely. "Oh, dear, I don't know--I am only a small fellow, you know." At this moment Mrs. Price and her daughter interposed and begged Robert, for the peace of the family, to make no further remonstrance. He was informed that Giles Peram was the favorite of the governor and Hugh Price, and to insult him would be insulting those high functionaries. "Why is he here? Whom does he come to see?" "Perhaps it is Mr. Price!" the mother stammered, casting a glance at Peram, who quickly answered: "Yes--yes, it is Mr. Price. Will you show me up to him? I have a very important message from the governor." He was trembling in every limb, for he expected to be hurled from the house. Robert went into the street in a sort of maze. He felt a strange foreboding that all was not right, and that Giles Peram had some deep scheme on foot. "I will kill the knave, if the governor should hang me for it the next moment," he said in a fit of anger. It was not long before Robert was at the house of Mr. Lawrence, where he met his friends Drummond and Cheeseman. The three were engaged in a close consultation as if discussing a matter of vital importance. They did not at first recognize Robert, who had grown to manhood; but as soon as he made himself known, they welcomed him back among them, and warm-hearted Cheeseman said: "I know full well you can be relied upon in this great crisis." "What is the crisis?" Robert asked. "We seem on the verge of some sort of a revolution. Virginia welcomed Charles II. and Governor Berkeley as the frogs welcomed the stork, and they, stork like, have begun devouring us." "I have heard something of the grievances of the people of Virginia; but I do not know all of them. What leads up to this revolution?" Mr. Drummond answered: "The two main grievances are the English navigation acts and the grant of authority to the English noblemen to sell land titles and manage other matters in Virginia. Why, the king hath actually given to Lord Culpepper, a cunning and covetous member of the commission, for trade and plantations, and the earl of Arlington, a heartless spendthrift, 'all the dominion of land and water called Virginia, for the term of thirty-one years.' We are permitted by the trade laws to trade only with England in English ships, manned by Englishmen." "Is it such a great grievance to the people?"