rupt at once, for this liability is a ton
weight at least. When I came in I found your fire out, and I had it lit
again, and made that sulky drab of a servant stay and blow at it with
the bellows till it had burnt up properly; now, say 'Thank you!'"

"Not till I have had something to eat; I can thank nobody while I am so
famished."

I rang the bell and ordered tea and some cold meat.

"Cold meat!" exclaimed Hunsden, as the servant closed the door, "what a
glutton you are; man! Meat with tea! you'll die of eating too much."

"No, Mr. Hunsden, I shall not." I felt a necessity for contradicting
him; I was irritated with hunger, and irritated at seeing him there, and
irritated at the continued roughness of his manner.

"It is over-eating that makes you so ill-tempered," said he.

"How do you know?" I demanded. "It is like you to give a pragmatical
opinion without being acquainted with any of the circumstances of the
case; I have had no dinner."

What I said was petulant and snappish enough, and Hunsden only replied
by looking in my face and laughing.

"Poor thing!" he whined, after a pause. "It has had no dinner, has it?
What! I suppose its master would not let it come home. Did Crimsworth
order you to fast by way of punishment, William!"

"No, Mr. Hunsden. Fortunately at this sulky juncture, tea, was brought
in, and I fell to upon some bread and butter and cold beef directly.
Having cleared a plateful, I became so far humanized as to intimate to
Mr. Hunsden that he need not sit there staring, but might come to the
table and do as I did, if he liked."

"But I don't like in the least," said he, and therewith he summoned the
servant by a fresh pull of the bell-rope, and intimated a desire to
have a glass of toast-and-water. "And some more coal," he added; "Mr.
Crimsworth shall keep a good fire while I stay."

His orders being executed, he wheeled his chair round to the table, so
as to be opposite me.

"Well," he proceeded. "You are out of work, I suppose."

"Yes," said I; and not disposed to show the satisfaction I felt on this
point, I, yielding to the whim of the moment, took up the subject as
though I considered myself aggrieved rather than benefited by what had
been done. "Yes--thanks to you, I am. Crimsworth turned me off at
a minute's notice, owing to some interference of yours at a public
meeting, I understand."

"Ah! what! he mentioned that? He observed me signalling the lads, did
he? What had he to s