"Well, I suppose you'll have to go then," said Jessica. "But you'll just have to hold a reception all day. Every man, woman and child will be there to shake hands with you and congratulate you."
But the citizens did not wait for them to reach their office. Before Gertrude's carriage appeared in the square in front of the city hall, the citizens had unharnessed the horses and were drawing her, as if she had been some princess royal and they her subjects.
Men that voted against her, men that had denounced her in private and public, joined the procession and helped to give her such a welcome as to bring tears to her eyes and choke her utterance.
When they reached the square, it was full of the surging, shouting populace who crowded about, seizing her hands and demonstrating in every possible way their joy at her return. If any of her captors had been looking on, he could not have doubted whether the town would be friendly to him just then.
They reached the City Hall at last, but even then, the mayor was not allowed to get out.
"Speech, speech," they were crying all about her; and Gertrude stood up, choking back her tears and trying to speak. This was what it meant to reach the popular heart, at last.
"Friends," she said, "I cannot tell you what this welcome means to us. Never again can I feel discouragement or lose faith in the people of Roma. You are showing me that I am as dear to you as you are to me. I cannot say more. Your welcome thrills me to the heart, and it seems to me I can never outlive this moment of joyous welcome. Let us go now—to our homes, our offices, our stores; and while we thank God that he has brought us out from the shadow into the light of day, let us ask Him, all humbly, for help in making our beloved Roma a fairer, a better, a purer city—a city of ideals realized and lofty purposes fulfilled."
She sat down exhausted and the crowd saw that she was near to over-taxing her strength. They began to disperse, but one cried out:
"The little secretary, too. Three cheers for Mary Snow!"
They were given spontaneously, ringing to the echo, and Mary, blushing and tremulous, rose and thanked them. Then the crowd parted to let the two women descend and go up to the hall. Had they been men and the same feeling prevailed, the mayor would have been carried in on broad shoulders, and amid shouts and cheers; but although the thought occurred to the leaders of the good-natured mob, there was something about her that made them remember the old Senator.