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applause; but instead of doing it, it seemed stricken with a paralysis;
there was a deep hush for a moment or two, then a wave of whispered
murmurs swept the place--of about this tenor: "Billson! oh, come, this
is too thin! Twenty dollars to a stranger--or anybody--Billson!
Tell it to the marines!" And now at this point the house caught its
breath all of a sudden in a new access of astonishment, for it discovered
that whereas in one part of the hall Deacon Billson was standing up with
his head weekly bowed, in another part of it Lawyer Wilson was doing the
same. There was a wondering silence now for a while. Everybody was
puzzled, and nineteen couples were surprised and indignant.
Billson and Wilson turned and stared at each other. Billson asked,
bitingly:
"Why do you rise, Mr. Wilson?"
"Because I have a right to. Perhaps you will be good enough to explain
to the house why you rise."
"
With great pleasure. Because I wrote that paper."
It is an impudent falsity! I wrote it myself."
"
It was Burgess's turn to be paralysed. He stood looking vacantly at
first one of the men and then the other, and did not seem to know what to
do. The house was stupefied. Lawyer Wilson spoke up now, and said:
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