Now the first keenness of the men's appetites seemed to be over. Down near the door they were even beginning to smoke and quite a thick mist was already hanging over the tables. The young Head of the Community was looking his best to-day. The rapt, “seeing” look in his eyes was particularly noticeable. The relief from the long strain he had been enduring with regard to Hopkins was plainly written in his face. The bright, ready smile which had been so infrequent of late was flashing, here, there and everywhere, as he greeted his friends and acquaintances. He alone of the members of the Confraternity was not wearing the habit of the Order. His grey lounge suit was obviously the product of a West End tailor, though in his buttonhole he wore the badge of the Confraternity with the words that were its motto running across: “Work and Service.”
Just as the meal seemed about to end a telegram was brought to Todmarsh. He read it and then, with it open in his hand, hurried up the room to the platform at the end. As he sprang up, a hush came over the room; every face was turned to him in expectation.
“Dear friends,” he began, “my comrades of the Confraternity. This”—holding out the telegram—“brings me very glad news. Hopkins, our friend and brother, has started from Burchester by car. He may be here almost any moment now. What could be happier than the fact that we are all gathered together in such an assembly as this in order to welcome our friend and brother home? Now, to-night, I want all of us, every one of us, to do all that lies in our power to give Hopkins a rousing welcome, to make him feel that we know he has been wrongfully accused, and that his home, his comrades, his brothers are only waiting and longing for an opportunity to make up to him for all that he has suffered.”
It was not a particularly enthusiastic outburst of cheering that was evoked by this speech. For a moment Aubrey hesitated on the platform as though doubtful as to whether to go on, then he jumped down and turned towards Mrs. Phillimore. Tony intercepted him.
“Well done, old chap,” he exclaimed, giving Todmarsh a rousing slap on the back. “Jolly glad you have got old Hoppy back, since you are so keen on him. Shouldn't have been myself, but, there, tastes differ.”
Todmarsh winced a little. “You would have been as pleased as I am to have Hopkins back if you had known him as I do. The difference it would have made if I had been speaking of some one else and he had been among the audience. His face was the most responsive I ever saw—calculated to rouse enthusiasm above all things.”
“Um! Well, in some folks, perhaps,” Tony conceded. “But he doesn't enthuse me. I can never get over that pretty fish-like habit of his of opening and shutting his mouth silently. Tongue always seems too big for his mouth too. Seen him stick it in his cheek and chew it, as some folks do a piece of 'bacca.”
Todmarsh looked annoyed. “What a thing it is always to see the worst side of people. Now, I try only to look at the best——”
He was interrupted. A man came to him quietly. “A car has stopped before the front door, sir, and I think——”
“Hopkins!” Todmarsh exclaimed, his face lighting up.