at the mills, and no
one else seemed likely to speak of them."

"May I ask why you assume that Mr. Truscomb will not do so when he has
the opportunity?"

Amherst could not repress a smile. "Because it is owing to Mr. Truscomb
that they exist."

"The real object of your visit then," said Mr. Tredegar, speaking with
deliberation, "is--er--an underhand attack on your manager's methods?"

Amherst's face darkened, but he kept his temper. "I see nothing
especially underhand in my course----"

"Except," the other interposed ironically, "that you have waited to
speak till Mr. Truscomb was not in a position to defend himself."

"I never had the chance before. It was at Mrs. Westmore's own suggestion
that I took her over the mills, and feeling as I do I should have
thought it cowardly to shirk the chance of pointing out to her the
conditions there."

Mr. Tredegar mused, his eyes still bent on his gently-oscillating foot.
Whenever a sufficient pressure from without parted the fog of
self-complacency in which he moved, he had a shrewd enough outlook on
men and motives; and it may be that the vigorous ring of Amherst's
answer had effected this momentary clearing of the air.

At any rate, his next words were spoken in a more accessible tone. "To
what conditions do you refer?"

"To the conditions under which the mill-hands work and live--to the
whole management of the mills, in fact, in relation to the people
employed."

"That is a large question. Pardon my possible ignorance--" Mr. Tredegar
paused to make sure that his hearer took in the full irony of this--"but
surely in this state there are liability and inspection laws for the
protection of the operatives?"

"There are such laws, yes--but most of them are either a dead letter, or
else so easily evaded that no employer thinks of conforming to them."

"No employer? Then your specific charge against the Westmore mills is
part of a general arraignment of all employers of labour?"

"By no means, sir. I only meant that, where the hands are well treated,
it is due rather to the personal good-will of the employer than to any
fear of the law."

"And in what respect do you think the Westmore hands unfairly treated?"

Amherst paused to measure his words. "The question, as you say, is a
large one," he rejoined. "It has its roots in the way the business is
organized--in the traditional attitude of the company toward the
operatives. I hoped that Mrs. Westmore might return to