"I shall go back to England," he said, "and, of this you may rest
assured, that I shall do what can be done in Parliament and elsewhere
to save you and the men whom I must call your victims from the
consequences of to-day's madness and to-morrow's crime."
He left the room. The five men who had voted "Aye" were gathered in a
knot talking eagerly. I took Moyne's arm and we went out together.
"Her ladyship must be got away," he said. "And your daughter, Kilmore.
She's here, isn't she? This town will be no place for women to-morrow.
Luckily I have the car. You'll take them, won't you? Castle Affey will
be the best place for the present."
"What are you going to do yourself?" I asked.
We passed through the door and down the flight of steps to the street.
The crowd outside caught sight of us at once. Some one shouted aloud.
"More traitors!"
The news of the result of the meeting and the part we took in it had
somehow reached the people already. An angry roar went up from the
crowd. Those who were nearest to us cursed us. A police-officer with
eight men forced a way through the crowd. At a word from their officer
the men drew their batons and stood in front of us.
"I think, my lord," said the officer to Moyne, "that you'd better go
back. We had the greatest difficulty in getting Mr. Babberly through,
and the crowd is angrier now."
"I'm going on," said Moyne.
"I cannot be responsible," said the officer. "I haven't enough men to
control this crowd. If you go on--"
Moyne pushed his way through the cordon of police. I followed him. At
first the people drew back a little and let us pass into the middle of
the crowd. Then one man after another began to hustle us. Moyne linked
his arm in mine and helped me along. A man struck him in the face with
the flat of his hand. It was a sharp slap rather than an actual blow.
Moyne flushed deeply, but he neither spoke nor struck back. Then
suddenly the people seemed to forget all about us. A wild cheer burst
from them. Hats were flung into the air. Sticks were waved. Some one
began firing shots from a revolver in rapid succession. It was a
fusillade of joy, a kind of salute to McNeice who appeared at the
window of the committee-room. Moyne and I pushed our way on. When we
were clear of the crowd Moyne spoke to me again.
"You'd better take them at once," he said. "It's impossible to know
what'll happen here to-night."
"But you?" I said.
"Oh, I shall stay."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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