Page:Arminell, a social romance (1896).djvu/251

Rh of a father by taking the life of his only son, and of a child by bereaving her of her mother, when he was about to tear the roof off from over the head of the widow and the fatherless, he should have been here, yes, here and not far away—Heaven knows where—in what scene of riot and revelry, into which decent folk like us would not venture to look."

"Now come," said Lord Lamerton, "this is all rubbish. I have been at a ploughing match. I want to know what you are doing here. Who the deuce are you?"

"My lord," said the orator, "I am—I rejoice to say it—one of the People, one of the down-trodden and ill-treated, the excluded from the good things of life. My heart, my lord, beats in the right place. Where yours is, my lord, it is not for me, it is for your own conscience to decide. But mine, mine—is in the right place. I am one of the people, and, my lord, let me inform you that when you insult me, you insult the entire people of England; you bespatter not me only, but the whole of that enlightened, hearty, intelligent people, of whom I see so many noble, generous specimens before me—you bespatter them, I repeat, my lord, you bespatter them in the grossest and most unwarranted fashion—with dirt."

" 'Pon my soul," interrupted Lord Lamerton, rapping on the table, "I can make no heads nor tails out of all this. If you have anything against me, say it out. If you want anything, tell it me plainly. I am not unreasonable, but I'm not going to stand here and listen to all this rigmarole."

"Perhaps, my lord, you are not aware, that there are many grievances under which the Public, the, my lord, are groaning. Shall I begin with the lighter, and proceed to the graver, or reverse the process?"

"As you please. It is one to me."

"Very well," said Welsh. He looked round complacently on his audience, and rubbed his hands. "His