CHAPTER XXVII.
THE ARREST.
The eloquent editor from whom I have just quoted told the truth when he said that Metropolisville was "the red-hot crater of a boiling and seething excitement." For everybody had believed in Charlton.

He was not popular.

People with vicarious consciences are not generally beloved unless they are tempered by much suavity.

And Charlton was not.

But everybody, except Mrs.Ferret, believed in his honesty and courage.
Nobody had doubted his sincerity, though Smith Westcott had uttered many innuendoes.