A feeling therefore of intense anxiety pervaded the country on the Second of November,--the day on which the King was to open Parliament. No one could work; every one was waiting for the King's speech. He was as yet very popular; it was his first message to his people; and they openly begged him for some word of hope--some expression of sympathy for Reform. He went in great state to Westminster, and was cheered by the city as he went. "Will Your Majesty say a word for the poor? God bless Your Majesty! Stand by Reform!" Such expressions assailed him on every hand; they were the prayers of a people wronged and suffering, yet disposed to be patient and loyal, and to seek Reform only to spare themselves and the country the ruth and ruin of Revolution. Richmoor House was on the way of the royal procession, and Kate was there to watch it. A little later, a great company began to assemble in its rooms; for the Duke had promised to bring, or to send, the earliest news of the event. There was however an intense restlessness among these splendidly attired men and women. They could not separate Reform from Revolution; and the French Revolution was yet red and bloody in their memories. They still heard the thunder of those famous "Three Days of July," and there was constantly before their eyes, the heir of forty kings finding in a British palace an ignominious shelter. Not only was this the case, but French noblemen, in poverty and exile, were earning precarious livings all around; and English noblemen and ladies looked forward with terror to a similar fate, if the Reformers obtained their desire. Indeed, Sir Robert Inglis had boldly prophesied, "Reform would sweep the House of Lords clear in ten years." No wonder then the company waiting in Richmoor House were restless and anxious. Kate did not permit herself to speak, and Mrs. Atheling had very prudently remained in her own home. She had told the Squire she "must say what she thought, if she died for it!" and the Squire had answered, "To be sure, Maude. That is thy right; only, for goodness' sake, say it in thy own house!" But though Kate knew she would follow her mother's example, if she was brought to catechism on the subject, she did not have much fear of such a result; there were too many older ladies present, all of them desirous to express the hatreds and hopes of their class.