The laugh did them good, and complemented the corrective which had been administered to them by the minister.  Some of them still retained their anger, as a matter of course, and when they emerged upon the street and found Mr. Belcher’s effigy standing upon the ground, surrounded by fagots ready to be lighted, they yelled:  “Light him up, boys!” and stood to witness the sham auto-da-fe with a crowd of village urchins dancing around it.

Of course, Mr. Belcher had calculated upon indignation and anger, and rejoiced in their impotence.  He knew that those who had lost so much would not care to risk more in a suit at law, and that his property at Sevenoaks was so identified with the life of the town—­that so many were dependent upon its preservation for their daily bread—­that they would not be fool-hardy enough to burn it.

Forty-eight hours after the public meeting, Mr. Belcher, sitting comfortably in his city home, received from the postman a large handful of letters.  He looked them over, and as they were all blazoned with the Sevenoaks post-mark, he selected that which bore the handwriting of his agent, and read it.  The agent had not dared to attend the meeting, but he had had his spies there, who reported to him fully the authorship and drift of all the speeches in the hall, and the unseemly proceedings of the street.  Mr. Belcher did not laugh, for his vanity was wounded.  The thought that a town in which he had ruled so long had dared to burn his effigy in the open street was a humiliation; particularly so, as he did not see how he could revenge himself upon the perpetrators of it without compromising his own interests.  He blurted out his favorite expletive, lighted a new cigar, walked his room, and chafed like a caged tiger.

He was not in haste to break the other seals, but at last he sat down to the remainder of his task, and read a series of pitiful personal appeals that would have melted any heart but his own.  They were from needy men and women whom he had despoiled.  They were a detail of suffering and disappointment, and in some cases they were abject prayers for restitution.  He read them all, to the last letter and the last word, and then quietly tore them into strips, and threw them into the fire.

His agent had informed him of the sources of the public information concerning the Continental Company, and he recognized James Balfour as an enemy.  He had a premonition that the man was destined to stand in his way, and that he was located just where he could overlook his operations and his life.  He would not have murdered him, but he would have been glad to hear that he was dead.  He wondered whether he was incorruptible, and whether he, Robert Belcher, could afford to buy him—­whether it would not pay to make his acquaintance—­whether, indeed, the man were not endeavoring to force him to do so.  Every bad motive which could exercise a man, he understood; but he was puzzled in endeavoring to make out what form of selfishness had moved Mr. Balfour to take such an interest in the people of Sevenoaks.