I resembled him, though I was not so handsome; my
features were less regular; I had a darker eye, and a broader brow--in
form I was greatly inferior--thinner, slighter, not so tall. As an
animal, Edward excelled me far; should he prove as paramount in mind
as in person I must be a slave--for I must expect from him no lion-like
generosity to one weaker than himself; his cold, avaricious eye, his
stern, forbidding manner told me he would not spare. Had I then force of
mind to cope with him? I did not know; I had never been tried.

Mrs. Crimsworth's entrance diverted my thoughts for a moment. She looked
well, dressed in white, her face and her attire shining in morning
and bridal freshness. I addressed her with the degree of ease her last
night's careless gaiety seemed to warrant, but she replied with coolness
and restraint: her husband had tutored her; she was not to be too
familiar with his clerk.

As soon as breakfast was over Mr. Crimsworth intimated to me that they
were bringing the gig round to the door, and that in five minutes he
should expect me to be ready to go down with him to X----. I did not
keep him waiting; we were soon dashing at a rapid rate along the
road. The horse he drove was the same vicious animal about which Mrs.
Crimsworth had expressed her fears the night before. Once or twice
Jack seemed disposed to turn restive, but a vigorous and determined
application of the whip from the ruthless hand of his master soon
compelled him to submission, and Edward's dilated nostril expressed his
triumph in the result of the contest; he scarcely spoke to me during the
whole of the brief drive, only opening his lips at intervals to damn his
horse.

X---- was all stir and bustle when we entered it; we left the clean
streets where there were dwelling-houses and shops, churches, and public
buildings; we left all these, and turned down to a region of mills and
warehouses; thence we passed through two massive gates into a great
paved yard, and we were in Bigben Close, and the mill was before us,
vomiting soot from its long chimney, and quivering through its thick
brick walls with the commotion of its iron bowels. Workpeople were
passing to and fro; a waggon was being laden with pieces. Mr. Crimsworth
looked from side to side, and seemed at one glance to comprehend all
that was going on; he alighted, and leaving his horse and gig to the
care of a man who hastened to take the reins from his hand, he bid me
follow him t