It was two in the morning before the proceedings terminated, and even
then good old Mrs. Talbot was still up to press steaming bumpers of very
hot whisky and water upon the wayfarers; "to keep the cold out," she
explained--though I need hardly say that the project had not waited till
that hour to be suitably recommended to the god of all enterprises.




CHAPTER IX


"THE DAWN."

Next to the delight of holding new and unpopular opinions is the delight
of having a medium for their unedited expression, though this is a
delight given to few reformers. "The Dawn," however, was to be such a
medium; and when the first number appeared, as it did nearly a month
from the meeting recorded in the last chapter, four people, nay,
five--for we mustn't forget Mr. Moggridge--were supremely happy. With
the exception of the poet, who, as we have seen, occasionally irradiated
the poet's corner of the "Argus," and Mr. Moggridge, it was a first
appearance in print for three out of the five contributors; and though
each talked most of the articles by the others, they were secretly
longing to get away with the little paper to some corner where they
could gloat over their own special contribution.

Not that they had any ridiculous ideas of the literary importance of the
articles in question, but because it seemed so strange to see the warm
words of their mouths thus condensed into cold print, so strange to