bed with
her black muzzle in the hand not occupied with a book.

The victory which Jack had won gave the finishing stroke to his
popularity and influence among his companions, and silenced definitely
and for ever the sneers of the minority who had held out against the
change which he had brought about. He himself felt no elation at his
victory, and objected to the subject even being alluded to.

"It was just a question of wind and last," he said. "I was nigh being
done for at the end o' the first three rounds. I just managed to hold
on, and then it was a certainty. If Tom Walker had been in condition he
would have finished me in ten minutes. If he had come on working as a
getter, I should ha' been nowhere; he's a weigher now and makes fat, and
his muscles are flabby. The best dorg can't fight when he's out o'
condition."

But in spite of that, the lads knew that it was only bull-dog courage
that had enabled Jack to hold out over these bad ten minutes.

As for Jane Haden, her reproaches to her husband for in the first place
matching Flora against a young dog, and in the second for allowing Jack
to fight so noted a man as Tom Walker, were so fierce and vehement, that
until Jack was able to leave his bed and take his place by the fire,
Bill was but little at home; spending all his time, even at meals, in
that place of refuge from his wife's tongue,--"the Chequers."

CHAPTER XVIII.

STOKEBRIDGE FEAST.

Even among the mining villages of the Black Country Stokebridge had a
reputation for roughness; and hardened topers of the place would boast
that in no village in the county was there so much beer drunk per head.
Stokebridge feast was frequented by the dwellers of the mining villages
for miles round, and the place was for the day a scene of disgraceful
drunkenness and riot. Crowds of young men and women came in, the
public-houses were crowded, there was a shouting of songs and a scraping
of fiddles from each tap-room, and dancing went on in temporary booths.

One of these feasts had taken place just after the establishment of the
night classes, and had been marked by even greater drunkenness and more
riotous scenes than usual. For years the vicar in the church and the
dissenting ministers in their meeting-houses had preached in vain
against the evil. Their congregations were small, and in this respect
their words fell upon ears closed to exhortation. During the year which
had elapsed, however, there was a per