[CHAPTER XXVIII]
The parade of the newly formed Masters' and Mistresses' Union duly took place, and was attended by no immediately unpleasant results as far as Edward or the other leaders were concerned.
It was quite an orderly demonstration, and its organisers had been astute enough to disassociate themselves from the anarchical proceedings of Mr. Bolster, and those who had followed his lead. I discovered that Edward had given me an over-coloured account of the importance that these outbreaks had had in the movement, and possibly of his own share in directing it. He carried a banner in the procession, on which had been emblazoned, rather hurriedly, the words: "We Want to Make our own Beds," and marched, surrounded by the mistresses, about halfway down the line. If the police had made any arrests, I doubt if they would have picked him out, or even if they would have noticed him.
All would have gone well if Edward had now been content to work on these safe and constitutional lines. There were stronger heads than his directing affairs, and with such success that they were able to throw over those who had been responsible for quickening the unrest into life. They even encouraged the police to take active steps against those who had put themselves into a stage of siege. The tradespeople were forced to stop their supplies, and they were all starved out within a week. When they got them under lock and key they dealt leniently with them, for public opinion was largely on their side. But Edward was so furious with the cynical way in which his fellow progressives had repudiated these noble-spirited pioneers that there was no holding him, and at last he achieved that crown of martyrdom for which he had thirsted, and was arrested, as he was leaving a meeting of the Super-Assessed Employers' Protest League.
I went to the court to hear him tried, and met one of the policemen who had come to take my finger-prints. He told me that I had nearly been arrested too, as I had been seen with Edward in Mr. Bolster's garden when he had been persuading people to throw things out of their own windows, in imitation of that hero, but the authorities had refused to prosecute me. Without actually saying so he gave me to understand that Lord Potter was at the bottom of it, but that the case against Edward was so strong that they could not refuse to take it up when once the information had been laid.
Lord Potter pushed his way into the court as we were speaking together, and when he saw me glared with fury, but said nothing, not even when I asked him politely if he would like any more prints of Tom's photographs.
These had turned out well, and created much amusement in the family circle. Unknown to Mr. Perry, who might have objected, a print of each had been sent to Lord Potter, and had probably pleased him less than the rest of us:
Edward stood up in the dock like a man, acknowledged all that was alleged against him, glorified in it, and made a speech to the effect that a day would come.
The magistrate listened to him indulgently, and said he was sorry to see a young man of his character and parentage in such a position. He would not be doing his duty if he overlooked the offence, but on account of Edward's hitherto blameless record, and the purity of his intentions, would sentence him to a month's imprisonment in the first division. He hoped that this very lenient punishment, for an offence that was graver than he seemed to recognise, would encourage him for the future to confine his efforts for the amelioration of the rich to more legitimate channels.
I shook Edward by the hand as he was led away to undergo his punishment, and he told me to tell his family not to grieve for him. Nothing would daunt his spirit, and, if he survived his punishment, he should come out of prison more determined to carry on his work than when he went in.