The Ladies Gallery was full, for the matter was in all the papers, and a pretty sensation had been worked up one way and another.
That night, after dinner, Gaston rose to make his maiden speech on a bill dealing with an imminent social question.

He was not an amateur.
Time upon time he had addressed gatherings in the North, and had once stood at the bar of the Canadian Commons to plead the cause of the half-breeds.

He was pale, but firm, and looked striking.

His eyes went slowly round the House, and he began in a low, clear, deliberate voice, which got attention at once.

The first sentence was, however, a surprise to every one, and not the least to his own party, excepting Lord Faramond.