d had been generally popular among them, he was their
best cricketer, the life and soul of all their games, never bullying
himself and putting down all bullying among others with a strong hand.
Their championship showed itself in the shape of friendship for Charlie;
and at the midsummer following Mr. Mulready's death he had received
invitations from many of them to stay with them during the holidays, and
had indeed spent that time on a series of short visits among them.

He himself would, had he had his choice, have remained at home with
Ned, for he knew how lonely his brother's life was, and that his only
pleasure consisted in the quiet evenings; but Ned would not hear of it.

"You must go, Charlie, both for your sake and my own. The change will
do you good; and if you were to stop at home and refuse to go out people
would say that you were ashamed to be seen, and that you were crushed
down with the weight of my guilt. You have got to keep up the honor of
the family now, Charlie; I have proved a failure."

It was September now, and six months had elapsed since the death of Mr.
Mulready. The getting in of the harvest had made no difference in the
price of food, the general distress was as great as ever, and the people
shook their heads and said that there would be bad doings when the
winter with its long nights was at hand.

The mill was flourishing under its new management. The goods turned out
by the new machinery were of excellent quality and finish, and Ned had
more orders on hand than he could execute. The profits were large, the
hands well paid and contented. Ned had begged Dr. Green and the other
trustees of his mother's property to allow him to devote a considerable
part of the profits to assist, during the hard time of winter, the
numerous hands in Varley and other villages round Marsden who were out
of employment; but the trustees said they were unable to permit this.
Mrs. Mulready absolutely refused to hear anything about the mill or
to discuss any questions connected with money, therefore they had no
resource but to allow the profits, after deducting all expenses of
living, to accumulate until, at any rate, Lucy, the youngest of the
children, came of age.

Ned, however, was not to be easily thwarted, and he quietly reverted to
the old method of giving out a large quantity of work to the men to be
performed by the hand looms in their own cottages, while still keeping
his new machinery fully employed. Ther