The Manager shook his head, and replied hastily:
"You cannot, my lady, you cannot go up now. To-morrow perhaps, or perhaps towards evening, but not now."
"Why not?" cried Eugénie, turning very pale. "Is our house threatened? Is my husband" ...
"No, no, Herr Berkow is not mixed up in it today. He is up at the house with all the officials. This time the trouble is among themselves. Some of the men wanted to take to their work again this morning, and my son" ....
Here the old man's face worked with agitation.
"Well! you must know it before long! My son was furious about it. He and his party have driven them back, and set a guard round the shafts. The others won't put up with that, and now they are banding themselves together. The whole works are in revolt, every man against his neighbour. Merciful goodness! what will happen next?" cried the Manager, as, in spite of the distance, rumours of the wild clamour and uproar were borne distinctly over to them.
"But I intended to avoid the works," urged Eugénie. "I was going to try and gain the park by the path across the meadows, and so on to" ....
"For Heaven's sake, don't go there!" interrupted the old man. "Ulric and all his followers are holding a meeting out in the meadow yonder. I was on my way to try once more if I could not make him listen to reason, and induce him, at all events, to set the shafts free. We are going against our own flesh and blood now, but he has neither eyes nor ears for anything in his fury. Not that way, my lady, it is the most dangerous of all."
"I must go up to the house," Eugénie declared resolutely. "I must go, cost what it may. Come with me, Hartmann, only as far as the houses. In case of the worst, I can stay there until the road is clear again. At your side I shall be secure at least from open violence."
The old man shook his head sadly.