There was a shout of mingled laughter and inquiry. "How did you do it?--and whom did you bribe?" said Bayle to Lady Leven. "I didn't bribe anybody," she said indignantly. "You don't understand. My friends introduced me." Then, drawn out by him, she plunged into a lively account of her workshop experiences, interrupted every now and then by the sarcastic comments of her husband and the amusement of the two younger men who had brought their chairs close to her. Betty Leven ranked high among the lively chatterboxes of her day and set. Lady Maxwell, however, had not laughed at Frank Leven's speech. Rather, as he spoke of his wife's experiences, her face had clouded, as though the blight of some too familiar image, some sad ever-present vision, had descended upon her. Beimett also did not laugh. He watched the Levens indulgently for a few minutes, then insensibly he, Lady Maxwell, Edward Watton, and Tressady drew together into a circle of their own. "Do you gather that Lord Fontenoy's speech on Friday has been much taken up in the country?" said Bennett, bending forward and addressing Lady Maxwell. Tressady, who was observing him, noticed that his dress was precisely the "Sunday best" of the respectable workman, and was, moreover, reminded by the expression of the eyes and brow that Bennett was said to have been a well-known "local preacher" in his north-country youth. Lady Maxwell smiled, and pointed to Tressady. "Here," she said, "is Lord Fontenoy's first-lieutenant." Bennett looked at George. "I should be glad," he said, "to know what Sir George thinks?" "Why, certainly--we think it has been very warmly taken up," said George, promptly--"to judge from the newspapers, the letters that have been pouring in, and the petitions that seem to be preparing." Lady Maxwell's eyes gleamed. She looked at Bennett silently a moment, then she said: "Isn't it amazing to you how strong an impossible case can be made to look?" "It is inevitable," said Bennett, with a little shrug, "quite inevitable. These social experiments of ours are so young--there is always a strong case to be made out against any of them, and there will be for years to come." "Well and good," said George; "then we cavillers are inevitable too. Don't attack us--praise us rather; by your own confession, we are as much a part of the game as you are." Bennett smiled slightly, but did not in reality quite follow. Lady Maxwell bent forward. "Do you know whether Lord Fontenoy has any _personal_ knowledge of the trades he was speaking about?" she said, in her rich eager voice; "that is what I want so much to find out." George was nettled by both the question and the manner. "I regard Fontenoy as a very competent person," he said drily. "I imagine he did his best to inform himself. But there was not much need; the persons concerned--whom you think you are protecting--were so very eager to inform us!" Lady Maxwell flushed.