He was too meekly convinced of Heaven’s unerring justice not to feel assured that the man who had taken him in would come to a tragic end. He would not have hung that man with his own hands: he was too mild for vengeance. But if he had seen that man hanging he would have said piously, “Fitting retribution,” and passed on his way soothed and comforted. Taken in!--taken in at last!--he, Josiah Hartopp, taken in by a fellow with one eye! CHAPTER II. The Mayor is so protected that he cannot help himself. A commotion without,--a kind of howl, a kind of hoot. Mr. Williams, the warehousemen, the tanners, Mike Callaghan, share between them the howl and the hoot. The Mayor started: is it possible! His door is burst open, and, scattering all who sought to hold him back,--scattering them to the right and left from his massive torso in rushed the man who had taken in the Mayor,--the fellow with one eye, and with that fellow, shaggy and travel-soiled, the other dog! “What have you done with the charge I intrusted to you? My child! my child! where is she?” Waife’s face was wild with the agony of his emotions, and his voice was so sharply terrible that it went like a knife into the heart of the men, who, thrust aside for the moment, now followed him, fearful, into the room. “Mr.--Mr. Chapman, sir,” faltered the Mayor, striving hard to recover dignity and self-possession, “I am astonished at your--your--” “Audacity!” interposed Mr. Williams. “My child! my Sophy! my child! answer me, man!” “Sir,” said the Mayor, drawing himself up, “have you not got the note which I left at my bailiff’s cottage in case you called there?” “Your note! this thing!” said Waife, striking a crumpled paper with his hand, and running his eye over its contents. “You have rendered up, you say, the child to her lawful protector? Gracious heavens! did I trust her to you, or not?” “Leave the room all of you,” said the Mayor, with a sudden return of his usual calm vigour. “You go,--you, sirs; what the deuce do you do here?” growled Williams to the meaner throng. “Out! I stay, never fear, men, I’ll take care of him!” The bystanders surlily slunk off: but none returned to their work; they stood within reach of call by the shut door. Williams tucked up his coat-sleeves, clenched his fists, hung his head doggedly on one side, and looked altogether so pugnacious and minatory that Sir Isaac, who, though in a state of great excitement, had hitherto retained self-control, peered at him under his curls, stiffened his back, showed his teeth, and growled formidably. “My good Williams, leave us,” said the Mayor; “I would be alone with this person.” “Alone,--you! out of the question. Now you have been once taken in, and you own it,--it is my duty to protect you henceforth; and I will to the end of my days.” The Mayor sighed heavily. “Well, Williams, well!--take a chair, and be quiet. Now, Mr. Chapman, so to call you still; you have deceived me.” “I? how?”