the door, but his father was there before him.

'Not you,' said the elder man, quiet but a little paler than usual;
'I will go and speak to them. They will not dare to touch me. They
are probably running away by this time. '

'Then we'll run after 'em,' answered Alfred with a fine spirit, and
something in his attitude, in the ring of his voice, awoke that
demon of combativeness which lies dormant in men of the Anglo-Saxon
race.

'Come on, you fellows!' cried the boy with a queer glad laugh, and
without knowing that he did it Sir John stood aside, his heart warm
with a sudden pride, his blood stirred by something that had not
moved it these thirty years. The guests crowded out of the room--
old men who should have known better--laughing as they threw aside
their dinner napkins. What a strange thing is man, peaceful through
long years, and at a moment's notice a mere fighting devil.

'Come on, we'll teach them to break windows!' repeated Alfred
Pleydell, running to the stick rack. The rain rattled on the
skylight of the square hall, and the wind roared down the open
chimney. Among the men hastily arming themselves with heavy sticks
and cramming caps upon their heads were some who had tasted of
rheumatism, but they never thought of an overcoat.

'We'll know each other by our shirt fronts,' said a quiet man who
was standing on a chair in order to reach an Indian club suspended
on the wall.