aid Mrs Clay seriously when they stopped to rest for a few
minutes beside her.

After a couple of hours they went back to lunch, and found their father
had just come back from the mills. He greeted George in a friendly enough
manner.

'I got your telegram, my lad, thank you; and it's nice of you to hurry
home to stand by your dad in his fight. For I suppose that's what you've
come for, isn't it?'

'Yes, father, certainly, as I told you in my telegram. I only wish I had
been there; they wouldn't have got off scot-free, the scoundrels!'
replied George.

'That's the right spirit, my lad. I wish you had been there; but I've got
the best of them. They didn't know Mark Clay when they tried that game on
with him; but they'll know him better now,' said the mill-owner.

'What have you done, sir?' inquired George, in his calm way, which gave
no sign of his secret anxiety on the subject.

Mark Clay gave a chuckle, which made Sarah feel very uneasy; but only
said, 'You'll see, my boy--you'll see. Just wait till the end of the
week. It'll be public property then, and folks will see whether Mark
Clay's an easy man to beat.'

George avoided looking either at his mother or Sarah; for, truth to tell,
he felt very uncomfortable. This cheerfulness on the part of his father
boded no good. But he asked no more questions, and talked about the sport
he had had in Scotland.

'George,' said Sarah after lunch, 'what's he up to?'

'I don't know,' replied her brother, too depressed to comment upon her
mode of expression.

'Well, I believe I know. He's going to turn them all off. You see if he
isn't. That's what he means by saying, "Wait till the end of the week."
Oh dear! oh dear! What a business there'll be! There were at least a
hundred in the park that day.'

'It's their own fault. But that would be cutting off his nose to spite
his ears, wouldn't it? It would inconvenience him dreadfully to dismiss
so many men at once,' objected George.

George, it will be observed, knew even less of his father's business than
Sarah, whose visits to her uncle Howroyd's mill and her acquaintance with
the Mickleroyd family gave her some knowledge of the working of the
mills; so she answered now, 'Oh, he won't care. He'll shut a workroom up
and make the others work harder. You may trust him for not
inconveniencing himself; it's the people who will be thrown out of
employment that I am sorry for.'

George did not argue the matter with her, but wal