“This is entirely an informal gathering,” he said. “I shall summon the Council to come together tomorrow at midday.”
“I think that we may sleep in our beds to-night without fear of molestation,” the Bishop remarked, “although if it had been the wish of the meeting, I would have broached the matter to Mr. Stenson.”
“You are an honorary member of the Council,” Fenn declared rudely. “We don’t wish interference. This is a national and international Labour movement.”
“I am a member of the Labour Party of Christ,” the Bishop said quietly.
“And an honoured member of this Executive Council,” Cross intervened. “You’re a bit too glib with your tongue to-night, Fenn.”
“I think of those whom I represent,” was the curt reply. “They are toilers, and they want the toilers to show their power. They don’t want help from the Church. I’ll go even so far,” he added, “as to say that they don’t want help from literature. It’s their own job. They’ve begun it, and they want to finish it.”
“To-morrow’s meeting,” Furley observed, “will show how far you are right in your views. I consider my position, and the Bishop’s, as members of the Labour Party, on a par with your own. I will go further and say that the very soul of our Council is embodied in the teachings and the writings of Paul Fiske, or, as we now know him to be, Julian Orden.”
Fenn rose to his feet. He was trembling with passion.
“This informal meeting is adjourned,” he announced harshly.
Cross himself did not move.