Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1888-07-28
CHAPTER x
WEAK WOMAN.

WEAK WOMAN.
Crrran glanced krpnly Mt thsfaeo Of his
beautiful hostess whose wouto,l serenity had
all gone, tlien he rose to his feet, and stood,
while she spoke his name in the bi1efest form
Of introduction. He did not seem offended
/ by the stare Of surprise Mr.. Breton had for
him. II was new experience TO the mill
/ owner, nitetia.5 lis workmen i'll fashionable
/ parlors.
! "Curran, is it, was sure had seen you
! in the mill, but you had on a white ;.pron
then" Nj. Breton laughed fa,niiarly, but
/ he did not hold out his hand.
Couldn't Curran see how rudely he was
treated, Mr.. Breton's laugh and tone rasped
| Berthas finer sensibilties, so that she was at
once indignant with him, and disguised with
! Curran who seemed to bear it SO uncon-
SciolIsly. Cmran's brow was unruffled: he
had only folded his arms across his breast,
/ sometimes a sign of excitement with him.
"Mr Curran had the good fortune, / be-
4 ieve, to do my daughter great service"
Mr. Ellingsworth's manner was the pertcc-
ton OF well bred rudeness. 1t expressed the
infinite elevation and polish of the person
who assumed it, far above the very natural
4 feeling of disgust at the presence of SO vulgar
a person as this worIn-an. 1t ltsuggested irre-
sistibly the great sontempt such person
ought to call forth, but at the same time
that Elliugsworth was unapproachable by
even as vulgar a thing as contempt.
"Indecds' exclaimed Mr.. Breton, as he
seated himself, Il will thank you, too, it was
good job for you, and | will see it don't
/ hurt your interests any, either"
GLOW do YOU like your work: went on Mr..
Breton in his harsh mill voice. 81 hope you
amt one Of those who don't know when they
are well otrn
Il can keep from starving; that is well off,
l suppose"
! Ar Breton was at loss but for moment
''But you poor people don't save what you
/ get. You ought to economic"
/ CurIan's eyes flashed dangerously but he
bit his lip and kept silence.
Mr.. Ellingsworth saw q scene was immi-
nent How little tact Mr. Breton showed in
patron!2ing the young man so provokingly
before the Eoldca haired goddess whom he
had no doubt fallen in love with. Something
must be doce.
Excuse inc. Have you had any serious
trouble with your wound, Mr.. Curran!"
II have only lost s,w days; that is moth
ing" he answered quickly.
But it must be considerable for a poor
I
air; II will direct my pay!naster to make it
up to you"
Curran glanced across the room at Miss
Ellngsworth. He expected to See her face
.ushcd with anger She would leap to her
feet in indignant remonstrance to shield him
from such impertinence, all the generosity of
her nature in revolt against such return for
his devotion to her.
She was looking at him, but much as girl
looks at strange animal she has been pet
ting, when suddenly they tell her he bites.
Curran turned away from her and ground
his teeth Then he looked at Mr.. Breton.
Cant your paymaster make up for the
pain too, as well AS the lost timer
Mr. Ellingsworth was at his wits end. He
saw the cloud gathering in the workman's
ewes, and that his lip trembled with sup
pressed feeling when he spoke.
How long have you been in town, Mr..
/ Curran" he said TO change the conversation
| if possible into safer channels
| "Only six months"
"Why," volunteered Mr. Breton after all
awkward silence, that is about as long as
the mill hands have been fault finding so
loudly The old gentleman looked sharply
at him. 81 don't suppose you would tell who
has been making the trouble"
"Yes, sir" Curran had risen to his feet,
the flush of offended self respect in his cheeks
When came here found the mills paying
you II per cent dividends, while the help
who ground them out for You, were crushed
almost to the earth. felt bound to tell them,
as l now tell you. that the owner has no
more God given right to all the profit of their
work than they to all the profit OF his
| investment"
loh
ring up this mischief here!" cried Mr. Bre-
| ton, almost starting from his chair. He had
caught him at last then. "And do you say
that man isn't entitled to the interest on
his money! My money represents a Thousand
such lives as yours; it ought to have thou
| sand times the pay" He had .more terrible
guns than OF the bAttfriss Of logic Tor TIE
rebel hat he eauld,not resist the tefnpt ptHtisu
to explode the fallacies of his class before be
let him go.
The young mans eyes flashed beautifully.
"Your money represents thousand lives,
then, out of which you have sucked the life
blood2 And at how much do you value a
human lifel AS much as 81 900 for soula A
thousand dollars for all the joys and hopes
and possibilities of human lifei Your val
uation is too miserably small. l tell you,"
and Curran threw out his right hand in a
magnificent gesture, II tell you, human
creature ought to have for its service a good
portion of the comforts and delights the
world is SO bounteous with. Anything less
is slavery, slavery worse than negro bond
age, Do you call it pay that you give the
hopeless men and women that weave gold for
you on your loomsi Rather say the daily
recurring factof hunger chains thern,t to your
milln
Mr.. Ellingsworth had sunk back IN bis
seat in ,iespair; he might as wen resign him