"Did I tell you that Dora Farquharson was there? Somehow or other, I don’t know how, the three of us got together at the door of the Ladies’ Gallery, and were the first to read the paper—Evelyn, Dora and I. I think Evelyn did one of the pluckiest things I ever saw a woman do in my life. There was such confusion in the House below that no noise in the Ladies’ Gallery was likely to be specially noticed. The tumult was shocking and the rush. With Dora Farquharson clinging to her arm she read the news aloud, and calmed the tumult. ’They dare to say Mr. Farquharson has done this thing,’ she said; ’it is a lie. It may not be proved to-day or to-morrow, but it is a lie all the same.’ You should have seen those women pause. We are like sheep, after all; we follow our strong leader, be it man or woman. Another woman took Evelyn’s cue; she was, I think, one of the heads of the women’s franchise movement, or some such thing. Anyway she was quick enough to see that in a moment of national excitement it would speak well for women if they could comport themselves quietly and with dignity. To quote the morning papers, ’In spite of the disturbance and dissension below, the occupants of the Ladies’ Gallery withdrew in perfect order, and with no signs of excitement, a great contrast to the prevailing attitude of the House.’ "Evelyn and I led the way with Dora Farquharson. She had, of course, to be taken home at once and put to bed. One dreads the advent of the evening papers; more still the comments of the foreign Press. And if we dread them, what must Richard Farquharson feel? I never knew how much I loved my country until now. These low little papers!—every stone they fling hurts me personally. To hint of corruption and bribery here, in England!—I am only a woman, and I feel this acutely. Again, what can it be to Richard Farquharson? As things stand, it is as though he had wounded almost to death what he loves best and would sacrifice most for. This is a blow at his heart, and a blow at the nation. How to meet it, decadent as we are, demoralized by that love of luxury and advertisement which brings us day by day nearer disaster and downfall?" *CHAPTER IX* "Never make a defence ... before you are accused."—CHARLES I. In youth, a great crisis may only spiritualize and refine the features; in maturity, it leaves ineradicable scars.