CHAPTER XII

"Julia!" Maraton exclaimed.

"Aaron was run over just as he was starting," she explained quickly.
"He is not hurt badly, but he wasn't able to catch the train. He had an
important letter from Manchester and one from the committee for you. We
thought it best that I should bring them. I hope we decided rightly."

She was standing out of the circle of the lamplight, in the shadows of
the room. There was a queer nervousness about her manner, a strained
anxiety in the way her eyes scarcely left his face, which puzzled him.

"It is very kind of you," he said, as he took the letters. "Please sit
down while I look at them."

The first was dated from the House of Commons:

"_Dear Mr. Maraton:_

"At a committee meeting held this afternoon here, it was resolved that I
should write to you to the following effect.

"We understood that you were coming over here entirely in the interests
of the great cause of labour, of which we, the undersigned, are the
accredited representatives in this country. Since your arrival,
however, you have preserved an independent attitude which has given