ary."

"But if they strike"--

"They won't all strike. At least," added Richard, "I hope not. I
have indirectly sounded several of the older hands, and they have
half promised to hold on; only half promised, for every man of them
at heart fears the trades-union more than No-bread--until No-bread
comes."

"Whom have you spoken with?"

"Lumley, Giles, Peterson, and some others,--your pensioners, I
call them."

"Yes, they were in the yard in my father's time; they have not
been worth their salt these ten years. When the business was turned
over to me I didn't discharge any old hand who had given his best
days to the yard. Somehow I couldn't throw away the squeezed lemons.
An employer owes a good workman something beyond the wages paid."

"And a workman owes a good employer something beyond the work
done. You stood by these men after they outlived their usefulness,
and if they do not stand by you now, they're a shabby set."

"I fancy they will, Richard."

"I think they had better, and I wish they would. We have enough
odds and ends to keep them busy awhile, and I shouldn't like to have
the clinking of chisels die out altogether under the old sheds."

"Nor I," returned Mr. Slocum, with a touch of sadness in his
intonation. "It has grown to be a kind of music to me," and he paused
to listen to the sounds of ringing steel that floated up from the
workshop.

"Whatever happens, that music shall not cease in the yard except
on Sundays, if I have to take the mallet and go at a slab all alone."

"Slocum's Yard with a single workman in it would be a pleasing
spectacle," said Mr. Slocum, smiling ruefully.

"It wouldn't be a bad time for _that_ workman to strike,"
returned Richard with a laugh.

"He could dictate his own terms," returned Mr. Slocum, soberly.
"Well, I suppose you cannot help thinking about Margaret; but don't
think of her now. Tell me what answer you propose to give the
Association,--how you mean to put it; for I leave the matter wholly
to you. I shall have no hand in it, further than to indorse your
action."

"To-morrow, then," said Richard, "for it is no use to hurry up a
crisis, I shall go to the workshops and inform them that their
request for short hours on Saturdays is granted, but that the other
changes they suggest are not to be considered. There will never be a
better opportunity, Mr. Slocum, to settle another question which has
been allowed to run too long."

"What's that?"

"The appre