RUTH. Guy, how soon will the new factory be built?
GUY (still at work). With luck, six months, if frost does not hold up the masons.
RUTH. Six months. Six wintry months and in the mean time all the weavers——
GUY. Those who are not hanged will be starving for their sins. I've told you to keep quiet, Ruth.
RUTH. I have kept quiet, Guy, kept quiet while you made me love you like your dog because you warmed my body well and fed me till my eyes were closed with fat and all my will was lulled to sleep. I asked you questions of the factory, and when you gave me poetry books to read, I read them and forgot. You told me not to meddle and I have obeyed. I gave up asking questions till in all the valley there was none more ignorant than me. Than me, who——
GUY (rising). Than you who made a bargain with me here. Is this your way of keeping it?
RUTH. Guy, let me ask you things. If it is the last time, for just this once, be kind and tell me what you mean to do.
GUY. If it is the last time? Ruth, I keep my bargains. There is your father's life at stake.
RUTH. Still, I must know. For the sake of our future, Guy, I must know what you mean to do. I have been quiet, Guy. I will again. I might have spoken now while Captain Lascelles spoke with you. I kept my silence then, But tell me, Guy. It's you who are the master now? You, not your father?
GUY. It is I.