More people came--more and more. Fanny left Margaret's side, and

helped her mother to receive her guests. Mr. Thornton felt that

in this influx no one was speaking to Margaret, and was restless

under this apparent neglect. But he never went near her himself;

he did not look at her. Only, he knew what she was doing--or not

doing--better than he knew the movements of any one else in the

room. Margaret was so unconscious of herself, and so much amused

by watching other people, that she never thought whether she was

left unnoticed or not. Somebody took her down to dinner; she did

not catch the name; nor did he seem much inclined to talk to her.

There was a very animated conversation going on among the

gentlemen; the ladies, for the most part, were silent, employing

themselves in taking notes of the dinner and criticising each

other's dresses. Margaret caught the clue to the general

conversation, grew interested and listened attentively. Mr.

Horsfall, the stranger, whose visit to the town was the original

germ of the party, was asking questions relative to the trade and

manufactures of the place; and the rest of the gentlemen--all

Milton men,--were giving him answers and explanations. Some

dispute arose, which was warmly contested; it was referred to Mr.

Thornton, who had hardly spoken before; but who now gave an

opinion, the grounds of which were so clearly stated that even

the opponents yielded. Margaret's attention was thus called to

her host; his whole manner as master of the house, and

entertainer of his friends, was so straightforward, yet simple

and modest, as to be thoroughly dignified. Margaret thought she

had never seen him to so much advantage. When he had come to

their house, there had been always something, either of

over-eagerness or of that kind of vexed annoyance which seemed

ready to pre-suppose that he was unjustly judged, and yet felt

too proud to try and make himself better understood. But now,

among his fellows, there was no uncertainty as to his position.

He was regarded by them as a man of great force of character; of

power in many ways. There was no need to struggle for their

respect. He had it, and he knew it; and the security of this gave

a fine grand quietness to his voice and ways, which Margaret had

missed before.

He was not in the habit of talking to ladies; and what he did say

was a little formal. To Margaret herself he hardly spoke at all.

She was surprised to think how much she enjoyed this dinner. She

knew enough now to understand many local interests--nay, even

some of the technical words employed by the eager mill-owners.

She silently took a very decided part in the question they were

discussing. At any rate, they talked in desperate earnest,--not

in the used-up style that wearied her so in the old London

parties. She wondered that with all this dwelling on the

manufactures and trade of the place, no allusion was made to the

strike then pending. She did not yet know how coolly such things

were taken by the masters, as having only one possible end. To be

sure, the men were cutting their own throats, as they had done

many a time before; but if they would be fools, and put

themselves into the hands of a rascally set of paid delegates,'

they must take the consequence. One or two thought Thornton

looked out of spirits; and, of course, he must lose by this

turn-out. But it was an accident that might happen to themselves

any day; and Thornton was as good to manage a strike as any one;

for he was as iron a chap as any in Milton. The hands had

mistaken their man in trying that dodge on him. And they chuckled

inwardly at the idea of the workmen's discomfiture and defeat, in

their attempt to alter one iota of what Thornton had decreed. It

was rather dull for Margaret after dinner. She was glad when the

gentlemen came, not merely because she caught her father's eye to

brighten her sleepiness up; but because she could listen to

something larger and grander than the petty interests which the

ladies had been talking about. She liked the exultation in the

sense of power which these Milton men had. It might be rather

rampant in its display, and savour of boasting; but still they

seemed to defy the old limits of possibility, in a kind of fine

intoxication, caused by the recollection of what had been

achieved, and what yet should be. If in her cooler moments she

might not approve of their spirit in all things, still there was

much to admire in their forgetfulness of themselves and the

present, in their anticipated triumphs over all inanimate matter

at some future time which none of them should live to see. She

was rather startled when Mr. Thornton spoke to her, close at her

elbow: 'I could see you were on our side in our discussion at

dinner,--were you not, Miss Hale?' 'Certainly. But then I know so little about it. I was surprised,

however, to find from what Mr. Horsfall said, that there were

others who thought in so diametrically opposite a manner, as the

Mr. Morison he spoke about. He cannot be a gentleman--is he?' 'I am not quite the person to decide on another's

gentlemanliness, Miss Hale. I mean, I don't quite understand your

application of the word. But I should say that this Morison is no

true man. I don't know who he is; I merely judge him from Mr.

Horsfall's account.' 'I suspect my "gentleman" includes your "true man."' 'And a great deal more, you would imply. I differ from you. A man

is to me a higher and a completer being than a gentleman.' 'What do you mean?' asked Margaret. 'We must understand the words

differently.' 'I take it that "gentleman" is a term that only describes a

person in his relation to others; but when we speak of him as "a

man," we consider him not merely with regard to his fellow-men,

but in relation to himself,--to life--to time--to eternity. A

cast-away lonely as Robinson Crusoe--a prisoner immured in a

dungeon for life--nay, even a saint in Patmos, has his endurance,

his strength, his faith, best described by being spoken of as "a

man." I am rather weary of this word "gentlemanly," which seems

to me to be often inappropriately used, and often, too, with such

exaggerated distortion of meaning, while the full simplicity of

the noun "man," and the adjective "manly" are

unacknowledged--that I am induced to class it with the cant of

the day.' Margaret thought a moment,--but before she could speak her slow

conviction, he was called away by some of the eager

manufacturers, whose speeches she could not hear, though she

could guess at their import by the short clear answers Mr.

Thornton gave, which came steady and firm as the boom of a

distant minute gun. They were evidently talking of the turn-out,

and suggesting what course had best be pursued. She heard Mr.

Thornton say: 'That has been done.' Then came a hurried murmur, in which two or

three joined.




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