At once the tumult ceased, and the people waited breathless for Augusta Goold to speak again.
'Are you prepared'-- she seemed to have learnt her question off by heart--'to give any portion of the money entrusted to you by the Irish people to assist the Boers in their struggle for freedom ?' Mr.Shea, a red-headed member of Parliament from Co.

Limerick, being himself one of those most deeply interested in the contents of the party's purse, sprang to his feet.

It was clear that he was in a condition of almost dangerous excitement, for he stammered, as he shouted to the chairman: 'Sir, is this--this--this woman to be allowed to interrupt the meeting?
I demand her immediate removal.' Augusta Goold smiled at him.

It was really a very gracious, almost a tender, smile.

One might imagine the divine Theodora in her earlier days smiling with just such an expression on a plebeian lover whose passion she regarded as creditable to him but hopeless.
'I assure you, Mr.Shea, that I shall not interrupt the business for more than a minute.