"Did Mr. Drummond say anything else to you?" asked the invalid, with an eager look on her pale face.
"Aye. He hoped I had the 'Best of friends' to be with me and cheer me whilst I was troubled about George. I was bewildered like, and hardly knew what he meant then, but I seemed to see after."
"He didn't say many words to me, but he brought back some verses I learned at Sunday school. One forgets in course of time, but it's a good thing to have one's memory brushed up a bit."
Here the conversation ended.
The accident had been the means of bringing Adam Livesey under Mr. Drummond's special notice. But for it the striker's shyness would have induced him rather to keep out of sight; yet, when the alarm was given, Adam was the first to run to the scene of the mishap.
"Poor old Silentsides dropped his hammer sharp enough to-day," said another workman, in Mr. Drummond's hearing. "When there's work on, Adam is never in any hurry. I've noticed many a time that his hammer gives the last stroke that sounds in the smithy when going home time has come."
The words made Mr. Drummond curious to know which was Adam Livesey. He thought that a man of whom his fellows gave such a character might be worth a little looking after. But the manager was too wise to startle the men by making sudden changes. He wanted to get acquainted with them, not merely as items in the human machinery which kept Rutherford's going, but as fellow men, with souls to be saved, minds to be enlightened, bodies to be cared for, homes to be brightened, lives to be cheered and influenced for good.
How to set about it was the difficulty. Mr. Drummond had already been spoken of as fond of preaching, but in one sense he did not deserve it. He did not intrude upon the men during their dinner-hour, or when they were talking together in groups. He knew how jealous many were of anything like interference with their freedom of action and word. He did not wish them to think that he desired to be a spy upon them, so he was extremely careful to do nothing which should excite doubt or suspicion. But opportunities are never long wanting to those who seek them, and, as Mr. Drummond's words were always well timed, the sight of his frank face and the sound of his footfall were soon welcomed by all amongst whom he moved.
Some of the workmen joked Adam Livesey about the manager's "'ticing ways."
"He'll make a talker of thee, whether thou wilt or no," said one.