He was not in the habit of talking to ladies; and what he did say was a
little formal. To Margaret herself he hardly spoke at all. She wassurprised to think how much she enjoyed this dinner. She knew enoughnow to understand many local interests--nay, even some of the technicalwords employed by the eager mill-owners. She silently took a verydecided part in the question they were discussing. At any rate, theytalked in desperate earnest,--not in the used-up style that wearied her soin the old London parties. She wondered that with all this dwelling onthe manufactures and trade of the place, no allusion was made to thestrike then pending. She did not yet know how coolly such things weretaken by the masters, as having only one possible end. To be sure, themen were cutting their own throats, as they had done many a timebefore; but if they would be fools, and put themselves into the hands ofa rascally set of paid delegates,\" they must take the consequence. One ortwo thought Thornton looked out of spirits; and, of course, he must loseby this turn-out. But it was an accident that might happen to themselvesany day; and Thornton was as good to manage a strike as any one; forhe was as iron a chap as any in Milton. The hands had mistaken theirman in trying that dodge on him. And they chuckled inwardly at theidea of the workmen\"s discomfiture and defeat, in their attempt to alterone iota of what Thornton had decreed.