“And now, my friends, why was she dismissed?  I have heard the facts, though not from her.  Cynthia Wetherell does not know that I have come to Brampton, unless somebody has told her, and did not know that I was coming.  I have heard the facts, and I find it difficult to believe that so great a wrong could be attempted against a woman, and if the name of Cynthia Wetherell had meant no more to me than the letters in it I should have travelled twice as far as Brampton, old as I am, to do my utmost to right that wrong.  I give you my word of honor that I have never been so indignant in my life.  I do not come here to stir up enmities among you, and I will mention no more names.  I prefer to believe that the prudential committee of this district has made a mistake, the gravity of which they must now realize, and that they will reinstate Cynthia Wetherell to-morrow.  And if they should not of their own free will, I have only to look around this meeting to be convinced that they will be compelled to.  Compelled to, my friends, by the sense of justice and the righteous indignation of the citizens of Brampton.”

Miss Lucretia sat down, her strong face alight with the spirit that was in her.  Not the least of the compelling forces in this world is righteous anger, and when it is exercised by a man or a woman whose life has been a continual warfare against the pests of wrong, it is well-nigh irresistible.  While you could count five seconds the audience sat silent, and then began such tumult and applause as had never been seen in Brampton—­all started, so it is said, by an old soldier in the front row with his stick.  Isaac D. Worthington, sitting alone in the library of his mansion, heard it, and had no need to send for Mr. Flint to ask what it was, or who it was had fired the Third Estate.  And Mr. Dodd heard it.  He may have been in the hall, but now he sat at home, seeing visions of the lantern, and he would have fled to the palace had he thought to get any sympathy from his sovereign.  No, Mr. Dodd did not hold the Bastille or even fight for it.  Another and a better man gave up the keys, for heroes are sometimes hidden away in meek and retiring people who wear spectacles and have a stoop to their shoulders.  Long before the excitement died away a dozen men were on their feet shouting at the chairman, and among them was the tall, stooping man with spectacles.  He did not shout, but Judge Graves saw him and made up his mind that this was the man to speak.  The chairman raised his hand and rapped with his gavel, and at length he had obtained silence.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” he said, “I am going to recognize Mr. Hill of the prudential committee, and ask him to step up on the platform.”

There fell another silence, as absolute as the first, when Mr. Hill walked down the aisle and climbed the steps.  Indeed, people were stupefied, for the feed dealer was a man who had never opened his mouth in town-meeting; who had never taken an initiative of any kind; who had allowed other men to take advantage of him, and had never resented it.  And now he was going to speak.  Would he defend the prudential committee, or would he declare for the teacher?  Either course, in Mr. Hill’s case, required courage, and he had never been credited with any.  If Mr. Hill was going to speak at all, he was going to straddle.