blotter.
Presently he looked up and met the Governor's eye.

"If you want _my_ opinion, sir," he answered, "it is that Mr. Rathbawne
would fight such a point to a standstill. He's sole owner of the mills,
and he's a rich man. He has always treated his employees as if they were
his own children. If they turn on him now for something which, from
their experience of his character, they must know was fair and
justifiable"--

"But _was_ it?" interrupted the Governor.

"I don't know the facts, sir, but I know Peter Rathbawne," said Barclay,
throwing back his head, "and I can say, with clear conviction, that it
_must_ have been. If, as you suggest, the hands go out, I think he would
close down the mills for a year, and go abroad. He's a man who doesn't
argue; he simply acts. I fancy there wouldn't be much opposition left by
the time he wanted to reopen."

"Provided always that there were anything left to reopen," suggested the
Governor softly.

"The state troops have more than once proved their ability to assure the
sanctity of property," answered his subordinate, with a touch of the old
pride with which he had assumed office.

"Hum!" said Governor Abbott. "But calling out the militia is a serious
matter, Mr. Barclay, to say nothing of the expense entailed. Considering
that the difficulty would be due entirely to the obstinacy of one
man--er--one might not feel justified"--

He hesitated briefly under the Lieutenant-Governor's keen glance, and
then swerved from this line of suggestion.

"What I wanted to say was this: You are a friend of Mr.
Rathbawne's,--something more than a friend, indeed. No doubt he has a
respect for your opinion, as you have for his. Now, if in the course of
a quiet chat--it will have to be to-night--you should point out the
situation that threatens him, the distress that a strike will cause, the
probable destruction of his property, perhaps he might consent to
reinstate the discharged men to-morrow morning."

"It would be a surrender of principle, to which he would never consent,"
said Barclay firmly. "Of that I am sure. Moreover, sir, I should be
speaking against my convictions were I to advise him to adopt such a
course."

The Governor's lip wrinkled slightly.

"The Union is prepared to do the right thing by the man who settles this
question," he said.

"I hope you don't mean that!" exclaimed Barclay. "You are the first man
to make such a suggestion to me. Pardon me, Governor Abbott, b