'Stay again,' said his lordship. The people gathered closer in wonder. The masterful young lord looked as if he meant to interfere. 'Some of you,' he said, 'take this woman away, and look for any marks of violence. No,' as the elder women pressed forward, 'not you who have got young husbands of your own, and would like to get rid of them yourselves perhaps. Some of you girls take her.' But she refused to go, while the old women murmured amongst each other. 'Must obey orders, my lord,' said one of the police. 'Here's a case for the magistrates. Woman says her husband struck, beat, and kicked her. Magistrates will hear the case, my lord.' She pulled out her handcuffs. Then Lord Chester saw that the moment had arrived. 'Harry,' he said, 'stand by.' He laid his hand on the blacksmith's shoulder. 'No one shall harm him,' he said. 'Tom, come with me.' 'My lord!... my lord!' cried the policewomen. 'What shall we do? It's obstructing law--it's threatening the executive: what will the justices say? It's a most dreadful offence.' 'Come, Tom,' he said. The crowd parted right and left with awestruck eyes. As Lord Chester carried off his rescued prisoner, the Vicar came running out with dismay upon her face. 'My lord! my lord!' she cried. 'What dreadful thing is this? And you, Tom,--you, after all your promises! In _my_ parish, too!' 'Hold your foolish tongue!' said Lord Chester, roughly. 'Why not in your parish? In every parish, thanks to you and your accursed religion, the young men are torn from the girls, and there is misery. Stand aside.... You, Susan, will you come with me and your old sweetheart?' The Vicar gasped. She turned white with terror. 'Foolish tongue! Accursed religion!' Had she heard aright? The police-constables looked stupidly at one another. 'Please, my lord,' said one, 'we must report your lordship.' 'Go and report,' replied the rebel. It was now half-past five in the afternoon, and the labourers were returning from the fields. The village street was crowded with men, most of them young men. The men began whispering together, and the women were all delivering orations at once. The Chief pointed to some of the men and called them by name. 'You, John Deer; you, Nick Trulliber; you--and you--and you,--come with me. You have old wives too; unless you want to be sent to prison for life for wife-beating, come with me and fight for your liberty.' They hesitated; they trembled; they looked at the vicar, at their wives: they would have been lost but for the presence of mind of the cobbler. He was, as I have said, an elderly man, bowed down by his work and by years. But he sprang to the front and shouted to the men:--