"When did you write to Frederick, Margaret? Yesterday, or the day before?"
"Yesterday, mamma."
"Yesterday. And the letter went?"
"Yes. I took it myself"
"Oh, Margaret, I"m so afraid of his coming! If he should be recognised! If he should be taken! If he should be executed, after all these years that he has kept away and lived in safety! I keep falling asleep and dreaming that he is caught and being tried."
"Oh, mamma, don"t be afraid. There will be some risk no doubt; but we will lessen it as much as ever we can. And it is so little! Now, if we were at Helstone, there would be twenty--a hundred times as much. There, everybody would remember him and if there was a stranger known to be in the house, they would be sure to guess it was Frederick; while here, n.o.body knows or cares for us enough to notice what we do. Dixon will keep the door like a dragon--won"t you, Dixon--while he is here?"
"They"ll be clever if they come in past me!" said Dixon, showing her teeth at the bare idea.
"And he need not go out, except in the dusk, poor fellow!"
"Poor fellow!" echoed Mrs. Hale. "But I almost wish you had not written. Would it be too late to stop him if you wrote again, Margaret?"
"I"m afraid it would, mamma," said Margaret, remembering the urgency with which she had entreated him to come directly, if he wished to see his mother alive.
"I always dislike that doing things in such a hurry," said Mrs. Hale.
Margaret was silent.
"Come now, ma am," said Dixon, with a kind of cheerful authority, "you know seeing Master Frederick is just the very thing of all others you"re longing for. And I"m glad Miss Margaret wrote off straight, without shilly-shallying. I"ve had a great mind to do it myself. And we"ll keep him snug, depend upon it. There"s only Martha in the house that would not do a good deal to save him on a pinch; and I"ve been thinking she might go and see her mother just at that very time. She"s been saying once or twice she should like to go, for her mother has had a stroke since she came here, only she didn"t like to ask. But I"ll see about her being safe off, as soon as we know when he comes, G.o.d bless him! So take your tea, ma"am, in comfort, and trust to me."
Mrs. Hale did trust in Dixon more than in Margaret. Dixon"s words quieted her for the time. Margaret poured out the tea in silence, trying to think of something agreeable to say; but her thoughts made answer something like Daniel O"Rourke, when the man-in-the-moon asked him to get off his reaping-hook. "The more you ax us, the more we won"t stir." The more she tried to think of something anything besides the danger to which Frederick would be exposed--the more closely her imagination clung to the unfortunate idea presented to her. Her mother prattled with Dixon, and seemed to have utterly forgotten the possibility of Frederick being tried and executed--utterly forgotten that at her wish, if by Margaret"s deed, he was summoned into this danger. Her mother was one of those who throw out terrible possibilities, miserable probabilities, unfortunate chances of all kinds, as a rocket throws out sparks; but if the sparks light on some combustible matter, they smoulder first, and burst out into a frightful flame at last. Margaret was glad when, her filial duties gently and carefully performed, she could go down into the study. She wondered how her father and Higgins had got on.
In the first place, the decorous, kind-hearted, simple, old-fashioned gentleman, had unconsciously called out, by his own refinement and courteousness of manner, all the latent courtesy in the other.
Mr. Hale treated all his fellow-creatures alike: it never entered into his head to make any difference because of their rank. He placed a chair for Nicholas stood up till he, at Mr. Hale"s request, took a seat; and called him, invariably, "Mr. Higgins," instead of the curt "Nicholas" or "Higgins," to which the "drunken infidel weaver" had been accustomed. But Nicholas was neither an habitual drunkard nor a thorough infidel. He drank to drown care, as he would have himself expressed it: and he was infidel so far as he had never yet found any form of faith to which he could attach himself, heart and soul.
Margaret was a little surprised, and very much pleased, when she found her father and Higgins in earnest conversation--each speaking with gentle politeness to the other, however their opinions might clash. Nicholas--clean, tidied (if only at the pump-trough), and quiet spoken--was a new creature to her, who had only seen him in the rough independence of his own hearthstone. He had "slicked" his hair down with the fresh water; he had adjusted his neck-handkerchief, and borrowed an odd candle-end to polish his clogs with and there he sat, enforcing some opinion on her father, with a strong Darkshire accent, it is true, but with a lowered voice, and a good, earnest composure on his face. Her father, too, was interested in what his companion was saying. He looked round as she came in, smiled, and quietly gave her his chair, and then sat down afresh as quickly as possible, and with a little bow of apology to his guest for the interruption. Higgins nodded to her as a sign of greeting; and she softly adjusted her working materials on the table, and prepared to listen.
"As I was a-sayin, sir, I reckon yo"d not ha" much belief in yo" if yo" lived here,--if yo"d been bred here. I ax your pardon if I use wrong words; but what I mean by belief just now, is a-thinking on sayings and maxims and promises made by folk yo" never saw, about the things and the life, yo" never saw, nor no one else. Now, yo" say these are true things, and true sayings, and a true life. I just say, where"s the proof? There"s many and many a one wiser, and scores better learned than I am around me,--folk who"ve had time to think on these things,--while my time has had to be gi"en up to getting my bread. Well, I sees these people. Their lives is pretty much open to me. They"re real folk. They don"t believe i" the Bible,--not they. They may say they do, for form"s sake; but Lord, sir, d"ye think their first cry i" th" morning is, "What shall I do to get hold on eternal life?" or "What shall I do to fill my purse this blessed day? Where shall I go? What bargains shall I strike?" The purse and the gold and the notes is real things; things as can be felt and touched; them"s realities; and eternal life is all a talk, very fit for--I ax your pardon, sir; yo"r a parson out o" work, I believe. Well! I"ll never speak disrespectful of a man in the same fix as I"m in mysel". But I"ll just ax yo another question, sir, and I dunnot want yo to answer it, only to put in yo"r pipe, and smoke it, afore yo" go for to set down us, who only believe in what we see, as fools and noddies. If salvation, and life to come, and what not, was true--not in men"s words, but in men"s hearts" core--dun yo" not think they"d din us wi" it as they do wi" political "conomy? They"re mighty anxious to come round us wi" that piece o" wisdom; but t"other would be a greater convarsion, if it were true."
"But the masters have nothing to do with your religion. All that they are connected with you in is trade,--so they think,--and all that it concerns them, therefore, to rectify your opinions in is the science of trade."
"I"m glad, sir," said Higgins, with a curious wink of his eye, "that yo" put in, "so they think." I"d ha" thought yo" a hypocrite, I"m afeard, if yo" hadn"t, for all yo"r a parson, or rayther because yo"r a parson. Yo" see, if yo"d spoken o" religion as a thing that, if it was true, it didn"t concern all men to press on all men"s attention, above everything else in this "varsal earth, I should ha" thought yo" a knave for to be a parson; and I"d rather think yo" a fool than a knave. No offence, I hope, sir."
"None at all. You consider me mistaken, and I consider you far more fatally mistaken. I don"t expect to convince you in a day,--not in one conversation; but let us know each other, and speak freely to each other about these things, and the truth will prevail. I should not believe in G.o.d if I did not believe that. Mr. Higgins, I trust, whatever else you have given up, you believe"--(Mr. Hale"s voice dropped low in reverence)--"you believe in Him."
Nicholas Higgins suddenly stood straight, stiff up. Margaret started to her feet,--for she thought, by the working of his face, he was going into convulsions. Mr. Hale looked at her dismayed. At last Higgins found words: "Man! I could fell yo" to the ground for tempting me. Whatten business have yo" to try me wi" your doubts? Think o" her lying theere, after the life hoo"s led and think then how yo"d deny me the one sole comfort left--that there is a G.o.d, and that He set her her life. I dunnot believe she"ll ever live again," said he, sitting down, and drearily going on, as if to the unsympathising fire. "I dunnot believe in any other life than this, in which she dreed such trouble, and had such never-ending care; and I cannot bear to think it were all a set o" chances, that might ha" been altered wi" a breath o" wind. There"s many a time when I"ve thought I didna believe in G.o.d, but I"ve never put it fair out before me in words, as many men do. I may ha" laughed at those who did, to brave it out like--but I have looked round at after, to see if He heard me, if so be there was a He; but to-day, when I"m left desolate, I wunnot listen to yo" wi" yo"r questions, and yo"r doubts. There"s but one thing steady and quiet i" all this reeling world, and, reason or no reason, I"ll cling to that. It"s a" very well for happy folk"---- Margaret touched his arm very softly. She had not spoken before, nor had he heard her rise.
"Nicholas, we do not want to reason; you misunderstand my father. We do not reason--we believe; and so do you. It is the one sole comfort in such times."
He turned round and caught her hand. "Ay! it is, it is--(brushing away the tears with the back of his hand).--"But yo" know, she"s lying dead at home and I"m welly dazed wi" sorrow, and at times I hardly know what I"m saying. It"s as if speeches folk ha" made--clever and smart things as I"ve thought at the time--come up now my heart"s welly brossen. Th" strike"s failed as well; dun yo" know that, miss? I were coming whoam to ask her, like a beggar as I am, for a bit o" comfort i" that trouble; and I were knocked down by one who telled me she were dead--just dead That were all; but that were enough for me.
Mr. Hale blew his nose, and got up to snuff the candles in order to conceal his emotion. "He"s not an infidel, Margaret; how could you say so?" muttered he reproachfully "I"ve a good mind to read him the fourteenth chapter of Job."
"Not yet, papa, I think. Perhaps not at all. Let us ask him about the strike, and give him all the sympathy he needs, and hoped to have from poor Bessy."
So they questioned and listened. The workmen"s calculations were based (like too many of the masters") on false premises. They reckoned on their fellow-men as if they possessed the calculable powers of machines, no more, no less; no allowance for human pa.s.sions getting the better of reason, as in the case of Boucher and the rioters; and believing that the representations of their injuries would have the same effect on strangers far away, as the injuries (fancied or real) had upon themselves. They were consequently surprised and indignant at the poor Irish, who had allowed themselves to be imported and brought over to take their places. This indignation was tempered, in some degree, by contempt for "them Irishers," and by pleasure at the idea of the bungling way in which they would set to work, and perplex their new masters with their ignorance and stupidity, strange exaggerated stories of which were already spreading through the town. But the most cruel cut of all was that of the Milton workmen, who had defied and disobeyed the commands of the Union to keep the peace, whatever came; who had originated discord in the camp, and spread the panic of the law being arrayed against them.
"And so the strike is at an end," said Margaret.
"Ay, miss. It"s save as save can. Th" factory doors will need open wide to-morrow to let in all who"ll be axing for work; if it"s only just to show they"d nought to do wi" a measure, which if we"d been made o" th" right stuff would ha" brought wages up to a point they"n not been at this ten year."
"You"ll get work, shan"t you?" asked Margaret. "You"re a famous workman, are not you?"
"Hamper"ll let me work at his mill, when he cuts off his right hand--not before, and not after," said Nicholas, quietly. Margaret was silenced and sad.
"About the wages," said Mr. Hale. "You"ll not be offended, but I think you make some sad mistakes. I should like to read you some remarks in a book I have." He got up and went to his book-shelves.
"Yo" needn"t trouble yoursel", sir," said Nicholas. "Their book-stuff goes in at one ear and out at t"other. I can make nought on"t. Afore Hamper and me had this split, th" overlooker telled him I were stirring up the men to ask for higher wages; and Hamper met me one day in th" yard. He"d a thin book i" his hand, and says he, "Higgins, I"m told you"re one of those d.a.m.ned fools that think you can get higher wages for asking for "em; ay, and keep "em up too, when you"ve forced "em up. Now, I"ll give yo" a chance and try if yo"ve any sense in yo". Here"s a book written by a friend o" mine, and if yo"ll read it yo"ll see how wages find their own level, without either masters or men having aught to do with them; except the men cut their own throats wi" striking, like the confounded noodles they are." Well, now, sir, I put it to yo", being a parson, and having been in th" preaching line, and having had to try and bring folk o"er to what yo" thought was a right way o" thinking--did yo" begin by calling "em fools and such like, or didn"t yo" rayther give "em some kind words at first, to make "em ready for to listen and be convinced, if they could; and in yo"r preaching, did yo" stop every now and then, and say, half to them and half to yo"rsel", "But yo"re such a pack o" fools, that I"ve a strong notion it"s no use my trying to put sense into yo"?" I were not i" th" best state, I"ll own, for taking in what Hamper"s friend had to say--I were so vexed at the way it were put to me;--but I thought, "Come, I"ll see what these chaps has got to say, and try if it"s them or me as is th" noodle." So I took th" book and tugged at it; but, Lord bless yo", it went on about capital and labour, and labour and capital, till it fair sent me off to sleep. I ne"er could rightly fix i" my mind which was which; and it spoke on "em as if they was vartues or vices; and what I wanted for to know were the rights o" men, whether they were rich or poor--so be they only were men."
"But for all that," said Mr. Hale, "and granting to the full the offensiveness, the folly, the unchristianness of Mr. Hamper"s way of speaking to you in recommending his friend"s book, yet if it told you what he said it did, that wages find their own level, and that the most successful strike can only force them up for a moment, to sink in far greater proportion afterwards, in consequence of that very strike, the book would have told you the truth."
"Well, sir," said Higgins, rather doggedly; "it might, or it might not. There"s two opinions go to settling that point. But suppose it was truth double strong, it were no truth to me if I couldna take it in. I daresay there"s truth in yon Latin book on your shelves; but it"s gibberish and not truth to me, unless I know the meaning o" the words. If yo", sir, or any other knowledgable, patient man come to me, and says he"ll larn me what the words mean, and not blow me up if I"m a bit stupid, or forget how one thing hangs on another--why, in time I may get to see the truth of it; or I may not. I"ll not be bound to say I shall end in thinking the same as any man. And I"m not one who think truth can be shaped out in words, all neat and clean, as th" men at th" foundry cut out sheet-iron. Same bones won"t go down wi" every one. It"ll stick here i" this man"s throat, and there i" t"other"s. Let alone that, when down, it may be too strong for this one, too weak for that. Folk who sets up to doctor th" world wi" their truth, mun suit different for different minds; and be a bit tender in th" way of giving it too, or th" poor sick fools may spit it out i" their faces. Now Hamper first gi"es me a box on my ear, and then he throws his big bolus at me, and says he reckons it"ll do me no good, I"m such a fool, but there it is."
"I wish some of the kindest and wisest of the masters would meet some of you men, and have a good talk on these things; it would, surely, be the best way of getting over your difficulties, which, I do believe, arise from your ignorance--excuse me, Mr. Higgins--on subjects which it is for the mutual interest of both masters and men should be well understood by both. I wonder"--(half to his daughter), "if Mr. Thornton might not be induced to do such a thing?"
"Remember, papa," said she in a very low voice, "what he said one day--about governments, you know." She was unwilling to make any clearer allusion to the conversation they had held on the mode of governing work-people--by giving men intelligence enough to rule themselves, or by a wise despotism on the part of the master--for she saw that Higgins had caught Mr. Thornton s name, if not the whole of the speech: indeed, he began to speak of him.
"Thornton! He"s the chap as wrote off at once for these Irishers; and led to th" riot that ruined th" strike. Even Hamper wi" all his bullying, would ha" waited a while--but it"s a word and a blow wi" Thornton. And, now, when th" Union would ha" thanked him for following up th" chase after Boucher, and them chaps as went right again our commands, it"s Thornton who steps forrard and coolly says that, as th" strike"s at an end, he, as party injured, doesn"t want to press the charge again the rioters. I thought he"d had more pluck. I thought he"d ha" carried his point, and had his revenge in an open way; but says he (one in court telled me his very words) "they are well known; they will find the natural punishment of their conduct, in the difficulty they will meet wi" in getting employment. That will be severe enough." I only wish they"d cotched Boucher, and had him up before Hamper. I see th" oud tiger setting on him! would he ha" let him off? Not he!"
"Mr. Thornton was right," said Margaret. You are angry against Boucher, Nicholas; or else you would be the first to see, that where the natural punishment would be severe enough for the offence, any farther punishment would be something like revenge.
"My daughter is no great friend of Mr. Thornton"s," said Mr. Hale, smiling at Margaret; while she, as red as any carnation, began to work with double diligence, "but I believe what she says is the truth. I like him for it."
"Well, sir, this strike has been a weary piece o" business to me; and yo"ll not wonder if I"m a bit put out wi" seeing it fail, just for a few men who would na suffer in silence, and hou"d out, brave and firm."
"You forget!" said Margaret. "I don"t know much of Boucher; but the only time I saw him it was not his own sufferings he spoke of, but those of his sick wife--his little children."
"True! but he were not made of iron himsel". He"d ha" cried out for his own sorrows, next. He were not one to bear."
"How came he into the Union?" asked Margaret innocently. "You don"t seem to have much respect for him; nor gained much good from having him in."
Higgins"s brow clouded. He was silent for a minute or two. Then he said, shortly enough: "It"s not for me to speak o" th" Union. What they does, they does. Them that is of a trade mun hang together; and if they"re not willing to take their chance along wi" th" rest, th" Union has ways and means."
Mr. Hale saw that Higgins was vexed at the turn the conversation had taken, and was silent. Not so Margaret, though she saw Higgins"s feeling as clearly as he did. By instinct she felt, that if he could but be brought to express himself in plain words, something clear would be gained on which to argue for the right and the just.
"And what are the Union"s ways and means?"
He looked up at her, as if on" the point of dogged resistance to her wish for information. But her calm face, fixed on his, patient and trustful, compelled him to answer.
"Well! If a man doesn"t belong to th" Union, them as works next looms has orders not to speak to him--if he"s sorry or ill it"s a" the same; he"s out o" bounds; he"s none o" us; he comes among us, he works among us, but he"s none o" us. I" some places them"s fined who speaks to him. Yo" try that, miss; try living a year or two among them as looks away if yo" look at "em; try working within two yards o" crowds o" men, who, yo" know, have a grinding grudge at yo" in their hearts--to whom if yo" say yo"r glad, not an eye brightens, nor a lip moves,--to whom if your heart"s heavy, yo" can never say nought, because they"ll ne"er take notice on your sighs or sad looks (and a man "s no man who"ll groan out loud "bout folk asking him what "s the matter?)--just yo" try that, miss--ten hours for three hundred days, and yo"ll know a bit what th" Union is."
"Why!" said Margaret, "what tyranny this is! Nay, Higgins, I don"t care one straw for your anger. I know you can"t be angry with me if you would, and I must tell you the truth: that I never read, in all the history I have read, of a more slow, lingering torture than this. And you belong to the Union! And you talk of the tyranny of the masters!"
"Nay," said Higgins, "yo" may say what yo" like! The dead stand between yo and every angry word o" mine. D" ye think I forget who"s lying there, and how hoo loved yo"? And it"s th" masters as has made us sin, if th" Union is a sin. Not this generation maybe, but their fathers. Their fathers ground our fathers to the very dust; ground us to powder! Parson! I reckon, I"ve heerd my mother read out a text, "The fathers have eaten sour grapes and th" children"s teeth are set on edge." It"s so wi" them. In those days of sore oppression th" Unions began; it were a necessity. It"s a necessity now, according to me. It"s a withstanding of injustice, past, present, or to come. It may be like war; along wi" it come crimes; but I think it were a greater crime to let it alone. Our only chance is binding men together in one common interest; and if some are cowards and some are fools, they mun come along and join the great march, whose only strength is in numbers."
"Oh!" said Mr. Hale, sighing, "your Union in itself would be beautiful, glorious,--it would be Christianity itself--if it were but for an end which affected the good of all, instead of that of merely one cla.s.s as opposed to another."
"I reckon it"s time for me to be going, sir," said Higgins, as the clock struck ten.
"Home?" said Margaret very softly. He understood her, and took her offered hand. "Home, miss. Yo" may trust me, tho" I am one o" th" Union."
"I do trust you most thoroughly, Nicholas."
"Stay!" said Mr. Hale, hurrying to the book-shelves. "Mr. Higgins! I"m sure you"ll join us in family prayer?"
Higgins looked at Margaret, doubtfully. Hey grave sweet eyes met his; there was no compulsion, only deep interest in them. He did not speak, but he kept his place.
Margaret the Churchwoman, her father the Dissenter, Higgins the Infidel, knelt down together. It did them no harm.
CHAPTER XXIX.
A RAY OF SUNSHINE.
"Some wishes crossed my mind and dimly cheered it, And one or two poor melancholy pleasures, Each in the pale unwarming light of hope, Silvering its flimsy wing, flew silent by-- Moths in the moonbeam!" COLERIDGE.
The next morning brought Margaret a letter from Edith. It was affectionate and inconsequent like the writer. But the affection was charming to Margaret"s own affectionate nature; and she had grown up with the inconsequence, so she did not perceive it. It was as follows:-- "Oh, Margaret, it is worth a journey from England to see my boy! He is a superb little fellow, especially in his caps, and most especially in the one you sent him, you good, dainty-fingered, persevering little lady! Having made all the mothers here envious, I want to show him to somebody new, and hear a fresh set of admiring expressions; perhaps, that"s all the reason; perhaps it is not--nay, possibly, there is just a little cousinly love mixed with it; but I do want you so much to come here, Margaret! I"m sure it would be the very best thing for Aunt Hale"s health; everybody here is young and well, and our skies are always blue, and our sun always shines, and the band plays deliciously from morning till night; and, to come back to the burden of my ditty, my baby always smiles. I am constantly wanting you to draw him for me, Margaret. It does not signify what he is doing; that very thing is prettiest, gracefulest, best. I think I love him a great deal better than my husband, who is getting stout, and grumpy,--what he calls "busy." No! he is not. He has just come in with news of such a charming pic-nic, given by the officers of the Hazard, at anchor in the bay below. Because he has brought in such a pleasant piece of news, I retract all I said just now. Did not somebody burn his hand for having said or done something he was sorry for? Well, I can"t burn mine, because it would hurt me, and the scar would be ugly; but I"ll retract all I said as fast as I can. Cosmo is quite as great a darling as baby, and not a bit stout, and as un-grumpy as ever husband was; only, sometimes he is very, very busy. I may say that without love--wifely duty--where was I?--I had something very particular to say, I know, once. Oh, it is this--Dearest Margaret!--you must come and see me; it would do Aunt Hale good, as I said before. Get the doctor to order it for her. Tell him that it"s the smoke of Milton that does her harm. I have no doubt it is that, really. Three months (you must not come for less) of this delicious climate--all sunshine, and grapes as common as blackberries, would quite cure her. I don"t ask my uncle"--(Here the letter became more constrained, and better written; Mr. Hale was in the corner, like a naughty child, for having given up his living.)--"because, I dare say, he disapproves of war, and soldiers, and bands of music; at least, I know that many Dissenters are members of the Peace Society, and I am afraid he would not like to come; but, if he would, dear, pray say that Cosmo and I will do our best to make him happy; and I"ll hide up Cosmo"s red coat and sword, and make the band play all sorts of grave, solemn things; or, if they do play pomps and vanities, it shall be in double slow time. Dear Margaret, if he would like to accompany you and Aunt Hale, we will try and make it pleasant, though I"m rather afraid of any one who has done something for conscience sake. You never did, I hope. Tell Aunt Hale not to bring many warm clothes, though I"m afraid it will be late in the year before you can come. But you have no idea of the heat here! I tried to wear my great beauty Indian shawl at a pic-nic. I kept myself up with proverbs as long as I could; "Pride must abide,"--and such wholesome pieces of pith; but it was of no use. I was like mamma"s little dog Tiny with an elephant"s trappings on; smothered, hidden, killed with my finery; so I made it into a capital carpet for us all to sit down upon. Here"s this boy of mine, Margaret,--if you don"t pack up your things as soon as you get this letter, a come straight off to see him, I shall think you"re descended from King Herod!"
Margaret did long for a day of Edith"s life--her freedom from care, her cheerful home, her sunny skies. If a wish could have transported her, she would have gone off; just for one day. She yearned for the strength which such a change would give,--even for a few hours to be in the midst of that bright life, and to feel young again. Not yet twenty! and she had had to bear up against such hard pressure that she felt quite old. That was her first feeling after reading Edith"s letter. Then she read it again, and, forgetting herself, was amused at its likeness to Edith"s self, and was laughing merrily over it when Mrs. Hale came into the drawing-room, leaning on Dixon"s arm. Margaret flew to adjust the pillows. Her mother seemed more than usually feeble.
"What were you laughing at, Margaret?" asked she, as soon as she had recovered from the exertion of settling herself on the sofa.
"A letter I have had this morning from Edith. Shall I read it you, mamma?"
She read it aloud, and for a time it seemed to interest her mother, who kept wondering what name Edith had given to her boy, and suggesting all probable names, and all possible reasons why each and all of these names should be given. Into the very midst of these wonders Mr. Thornton came, bringing another offering of fruit for Mrs. Hale. He could not--say rather, he would not--deny himself the chance of the pleasure of seeing Margaret. He had no end in this but the present gratification. It was the st.u.r.dy wilfulness of a man usually most reasonable and self-controlled. He entered the room, taking in at a glance the fact of Margaret"s presence; but after the first cold distant bow, he never seemed to let his eyes fall on her again. He only stayed to present his peaches--to speak some gentle kindly words--and then his cold offended eyes met Margaret"s with a grave farewell, as he left the room. She sat down silent and pale.
"Do you know, Margaret, I really begin quite to like Mr. Thornton."
No answer at first. Then Margaret forced out an icy "Do you?"
"Yes! I think he is really getting quite polished in his manners."
Margaret"s voice was more in order now. She replied, "He is very kind and attentive,--there is no doubt of that."
"I wonder Mrs. Thornton never calls. She must know I am ill, because of the water-bed."
"I dare say, she hears how you are from her son."
"Still, I should like to see her You have so few friends here, Margaret."
Margaret felt what was in her mother"s thoughts,--a tender craving to bespeak the kindness of some woman towards the daughter that might be so soon left motherless. But she could not speak.
"Do you think," said Mrs. Hale, after a pause, "that you could go and ask Mrs. Thornton to come and see me? Only once,--I don"t want to be troublesome."
"I will do anything, if you wish it, mamma,--but if--but when Frederick comes----"
"Ah, to be sure! we must keep our doors shut,--we must let no one in. I hardly know whether I dare wish him to come or not. Sometimes I think I would rather not. Sometimes I have such frightful dreams about him."
"Oh, mamma! we"ll take good care. I will put my arm in the bolt sooner than he should come to the slightest harm. Trust the care of him to me, mamma. I will watch over him like a lioness over her young."
"When can we hear from him?"
"Not for a week yet, certainly,--perhaps more."
"We must send Martha away in good time. It would never do to have her here when he comes, and then send her off in a hurry."
"Dixon is sure to remind us of that. I was thinking that, if we wanted any help in the house while he is here, we could perhaps get Mary Higgins. She is very slack of work, and is a good girl, and would take pains to do her best, I am sure, and would sleep at home, and need never come upstairs, so as to know who is in the house."
"As you please. As Dixon pleases. But, Margaret, don"t get to use these horrid Milton words. "Slack of work:" it is a provincialism. What will your aunt Shaw say, if she hears you use it on her return?"
"Oh, mamma! don"t try and make a bugbear of aunt Shaw" said Margaret, laughing. "Edith picked up all sorts of military slang from Captain Lennox, and aunt Shaw never took any notice of it."
"But yours is factory slang."
"And if I live in a factory town, I must speak factory language when I want it. Why, mamma, I could astonish you with a great many words you never heard in your life. I don"t believe you know what a k.n.o.bstick is."
"Not I, child. I only know it has a very vulgar sound and I don"t want to hear you using it."
"Very well, dearest mother, I won"t. Only I shall have to use a whole explanatory sentence instead."
"I don"t like this Milton," said Mrs. Hale. "Edith is right enough in saying it"s the smoke that has made me so ill."
Margaret started up as her mother said this. Her father had just entered the room, and she was most anxious that the faint impression she had seen on his mind that the Milton air had injured her mother"s health, should not be deepened,--should not receive any confirmation. She could not tell whether he had heard what Mrs. Hale had said or not; but she began speaking hurriedly of other things, unaware that Mr. Thornton was following him.
"Mamma is accusing me of having picked up a great deal of vulgarity since we came to Milton."
The "vulgarity" Margaret spoke of, referred purely to the use of local words, and the expression arose out of the conversation they had just been holding. But Mr. Thornton"s brow darkened; and Margaret suddenly felt how her speech might be misunderstood by him; so, in the natural sweet desire to avoid giving unnecessary pain, she forced herself to go forwards with a little greeting, and continue what she was saying, addressing herself to him expressly.
"Now, Mr. Thornton, though "k.n.o.bstick" has not a very pretty sound, is it not expressive? Could I do without it, in speaking of the thing it represents? If using local words is vulgar, I was very vulgar in the Forest,--was I not, mamma?"
It was unusual with Margaret to obtrude her own subject of conversation on others; but, in this case, she was so anxious to prevent Mr. Thornton from feeling annoyance at the words he had accidentally overheard, that it was not until she had done speaking that she coloured all over with consciousness, more especially as Mr. Thornton seemed hardly to understand the exact gist or bearing of what she was saying, but pa.s.sed her by, with a cold reserve of ceremonious movement, to speak to Mrs. Hale.
The sight of him reminded her of the wish to see his mother, and commend Margaret to her care. Margaret, sitting in burning silence, vexed and ashamed of her difficulty in keeping her right place, and her calm unconsciousness of heart, when Mr. Thornton was by, heard her mother"s slow entreaty that Mrs. Thornton would come and see her; see her soon; to-morrow, if it were possible. Mr. Thornton promised that she should--conversed a little, and then took his leave; and Margaret"s movements and voice seemed at once released from some invisible chains. He never looked at her; and yet, the careful avoidance of his eyes betokened that in some way he knew exactly where, if they fell by chance, they would rest on her. If she spoke, he gave no sign of attention, and yet his next speech to any one else was modified by what she had said; sometimes there was an express answer to what she had remarked, but given to another person as though unsuggested by her. It was not the bad manners of ignorance it was the wilful bad manners arising from deep offence. It was wilful at the time, repented of afterwards. But no deep plan, no careful cunning could have stood him in such good stead. Margaret thought about him more than she had ever done before; not with any tinge of what is called love, but with regret that she had wounded him so deeply,--and with a gentle, patient striving to return to their former position of antagonistic friendship; for a friend"s position was what she found that he had held in her regard, as well as in that of the rest of the family. There was a pretty humility in her behaviour to him, as if mutely apologising for the over-strong words which were the reaction from the deeds of the day of the riot.
But he resented those words bitterly. They rung in his ears; and he was proud of the sense of justice which made him go on in every kindness he could offer to her parents. He exulted in the power he showed in compelling himself to face her, whenever he could think of any action which might give her father or mother pleasure. He thought that he disliked seeing one who had mortified him so keenly; but he was mistaken. It was a stinging pleasure to be in the room with her, and feel her presence. But he was no great a.n.a.lyser of his own motives, and was mistaken as I have said.