The poor ordinary prisoners were filled with excitement and delight and when we were out at exercise with them on the day before our release, woman after woman contrived to walk for a few moments either before or after one or other of us in the line and to ask if we also would be met by a band. "How splendid for you!" said one of the girls to me wistfully. "I only wish I had friends to meet me. But I am glad for you." "We are looking forward to the band, but we shall be sorry to lose you," another said. Whilst so many of us had been in prison, a by-election had taken place in South Aberdeen, where Mrs. Pankhurst, at the head of the Suffragettes' forces, had vigorously opposed the Government candidate whose majority had fallen by more than 4,000 votes. The figures were:-- G. B. Esslemont (L.) 3,779 R. McNeill (C.) 3,412 F. Bramley (Soc.) 1,740 _____ 367 At the General Election the figures had been:-- J. Bryce (L.) 6,780 W. G. Black (U.) 2,332 _____ 8,448 The Suffragists, too, had not been inactive, for Mrs. Henry Fawcett, and four of her colleagues, had written to the Prime Minister asking that they might be allowed to plead the cause of Woman's Suffrage at the Bar of the House. They pointed out that in 1688, Anne, the widow of Edward Fitz Harris, who was executed for treason in 1681, had been allowed to speak for herself and her children at the Bar, and that Mrs. Clarke, mistress of the Duke of York, had been summoned thither to give evidence in regard to the charges of corruption against the Duke. Nevertheless, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman refused to grant their request on the ground that there was no precedent for women to appear at the Bar of the House in support of a petition.