He
was, indeed, one of the directors of the greatest mill in
Kilburn--the very one which I had seen the night before
surrounded by armed sentinels. It was thrilling to me, this
knowledge, for it seemed to plump me down at once in the middle
of things--and soon, indeed, brought me nearer to the brink of
great events than ever I was before in all my days.
I could see that Mr. Vedder considered Bill Hahn as a sort of
devouring monster, a wholly incendiary and dangerous person. So
terrible, indeed, was the warning he gave me (considering me, I
suppose an unsophisticated person) that I couldn't help laughing
outright.
"I assure you--" he began, apparently much offended.
But I interrupted him.
"I'm sorry I laughed," I said, "but as you were talking about
Bill Hahn, I couldn't help thinking of him as I first saw him."
And I gave Mr. Vedder as lively a description as I could of the
little man with his bulging coat tails, his furry ears, his odd
round spectacles. He was greatly interested in what I said and
began to ask many questions. I told him with all the earnestness
I could command of Bill's history and of his conversion to his
present beliefs. I found that Mr. Vedder had known Robert Winter
very well indeed, and was amazed at the incident which I narrated
of Bill Hahn's attempt upon his life.
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