"Well, sir, I reckon I can wait till yo come
back."

Mr. Thornton was half way down the
street. Higgins sighed. But it was no use.
To catch him in the street, was his only
chance of seeing " the measter; " if he had
rung the lodge bell, or even gone up to the
house to ask for him, he would have been
referred to the overlooker. So he stood still
again, vouchsafing no answer, but a short
nod of recognition, to the few men who knew
and spoke to him as the crowd drove out of
the millyard at dinner time, and scowling
with all his might at the Irish " knobsticks"
who had just been imported. At last Mr.
Thornton returned.

"What! you there still!"

"Ay, sir. I mun speak to yo."

'' Come in here, then. Stay! we'll go
across the yard; the men are not come back,
and we shall have it to ourselves. These good
people I see are at dinner; " said he, closing
the door of the porter's lodge.

He stopped to speak to the overlooker. The
latter said in a low tone:

"I suppose you know, sir, that that man is
Higgins, one of the leaders of the Union; he
that made that speech in Hurstfield."

"No, I didn't," said Mr. Thornton, looking
round sharply at his follower. Higgins was
known to him by name as a turbulent spirit.

"Come along! " said he; and his tone was
rougher than before. " It is men such as
this," thought he, " who interrupt commerce,
and injure the very town they live in: mere
demagogues, lovers of power, at whatever cost
to others."

"Well, sir! what do you want with me?"
said Mr. Thornton, facing round at him as
soon as they were in the counting-house of the
mill.

"My name is Higgins"—

"I know that," broke in Mr. Thornton.
" What do you want, Mr. Higgins? That's
the question."

" I want work."

"Work! You're a pretty chap to come
asking me for work. You don't want
impudence, that's very clear."

"I've getten enemies and backbiters, like
my betters; but I ne'er heerd o' ony of them
calling me o'er-modest," said Higgins. His
blood was a little roused by Mr. Thornton's
manner, more than by his words.

Mr. Thornton saw a letter addressed to
himself on the table. He took it up, and
read it through. At the end, he looked up
and said, '; What are you waiting for ? "

'' An answer to th' question I axed."

"I gave it you before. Don't waste any
more of your time."

"Yo made a remark, sir, on my
impudence: but I were taught that it was manners
to say either ' yes ' or ' no,' when I were axed a
civil question. I should be thankfu' to yo if
yo'd give me work. Hamper will speak to
my being a good hand."

"I've a notion you'd better not send me to
Hamper to ask for a character, my man. I
might hear more than you'd like."

"I'd take th' risk. Worst they could say
of me is, that I did what I thought best, even,
to my own wrong."

"You'd better go and try them, then, and
see whether they'll give you work. I've
turned off upwards of a hundred of my best
hands for no other fault than following you,
and such as you; and d'ye think I'll take
you on ? I might as well put a firebrand
into the midst of the cotton-waste."

Higgins turned away; then the recollection
of Boucher came over him, and he faced
round with the greatest concession he could
persuade himself to make:

"I'd promise yo, measter, I'd not speak a
word as could do harm, if so be yo did right
by us; and I'd promise more; I'd promise
that when I seed yo going wrong, and acting
unfair, I'd speak to yo in private first; and
that would be a fair warning. If yo and I
did na agree in our opinion o' your conduct,
yo might turn me off at an hour's notice."

"Upon my word, you don't think small
beer of yourself! Hamper has had a loss of
you. How came he to let you and your
wisdom go?"

"Well, we parted wi' mutual dissatisfaction.
I would not gi'e the pledge they were
asking; and they would not have me at no
rate. So I'm free to make another engagement;
and, as I said before, though I should
na' say it, I'm a good hand, measter, and a
steady man—specially when I can keep fra
drink; and that I shall do now, if I ne'er did
afore."

"That you may have more money laid up
for another strike, I suppose?"

"No! I'd be thankful if I was free to do
that; it's for to keep th' widow and childer
of a man who was drove mad by them
knobsticks o' yourn; put out of his place by a
Paddy that did na know weft fra warp."

"Well! you'd better turn to something
else if you've any such good intention in your
head. I should not advise you to stay in
Milton; you're too well known here."

"If it were summer," said Higgins, " I'd
take to Paddy's work, and go as a navvy, or
haymaking, or summut, and ne'er see Milton
again. But it's winter, and the childer will
clem."

"A pretty navvy you'd make! why, you
could not do half a day's work at digging
against an Irishman."

"I'd only charge half-a-day for th' twelve
hours, if I could only do half-a-day's work in
th' time. Yo're not knowing of any place,
where they could gi' me a trial away fra the
mills, if I'm such a firebrand? I'd take any
wage they thought I was worth, for the sake
of those childer."

"Don't you see what you would be?
You'd be a knobstick. You'd be taking less
wages than the other labourers — for the