"Not in the least," said Margaret, determined just to say this one thing;"not in the least because of your labour and capital positions, whateverthey are, but because you are a man, dealing with a set of men overwhom you have, whether you reject the use of it or not, immensepower, just because your lives and your welfare are so constantly andintimately interwoven. God has made us so that we must be mutuallydependent. We may ignore our own dependence, or refuse toacknowledge that others depend upon us in more respects than thepayment of weekly wages; but the thing must be, nevertheless. Neitheryou nor any other master can help yourselves. The most proudlyindependent man depends on those around him for their insensibleinfluence on his character--his life. And the most isolated of all yourDarkshire Egos has dependants clinging to him on all sides; he cannotshake them off, any more than the great rock he resembles can shake off-"
"Pray don"t go into similes, Margaret; you have led us off once already,"
said her father, smiling, yet uneasy at the thought that they weredetaining Mr. Thornton against his will, which was a mistake; for herather liked it, as long as Margaret would talk, although what she saidonly irritated him.
"Just tell me, Miss Hale, are you yourself ever influenced--no, that is nota fair way of putting it;--but if you are ever conscious of beinginfluenced by others, and not by circumstances, have those others beenworking directly or indirectly? Have they been labouring to exhort, toenjoin, to act rightly for the sake of example, or have they been simple,true men, taking up their duty, and doing it unflinchingly, without athought of how their actions were to make this man industrious, thatman saving? Why, if I were a workman, I should be twenty times moreimpressed by the knowledge that my master, was honest, punctual,quick, resolute in all his doings (and hands are keener spies even thanvalets), than by any amount of interference, however kindly meant, withmy ways of going on out of work-hours. I do not choose to think tooclosely on what I am myself; but, I believe, I rely on the straightforwardhonesty of my hands, and the open nature of their opposition, in contradistinctionto the way in which the turnout will be managed in somemills, just because they know I scorn to take a single dishonourableadvantage, or do an underhand thing myself It goes farther than a wholecourse of lectures on "Honesty is the Best Policy"--life diluted intowords. No, no! What the master is, that will the men be, without overmuchtaking thought on his part."
"That is a great admission," said Margaret, laughing. "When I see menviolent and obstinate in pursuit of their rights, I may safely infer that themaster is the same that he is a little ignorant of that spirit whichsuffereth long, and is kind, and seeketh not her own."
"You are just like all strangers who don"t understand the working of oursystem, Miss Hale," said he, hastily. "You suppose that our men arepuppets of dough, ready to be moulded into any amiable form weplease. You forget we have only to do with them for less than a third oftheir lives; and you seem not to perceive that the duties of amanufacturer are far larger and wider than those merely of an employerof labour: we have a wide commercial character to maintain, whichmakes us into the great pioneers of civilisation."
"It strikes me," said Mr. Hale, smiling, "that you might pioneer a little athome. They are a rough, heathenish set of fellows, these Milton men ofyours."
"They are that," replied Mr. Thornton. "Rosewater surgery won"t do forthem. Cromwell would have made a capital mill-owner, Miss Hale. Iwish we had him to put down this strike for us."
"Cromwell is no hero of mine," said she, coldly. "But I am trying toreconcile your admiration of despotism with your respect for othermen"s independence of character."
He reddened at her tone. "I choose to be the unquestioned andirresponsible master of my hands, during the hours that they labour forme. But those hours past, our relation ceases; and then comes in thesame respect for their independence that I myself exact."
He did not speak again for a minute, he was too much vexed. But heshook it off, and bade Mr. and Mrs. Hale good night. Then, drawingnear to Margaret, he said in a lower voice-"
I spoke hastily to you once this evening, and I am afraid, rather rudely.
But you know I am but an uncouth Milton manufacturer; will youforgive me?"
"Certainly," said she, smiling up in his face, the expression of which wassomewhat anxious and oppressed, and hardly cleared away as he mether sweet sunny countenance, out of which all the north-wind effect oftheir discussion had entirely vanished. But she did not put out her handto him, and again he felt the omission, and set it down to pride.