Obviously, no one
will make the slightest effort to work up the public interest on their
behalf, simply because they are labelled 'useless.' They belong
nowhere--they have no votes--they are too feeble to combine--they are
even too feeble to commit an atrocious murder; consequently, for the
help they would receive, they could give nothing in return. By the
bye, I doubt if they could muster between them a pair of suspenders--a
bootlace--a shirt-button, or even a--"
Lilian Rosenberg caught him by the arm. "Stop," she said, "that's
enough. Don't get too graphic. What's the matter with that tree?"
They were now close beside the banks of the Serpentine; the moon had
broken through its covering of black clouds, and they perceived some
twenty yards ahead of them, a tall, isolated lime, that was rocking in
a most peculiar manner.
[Illustration: THEY GAZED FASCINATED]
CHAPTER XXVII
THE RIGHT GIRL TO MARRY
Though the wind was nothing more than the usual night breeze of early
autumn, the lime-tree was swaying violently to and fro, as if under
the influence of a stupendous hurricane. Lilian Rosenberg and Kelson
were so fascinated that they stood and watched it in silence. At last
it left off swaying and became absolutely motionless. They then
noticed, for the first time, that there were three figures standing
under its branches, and that one of the figures was a policeman.
"Hide quickly," Kelson whispered, "those two are Hamar and Curtis.
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