How merrily they went out together into the storm! Steve thought he
could hardly have chosen any circumstances that would have pleased him
better. It was quite necessary that Charlotte should keep close to his
side; it was quite natural that she should lift her face to his in
talking; it was equally natural that Steve should bend towards
Charlotte, and that, in a moment, without any conscious intention of
doing so, he should kiss her.

She trembled and stood still, but she was not angry. "That was very
wrong, Steve. I told you at the harvest-home what father said, and what
I had promised father. I'll break no squares with father, and you must
not make me do so."

"I could not help it, Charlotte, you looked so bewitching."

"Oh, dear! the old, old excuse, 'The woman tempted me,' etc."

"Forgive me, dear Charlotte. I was going to tell you that I had been
very fortunate in Kendal, and next week I am going to Bradford to learn
all about spinning and weaving and machinery. But what is success
without you? If I make every dream come to pass, and have not Charlotte,
my heart will keep telling me, night and day, '_All for nothing, all for
nothing_.'"

"Do not be so impatient. You are making trouble, and forespeaking
disappointment. Before you have learned all about manufacturing, and
built your mill, before you are really ready to begin your life's work,
many a change may have taken place in Sandal-Side. When Julius comes at
Christmas I think he will ask Sophia to marry him, and I think Sophia
will accept his offer. That marriage would open the way for our
marriage."

"Only partly I fear. I can see that squire Sandal has taken a dislike,
and your mother was a little high with me when I saw her last."

"Partly your own fault, sir. Why did you give up the ways of your
fathers? The idea of mills and trading in these dales is such a new
one."

"But a man must move with his own age, Charlotte. There is no prospect
of another Stuart rebellion. I cannot do the queen's service, and get
rewarded as old Christopher Sandal did. And I want to go to Parliament,
and can't go without money. And I can't make money quick enough by
keeping sheep and planting wheat. But manufacturing means money, land,
influence, power."

"Father does not see these things as you do, Steve. He sees the peaceful
dales invaded by white-faced factory-hands, loud-voiced, quarrelling,
disrespectful. All the old landmarks and traditions will disappear; als