be very happy if she did. I might almost say she was
brought up under this roof. She lives now with her father."

"And who is so fortunate as to be her father?" enquired Mr Mountchesney.

"Her father is the inspector of my works; the person who accompanied us
over them this morning."

"What! that handsome man I so much admired," said Lady Maud, "so very
aristocratic-looking. Papa," she said, addressing herself to Lord de
Mowbray, "the inspector of Mr Trafford's works we are speaking of, that
aristocratic-looking person that I observed to you, he is the father of
the beautiful girl."

"He seemed a very intelligent person," said Lord de Mowbray with many
smiles.

"Yes," said Mr Trafford; "he has great talents and great integrity. I
would trust him with anything and to any amount. All I wish," he added,
with a smile and in a lower tone to Lady de Mowbray, "all I wish is,
that he was not quite so fond of politics."

"Is he very violent?" enquired her ladyship in a sugary tone.

"Too violent," said Mr Trafford, "and wild in his ideas."

"And yet I suppose," said Lord Milford, "he must be very well off?"

"Why I must say for him it is not selfishness that makes him a
malcontent," said Mr Trafford; "he bemoans the condition of the people."

"If we are to judge of the condition of the people by what we see here,"
said Lord de Mowbray, "there is little to lament in it. But I fear these
are instances not so common as we could wish. You must have been at a
great outlay, Mr Trafford?"

"Why," said Mr Trafford, "for my part. I have always considered that
there was nothing so expensive as a vicious population. I hope I had
other objects in view in what I have done than a pecuniary compensation.
They say we all have our hobbies; and it was ever mine to improve the
condition of my workpeople, to see what good tenements and good
schools and just wages paid in a fair manner, and the encouragement of
civilizing pursuits, would do to elevate their character. I should
find an ample reward in the moral tone and material happiness of this
community; but really viewing it in a pecuniary point of view, the
investment of capital has been one of the most profitable I ever made;
and I would not, I assure you, for double its amount, exchange my
workpeople for the promiscuous assemblage engaged in other factories."

"The influence of the atmosphere on the condition of the labourer is a
subject which deserves investigation," said Lady Jo