d
through yard after yard, on each side of which were doors which the
millionaire just ordered to be opened, and into which they gave a peep as
he told them, 'In there there's thousands of pounds' worth of rags and
wool for blankets,' or 'cloth,' as the case might be.

'My father doesn't want you to; he only wants you to see what a huge
business he has. I hope he has succeeded,' said Sarah.

Horatia was saved the trouble of answering, for they now entered the room
where the machinery drowned every sound. 'Doesn't it make them deaf or
make their heads ache?' she shouted at length to Mark Clay.

'Make me deaf? No fear; I don't stop in here long enough,' he replied,
misunderstanding her, and not imagining it was the workpeople she was
thinking of.

And again Horatia was silent.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE MILLIONAIRE'S PICNIC.

'Oh dear! my head aches, at any rate,' sighed Horatia when they came out
of about the fiftieth room. 'I am glad we are going motoring; it will
blow my headache away.'

'Ay, it's a big place, is Clay's,' said the millionaire with an air of
satisfaction.

'There's Uncle Howroyd. I'm going to ask him to come with us to-day,'
observed Sarah abruptly.

'What's he wanting?' inquired his half-brother.

Whatever Mr William Howroyd wanted with the millionaire, it did not seem
important, for he stopped when Sarah met him, and the two went off
together, away from Clay's Mills; and Mr Clay, after waiting a moment to
see if his brother was returning, turned to Horatia. 'If you'll excuse
me, young lady, I'll give some orders for this afternoon, and tell them
to have some pieces done, ready for me to see when I come back. That's
the way to get rich, my lass; look after the pieces and the bales'll look
after themselves.' And the millionaire, with a hoarse laugh, went off to
'look after the pieces.'

Horatia stood at the door looking after him, and scarcely noticed a man
who half-smiled and raised his hat. She supposed that he was a man with
some manners, which the rest of them did not seem to possess; she had no
idea that it was a personal attention to her till he said, 'We're much
obliged to you for making t'master listen to us. It's saved a lot o'
trouble for the minute.'

Now, Horatia, as will have been noticed, acted and spoke upon impulse, so
she now asked eagerly, 'What trouble has it saved? And why has it only
been saved for the minute? Were you all going to strike if he hadn't seen
you?'