"Ah, yes, the truth," said Mr. Parkinson; "and when that is told, let us have justice!"
"Spoken like a man," murmured some in the crowd.
"But what kind of justice?" demanded Mr. Parkinson. "A cold-blooded law court, with cold-blooded lawyers arguing this way and that, while those who have been brought to ruin and shame sit down with their wasted lives before them? No--not that kind of justice for me! I will have the life of the man who has cast this upon me! And that"--pointing with furious hand towards Mark Inglefield--"that is the monster I will have my justice upon, without appeal to lawyers!"
"I give you my word of honor," said Mark Inglefield, appealing to those by whom he was surrounded, and who hemmed him and Mr. Manners in, determined that they should not escape--"I give you my word of honor that I have not the least idea what this man means. I do not know him, nor any person belonging to him."
"I speak the truth," said Mark Inglefield, perfectly calm. "This gentleman who has accompanied me here will testify to it. If I did not suspect that this man is not accountable for his words, I would not remain here another moment."
"But you must," said a friend of Mr. Parkinson; and, "Yes, you must, you must!" proceeded from others in the throng.
"I will," said Mark Inglefield, "because I have come here for the express purpose of unmasking a foul plot--"
"Rightly put," shouted Mr. Parkinson. "A foul plot--a foul plot! And it shall be unmasked, and the guilty shall suffer--not the innocent! For, after all, mates"--and now he, in his turn, appealed to the crowd--"what blame lies at the door of a weak, foolish girl who is led to her ruin by the lying, plausible words of gentlemen like these?"
But here the unreasoning torrent of his wrath was stemmed by many of his comrades, who said:
"None of that, Parkinson. It won't help you, and it won't help us. The gentleman speaks fair. He says he has come here to unmask a foul plot."
"That is my intention, and the intention of my friend here," said Mark Inglefield, "and, as you say, it will not help him nor any of us to be violent and abusive. Why, does it not stand to reason that we could have kept away if we had chosen? Does it not prove, coming here of our own accord as we have done, that we are of the same mind as yourselves?"