AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Ah,’ he said with a smile. ‘There is to be a meeting. When and where?’
‘I am not at liberty to tell you that, my lord.’
‘Then, how am I to know what I must not attend?’
‘No doubt you will learn of it.’
‘And if I do not comply?’
‘Mr Hunt hopes very much that you will, my lord.’
‘You may go back to Mr Hunt and tell him I shall do what I think is right. He knows my views on the subject of suffrage and the relief of poverty. I have expounded them publicly. If he chooses not to believe me, that is up to him. I do not propose to try to prove myself.’
‘Very well, my lord.’ He picked up his hat from the desk where he had put it and rose to leave.
As soon as he had gone, Adam turned to Farley. ‘What do you make of that, Alfred?’
‘You are being warned off, my lord.’
‘He has been very tenacious, don’t you think? He followed me about town and was right behind us all the way to the farm, though I was not aware of him after that. He must have gone to report back to Orator Hunt when he lost us.’
‘You have worried them, my lord. Do you intend to comply?’
‘I shall certainly not mobilise the militia unless I am forced to, but as for the meeting, since I have no idea when and where it is to be held, there is little I can do. Besides, I shall be going back to Hadlea in less than a month for my wedding.’
‘Speaking of the wedding, my lord, have you thought what you are going to wear? Time is slipping by.’
‘I know that. I will speak to Mr Harcourt about cloth for a suit of clothes. My usual tailor will make it up. I will leave you to gather together shirts and cravats and whatever else I may need.’
‘Very good, my lord. I will start at once.’
He hurried away, leaving Adam musing. He wanted this wedding, he told himself. His doubts were all on behalf of his bride and how she might view this home of his with its half-finished refurbishments. There was no time to complete them before he left for Hadlea, but he could do something about the bed. He rang for the housekeeper.
‘Mrs Grant,’ he said when she presented herself. ‘Get a couple of the men and have the four-poster moved out of my bedchamber, put it in another part of the house and buy a new one. Buy new bed linen, too. And new curtains.’
‘Yes, my lord.’ She curtsied and went to leave the room.
Then he went to the stables, asked for his gig to be harnessed and was soon on his way down the winding road to the valley where the Bamford Mill was situated.
His arrival, though unheralded, did not surprise anyone. There were not many days when he did not go and oversee what was going on. He found George Harcourt in the office, working on the paperwork for a big order they had just received. The schedule to complete it was going to be tight, but he was confident they would fulfil it.
The man scrambled to his feet. ‘Good morning, my lord.’
Adam returned his greeting. ‘Everything running smoothly, George?’
‘At the moment, my lord, but I have to report the men are restive. They have been listening to one of Orator Hunt’s men and have informed me they intend to stop work to go to a meeting on the sixteenth.’
‘Was the gentleman’s name Mr Byers, by any chance?’
‘Yes, my lord. Very persuasive he was, too. He had been talking to Sir John Michaelson’s men and they had all agreed to attend, every man jack of them. Sir John has threatened instant dismissal if they go, but that appears to have had no effect.’ He paused. ‘I could threaten our workers with dismissal. They are reasonable men on the whole and they know they could not get better treatment anywhere else.’
‘No, Mr Harcourt. Let them go.’
‘But my lord, we will lose a day’s production.’
‘No matter. If we try to stop them, they will go anyway, and dismissing them will hardly help to fulfil orders. Give them the day off.’
‘Very well, my lord,’ Harcourt said dubiously.
Having dealt with the problem of the workers’ meeting, he turned to the matter of cloth for his wedding suit. ‘A bolt of the finest we produce,’ he said. ‘Grey, I think.’
‘Would you not prefer something a little more colourful, my lord?’
‘No, George. This is my second venture into matrimony and I am not one to dress flamboyantly, as you know. A soft dove grey will suit me very well.’
‘We have the very thing, my lord, so fine it feels more like silk than wool. We have only just perfected it. Your wearing it will be the best advertisement we could have.’
