human
Hark! said he.
gpt
Did you hear wheels?
human
It is only the sound of the wind rising, he remarked,
gpt
Seriously, do you suppose that the putting up of this new machinery will bring you into danger? inquired Malone.
human
Helstone seems to think it will.
gpt
I only wish the machines--the frames--were safe here, and lodged within the walls of this mill. Once put up, I defy the frame-breakers. Let them only pay me a visit and take the consequences. My mill is my castle.
human
One despises such low scoundrels, observed Malone, in a profound vein of reflection.
gpt
I almost wish a party would call upon you to-night; but the road seemed extremely quiet as I came along. I saw nothing astir.
human
You came by the Redhouse?
gpt
Yes.
human
There would be nothing on that road. It is in the direction of Stilbro' the risk lies.
gpt
And you think there is risk?
human
What these fellows have done to others they may do to me. There is only this difference: most of the manufacturers seem paralyzed when they are attacked. Sykes, for instance, when his dressing-shop was set on fire and burned to the ground, when the cloth was torn from his tenters and left in shreds in the field, took no steps to discover or punish the miscreants: he gave up as tamely as a rabbit under the jaws of a ferret. Now I, if I know myself, should stand by my trade, my mill, and my machinery.
gpt
Helstone says these three are your gods; that the 'Orders in Council' are with you another name for the seven deadly sins; that Castlereagh is your Antichrist, and the war-party his legions.
human
Yes; I abhor all these things because they ruin me. They stand in my way. I cannot get on. I cannot execute my plans because of them. I see myself baffled at every turn by their untoward effects.
gpt
But you are rich and thriving, Moore?
human
I am very rich in cloth I cannot sell. You should step into my warehouse yonder, and observe how it is piled to the roof with pieces. Roakes and Pearson are in the same condition. America used to be their market, but the Orders in Council have cut that off.
gpt
And then to think, continued Mr. Moore who seemed too much taken up with the current of his own thoughts to note the symptoms of his guest's _ennui_--
human
He broke off the aspiration into which he was launching with a certain energy, and added, more calmly,
gpt
I believe women talk and think only of these things, and they naturally fancy men's minds similarly occupied.
human
Of course--of course, assented Malone;