I don't care." "They'll all have it," said another man, bluntly.

"It's the best speech you've ever made--the best president's speech we've had yet, I say,--don't you think so ?" The speaker, a man called Casey, turned to the two men behind him.

Both nodded.
"Hallin's speech last year was first-rate," he continued, "but somehow Hallin damps you down, at least he did me last year; what you want just now is _fight_--and, my word! Mr.Wharton let 'em have it!" And standing with his hands on his sides, he glanced round from one to another.

His own face was flushed, partly from the effects of a crowded hall and bad air, but mostly with excitement.

All the men present indeed--though it was less evident in Bennett and Wharton than in the rest--had the bright nervous look which belongs to leaders keenly conscious of standing well with the led, and of having just emerged successfully from an agitating ordeal.