this time that no one in Brunford
thinks the worse of you because of it, and no one thinks the better of
Wilson. And it's not Christian to cherish black thoughts about them,
or about Bolitho either. As you say, he was paid for his job, and he
did it. How much money have you saved?"

"Two hundred pounds," said Paul.

"So much?" said the other in a tone of surprise. "Ay, I did not think
you had done as well as that!"

"Well, you see," replied Paul, "I have had good wages and I've lived
hard. I have spent nothing on luxuries. I have had no holidays."

"It must have cost you something for these," said Preston, looking at
the well-filled bookcases on the wall.

"Oh, I forgot them," said Paul. "Yes. But, then, you see, I needed
most of them, and books are my one extravagance. But why did you ask?"

"I want to propose a partnership," said Preston.

"Yes," said Paul. "In what?"

"In a weaving shed."

"A weaving shed? That's not my trade!"

"No, I know; but what you don't know about weaving isn't worth knowing.
Although you started in Brunford as a loom-maker, you've picked up all
there is to know about manufacturing. And you're a bit of a scientist,
too. Well, I don't know so much about that part of it, but I do know
about the buying and selling. I've not been a salesman with Robinson's
for nothing, and I worked in the mills as a boy. You've got two
hundred pounds, you say; so have I, and a bit more. It's enough for us
to start on, lad. We can hire a shed, and we can hire power, and we
can hire looms, and we can buy cotton."

Paul looked at him in astonishment. "But, man alive, Preston, four
hundred pounds is not enough."

"Four hundred pounds is enough," replied the other. "And we can make
the thing go; we will make it go, too. And I want to tell you this,
too: I've a promise of a good backer."

"Who?" asked Paul.

"Well, to-day, as you know, your home-coming has been the talk of the
town, and Ben Bierly was talking with me about you. As you know, he's
a teacher at Hanover Sunday-school, and a few years agone he was a poor
man himself, while now he's one of the biggest manufacturers in
Brunford. Well, Paul, he sympathised with you, and he admires you too,
and he told me that if you were willing to go into partnership with me
he'd back us. He believes in you, and he believes in me, and if we
want a thousand pounds, we can have it."

"You're surely not serious, Preston?"

"Ay, but I am