'No-no,' ejaculated Kate. 'I shall not I will not be married this year, not till after Christmas at any rate, perhaps not till long after that. Let it be as I say, dear.' Dora consented, for she saw that to press her own wishes farther would give her friend extreme pain. 'I almost forgot to mention it,' she said as the other was going out, but have you seen this notice of a public meeting, or something, about the school? I am afraid it may rather annoy your uncle.'

Indeed! Where is it?' 'It is posted up everywhere, and you will be sure to see it as you go back. Mr. Oliphant ought to be told.' Kate had no difficulty in finding the bill, which was stuck up prominently in every part of Reinsber, and ran as follows:

PUBLIC MEETING.

NOTICE is hereby given, That a Public

Meeting will be held on the Green, Reinsber, on Thursday, the 10th instant, at Noon, for the purpose of considering the conduct of a certain gentleman in the neighbourhood with reference to the boys at the Grammar School, and of thanking the governors and master for their action in the matter, &c. The attendance of parents and all persons interested is earnestly requested.

STEPHEN MOORBY.
RICHARD WIDEAWAKE.

JAMES HAWTHORNTHWAITE.

When Jabez was informed by Miss Oliphant of the notice, he went out to read it, and grew exceedingly angry as he became convinced after two or three perusals that his first suspicions were correct, and that he was himself the gentleman referred to. One thing, however, was plain, that the people of Reinsber must be saved from such folly; and he went straight to Moorby, whose name was first of the three at the bottom of the placard, and who was a small yeoman in the village. Hawthornthwaite also chanced to be in Moorby's house at the time, and was smoking a long clay by

This is a very strange placard you have issued, Mr. Moorby,' said Jabez by way of beginning the subject. 'If ye niver see ought queerer than that, ye'll do weel. Ye've browt it on yersel, Mr. Oliphant,' replied Moorby.

6

Then I see I was right in considering this bill directed against myself?'

Don't ye think ye desarve it— trying to tak their bit o' schooling away fra honest lads aw for a bit o' fun?' asked the other.

'I shall not condescend to discuss the point with you, sir.'

'Condescend, an' be d-d to you, Mr. Oliphant!' exclaimed Moorby. 'We've lived on wer ain land, father and son, for three hundred year wi'out owing onybody oughthonest, dacent, sober folk 'at 'ud pay wer way an' tak wer gill wi' ony man; an' that's mair nor mony o' yer girt folk can say. Condescend! That's a good un,

isn't it, Jimmy?'

'Good,' said Jimmy, without taking the clay out of his mouth.

Well,' said Jabez, 'I merely called to advise you to withdraw this notice quietly, because, as being in some measure responsible for the preservation of the peace, I really cannot allow you to hold the meeting in the place you mention.'

I did not know 'at we'd axed yer leave, Mr. Oliphant,' retorted Moorby; 'but, just for curosity like, what for sudn't we hev t' meeting on t' Green if we want?'

The Green, sir, in my opinion is a most improper place for the purpose. It is a large, open space

'Well, that's just what we want for a big meeting, isn't it?' interrupted the yeoman. 'It'll hod mair people, an' we're wishful to hev as mony as iver we can.'

'But so large an assemblage will necessarily lead to riot.'

An' how can it lead to riot? It taks two sides to mak a quarrel, an' we're aw o' yan mind about yer conduct; man, woman, an' child, ye will'nt find yan i' Reinsber to back ye out i' what ye've done, nauther about t' school nor t' stocks nor yer bonny notion o' dressing up Dolly Robinson i' a white sheet. If there's a riot ye'll have to mak it yersel,—willn't he, Jimmy?' 'Hissel,' echoed the other.

That may be your opinion, sir, but it is not mine. My other reason for thinking the Green very unsuitable is, that damage will probably be done to the public property and -hem-the statuary there by a tumultuous meeting.'

'What, t' town-pump an' owd Hercules?' asked Moorby. 'Well, an' if he did get his nose knocked off, it wadn't be mich loss to t' community at large, I'm thinking.' 'Perhaps not, but these are my objections. Now do not you think them reasonable, Mr. Hawthornthwaite ?' he added, turning to the other farmer, who was still stolidly and silently engaged with his pipe. 'Shalln't alter, mysel,' replied James, first rolling out a great cloud of smoke.

'T' lang an' t' short on it is 'at ye think poor folk oughtn't to hev meetings, mair especially about yersel; isn't that it, Mr. Oliphant?' said Moorby slily.

'Nothing of the kind,' replied Jabez in great haste. "The right of public meeting in a proper place and for a proper purpose and under proper supervision is sanctioned by the law of the land, and has my fullest approbation. It is one of the proudest privileges of Englishmen, sir, a chief bulwark of civilization and freedom. And as regards myself, of course you are welcome to say what you however unjust, or coarse, or . . . or insolent your remarks may be, they

like;

will not trouble me. But-doing violence to my own feelings-I must prohibit this meeting on the Green, however much I may approve of meetings in the abstract.'

'Well, where's t' Abstract? If it wor a place equally convenient, I'se no saying but we might hod t' meeting there instead of on t' Green, as ye wish it sa mich, Mr. Oliphant."

Jabez opened his eyes in astonishment at the ignorance of this summoner of meetings, and then explained.

Then, if we can't hod t'meeting on t' Green, where mun we hod it? 'That is your business, sir.' 'Wad ye lend us yan o' your fields, Mr. Oliphant?

To condemn myself? Certainly not,' answered Jabez, with another stare at the fellow's impudence.

'Then, is there ony other place ye could recommend, likely an' proper, as ye say? Can ye tell us of ony, acos I've niver heard o' yan mysel?'

I really cannot recommend any such place because I do not think there happens to be one at Reinsber. It is of course a great public want and very unfortunate.'

'Varra, varra,' replied Stephen sarcastically. Then yer liking of a meeting i't' Abstract seems to me, when it's weighed, just to come to liking a meeting i' No Place. But I'll tell ye what, Mr. Oliphant; we'll hod t' meeting, an' we'll hod it on t' Green, for aw ye've said, an' aw t' mair acos ye don't like it.'

'Very well, sir, if you choose to brave the civil power, the responsibility rests with you, and I shall send you notice to that effect.'

'We shalln't alter : child's play, that,' repeated Hawthornthwaite.

Mr. Oliphant retired, muttering to himself in broken sentences from which a casual listener might have guessed what was passing through his mind. 'Humph! Will hold it, hm. see about that. Insolence. . . Set authority at de

stop this.'

a

fiance? . . . Riot Act. . . military force He sent the notice to Moorby, and further took care that a large placard, signed by himself as magistrate, and warning all whom it might concern of the dangerous consequences which would ensue from their attending a meeting prohibited by authority, should be posted conspicuously about Reinsber. He then commanded Tommy Doolittle, in his capacity of constable, to be in attendance on Thursday, and prevent any evil-disposed persons from assembling on the Green; and also gave proper notice to Harry Highside, who was a captain in the yeomanry, to have his troop in readiness in case of any disturbance. The time which remained after these preliminaries were arranged he devoted to private rehearsals of the Riot Act, for he would have been grieved if he had failed to deliver it ore rotundo on an occasion so important. On the other hand, the directors of the popular movement, not a whit alarmed by these vigorous preparations, issued a counter notice stating that the meeting would be held in spite of the prohibition.

·

Thursday morning, then, found Tommy at his post. The little man was nervously anxious to perform his duty to the satisfaction of his patron, Mr. Oliphant, but, as the Green was a large triangular piece of ground with three roads opening on it, he had his difficulties; for as he said, no man could well be in three places at once. He looked pale then frightened,' some of the mob pretended, and they often advised him to strengthen himself with a dram of brandy as the best possible preparation for the great labours in store for him. But he sternly refused to give up his principles, and by dint of fussing about and excessively civil remonstrances, such as 'Will you oblige me by moving on, gentlemen?' or 'Now, do be

quiet, please,' contrived to keep the mob, whilst it was thin, in pretty good order. When the concourse thickened however, as twelve o'clock drew near, he had harder work; for, while he was engaged in entreaties at one end of the Green, the crowd, which now consisted of five or six hundred persons, rather enjoyed the fun of swarming over the rest of the open space and thus bringing him back bathed in perspiration.

At length, just as the church clock pealed forth the hour of noon, a simultaneous groan and shout announced the arrival of Mr. Oliphant by one road and Moorby with his supporters by another. At the same time a rush from all sides towards the statue of Hercules in the centre fairly swept Tommy off his feet and, before he knew what he was about, carried him twenty or thirty yards forward in spite of his frantic struggles and expostulations, which began with entreaties to the gentlemen' to 'please, please, be quiet,' and mounted up in a finely graduated scale to the fiercest threatenings in the Queen's name of the tread-mill, transportation for twenty years, and at last of still longer punishment in a far hotter place to the 'wicked roughs' who were hurrying him on. Some kind friend in the crowd however stopped the torrent of his ejaculations at last by knocking his hat (which, like all little men, he wore both high and a size too large) clean over his face, so that nothing but his chin was visible below. In fact, as one of the crowd remarked amid the roar of laughter which followed, Tommy was as neatly put out all at once as 'a lilli-low' with an extinguisher. Still faint, strange sounds like the mutterings of very distant thunder continued to issue from below the hat, but altogether inarticulate, so that whether they were pleadings for mercy, or invocations of vengeance, or merely