theory. But time pressed. Today was the 27th. The 29th was the much-talked-of “Labour Day,” about which all sorts of rumours were running riot. Newspapers were getting agitated. Sensational hints of a Labour coup d’état were freely reported. The government said nothing. It knew and was prepared. There were rumours of dissension among the Labour leaders. They were not of one mind. The more farseeing among them realized that what they proposed might well be a deathblow to the England that at heart they loved. They shrank from the starvation and misery a general strike would entail, and were willing to meet the government halfway. But behind them were subtle, insistent forces at work, urging the memories of old wrongs, deprecating the weakness of half-and-half measures, fomenting misunderstandings.
Tommy felt that, thanks to Mr. Carter, he understood the position fairly accurately. With the fatal document in the hands of Mr. Brown, public opinion would swing to the side of the Labour extremists and revolutionists. Failing that, the battle