Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-05-03
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government official had come as re-
quested, caught Mr.. Harwood red
handed, summoned him, and the mill
owner had been fined.
Had Mark stopped at this point, much
trouble and pain would have been spared
him, and much that remains to be
chrOnicled would not have happened
But he did not think of this then. He
only thought that his cause was a Just
one, and that the truth ought to be
stated publicly.
The week following Richard Har-
woods conviction a lengthy and strongly
written letter appeared in one of the
local papers, calling attention TO the
matter of 'time cribbing' by factory
masters. This communication was auony-
nous, yet it caused something like q
sensation in the little town. OF it and
its writer more soon.
CHAPTER xvII.-MAsTER AND WORKMAN
1t was the week before Christmas and
the white hosts of the frost and snow
kings still held all the land In vassalage
In few days more all the cotton mills
and factory workers IN Warringham
would be thrown idle, unless the masters
effected settlement by withdrawing the
obnoxious notice of reduction.
That the employers would do this there
seemed little probability. They were
even more determined than the opera
tiyes not to give way or abate their de-
mands, and this being the case a general
strike was bound to ensue.
One evening about this time, when
Mark Eliot reached home he found a
letter awaiting him. His first thought
was that it came from Nellie. But he
quickly changed his opinion for he had
seen her only short time ago, when the
mills closed, and she had not mentioned
it. She had no occasion to write 10 him =,
and again, a glance at the envelope
proved that she was not the writer.
Wondering whence the letter came +,
and who its writer could be, he broke 1t
open, and his surprise may be imagined
when he found that his correspondent
was his master, Richard HARDWOOD.
HARDWOOD IS letter ran:
''BANK HOUSE. Dec 49,
''Dear Sir-I shall be much obliged if
you will make 1t convenient to call here
to- morrow evening between seven and
eight o'clock. The business 1 wish to
see you about is rather important, and
you will, think, best consult your own
interest by complying, with my request.
l shall expect you.
"a line from you in answer to this
will much oblige. Yours, etc.,
RICHARD HARDWOOD. -
''Why does he wish to see me l won
der?' Mark soliloquized. "Can it be
possible that he has learned that wrote
to the inspector and to the Guardian?
That is hardly possible. 1t must be
something in connection with the strike.
oil x1yha ia oh
suppose l must go and see him -
After finishing his tea, Mark wrote q
reply to his master, saying that he would
be at Bank House next evening at the
time named. His meeting with the mill
owner would hardly be a pleasant one he
felt certain, and yet he was bound to
face the ordeal.
Twenty-Five hours after this Richard
HARDWOOD was seated i'm his cosy room at
Bank House, awaiting the arrival of his
workman, Mark Eliot, and as he sat
there beside the glowing CRATE, his
thoughts wandered back to another
night il the Writer, nearly twenty years
gone, when he had waited in that very
room for the coming of Dan Ashton.
His brows bent themselves INTO black
frown, as the memory of tina, night and
the unpleasant disclosures came back to
him, and he poked the fire savagely and
endeavored TO think of other things.
As the null owner sits there in his easy
chair, with his face turned to the glow
ing Goals, let us renew our. acquaintance
with him.
The passage of nineteen years had in
no sense or way worked an Improvement
in Richard HARDWOOD. The comeliness
he had possessed in his early manhood
was gone now; his figure had gained
greatly in bulk, and his erstwhile fiorid
cheeks had lost all their color, being now
pallid and flabby.
The passing of every year had seemed
to increase. the hardness of his heart
the stinglness of his nature. Even in
the earliest days of his ownership of the
mills, he had never possessed the esteem
of his work-people, and his manner of
dealing with them during the past score
of years had only served TO obtain for
him their hatred.
The weight of the secret Dan Ashton
possessed, had never ceased to press
heavily on the mind of Richard Har-
wood, and yet his conscience had never
given him any trouble on that account.
He was not so much afraid of his sin
finding him out as he was of losing his
solid possessions. He feared the stigma
which would follow the exposure less
than he loved his wealth.
Somehow HARDWOOD had never had en-
tire confidence in Ashton. He had been
expecting all through the long years that
Dan would blab the secret out some day
in his cups. And that thought had dom
mated the mill owners life.
Never knowing when the blow would
fall, as fall he felt it must some day, he
made haste to gather in riches before the
evil day came. This had made him
harder with his "hands' than he other
wise might have been; 1t had increased
his niggardlinsss, hardened his heart.
How often, and with what fervor, had
be prayed for the death of mine host of
The start With Dan out of the way +,
snugly asleep under fathom OF solid
earth, he could have slumbered peace
fully, have lived more easily. -
OF his attempts to break away nom
his agreement with Ashton something
has been said. .Harwood bad thought
that Dan, being comfortably. circum-
stanoed, would, with a little pressure,
forego the weekly sum he had agreed to
allow him. But mine host apparently
loved money as well as the mill owner;
he had stood firmly to the bargain, and
fearing to drive Dan too far, HARDWOOD
had given way.
About a dozen years ago, Richard had
taken unto himself q wife, selecting as