The Master of Liversedge by Alice Chetwynd Ley Read Free Book Online

overseer in the mill.’
    ‘Please don’t be vexed with him.’ She leaned forward, her brown eyes soft with pleading. ‘He was so kind — and I was tired, hungry, and would have been stranded in Huddersfield until the next day, without his help. I am sure you wouldn’t wish him to suffer for yielding to a kindly impulse.’
    ‘Are you, Miss Lister?’ he said, in a dry tone. ‘But then, you don’t know me very well, yet, do you?’
    She studied his expression for a moment, unsure of her ground.
    ‘No,’ she admitted. ‘But I have no reason to suppose that you would do anyone an injustice.’
    ‘Let me tell you, ma’am,’ he said forcibly, ‘that I am prepared to ignore a good many high-sounding principles to find the men who smashed my machines and murdered poor Turner. You may not have thought of it, but he leaves a wife and family without a breadwinner.’
    Mary made an inarticulate sound. Once again, she saw the tragic scene of yesterday in vivid recollection.
    ‘As for the machines,’ he continued, pushing back his chair and beginning to stride about the room, ‘they were bought with God knows how many sacrifices on the part of my family and myself, and would eventually have brought prosperity to the neighbourhood — if only those poor fools could see it. Fools, did I say? Lunatics — murderers — mad dogs who must be shot before they infect others with their madness!’
    His tone was now so ferocious, and his look so forbidding, that she flinched involuntarily. He noticed it, and came back to his seat opposite her.
    ‘Very well,’ he said, in a quieter tone. ‘I’ve no wish to alarm you, and you need have no fears for Nick. He’s the one man I know I can trust of them all. But I must give you a warning, all the same, Miss Lister.’
    She started. ‘I, sir? What have I done?’
    He shook his head. ‘Not you. The warning is for your cousin, John Booth. How long is it since you last saw him?’
    An apprehensive look came into her face. ‘Two years, I believe. Why, Mr. Arkwright? You do not — surely you cannot think that he is in any way concerned with this?’
    ‘I don’t know.’ He frowned, and was silent for a few moments. ‘Yesterday, I would have said that he is the last person to become involved with the Luddites — a gentle, sensitive boy with no more stomach for violence than a girl! But now — I’m not sure, and I’m taking no risks.’
    ‘There was something Nick Bradley told me about John,’ Mary said, hesitantly. ‘I didn’t understand it at the time — something about reading a newspaper — ’
    ‘Yes. That’s it — he’s in the habit of reading aloud to a number of workmen who gather on a Saturday at one of the local workshops. The newspaper’s the Leeds Mercury , and it carries full reports of Luddite activities. One or two of my own men go there, I know, but I thought no harm of that — until now.’
    ‘But I’m sure John would do nothing to hurt anyone,’ put in Mary, quickly. ‘As you say yourself, he is gentle and feels things so deeply — if anything, he feels too much for others. He can’t have changed so greatly since last I saw him that he is prepared to encourage violence such as I saw yesterday’ She paused, and again she shuddered — ‘Indeed he can’t. You must believe that, Mr. Arkwright — you must!’
    She raised her voice on the last few sentences; her pale cheeks were flushed. For a moment, his glance lost some of its steely indifference.
    ‘Your loyalty is very natural, and does you credit,’ he said, with more feeling than he had shown so far. ‘But do not forget, ma’am, that kind-hearted people can sometimes be worked upon by unscrupulous ones to further their own dishonourable ends. Their very humanity make them susceptible.’
    ‘That’s possible,’ she replied, slowly. ‘It’s more likely than that John has turned Luddite. He always had notions of trying to better the lot of the working people — ’
    ‘Maybe