"By whom?" demanded the master.
"You can ask that question of Cyril, sir."
The master did ask it of Cyril. "Have you done this?"
"Possibly I have," innocently returned Cyril.
"You know you have," rejoined William.
"Only yesterday, when I was giving directions to the stainers, he derided all I said, and one of them inquired whether I had received orders for what I was telling them. If the authority vested in me is to be undermined, the men will soon set it at naught."
Mr. Ashley looked provoked; more so than William ever remembered to have seen him. He paused a moment, his lips quivering angrily, and then flung open the counting-house door.
"Dick!"
Dick, a young tinker of ten, black in clothes and in skin, came flying at the summons and its unusually stern tone. "Please, sir?"
"Ring the large bell."