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Show 8 SUNDAY MORNING. DECEMBER 11, 1921 7 ypj r xi irffi house again you. do it at .your own risk." Mr. Grunby leaned forward. "So this Is the law!" he exclaimed sarcastically. "Citizens can't be protected any longer! The mob cano as they like, eh? Perhaps they'll come and set this house on' fire, as well as the fac- Continued from Preceding Page. "Listen!" she enjoined, with forefinger.' "There's your "father's voice. I can hear him outside." , The door was suddenly opened. Mr. Grunby;. entered, apparently under a certain measure of compulsion. A police inspector held his arm, and a constable who seemed to have been propelling him ' from behind, stood up when at last the shelter of the drawing room had been reached, and fanned himself with his cap. Mr. Qrunby was not a pleasant sight tip-raise- ' . J' M u h1 8 . . o la iimm mm tory!" "I shouldn't be at all surprised, sir, if they didn't try." Mr. Grunby's jaw dropped. Mrs. Grunby began to wall. The cheeks of Mr. Grunby junior paled to a most unwholesome color. "God bless my Soul!" the former r' ' m m IffU li only thing Is, I am afraid It won't be much use." The two men left the room. Mr. Grunby roao sullenly to his feet and mixed himself a strong whisky and soda. In the act of pressing the lever of the syphon, he paused and looked around once more towards the window. The roar of voices was coming nearer and II r it Mr I f shouting to his men. who began forcing their way through the crowd. "Move on there, pleas.. Outside the grounds- - Move on, move on, please." For a moment or two the response was The enough. crowd swayed back, many abandoned their points of vantage near nearer. the front door. It seemed b. "Swine!" he muttered. "I wish law and order, after all. wcrjthra;h g ,!ng to triumph. Mr. Grunby. In :he I had a. machine gun. You're a Aren't background of the room, rubbed tls good plucky one, Edith. hands softly together. afraid?" you "Ho was frighten rd about noth"No!" she answered contempthat inspector," ho chuckled. ing, tuously. "He didn't know what cowards thev broko off in his speech and sat "More ain't I," Mr. Grunby dewith his mouth open, listenclared, returning to the vernacular people are." softAt that moment the first blow swore The ing. of his youth, as he drained the coninspector conwas to as he strode struck. A himself tumbler. to of tents 'his ly the window. Even Edith's in"If I were you. father." Edith stable had drawn his truncheon. difference advised. "I think I should try and The man whom he struck went temporarily vandown like a ninepln, but there was ished. You see, they have get away. attitude of you. They a sudden change In the "They're coming, all right," a grievance against ' more Once the around. me.'' haven't people against t. the inspector announced, grimwas wild note of a there the beast snarled. Mr. "Grievance!" You take my advice, young Grunby ly." "I'll teach 'era to have a grievance, in the hum of voices. The inlady, and run for it. You can if ever we get a decent government spector was stripped. thrown get through the kitchen gardown, trampled upon and kicked; iti again!" dens and into Hangman's Lane. " sen in a few moments out- more to say to I've nouiing They heard the crashing of a gatenumDered, roctea. aispersea. " Once more the mob surged '"r,,; up to the sweep of the drive I'll report you, in front of the house. A voice from the front shouthe It . ' hr?:u iff mm to Scotland Yard ana- - leu tnem 'Your father's kind of lost his what I think about them. I'll tele- - tead MlB8 n6 went on. "If you phone the Prime Minister, damn could persuade him to go away. I'd the people know the do my beat to BaT6 tDe nouse and him! HI way this country's being governed. premi8es. That isn't going to be Yoir mean to say the police can't eucn an eagy j0Df either." stop the people committing arson? .It.8 my noUge." Mr. Grunby And I ain't half insured on the thundered, "and I'm not going to be house!" chased out of It by it horde of work- His son intervened. people who've fattened and gTown " he said, vicious on the money I've paid 'em. "Look here, "later on '11 do for that sort of talk. VU tPii thm what I think if ther Get your cloaks and hats, you give me & chance. They're over women. I'll take you round the are. 111 cut that's what they back way to a hotel In the west paid, " I'll down wages. end." The samo round was audible to the three of them. Mr. Grunby to-nig- ht d li m Guv-nor,- good-nature- d too-zealou- s - ' f - i, A & . , . Inspector' s ed out: threatened, falling; into the chair to which the latter "1 "Let's go in and have a virink with old Grunby." There was a roar of A had insidiously conducted him. ap-?!au- se atone we,nt 1 first few sentences were inaudible. Edith threw open the window and leaned out boldly. She was In tlm-l- o hear the nd of David's appeat. "You have had your fun. chap., if )ou call It fun. The factory 'was Grunby's, and Grunby"s alone. You have done that in. There are enly women In this house. You do not want to hurt them. The police are on their way up with hydrants. Go home while you are dry." An eloquent appeal to their emotions would probably have failed. A tirade of unsympathetic abuse might even have further provoked the mob. As It was, David's few words of common sense turned the s pf the wavering scale. mob who had streamed Into the cardens were orderly enough " at heart and a little nervous at the lengths to which they had already gone. There was no audible answer to David's appeal, but just as only a few minutes ago the people had fallen over one another to pass into the rrounds of the house, now every one 'seemed filled with a Nine-tenth- fn.arlcti dntlra fr utran TViar was a curioup. Incredible unanimity in the almost sheeplike docility with which they all faded away. Edith brushed past her father, ran! lightly down the stairs and out Into; the avenue. The crowd around the house was now quite thin, but several-little groups were gathered, leaning over the fallen bodies which lay dotted about here and there. She hurried to the first of them. The inspector was lying flat upon his face, with his arms stretched out. Sh turned to the bystanders. "Will some of you help to carry these poor fellows into the houieT he begged, "and will some one else go for a doctor?" A man who had T&;H M Mh : v . V. A 1 been bending over the prostrate figure feeling his heart. suddenly straight- ened himself. Their eves met .and she gave a uuie exclamation- If I 5. 5 s J v ; 'V 7 ? ".'- - .V-- y '- ''. - v Ti f ,"" . .1 ... IV, ' s - yt ; t . :.; i: ff-- M - ' .- . . 0' 0,'rrr to look ttpon. His coat had gone altogetl and the remainde his clothes nad met " ry " c . r - ft - 'X V 1 . with misadventure. There was a wound upon hl3 forehead and the blood had trickled down on to his collar. His ti was hanging down, and such ot his clothes as remained were thickly powdered with dust. He was .KA.lrt suiichub apparently from a paroxysm of anger. ' v 1 ready?" .4 v"' i m She looked own at the lnspeo-to- r anxiously. "Badly hurt, but hell pull through.' David continued.. "Hurry, :.y , please!" ' She turned away, a little dared. As she reached the steps the moon T -- Til report you, In - spector, he ed, falling into the chair to which the latter had insidiously conducted him. "You'll lose your job for this. How dare jrou drag me through ihe. streets like a pickpocket?" The inspector saluted Mrs. made his explanations. and Giinby "Your husband, ma'am,' he said, is searching hard for trouble tonight. Believe me, if we hadn't ' 'i , UX AJilfiil. ill ILL ill VA 9 1.1 s Mr. business, m "to shouted, protect, Grunby wherever I" choose to go not to 'side ' drag me honle through the criminal'. a streets like The inspector turned to Edith. that.she was Perhaps he recognized most reasonable the to be likely "It's your ' person present. "There's a matter of seven or eight thousand people round the he explained. factory, miss," "Some of the foreign riffraff from the east end, as well as the factory hands. It's no use mincing words, especiall" as Mr. Grunby Is so un reasonable. If we'd let him get amongst them and they'd found out who he was, theyd have torn him ' to pieces." "Rubbish!" Mr. Grunby cried got any angrily. "They haven't grievance against me. I pay. 'em their wages all right a damned Bight more than they're worth, some . '. of them." Isn't "That my business,', the In-'- v spector said calmly. "I've done my duty by getting you out of the crowd and bringing you here, and I'm going to do my duty now. by warning you that If you leave this - . your father., no. must go his own way." Edith smiled very faintly, a little contemptuously. "My father stays because he Is "obstinate," she said. "I shall stay because I am indifferent." Again the same sound, a dim echo of the sound which had A.J jl LA VA J t V " 1 outside, the soft pattering ot many footsteps up the drive and over the turf. The girl walked round the room,' turning out the electric lights. Then she stood before the orcn window. Mr. Grunby crept up behind her. "My God!" he exclaimed. ' Edith was silent. The scene was strange beyond description. The whole of the grounds in front. dorn to the road, seemed black with people. In the road, on the other de tram car 4 ot the wall, had come to a standitlll. unable to proceed, and these, too, wero covered with htiman being who l.ad swarmed up to the top liko nts The clamor of voices went on la many keys. From those whojiad gained the grounds came a loud and prolonged boo-ln- I 'i sir,' - "Mr. David!" He nodded. "Fll get some men to help," he promised. "Will you go and prepare some couches the bottom roora and have, some lint and hot water iy;J3 , . groaned. "And here we all are do- -' ing nothing!. Why don't you tele- phone to Scotland Yard, lnspec- tor? Send for the soldiers any- , - thing!" " . ' "I placed the situation before Scotland Yard an hour ago, sir," the man replied. "I shall use your telephone again in a minute If I may. We have a hundred plainclothes constables on the way up, but the force is very much weakened just now, and it seems to me as if the crowd were Increasing every 'moment. I .have taken the liberty . ot speaking to- your chauf-- r feur, and, I want to suggest that the ladles here - get away by the back entrance." "Let me go to the telephone," Mr.' Grunby shouted, struggling to rise to his feet. "Let me telephone . : ; - Mrs. Grunby hurried from the room. ; . "I. ain't going," Mr. Grunby declared obstinately. v "Neither am I," Edith decided. "HI look after Mother," Harry promised, as he hastily disappeared. The Inspector turned to Edith. "Young lady," he said, "if youH pardon me, this is a time, for plain speaking. I've been amongst that crowd down there and I know how got It all they're feeling. They'veand if they up against your father, and-flnon come here to should happen hlm, well" he hesitated "there might be serious trouble." "It's'up to you to protect me." Mr. Grunby shouted, "and , you'll have to do it." The Inspector was beginning to get a llttle lmpatlent. swept through the streets ot Paris, of Lisbon, of Petrograd and Berlin the low roar of human voices. In which for the first time came that faint . anticipatory note anger. The inspector, of pent-uwho was an intelligent man. listened and nodded. "I heard something like that on a racecourse once," he muttered, "the day they went for Nicky Green. It's the beginning of other things now. Come on, William." "Where are you going!" Edith , (O 1921, . InternaUonal-Featur- e half-a-doze- n p g. "That don't hurt." Mr. Gninbf "muttered, moistening hit dry lip. "They can boo Just as long as they t like." The cry suddenly changed. .From the tops of the tramcars and the walls, and the trampled-ugarden and the drive, falling by repetition into some measure of rhythm, artse asked. The Inspector glanced toward her father. "To tell the people that your are private another cry: father's grounds "We want Grunby! . . We property, and that they" mustn't flower-beds,he want down his Henry Grunby!" trample "We're quite answered It was Just then that they heard drily. the inspector's voice. He was ready to do our duty, you see." The Great Britain nights Hceerved. Service, Inc. p d . hurtling through one "of the windows Edith turned away to find the room behind her empty. Her father rushed in like a man distraught, a moment later. "They've cut the telephone wires!" he shouted. "Blast them! I Can't get through anywhere. What's that fool ot an Inspector doing!" "I think that he is probably dead," Edith answered coolly; "he and his men too beaten and trampled to death, A score of men can't do much against thousands, father. Listen!" She stole closer to the window. From somewhere at the back they were passing torches from hand to hand up to the front. A great sea of faces, unnaturally white as they seemed fa the dim moonlight, were turned upward. Every one was looking toward the roof of the house. Every one was listening to a clarion-lik- e voice which had rung out above all the clamor. A curious silence fell upon the crowd. From a long distance oil they heard the clanging of the electric cars, the faint muttering of people who strove to advance from the edge of the crowd. But near at hand was silence. Then suddenly she taw a single figure standing upon a garden seat, the figure of a man who In that ttrange llht seemed to be of abnormal height. Both his arms were outstretched. By some means, or ether he seemed to hav.5 secured the whole attention of the crowd. They stood still, listening. HI shone Cut clearly. She looked back at the strange scene the Cower beds all trampled up, the dark forms upon the lawn, the little procession already on Its way to the house. The light shone on David's face as he stood briefly giving di- rections. CHAPTER XVI. RIGHT HONORABLE PACKE abandoned the fit of abstraction Into which he had passed after dlsm'.s-ra- l of his parliamentary secretaries from the room, and glanced at the young lady who was sitting In the easy chair by the side of his table, momentarily engaged In s'.udjln; the point of her pencIL "Miss Wren," he confided. "I don't like the Uok of thlngv in Balkanland ." The very Indifference of hsr manner was reassuring to a person sorTerlng from a sudden but fierce attack of nerves. It really eetncd as thoogh nothing could happen while Miss Wren felt 1'ke Till tx-s;b- t; that. -- Balkaniand," she rep?atej. Tra afraid I don't know much about tb country. I never read the pipers." "H'm! I don't, know that yoi'ro cot wise. There is an ostrich-liketendency on the part of tho wbnle of the Press Just now a kin 1 cf unanimous arrangement to ignore any great qnestlon which Is really vital. , Look at The TIas this morning, for Instance: articles and headlines about every subject in the world, except the the that really counts. Do you Vnovr anything about petroL Miss WrenT" (To be continued.) 1 |