Legitimate pride in the thought of this distinction seemed to be struggling in Edward's mind with the melancholy that was fast stealing over him. He paused, and then added with a sigh: "Very likely I shall be arrested." "Oh, well," I said, "if you put your head in the lion's mouth you must be prepared for his biting. I wish to goodness you would take it out before it is too late--for the sake of your family, if not for your own." But Edward would not do that; he said that he must go on with his work, wherever it led him. The only encouragement I could give him was that they would probably treat his as a political offence, for which they would only imprison him in the first division, in which, as he had once assured me, they would give him plenty of manual labour, and feed him chiefly on bread and water. This cheered him somewhat, and he left me to prepare himself for the morrow. CHAPTER XXVIII The parade of the newly formed Masters' and Mistresses' Union duly took place, and was attended by no immediately unpleasant results as far as Edward or the other leaders were concerned. It was quite an orderly demonstration, and its organisers had been astute enough to disassociate themselves from the anarchical proceedings of Mr. Bolster, and those who had followed his lead. I discovered that Edward had given me an over-coloured account of the importance that these outbreaks had had in the movement, and possibly of his own share in directing it. He carried a banner in the procession, on which had been emblazoned, rather hurriedly, the words: "We Want to Make our own Beds," and marched, surrounded by the mistresses, about halfway down the line. If the police had made any arrests, I doubt if they would have picked him out, or even if they would have noticed him. All would have gone well if Edward had now been content to work on these safe and constitutional lines. There were stronger heads than his directing affairs, and with such success that they were able to throw over those who had been responsible for quickening the unrest into life. They even encouraged the police to take active steps against those who had put themselves into a stage of siege. The tradespeople were forced to stop their supplies, and they were all starved out within a week. When they got them under lock and key they dealt leniently with them, for public opinion was largely on their side. But Edward was so furious with the cynical way in which his fellow progressives had repudiated these noble-spirited pioneers that there was no holding him, and at last he achieved that crown of martyrdom for which he had thirsted, and was arrested, as he was leaving a meeting of the Super-Assessed Employers' Protest League.