Schwartz listened coldly.
“I was just about to go to a meeting of the revolutionary committee,” he said. “You had better come with me.”
Johann eagerly assented, and as they walked along, poured into his companion’s ear the history of the last few weeks. Schwartz heard him without vouchsafing any reply. The two men seemed to have exchanged natures. Still Johann suspected nothing.
The Committee was assembled in a small private meeting-place when they arrived. The chair was vacant, and Schwartz at once walked up to the head of the room, and occupied it, leaving Johann by the door. The sullen, hostile looks of those present were the first signs that roused the intruder to a sense of what was coming.
“The first business before us,” calmly announced Schwartz, as soon as he had placed himself in the chair, “is the reading of the minutes of our last meeting.”
A sensation made itself felt through the gathering, and all eyes were directed towards Johann as the secretary proceeded to read in a cold, metallic voice.
This was the last item in the minutes—
“Moved by Comrade Meyerbeer, seconded by Comrade Hirst, and carried unanimously, that Johann Mark be expelled from all further connection with the revolutionary movement, as a friend and favourer of monarchy.”
The republican reeled beneath the blow. His first impulse was to rush from the meeting. But before the chairman could affix his signature to the fatal page, he gathered himself together, and strode proudly up the room.
“You have condemned me in my absence,” he cried, sternly. “Will you give me a hearing now?”