The man whose work they were going to examine must have heard them approaching, but he made no sign of such intelligence until they stood at his side. Then he lifted his head, and as he did so, Katherine cried out—“Father! Father! It is Harry! It is Harry Bradley! Oh Harry! Harry! Whatever are you doing here?” And then her voice broke down in a cry that was full both of laughter and tears.
Yes, it was really Harry Bradley, and with a wondering happy look he leaped from his seat, threw off his cap and so in a laughing hurry he stood before them. Squire Annis was so amazed he forgot that he was no longer friends with Harry’s father and he gave an honest expression of his surprise.
“Why-a, Harry! Harry! Whativer is tha up to? Does thy father know the kind of game thou art playing now, lad?”
“Squire, dear! It is business, not play, that I am up to. I am happy beyond words to see you, squire! I have often walked the road you take to The House, hoping I might do so.” And the young man put out his hand, and without thinking, the squire took it. Acting on impulse, he could not help taking it. Harry was too charming, too delightful to resist. He wore his working apron without any consciousness of it and his handsome face and joyful voice and manner made those few moments all his own. The squire was taken captive by a happy surprise and eagerly seconded Katherine’s desire to see him at such absorbing work as his loom appeared to require.
Harry took his seat again without parleying or excuse. He was laughing as he did so, but as soon as he faced the wonderful design before him, he appeared to be unconscious of everything else. His watchers were quickly lost in an all absorbing interest as they saw an exquisite design of leaves and flowers growing with every motion of the shuttle, while the different threads of the harness rose and fell as if to some perfectly measured tune.
And as he worked his face changed, the boyish, laughing expression disappeared, and it was a man’s face full of watchful purpose, alert and carefully bent on one object and one end. The squire noticed the change and he admired it. He wished secretly that he could see the same manly look on Dick’s face, forgetting that he had never seen Dick under the same mental strain.
But this reflection was only a thread running through his immense pleasure in the result of Harry’s wonderful manipulation of the forces at his command and his first impulse was to ask Harry to take dinner with him and Wade, at the Clarendon. He checked himself as regarded dinner, but he asked Harry:
“Where art thou staying, Harry? I shouldn’t think Spitalfields quite the place for thy health.”
“I am only here for working hours, squire. I have a good room at the Yorkshire Club and I have a room when I want it at Mistress Temple’s. I often stay there when Dick is in London.”
“My word!” ejaculated the squire. He felt at once that the young man had no need of his kindness, and his interest in him received a sudden chill.