The San Francisco call., 1905-03-26
ng atmosphere of tawdry boisterous-

ing atmosphere of tawdry boisterous-
ness.
Jane Clermont stole more than one
sidelong glance as Gordon's uneven
step followed. AT length the bailiff
paused and unlocked a barred door.
Mary knocked. but there was no an
swer; she pushed the door open and the
girls entered
From his station in the background
Gordon saw a dingy chamber, possess
Ing as furniture only cot, a chair
and narrow board mantel. on which
candle was burning, stuck upright in
It's own tallow. Standing before this
breast-high, impromptu table, a
pamphlet spread open upon 1t, his
shoulders stopped. his eyes devouring
the page, was the rooms solitary oc-
cupant. He had thrown Off the long
coat with the lamb's-wool trimming.
his collar wassopen, leaving his throat
unfettered. and his long locks hung
negligently about. his face.
"Bysshei' cried Mary, ecstaticaily.
The figure by the mantel turned.
hinging back his tumbled hair as il to
toss away his abstraction.
Mary" he echoed. and sprang for
ward What are you doing here?"
We've come for You. The, debt is
cancelled. To think of your being shut
up here3 she said with shiver, Is a
burst of noises rose from the court be-
low.
Cancelled" he repeated with a hes
itating laugh. Your father would
better have let me stay. Mary. shall
be just as bad again in a month.
couldn't resist buying a book II it
meant the gallows,'
She did not undeceive him. but hand
ed him his greatcoat and gathered the
volumes tossed on to the couch to stun
into his bulging pockets.
Jane had been scrutinizing the room.
What's that?'' she inquired, pointing
to plate of food which sat on the far
end of the mantel. as though it had
been impatiently pushed aside.
The youth colored uneasily. Why.
l suppose that was my supper" he said
shamefacedly; II must have forgot to
eat it,
Jane laughed, picked up the pamph-
let for which the meal had been forgot,
and read the title aloud. Twelve
Butchers for Jury and Jefreys for
Judge. An Appeal Against the Pend
the Murder of the Stocking Weavers
BY Percy Bysshe Shelley.'
"Frame-Breakers." she finished dis
dainfully. Stocking -Weavers."
Shelley's delicate face flushed as he
folded the pamphlet.
Are they not men?" he exclaimed
"And being men, have they no natural
rights? Is British law TO shoot them
down like wild beasts for the defense
of their livelihood? Oh, If I were only
a peer, with a voice in Parliament"
He spoke with fierce emphasis, but In
tone soft, vibrating and persuasive-a
sustained, song-like quality in it.
Percy Bysshe Shelley" Gordon's
mind recited the name wonderingly. He
remembered placard he had seen IN a
bookshop window: For writing the
which he stands expelled from Univer-
sity College, Oxford" So this was the
heir to a baronetcy, the author Of
Queen Nab" the STRIPPING iconoclast
who had laughed at Illuminating attor-
ney generals, had fed to Lynmouth
beach-where he had spent his days
making little wooden boxes, inclosed in
resined bladders, weighted with lead
and equipped with tiny mast and sail,
and had sent them, filled with his con-
traband writings, out on the rollers of
the Atlantic in the hope that they
might reach some free mind On the
Irish shore or on some ocean brig.
Gordon left his post and went slowly
down the stair. past the blackened Of
flee. wherein the warden sat admiring-
ly lingering the brooch that had wiped
out debt to old William Goodwin, the
bookseller, and into the street
The words Of the youth he had seen
sounded In his brain: IF were only
a peer, with a voice In Parliament"
That voice was his. When had he
used 1t for his fellow man?