"I would rather go with you," I said. "No, no, I want you to represent me here," he whispered. "Stay, Antony; it will seem less as if I deserted the ruin like a rat, and I am not man enough to command myself now." "But you are not fit to go alone," I said earnestly. "Yes, I am," he replied; "the sick feeling has gone off. It was nothing to mind. I am not much hurt." I should have pressed him, but he was so much in earnest that I drew back, and after a formal leave-taking he left the room, and descended the stairs, while a burst of angry remarks followed his departure. "Ruddle," said one grey-haired old gentleman, "I think, for your credit's sake, you ought to have in a detective to try and trace out the offender." "I mean to," said Mr Ruddle firmly, and he glanced at Grimstone, who seemed to shrink away, and looked thin and old. "For my part," said another, "I believe fully in the invention and I congratulate the man of genius who--halloa! what's wrong?" A burst of yells and hooting arose from the street below, and with one consent we hurried to the windows, to see poor Hallett standing at bay in a corner, hemmed in by about a hundred men and boys, evidently the off-scourings of the district, who, amidst a storm of cries of "Who robbed the poor man of his bread?"--"Who tries to stifle work?" and a babel of similar utterances, were pelting the poor fellow with filth, waste-paper full of printing-ink, mud, and indescribable refuse, evidently prepared for the occasion. Heading the party, and the most demonstrative of all, was a fat ruffian, in inky apron and shirt-sleeves, whom I recognised as what should have been the manhood of my old enemy, Jem Smith, while in the same glance I saw, standing aloof upon a doorstep, a spectator of the degrading scene, no less a person than John Lister, fashionably dressed, and in strange contrast to the pallid, mud-bespattered man who stood there panting and too weak to repel assault. What I have said here was seen in a moment, as I cried out, "Tom Girtley, quick!" rushed to the door, and down the stairs. It took me very little time to reach the street, but it was long enough to bring my blood to fever-heat, as, closely followed by Tom, I rushed past John Lister, and fought my way through the yelling mob of ruffianly men and boys. Before I could reach Hallett, though, I caught sight of a carriage farther up the street, and just then the noise and yelling ceased as if by magic, while my efforts to reach Hallett's side became less arduous. I, too, stopped short as I reached the inner edge of the ring which surrounded my friend, for there, richly dressed, and in strange opposition to the scene, was Miriam Carr, her veil thrown back, her handsome face white, and her large eyes flashing as she threw herself before Hallett. "Cowards! wretches!" I heard her cry; and then, "Oh, help I help!" For as, regardless of his state, she caught at Hallett, he reeled and seemed about to fall!