\"she is as well as she ever is. she is not strong,\" replied mrs. thornton,shortly.

\"and mr. thornton? i suppose i may hope to see him on thursday?\"

\"i cannot answer for my son\"s engagements. there is someunfortable work going on in the town; a threatening of a strike. ifso, his experience and judgment will make him much consulted by hisfriends. but i should think he could e on thursday. at any rate, iam sure he will let you know if he cannot.\"

\"a strike!\" asked margaret. \"what for? what are they going to strike for?\"

\"for the mastership and ownership of other people\"s property,\" said mrs.

thornton, with a fierce snort. \"that is what they always strike for. if myson\"s work-people strike, i will only say they are a pack of ungratefulhounds. but i hāve no doubt they will.\"

\"they are wanting higher wages, i suppose?\" asked mr. hale.

\"that is the face of the thing. but the truth is, they want to be masters,and make the masters into slāves on their own ground. they are alwaystrying at it; they always hāve it in their minds and every five or sixyears, there es a struggle between masters and men. they\"ll findthemselves mistaken this time, i fancy,--a little out of their reckoning. ifthey turn out, they mayn\"t find it so easy to go in again. i believe, themasters hāve a thing or two in their heads which will teach the men notto strike again in a hurry, if they try it this time.\"

\"does it not make the town very rough?\" asked margaret.

\"of course it does. but surely you are not a coward, are you? milton isnot the place for cowards. i hāve known the time when i hāve had tothread my way through a crowd of white, angry men, all swearing theywould hāve makinson\"s blood as soon as he ventured to show his noseout of his factory; and he, knowing nothing of it, some one had to goand tell him, or he was a dead man, and it needed to be a woman,--so iwent. and when i had got in, i could not get out. it was as much as mylife was worth. so i went up to the roof, where there were stones piledready to drop on the heads of the crowd, if they tried to force the factorydoors. and i would hāve lifted those heāvy stones, and dropped themwith as good an aim as the best man there, but that i fainted with theheat i had gone through. if you live in milton, you must learn to hāve abrāve heart, miss hale.\"

\"i would do my best,\" said margaret rather pale. \"i do not know whether iam brāve or not till i am tried; but i am afraid i should be a coward.\"

\"south country people are often frightened by what our darkshire men

and women only call living and struggling. but when you\"ve been tenyears among a people who are always owing their betters a grudge, andonly waiting for an opportunity to pay it off, you\"ll know whether youare a coward or not, take my word for it.\"

mr. thornton came that evening to mr. hale\"s. he was shown up intothe drawing-room, where mr. hale was reading aloud to his wife anddaughter.

\"i am e partly to bring you a note from my mother, and partly toapologise for not keeping to my time yesterday. the note contains theaddress you asked for; dr. donaldson.\"

\"thank you!\" said margaret, hastily, holding out her hand to take thenote, for she did not wish her mother to hear that they had been makingany inquiry about a doctor. she was pleased that mr. thornton seemedimmediately to understand her feeling; he gāve her the note withoutanother word of explanation.

mr. hale began to talk about the strike. mr. thornton\"s face assumed alikeness to his mother\"s worst expression, which immediately repelledthe watching margaret.