“My wife?”

“About Clare?” exclaimed Mrs. Atkinson Brown.

Mrs. Hargreaves craned her head forward, like a bird reaching for its seed.

“I wonder—” she said.

Madge Vernon grinned at them all.

“It’ll be in the papers to-morrow, so you are all bound to know. Besides, why keep it a secret? It’s a thing to be proud of!”

“Proud of what?” asked Herbert in a frenzied tone of voice.

Madge Vernon enjoyed the drama of her announcement.

“Clare has been arrested in a demonstration outside the House to-night.”

“Arrested!”