Miss Carstairs and the child Jenny,--spectators all: that was the way
they had arranged it. Peter, on the contrary, sat in the great white
light of a front seat on the stage, where he had masterfully intruded
himself in the galaxy of "other prominent citizens." And sure enough,
when the set speeches were over, it was the honorable chairman who
presented "a Mr. Maginnis of New York" to the meeting, doubtless having
been satisfactorily convinced beforehand that it was to his advantage to
do so. But, doubtless also convinced that there would be an accounting
to his master for this night's work, he rose to his duty only after Mr.
Maginnis had glared at him through a noticeable stage-wait, and then
made the introduction as prejudicial as he dared.
Mr. Maginnis did not appear disconcerted in the least. He began
speaking with a pertinence and ease which rather surprised his friend
Varney down in the audience, and with words which instantly let the
dullest know that something unusual was taking place. However, he had
not proceeded far when, the house having become very still, he was
suddenly interrupted by a sharp hiss from the rear of the hall, and a
raucous voice which shouted:
"Sit down, you! Nobody wants yer!"
Laughter followed and various murmurs, some approving, a few protesting.
Ryan's good and faithful servants were evidently settling down to work.
Peter's eye roved over the audience, seemed to catch something and lit
up with a faint signal.
"The gentleman who made that remark," he said in tones of great
gentleness, "will kindly leave the hall at once."
A ripple of merriment ran through the crowd, breaking in many places
into ostentatious guffaws. To those who knew the underside of those
meetings, the mild request appeared so ineffectual as to be merely
ridiculous. The honorable chairman, on the stage, hid a sinister smile
behind his hand.
Then a strange thing happened. Four "ushers" moved silently down the
side-aisle, halted at the end of the sixth row from the rear, laid hands
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