To an accompaniment of shouts and applause he went on, smiling and rubbing his hands in a state of bubbling Brotherliness.
'Well, I don't need tell those men the vote 'as done us _some_ good. They _know_ it. And it'll do us a lot more good w'en you know 'ow to use the power you got in your 'and.'
'Power!' grumbled an old fellow. 'It's those fellows at the bottom of the street'--he hitched his head toward St. Stephen's--'it's them that's got the power.'
The speaker pounced on him. 'It's you and men like you that give it to them. Wot did you do last election? You carried the Liberals into Parliament Street on your own shoulders. You believed all their fine words. You never asked yerselves, "Wot's a Liberal, anyway?"'
In the chorus of cheers and booing some one sang out, 'He's a jolly good fellow!'
'No 'e ain't,' said the Labour man, with another wheel about and a pounce. 'No 'e ain't, or, if 'e's jolly, it's only because 'e thinks you're such a cod-fish you'll go swellin' 'is majority again.'
Stonor joined in that laugh. He rather liked the man.
'Yes, it's enough to make any Liberal "jolly" to see a sheep like you lookin' on, proud and 'appy, while you see Liberal leaders desertin' Liberal principles.'
Through the roar of protest and argument, he held out those grotesque great hands of his with the suggestion--
'You show me a Liberal, and I'll show you a Mr. Facing-both-ways. Yuss. The Liberal, 'e sheds the light of his warm and 'andsome smile on the workin' man, and round on the other side 'e's tippin' the wink to the great landowners. Yuss. That's to let 'em know 'e's standin' between them and Socialists. Ha! the Socialists!' Puffing and flushed and perspiring he hurled it out again and again over the heads of the people. 'The Socialists! Yuss. _Socialists!_ Ha! ha!' When he and the audience had a little calmed down, 'The Liberal,' he said, with that look of sly humour, ''e's the judicial sort o' chap that sits in the middle.'
He nodded. 'Tories one side, Socialists the other. Well, it ain't always so comfortable in the middle. No. Yer like to get squeezed. Now, I says to the women, wot I says is, the Conservatives don't promise you much, but wot they promise they _do_.' He whacked one fist into the other with tremendous effect.