I shall best thank you by admitting that I should have found it very unpleasant to meet Mr. Mutimer. You felt that, and hence your kindness. At the same time, no doubt, you pity me for my littleness.
I think it perfectly natural that such a meeting should be disagreeable. I believe I understand your feeling. Indeed, you explained it to me yesterday.
I explained it?
In what you said about the works in the valley.
True. Many people would have interpreted me less liberally.
Adelas eyes brightened a little. But when she raised them, they fell upon something which disturbed her cheerfulness. This was the face of Mrs. Mewling, who had come up from the direction of Wanley and was clearly about to pay a visit at the Manor. The lady smiled and murmured a greeting as she passed by.
I suppose Mrs. Mewling is going to see my mother, said Hubert, who also had lost a little of his naturalness.
A few more words and they again parted. Nothing further was said of the postponed visit. Adela hastened homewards, dreading lest she had made a great mistake, yet glad that she had ventured to come.
Her mother was just going out into the garden, where Alfreds voice sounded frequently in laughter or denunciation. Adela would have been glad to sit alone for a short time, for Mrs. Waltham seemed to wish for her company She had only time to glance at herself in her looking-glass and just press a palm against each cheek.
Alfred was puffing clouds from his briar pipe, but Mutimer had ceased smoking. Near the latter was a vacant seat; Adela took it, as there was no other.
What a good thing the day of rest is! exclaimed Mrs. Waltham. I always feel thankful when I think of the poor men who toil so all through the week in Belwick, and how they must enjoy their Sunday. You surely wouldnt make any change in that, Mr. Mutimer?
The change I should like to see would be in the other direction, Richard replied. I would have holidays far more frequent. In the towns you can scarcely call Sunday a holiday. Theres nothing to do but to walk about the streets. On the whole it does far more harm than good.
Do they never go to church? asked Adela. She was experiencing a sort of irritation against their guest, a feeling traceable to more than one source; Mutimers frequent glances did not tend to soothe it. She asked the question rather in a spirit of adverse criticism.
The working people dont, was the reply, except a Dissenting family here and there.
Perhaps that is one explanation of the Sundays being useless to them.
Adela would scarcely have ventured upon such a tone in reference to any secular matter; the subject being religion, she was of course justified in expressing herself freely.
Mutimer smiled and held back his rejoinder for a moment. By that time Alfred had taken his pipe from his lips and was giving utterance to unmeasured scorn.
But, Mr. Mutimer, said Mrs. Waltham, waving aside her sons vehemence, you dont seriously tell us that the working people have no religion? Surely that would be too shocking!
Yes, I say it seriously, Mrs. Waltham. In the ordinary sense of the word, they have no religion. The truth is, they have no time to think of it.
Oh, but surely it needs no thought
Alfred exploded.
I mean, pursued his mother, that, however busy we are, there must always be intervals to be spared from the world.
Mutimer again delayed his reply. A look which he cast at Adela appeared to move her to speech.
Have they not their evenings free, as well as every Sunday?
Happily, Miss Waltham, you cant realise their lives, Richard began. He was not smiling now; Adelas tone had struck him like a challenge, and he collected himself to meet her. The man who lives on wages is never free; he sells himself body and soul to his employer. What sort of freedom does a man enjoy who may any day find himself and his family on the point of starvation just because he has lost his work? All his life long he has before his mind the fear of wantnot only of straitened means, mind you, but of destitution and the workhouse. How can such a man put aside his common cares? Religion is a luxury; the working man has no luxuries. Now, you speak of the free evenings; people always do, when theyre asking why the working classes dont educate themselves. Do you understand what that free evening means? He gets home, say, at six oclock, tired out; he has to be up again perhaps at five next morning. What can he do but just lie about half asleep? Why, thats the whole principle of the capitalist system of employment; its calculated exactly how long a man can be made to work in a day without making him incapable of beginning again on the day followingjust as its calculated exactly how little a man can live upon, in the regulation of wages. If the workman returned home with strength to spare, employers would soon find it out, and workshop legislation would be revisedbecause of course its the capitalists that make the laws. The principle is that a man shall have no strength left for himself; its all paid for, every scrap of it, bought with the wages at each week end. What religion can such men have? Religion, I suppose, means thankfulness for life and its pleasuresat all events, thats a great part of itand what has a wage-earner to be thankful for?
It sounds very shocking, observed Mrs. Waltham, somewhat disturbed by the speakers growing earnestness. Richard paid no attention and continued to address Adela.
I dare say youve heard of the early trainsworkmens trainsthat they run on the London railways. If only you could travel once by one of those! Between station and station theres scarcely a man or boy in the carriage who can keep awake; there they sit, leaning over against each other, their heads dropping forward, their eyelids that heavy they cant hold them up. I tell you its one of the most miserable sights to be seen in this world. If you saw it, Miss Waltham, youd pity them, Im very sure of that! You only need to know what their life means. People who have never known hardship often speak more cruelly than they think, and of course it always will be so as long as the rich and the poor are two different races, as much apart as if there was an ocean between them.
Adelas cheeks were warm. It was a novel sensation to be rebuked in this unconventional way. She was feeling a touch of shame as well as the slight resentment which was partly her class-instinct, partly of her sex.
I feel that I have no right to give any opinion, she said in an undertone.
Meaning, Adela, commented her brother, that you have a very strong opinion and stick to it.
One thing I dare say you are thinking, Miss Waltham, Richard pursued, if youll allow me to say it. You think that I myself dont exactly prove what Ive been sayingI mean to say, that I at all events have had free time, not only to read and reflect, but to give lectures and so on. Yes, and Ill explain that. It was my good fortune to have a father and mother who were very careful and hard-working and thoughtful people; I and my sister and brother were brought up in an orderly home, and taught from the first that ceaseless labour and strict economy were the things always to be kept in mind. All that was just fortunate chance; Im not praising myself in saying Ive been able to get more into my time than most other working men; its my father and mother I have to thank for it. Suppose theyd been as ignorant and careless as most of their class are made by the hard lot they have to endure; why, I should have followed them, thats all. Weve never had to go without a meal, and why? Just because weve all of us worked like slaves and never allowed ourselves to think of rest or enjoyment. When my father died, of course we had to be more careful than ever; but there were three of us to earn money, fortunately, and we kept up the home. We put our money by for the club every week, whats more.