forward! Pray, come forward!'

Sarah very willingly went 'forward,' as they say in Yorkshire, and gave a
sigh of relief as she threw off the shawl which covered her head, and
sank into a chair. 'What is the matter, Mary? What has my father done
now?' she demanded.

'You don't know? Oh deary me!' cried the maid, with lifted hands and much
shaking of the head.

'No; tell me quick,' said Sarah abruptly.

Mary looked fearfully round, as if the information was dangerous to give.
'He's got in a lot of furriners--blacklegs--to run the mills,' she said
in a hoarse whisper.

Sarah looked at her in horror, mingled with incredulity. 'Foreigners! How
could he? And how could they do the work? Besides, where did he get them
from, and when did they come? It's impossible!' she cried.

'It's true for all that,' said Mary, nodding her head.

'I must see Uncle Howroyd,' said Sarah. 'Go and tell him I'm here, Mary.'

'I told you not to leave the house,' was her uncle's remark when he came
in, looking graver and sadder than Sarah had ever seen him.

'Yes, I know; but I simply had to come, and no one recognised me. See, I
was a mill-lass,' said Sarah, throwing her shawl over her head to show
her uncle.

She looked so pretty and coaxing--for Sarah could be charming to those
she loved--that her uncle smiled, and said with a sigh, 'Well, you're
safe enough now you're here, and I've half a mind to send for your mother
and George. Anyway, I must telephone to tell them you are here.'

'Oh no, Uncle Howroyd; I must go back for lunch,' cried Sarah, not adding
what was in her mind--that her father would be angry if she were not home
for lunch.

'You'll have to stay now you've come, child. There'll be no going home
for you to-day, so you'll have to do with a plain dinner to-night; and
Naomi had better go back and fetch what you want, unless I go and fetch
them and your mother myself,' replied Mr Howroyd.

'Do you mean that you think mother isn't safe at Balmoral?' cried Sarah,
starting up.

'I hope so. Do you suppose I should be here and not with her if she
weren't?' demanded Mr Howroyd. 'No; it's only that I doubt if your father
will be able to get home to-day, and I thought she 'd feel safer with
me.'

'She has George,' said Sarah quickly, for she sometimes resented other
people speaking slightingly of her brother, however much she might do so
herself.

'Ah yes, she has George. Well, I'll just 'phone to her;' and he went off,
o