The Judge gave a keen glance at his friend and nodded.
The Bishop in the Chair now read a few brief statements as to the progress of the work that was being done. Lady Harold Buckingham was down to speak next. She sat on the Bishop"s left hand, and it was obvious to the audience that she understood his next remark.
"You all have the printed programme in your hands," said the Bishop, "and from it you will see that Lady Harold is set down to address you next. But I have--" his voice changed a little and became uncertain and had a curious note of apprehension in it--"I have to ask you to give your attention to another speaker, whose wish to address the Meeting has only recently been conveyed to me, but whose right to do so is, in my judgment, indubitable. He has, I understand from Father Joseph who has brought him here, something to say to us of great importance."
There was a low murmur and rustle among the audience, as well as among the semicircle of people on the dais.
The name of Father Joseph Edward attracted instant attention. Every one knew all about him; the slight uneasiness on the Bishop"s face had not been unremarked. They all felt that something unusual and stimulating was imminent.
"It is Mr. Gilbert Lothian," the Bishop went on, "who wishes to address you. His name will be familiar to every one here. I do not know, and have not the least idea, as to what Mr. Lothian is about to say. All I know is that he is most anxious to speak this afternoon, and, even at this late hour pressure has been put upon me to alter the programme in this regard, which it is impossible for me to resist."
Now every one in the hall knew that some sensation was impending.
People nodded and whispered; people whispered and nodded. There was almost an apprehension in the air.
Why had this poet risen from the tomb as it were--this poet whose utter disappearance from social and literary life had been a three weeks"
wonder--this poet whom everybody thought was dead, who, in his own personality, had become but a faint name to those who still read and were comforted by his poems.
Very many of that distinguished company had met Gilbert Lothian.
n.o.body had known him well. His appearances in London society had been fugitive and he had shown no desire to enter into the great world. But still the best people had nearly all met him once or twice, and in the minds of most of them, especially the women, there was a not ungrateful memory of a man who talked well, had quite obviously no axe to grind, no personal effort to further, who was only himself and pleased to be where he was.
They were all talking to each other in low voices, wondering what the scandal was, wondering why Gilbert Lothian had disappeared, waked up to the fact of him, when Lothian himself came upon the platform.
Mr. Justice Harley vacated his seat and took the next chair, while Lothian sat down on the right of the Chairman.
Some people noticed--but those were only a very few--that the dark figure of a clergyman in a monastic cape and ca.s.sock came upon the platform at the same time and sat down in the far background.
Afterwards, everybody said that they had noticed the entrance of Father Joseph Edward and wondered at it. As a matter of fact hardly anybody did.
The Bishop rose and placed his hands upon the little table before him.
He coughed. His voice was not quite as adequate as usual.
This is what he said. "Mr. Gilbert Lothian, whose name all of you must know and whose works I am sure most of you, like myself, have in the most grateful remembrance, desires to address you."
That was all the Bishop said--he made a motion with his hand and Gilbert Lothian rose from his chair and took two steps to the front of the platform.
Those present saw a young man of medium height, neither fat nor slim, and with a very beautiful face. It was pale but the contour was perfect. Certainly it was very pale, but the eyes were bright and the aesthetic look and personality of the poet fitted in very well with what people had known of him in the past.
Only Morton Sims, who was sitting within arm"s reach of Lothian--and perhaps half a dozen other people who knew rather more than the rest--were startled at what seemed to be a transformation.
As Lothian began to speak Father Joseph Edward glided from his seat, and leant over the back of Dr. Morton Sims" chair. This was a rather extraordinary proceeding and at any other time it would have been immediately remarked upon.
As it was, the first words which Gilbert Lothian spoke held the audience so immediately that they forgot, or did not see the watchful waiting "Abbot of Mullion."
In the first place Gilbert Lothian was perfectly self-possessed. He was so self-possessed that his initial sentence created a sensation.
His way and manner were absolutely different from the ordinary speaker--however self-possessed he may be. The poet"s self-possession had a quality of rigidity and automatism which thrilled every one. Yet, it was not an automaton which spoke in the clear, vibrating voice that Gilbert Lothian used.
The voice was terrible in its appeal--even in the first sentence of the memorable speech. It was the sense of a personality standing in bonds, impelled and controlled by something outside it and above it--it was this that hushed all movement and murmur, that focussed all eyes as the poet began.
The opening words of the poet were absolutely strange and unconventional, but spoken quite simply and in very short sentences.
In the first instance it had been decided that reporters were not to be admitted to this Conference. Eventually that decision had been altered and a gentleman representing the princ.i.p.al Press Agency, together with a couple of a.s.sistants, sat at a small table just below the platform.
It is from the shorthand transcript of the Press Agent and his colleagues that the few words Gilbert Lothian spoke have been arranged and set down here.
Those who were present have read the words over and over again.
They have remembered the gusts of emotion, of fear, of gladness--all wafted from the wings of tragedy, and perhaps illuminated by the light of Heaven, that pa.s.sed through the Edward Hall on this afternoon.
... He was speaking.
"I have only a very few words to say. I want what I say to remain in your minds. I am speaking to you, as I am speaking, for that reason. I beg and pray that this will be of help. You see--" he made an infinitely pathetic gesture of his hands and a wan smile came upon his face--"You see you will be able to use my confession for the sake of others. That is the reason----"
Here Lothian stopped. His face became whiter than ever. His hand went up to his throat as if there was some obstruction there.
Bishop Moultrie handed him a gla.s.s of water. He took it, with a hand that trembled exceedingly. He drank a little but spilt more than he drank.
The black clothed figure of the Priest half rose and took the gla.s.s from the poet. All the people there sat very still. Some of them saw the Priest hold up something before the speaker"s face--a little bronze something. A Crucifix.
The Bishop covered his face with his hands and never looked up again.
Gilbert went on. "You have come here," he said, "to make a combined effort to kill alcoholism. I have come to show you in one single instance what alcoholism means."
Some one right at the back of the hall gave a loud hysterical sob.
The speaker trembled, recovered himself by a great effort and went on.
"I had everything;" he said with difficulty, "G.o.d gave me everything, almost. I had money to live in comfort; I achieved a certain sort of fame; my life, my private life, was surrounded by the most angelic and loving care."
His figure swayed, his voice fainted into a whisper.
Dr. Morton Sims had now covered his face with his hands.
Mrs. Julia Daly was staring at the speaker. Her eyes were just interrogation. There was no horror upon her face. Her lips were parted.
The man continued.
"Drink," he said, "began in me, caught me up, twisted me, destroyed me.
The terrible False Ego, which many of you must know of, entered into my mind, dominated, and destroyed it.
"I was possessed of a devil. All decent thoughts, all the natural happinesses of my station, all the gifts and pleasant outlooks upon life which G.o.d had given went, not gradually, but swiftly away.
Something that was not myself came into me and made me move, and walk, and talk as a minion of h.e.l.l.
"I do not know what measure of responsibility remained to me when I did what I did. But this I know, that I have been and am the blackest, most hideous criminal that lives to-day."
The man"s voice was trembling dreadfully now, quite unconsciously his left hand was gripping the shoulder of the Abbot of Mullion. His eyes blazed, his voice was so forlorn, so hopeless and poignant that there was not a sound among the several hundreds there.