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 that 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 who 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 himself.
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 had 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 must 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 yo'r
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. Dye think I forget
who's lying there, and how hoo loved yo?