'He will learn the business, before long,' said Dr. Arthur, 'if close attention can do it.'
'What should he learn the business for?' said his sister. 'He has already all that the mill business could give him, without any trouble. I think he's troubled in his wits; I do indeed. He was always a wild boy, and now he's a wilder man.'
'Troubled in his wits!' said Dr. Arthur, with such supreme derision, that Wych Hazel laughed. To her own great relief, be it said.
'But what is this that he has done?' Mr. Falkirk inquired, his brows looking very much disgusted.
'My dear sir! Fancy it. Fancy it, Miss Kennedy. The first thing he did was to raise the wages of his hands!'
Just one person caught the gleam from under Hazel's down-cast eyes,—perhaps something made his own quick-sighted. Dr. Arthur answered for her.
'They were not half paid before, Mr. Falkirk. That explains it.'
'Weren't they paid as other mill hands are paid, Dr. Arthur?'
'The more need for a change, then,' said the young man, who was a trifle Quixotic himself.
'But if the change is made by one man alone, he effects nothing but his own ruin.'