Thornton"s way; and often, when his eye fell on Higgins, he could havespoken angrily to him without any present cause, just from feeling howserious was the injury that had arisen from this affair in which he wasimplicated. But when he became conscious of this sudden, quickresentment, he resolved to curb it. It would not satisfy him to avoidHiggins; he must convince himself that he was master over his ownanger, by being particularly careful to allow Higgins access to him,whenever the strict rules of business, or Mr. Thornton"s leisurepermitted. And by-and-bye, he lost all sense of resentment in wonderhow it was, or could be, that two men like himself and Higgins, livingby the same trade, working in their different ways at the same object,could look upon each other"s position and duties in so strangelydifferent a way. And thence arose that intercourse, which though itmight not have the effect of preventing all future clash of opinion andaction, when the occasion arose, would, at any rate, enable both masterand man to look upon each other with far more charity and sympathy,and bear with each other more patiently and kindly. Besides thisimprovement of feeling, both Mr. Thornton and his workmen found outtheir ignorance as to positive matters of fact, known heretofore to oneside, but not to the other.
But now had come one of those periods of bad trade, when the marketfalling brought down the value of all large stocks; Mr. Thornton"s fell tonearly half. No orders were coming in; so he lost the interest of thecapital he had locked up in machinery; indeed, it was difficult to getpayment for the orders completed; yet there was the constant drain ofexpenses for working the business. Then the bills became due for thecotton he had purchased; and money being scarce, he could only borrowat exorbitant interest, and yet he could not realise any of his property.
But he did not despair; he exerted himself day and night to foresee andto provide for all emergencies; he was as calm and gentle to the womenin his home as ever; to the workmen in his mill he spoke not manywords, but they knew him by this time; and many a curt, decidedanswer was received by them rather with sympathy for the care theysaw pressing upon him, than with the suppressed antagonism which hadformerly been smouldering, and ready for hard words and hardjudgments on all occasions. "Th" measter"s a deal to potter him," saidHiggins, one day, as he heard Mr. Thornton"s short, sharp inquiry, whysuch a command had not been obeyed; and caught the sound of thesuppressed sigh which he heaved in going past the room where some ofthe men were working. Higgins and another man stopped over-hoursthat night, unknown to any one, to get the neglected piece of workdone; and Mr. Thornton never knew but that the overlooker, to whomhe had given the command in the first instance, had done it himself"Eh! I reckon I know who"d ha" been sorry for to see our measter sittingso like a piece o" grey calico! Th" ou"d parson would ha" fretted hiswoman"s heart out, if he"d seen the woeful looks I have seen on ourmeaster"s face," thought Higgins, one day, as he was approaching Mr.
Thornton in Marlborough Street.
"Measter," said he, stopping his employer in his quick resolved walk,and causing that gentleman to look up with a sudden annoyed start, as ifhis thoughts had been far away.
"Have yo" heerd aught of Miss Marget lately?"
"Miss--who?" replied Mr. Thornton.
"Miss Marget--Miss Hale--th" oud parson"s daughter--yo known who Imean well enough, if yo"ll only think a bit--" (there was nothingdisrespectful in the tone in which this was said).
"Oh yes!" and suddenly, the wintry frost-bound look of care had left Mr.
Thornton"s face, as if some soft summer gale had blown all anxietyaway from his mind; and though his mouth was as much compressed asbefore, his eyes smiled out benignly on his questioner.
"She"s my landlord now, you know, Higgins. I hear of her through heragent here, every now and then. She"s well and among friends--thankyou, Higgins." That "thank you" that lingered after the other words, andyet came with so much warmth of feeling, let in a new light to the acuteHiggins. It might be but a will-o"-th"-wisp, but he thought he wouldfollow it and ascertain whither it would lead him.
"And she"s not getten married, measter?"
"Not yet." The face was cloudy once more. "There is some talk of it, as Iunderstand, with a connection of the family."
"Then she"ll not be for coming to Milton again, I reckon."
"No!"
"Stop a minute, measter." Then going up confidentially close, he said, "Isth" young gentleman cleared?" He enforced the depth of his intelligenceby a wink of the eye, which only made things more mysterious to Mr.
Thornton.
"Th" young gentleman, I mean--Master Frederick, they ca"ad him--herbrother as was over here, yo" known."
"Over here."
"Ay, to be sure, at th" missus"s death. Yo" need na be feared of mytelling; for Mary and me, we knowed it all along, only we held ourpeace, for we got it through Mary working. in th" house."
"And he was over. It was her brother!"
"Sure enough, and I reckoned yo" knowed it or I"d never ha" let on. Yo"
knowed she had a brother?"
"Yes, I know all about him. And he was over at Mrs. Hale"s death?"
"Nay! I"m not going for to tell more. I"ve maybe getten them intomischief already, for they kept it very close. I nobbut wanted to know ifthey"d getten him cleared?"
"Not that I know of. I know nothing. I only hear of Miss Hale, now, asmy landlord, and through her lawyer."
He broke off from Higgins, to follow the business on which he had beenbent when the latter first accosted him; leaving Higgins baffled in hisendeavour.
"It was her brother," said Mr. Thornton to himself. "I am glad. I maynever see her again; but it is a comfort--a relief--to know that much. Iknew she could not be unmaidenly; and yet I yearned for conviction.
Now I am glad!"
It was a little golden thread running through the dark web of his presentfortunes; which were growing ever gloomier and more gloomy. Hisagent had largely trusted a house in the American trade, which wentdown, along with several others, just at this time, like a pack of cards,the fall of one compelling other failures. What were Mr. Thornton"sengagements? Could he stand?