on had been called to it, and he felt now as if he had
been criminally careless in not making the inspection in the absence of
the regular officer. An investigation of the accident would free Mr.
Hardy from legal responsibility. But in the sight of God he felt that
he was morally guilty. At this moment Mr. Burns came in. He looked
sullen, and spoke in a low tone:

"Only half the men are back this morning, sir. Scoville's death and
the injuries to the others have had a bad effect on the men."

Mr. Hardy crumpled the letter nervously in his hand.

"Mr. Burns, I would like to apologise for my neglect of the injured
men. Who are they, and how badly are they hurt?"

Burns looked surprised, but made answer, describing briefly the
accidents. Mr. Hardy listened intently with bowed head. At last he
looked up and said abruptly:

"Come into the casting room."

They went out of the office, passed through the repairing shops, and
entered the foundry department. Even on that bright winter morning,
with the air outside so clear and cool, the atmosphere in this place
was murky and close. The forges in the blacksmith room at the farther
end glowed through the smoke and dust like smouldering piles of rubbish
dumped here and there by chance upon some desolate moor and stirred by
ill-omened demons of the nether world. Mr. Hardy shuddered as he
thought of standing in such an atmosphere all day to work at severe
muscular toil. He recalled with a sharp vividness a request made only
two months before for dust fans, which had proved successful in other
shops, and which would remove a large part of the heavy, coal-laden
air, supplying fresh air in its place. The company had refused the
request, and had even said, through one of its officers, that when the
men wore out the company could easily get more.

Mr. Hardy and the foreman paused at the entrance to the casting room,
where the men had been injured the day before. A few men were working
sullenly. Mr. Hardy asked the foreman to call the men together near
the other end of the room; he wanted to say something to them. He
walked over there while the foreman spoke to the men. They dropped
their tools and came over to where Mr. Hardy was standing. They were
mostly Scandinavians and Germans, with a sprinkling of Irish and
Americans. Mr. Hardy looked at them thoughtfully. They were a
hard-looking crowd. Then he said very slowly and distinctly:

"You may quit work until