"Well," said Mrs Glaire, who found her task more difficult than she had
apprehended, "the fact is, they say she has been seen talking to my
son."
"Is that all?" said the foreman, laughing in a quiet, hearty way.
"Yes, that is all, and for Daisy's sake I want it stopped. Have you
heard or known anything?"
"Well, to put it quite plain, the missus wants her to have Tom Podmore
down at the works there, but the girl hangs back, and I found out the
reason. I did see Master Dick talking to her one night, and it set me a
thinking."
"And you didn't stop it?" exclaimed Mrs Glaire, sharply.
"Stop it? Why should I stop it?" said the foreman. "She's getting on
for twenty, and is sure to begin thinking about sweethearts. Ann did
when she was nineteen, and if I recollect right, little fair-haired
Lisbeth Ward was only eighteen when she used to blush on meeting Dick
Glaire. I see her do it," said the bluff fellow, chuckling.
"But that was long ago," exclaimed Mrs Glaire, excitedly. "Positions
are changed since then. My son--"
"Well, ma'am, he's a workman's son, and my bairn's a workman's daughter.
I've give her a good schooling, and she's as pretty a lass as there is
in these parts, and if your son Richard's took a fancy to her, and asks
me to let him marry her, and the lass likes him, why I shall say yes,
like a man."
Mrs Glaire looked at him aghast. This was a turn in affairs she had
never anticipated, and one which called forth all her knowledge of human
nature to combat.
"But," she exclaimed, "he is engaged to his cousin here, Miss Pelly."
"Don't seem like it," chuckled the foreman. "Why, he's always after
Daisy now."
"Oh, this is dreadful!" gasped Mrs Glaire, dropping her knitting. "I
tell you he is engaged--promised to be married to his second cousin,
Miss Pelly."
"Stuff!" said Banks, laughing. "He'll never marry she, though she's a
good, sweet girl."
"Don't I tell you he will," gasped Mrs Glaire. "Man, man, are you
blind? This is dreadful to me, but I must speak. Has it never struck
you that my son may have wrong motives with respect to your child?"
"What?" roared the foreman; and the veins in his forehead swelled out,
as his fists clenched. "Bah!" he exclaimed, resuming his calmness.
"Nonsense, ma'am, nonsense. What! Master Dicky Glaire, my true old
friend's son, mean wrong by my lass Daisy? Mrs Glaire, ma'am, Mrs
Glaire, for shame, for shame!"
"The man's infatuated!" exclaimed Mrs Glaire, and she stared
wonderingly at the bluff, honest fellow before her.
"Why, ma'am," said the foreman, smiling, "I wouldn't believe it of him
if you swore it. He's arbitrary, and he's too fond of his horses, and
dogs, and sporting: but my Daisy! Oh, for shame, ma'am, for shame! He
loves the very ground on which she walks."
"And--and"--stammered Mrs Glaire, "does--does Daisy care for him? Fool
that I was to let her come here and be so intimate with Eve," she
muttered.
"Well, ma'am," said the foreman, thoughtfully, "I'm not so sure about
that."
He was about to say more when Mrs Glaire stopped him.
"Another time, Banks, another time," she said, hastily. "Here is my
son."
As she spoke Richard Glaire came into the garden with his hands in his
pockets, and Eve Pelly clinging to one arm, looking bright and happy.
The foreman started slightly, but gave himself a jerk and smiled, and
then, in obedience to a gesture from his mistress, he left the garden
and returned to the foundry.
Volume 1, Chapter V.