r
him some day, I daresay. And now be off, and if you want to come and see
me at work and learn about hackling and the business that ought to be
yours but won't be, then you can drop in again when you mind to."

"Thank you, sir," said Abel. "I will come, and if I say you let me,
nobody can stop me."

"That's right. I like brave boys that ain't frightened of their
betters--so called."

Then Abel went off, crossed Bride among the sedges and put on his shoes
and stockings again. He had a great deal to think about, and this brief
conversation played its part in his growing brain to alter old opinions
and waken new ideas. That he had successfully stormed the hackling shop
and found the ogre friendly was, of course, good; but already, and long
before he could retail the incident, it began to lose its rare savour.
He perceived this himself dimly, and it made him uncomfortable and
troubled. Something had happened to him; he knew not what, but it
dwarfed the operations of the Red Hand, and it even made his personal
triumph look smaller than it appeared a little while before.

Abel stared at the Mill while he pulled on his stockings and listened to
the bell calling the people back to work.

By right, then, all these wonders should be his some day; but his father
would never give them to him now. He vaguely remembered that his
grandmother had said something like this; but it remained for Mr. Baggs
to rekindle the impression until Abel became oppressed with its
greatness.

He considered the problem gloomily for a long time and decided to talk
to his mother about it. But he did not. It was characteristic of him
that he seldom went to Sabina for any light on his difficulties. Indeed
he attached more importance to Mr. Churchouse's opinions than his
mother's. He determined to see Levi Baggs again and, meantime, he let a
sense of wrong sink into him. Here the Band of the Red Hand offered
comfort. It seemed proper to his dawning intelligence that one who had
been so badly treated as he, should become the head of the Red Hand.
Yet, as the possible development of the movement occurred to Abel, the
child began to share the uneasiness of all conspiracy and feel a
weakness inherent in the Band. Seen from that modest standard of
evil-doing which belonged to Tommy and Billy Keep, Amos Whittle and
Jacky Gale, the Red Handers appeared a futile organisation even in
Abel's eyes. He felt, as greater than he have felt, that an ideal
society s