“Let us see the arm that flung Phil Davis down-stairs.”
Jael colored a little, but bared her left arm at command.
“Good heavens!” cried Little. “What a limb! Why mine is a shrimp compared with it.”
“Ay, mine has the bulk, but yours the pith.”
“Oh, come; if your left arm did that, what must your right be?”
“Oh,” said Jael, “you men do every thing with your right hand; but we lasses know no odds. My left is as strong as my right, and both at your service.”
“Then come along with me.”
He took her into the “Experiment Room,” explained the machine to her, gave her a lesson or two; and so simple was the business that she soon mastered her part of it; and Little with his coat off, and Jael, with her noble arms bare, ground long saws together secretly; and Little, with Bolt's consent, charged the firm by the gross. He received twenty-four pounds per week, out of which he paid Jael six, in spite of her “How can a lass's work be worth all that?” and similar remonstrances.
Being now once more a workman, and working with this loyal lass so many hours a day, his spirits rose a little, and his nerves began to recover their tone.
But meantime Hill was maturing his dark design.