His daughters and I went together, and with some hundreds of others carrying petitions--ten only with each petition, and the ten rigidly counted and allowed to pass through the gate, sufficiently opened to let one through at a time--reached Westminster Hall, where we waited on the steps leading to the passage of the lobby.
An inspector ordered us off.

I gently intimated that we were within our rights.

Dramatic order: "Four officers this way." Up they marched and looked at us, and we looked at them.

"I think you had better consult Inspector Denning before you use violence," I remarked placidly.

They thought they had, and in a few moments up came the inspector, and seeing that we were standing in a place where we had a right to be, and were doing no harm, he rebuked his over-zealous subordinates, and they retired and left us in peace.