Mr. Waddington waited beside Barbara Madden at the table; he waited in a superb confidence. After all, the demonstration engineered by Colonel Grainger had had no effect. The front and middle rows had risen to their feet and a very considerable procession was beginning to file towards the platform.
Mr. Waddington was so intent on this procession, Barbara was so busy taking down names and entering subscriptions and making out receipts, Sir John and Lady Corbett and the rest of the proposed Committee were talking to each other so loud and fast, Ralph and Horace were so absorbed in looking at Barbara that none of them saw what was happening in the body of the hall. Only f.a.n.n.y caught the signals that pa.s.sed between Colonel Grainger and Mr. Hitchin, and between Mr. Hitchin and his men.
Then Colonel Grainger stood up and shouted, "I protest!"
Mr. Hitchin stood up and shouted, "I protest!"
They shouted together, "We protest!"
Sir John Corbett rushed back to his chair and shouted "Ordah!" and the back rows, the ranks of Hitchin"s men, stood up and shouted, "We won"t sign!" "We won"t sign!" "We won"t sign!"
And then young Horace did an unsuspected thing, a thing that surprised himself. He leaped on to the front bench and faced the insurgent back rows. His face was red with excitement, and with the shame and anger and resentment inspired by his father"s eloquence. But he was shouting in his hoa.r.s.e, breaking, adolescent voice:
"Look here, you blackguards there at the back. If you don"t stop that row this minute, I"ll jolly well chuck you all out."
Only one voice, the voice of Mr. Hitchin"s biggest and brawniest quarryman, replied: "Come on, sir!"
Young Horace vaulted lightly over the bench, followed by Ralph, and the two were steeplechasing down the hall when Mr. Hitchin made another of his mysterious signals and the men filed out, obediently, one by one.
Ralph and Horace found themselves in the middle of the empty benches laughing into each other"s faces. Colonel Grainger and Mr. Hitchin stood beside them, smiling with intolerable benevolence.
Mr. Hitchin was saying: "The men are all right, Mr. Bevan. They don"t mean any harm. They just got a bit out of hand."
Horace saw that they were being magnanimous, and the thought maddened him. "I don"t blame the men," he said, "and I don"t blame you, Hitchin.
You don"t know any better. But Colonel Grainger ought to be d.a.m.ned well ashamed of himself, and I hope he is."
Colonel Grainger laughed. So did Mr. Hitchin, throwing himself back and swaying from side to side as his mirth shook him.
"Look here, Mr. Hitchin--"
"That"ll do, Horry," said Ralph. He led him gently down a side aisle and through a swing door into the concealed corridor beside the platform. There they waited.
"Don"t imagine for one moment," said young Horry, "that I agree with all that tosh he talked. But, after all, he"s got a perfect right to make a fool of himself if he chooses. And he"s _my_ father."
"I know. From first to last, Horry, you behaved beautifully."
"Well, what would _you_ do if your father made an unholy a.s.s of himself in public?"
"My father doesn"t."
"No, but if he did?"
"I"d do what you did. Sit tight and try and look as if he didn"t."
"Then," said Horace, "you look as big a fool yourself."
"Not quite. You don"t say anything. Besides, your father isn"t as big a fool as those London Leaguers who started the silly show. Sir Maurice Gedge and all that crowd. He didn"t invent the beastly thing."
"No," said Horace mournfully, "he hasn"t even the merit of originality."
He meditated, still mournful.
"Look here, Ralph, what did that blackguard Hitchin mean?"
"He isn"t a blackguard. He"s a ripping good sort. I can tell you, if every employer in this confounded commercial country was as honest as old Hitchin, there wouldn"t be any labour question worth talking about."
"d.a.m.n his honesty. What did he _mean_? Was it true what he said?"
"Was what true?"
"Why, that my father turned the Ballingers out?"
"Yes; I"m afraid it was."
"I say, how disgusting of him. You know I always thought he was a bit of a fool, my father; but I didn"t know he was that beastly kind of fool."
"He isn"t," said Ralph. "He"s just--a fool."
"I know. Did you ever hear such putrid rot as he talked?"
"I don"t know. For the kind of silly thing it was, his speech wasn"t half bad."
"What? About going over the top? Oh, Lord! And after turning the Ballingers out, too."
Ralph was silent.
"What"s happened to him? He didn"t use to be like that. He must be mad, or something."
Ralph thought of Mrs. Levitt.
"He"s getting old and he doesn"t like it. That"s what"s the matter with him."
"But hang it all, Ralph, that"s no excuse. It really isn"t."
"I believe Ballinger gave him some provocation."
"I don"t care what he gave him. He"d no earthly business to take advantage of it. Not with that sort of person. Besides, it wouldn"t matter about Ballinger so much, but there"s old Susan and the kiddies.... He doesn"t see how perfectly sickening it is for _me_."
"It isn"t very nice for your mother."
"No; it"s jolly hard on the poor mater.... Well, I can"t stick it much longer. I"m just about fed up with Horatio Bysshe. I shall clear out first thing in the morning before he"s down. I don"t care if I never see him or speak to him again."
"I say, I say, how about the midsummer holidays?"
"Oh, d.a.m.n the midsummer holidays!"
"Isn"t it rather rotten to take a line you can"t possibly keep up?"