uch as can be formed in consonance with
dignity of views and permanency of solid interests, is not so bad--eh?"

"No," responded Moore, in an absent manner. The subject seemed to have
no interest for him; he did not pursue it. After sitting for some time
gazing at the fire with a preoccupied air, he suddenly turned his head.

"Hark!" said he. "Did you hear wheels?"

Rising, he went to the window, opened it, and listened. He soon closed
it. "It is only the sound of the wind rising," he remarked, "and the
rivulet a little swollen, rushing down the hollow. I expected those
wagons at six; it is near nine now."

"Seriously, do you suppose that the putting up of this new machinery
will bring you into danger?" inquired Malone. "Helstone seems to think
it will."

"I only wish the machines--the frames--were safe here, and lodged within
the walls of this mill. Once put up, I defy the frame-breakers. Let them
only pay me a visit and take the consequences. My mill is my castle."

"One despises such low scoundrels," observed Malone, in a profound vein
of reflection. "I almost wish a party would call upon you to-night; but
the road seemed extremely quiet as I came along. I saw nothing astir."

"You came by the Redhouse?"

"Yes."

"There would be nothing on that road. It is in the direction of Stilbro'
the risk lies."

"And you think there is risk?"

"What these fellows have done to others they may do to me. There is only
this difference: most of the manufacturers seem paralyzed when they are
attacked. Sykes, for instance, when his dressing-shop was set on fire
and burned to the ground, when the cloth was torn from his tenters and
left in shreds in the field, took no steps to discover or punish the
miscreants: he gave up as tamely as a rabbit under the jaws of a ferret.
Now I, if I know myself, should stand by my trade, my mill, and my
machinery."

"Helstone says these three are your gods; that the 'Orders in Council'
are with you another name for the seven deadly sins; that Castlereagh is
your Antichrist, and the war-party his legions."

"Yes; I abhor all these things because they ruin me. They stand in my
way. I cannot get on. I cannot execute my plans because of them. I see
myself baffled at every turn by their untoward effects."

"But you are rich and thriving, Moore?"

"I am very rich in cloth I cannot sell. You should step into my
warehouse yonder, and observe how it is piled to the roof with pieces.
Roakes an