Chapter 4: An Exciting Struggle.


It was an exciting scene. Susanna stood at the window, and gazed
eagerly along the street, striving hard to obtain a sight of the
seething crowd in the open square.

She could see the tall, haggard form of her Uncle Charles, as she
called him. He was standing upon a little platform that his friends
had erected for him in front of the Assembly Rooms, and he was
speaking aloud to the surging crowd in accents that rang far
through the still air, and even reached the ears of the listeners
at the open window.

For once Hannah made no protest when the girl thrust out her head.
She herself seemed to be striving to catch the echoes of the clear,
trumpet-like voice. Her colour came and went in her cheeks; her
breast heaved with the emotion which often found vent in those days
in a fit of silent weeping.

"Mother dear, do not weep; they shall be avenged! Nobody can listen
to Uncle Charles and not be moved. Hark how they are shouting
now--hark! I can see them raising their arms to heaven. They are
shaking their fists in the direction of the windows of the Assembly
House. Surely those cowardly men must be roused to action; they
cannot hear unmoved a tale such as Uncle Charles has to tell!"