"To be sure. But I"d have shown them how I keep my word, and how Imean them to keep theirs. They know me by this time. Slickson"s menare off--pretty certain he won"t spend money in getting them punished.
We"re in for a turn-out, mother."
"I hope there are not many orders in hand?"
"Of course there are. They know that well enough. But they don"t quiteunderstand all, though they think they do."
"What do you mean, John?"
Candles had been brought, and Fanny had taken up her interminablepiece of worsted-work, over which she was yawning; throwing herselfback in her chair, from time to time, to gaze at vacancy, and think ofnothing at her ease.
"Why," said he, "the Americans are getting their yarns so into the generalmarket, that our only chance is producing them at a lower rate. If wecan"t, we may shut up shop at once, and hands and masters go alike ontramp. Yet these fools go back to the prices paid three years ago--nay,some of their leaders quote Dickinson"s prices now--though they knowas well as we do that, what with fines pressed out of their wages as nohonourable man would extort them, and other ways which I for onewould scorn to use, the real rate of wage paid at Dickinson"s is less thanat ours. Upon my word, mother, I wish the old combination-laws werein force. It is too bad to find out that fools--ignorant wayward men likethese--just by uniting their weak silly heads, are to rule over thefortunes of those who bring all the wisdom that knowledge andexperience, and often painful thought and anxiety, can give. The nextthing will be--indeed, we"re all but come to it now--that we shall have togo and ask--stand hat in hand--and humbly ask the secretary of theSpinner" Union to be so kind as to furnish us with labour at their ownprice. That"s what they want--they, who haven"t the sense to see that, ifwe don"t get a fair share of the profits to compensate us for our wearand tear here in England, we can move off to some other country; andthat, what with home and foreign competition, we are none of us likelyto make above a fair share, and may be thankful enough if we can getthat, in an average number of years."
"Can"t you get hands from Ireland? I wouldn"t keep these fellows a day.
I"d teach them that I was master, and could employ what servants Iliked."
"Yes! to be sure, I can; and I will, too, if they go on long. It will betrouble and expense, and I fear there will be some danger; but I will doit, rather than give in."
"If there is to be all this extra expense, I"m sorry we"re giving a dinnerjust now."
"So am I,--not because of the expense, but because I shall have much tothink about, and many unexpected calls on my time. But we must havehad Mr. Horsfall, and he does not stay in Milton long. And as for theothers, we owe them dinners, and it"s all one trouble."
He kept on with his restless walk--not speaking any more, but drawinga deep breath from time to time, as if endeavouring to throw off someannoying thought. Fanny asked her mother numerous small questions,all having nothing to do with the subject, which a wiser person wouldhave perceived was occupying her attention. Consequently, shereceived many short answers. She was not sorry when, at ten o"clock,the servants filed in to prayers. These her mother always read,--firstreading a chapter. They were now working steadily through the OldTestament. When prayers were ended, and his mother had wished himgoodnight, with that long steady look of hers which conveyed noexpression of the tenderness that was in her heart, but yet had theintensity of a blessing, Mr. Thornton continued his walk. All hisbusiness plans had received a check, a sudden pull-up, from thisapproaching turn-out. The forethought of many anxious hours wasthrown away, utterly wasted by their insane folly, which would injurethemselves even more than him, though no one could set any limit tothe mischief they were doing. And these were the men who thoughtthemselves fitted to direct the masters in the disposal of their capital!
Hamper had said, only this very day, that if he were ruined by thestrike, he would start life again, comforted by the conviction that thosewho brought it on were in a worse predicament than he himself,--for hehad head as well as hands, while they had only hands; and if they droveaway their market, they could not follow it, nor turn to anything else.
But this thought was no consolation to Mr. Thornton. It might be thatrevenge gave him no pleasure; it might be that he valued the position hehad earned with the sweat of his brow, so much that he keenly felt itsbeing endangered by the ignorance or folly of others,--so keenly that hehad no thoughts to spare for what would he the consequences of theirconduct to themselves. He paced up and down, setting his teeth a littlenow and then. At last it struck two. The candles were flickering in theirsockets. He lighted his own, muttering to himself:
"Once for all, they shall know whom they have got to deal with. I cangive them a fortnight,--no more. If they don"t see their madness beforethe end of that time, I must have hands from Ireland. I believe it"sSlickson"s doing,--confound him and his dodges! He thought he wasoverstocked; so he seemed to yield at first, when the deputation came tohim,--and of course, he only confirmed them in their folly, as he meantto do. That"s where it spread from."