XXXV. THE KING AND THE KAISER 318 XXXVI. THE BROTHERHOOD OF DEATH 324 XXXVII. THE GREAT THANKSGIVING 328 A Time of Terror PROLOGUE (A.D. 1885) PART I A HERITAGE OF HATE The Court was densely crowded, and an atmosphere already vitiated became doubly poisonous now that the ushers had lighted the gas. The flaring jets revealed on every side the flushed and strained faces of those who were eagerly waiting for the verdict. A great number of women had been present at the Old Bailey throughout the trial--women of fashion, eager to be thrilled by the most potent sensation of the hour, and women of the lower orders, mostly Irish. A babble of excited conversation arose directly the judges and the jury left the Court. There were three judges, for this was an alleged case of treason felony. In technical language the four prisoners were indicted for having feloniously compassed, devised, and intended to depose our Lady the Queen from the style, honour, and royal name of the Imperial Crown of the United Kingdom, and further that they, with divers other persons unknown, did manifest such intent by certain overt acts; all of which was set out with the customary amount of verbiage in the indictment. Reduced to plain English, the actual charge was that the accused had purchased arms and ammunition for distribution amongst a revolutionary brotherhood; that they had been concerned in storing gunpowder and other explosive materials for the purpose of wrecking public buildings and overthrowing the Government of the Queen. Chester Castle, with its great store of arms, was to be seized. Arms were to be transmitted in piano packing-cases by the mail train from Euston, and the express was to be held up on the route to Holyhead. Thereafter the rails were to be torn up, the telegraph wires cut, and an armed band of two thousand men was to take forcible possession of the mail boat and land in due course on the Irish coast. None of these things, beyond the purchase of a limited quantity of arms and ammunition, had really come to pass; but, as usual, the inevitable informer had revealed the alleged plot to the Government. Four arrests had been made, but the principal efforts of the prosecution were vigorously employed to obtain the conviction of one prisoner in particular--Michael White.