Page:Lesbia Newman - Dalton - 1889.djvu/218

 cause of liberty justifies it, horrible as it is. But let us hope this battle may be the finish for ever, so far as England is concerned.’

‘I shall not be at all surprised if it proves to be the finish so far as England is concerned,’ said Mr Whyte dryly. ‘However, I don’t think we shall let our authorities carry their fun quite so far as the sack of London. A new Ministry and Parliament will simply have to make peace by reversing and disowning the acts of the present Government. It'll be a valuable but dear experience; the country will fare sumptuously on humble pie.’

‘Please ’m’, said Mrs Whyte’s parlour-maid, in a tremulous voice, but encouraged by the word ‘pie,’ which had caught her ear as she came forward, ‘I was to ask what you’d have for luncheon. Cook hasn’t got anything hot ready; this dreadful thing has put us all out. ‘There’s the cold beef and—

‘All right, anything ‘ll do, Susan; I don’t think any of us will take much luncheon to-day.’

‘No, indeed,’ Lesbia assented; ‘and it’s getting worse! See, the windows rattle now, don’t they, Mr Whyte?’

But if windows were rattling slightly on the Cornish coast, they were shivered into fragments at Queenstown itself. By this time very few panes of glass were left in the pretty hillside town overlooking the basin of Cork Cove, now shrouded in the battle smoke. The terrific cannonade on the water and on the hills beyond had worked almost as much havoc by its vibration as if it had been throwing shells into the town, which, as a matter of fact, was not hit once. The commotion of the falling glass scared the inhabitants out of their homes, and there was a general stampede to the hill top, whence the view of the great fight extended furthest. Cork, though out of sight of the battle, was but little less disturbed than Queenstown. Crowds,