How the Third Floor Knew the Potteries | Page 4

length I turned reluctantly away, and went home.
I lay awake that night for hours, thinking over the events of the day,
and hating the Frenchman from my very soul. I could not hate Leah. I
had worshipped her too long and too faithfully for that; but I looked
upon her as a creature given over to destruction. I fell asleep towards
morning, and woke again shortly after daybreak. When I reached the
pottery, I found George there before me, looking very pale, but quite
himself, and setting the men to their work the same as usual. I said
nothing about what had happened the day before. Something in his face

silenced me; but seeing him so steady and composed, I took heart, and
began to hope he had fought through the worst of his trouble.
By-and-by the Frenchman came through the yard, gay and off-hand,
with his cigar in his mouth, and his hands in his pockets. George turned
sharply away into one of the workshops, and shut the door. I drew a
deep breath of relief. My dread was to see them come to an open
quarrel; and I felt that as long as they kept clear of that, all would be
well.
Thus the Monday went by, and the Tuesday; and still George kept aloof
from me. I had sense enough not to be hurt by this. I felt he had a good
right to be silent, if silence helped him to bear his trial better; and I
made up my mind never to breathe another syllable on the subject,
unless he began.
Wednesday came. I had overslept myself that morning, and came to
work a quarter after the hour, expecting to be fined; for George was
very strict as foreman of the yard, and treated friends and enemies just
the same. Instead of blaming me, however, he called me up, and said:
"Ben, whose turn is it this week to sit up?"
"Mine, sir," I replied. (I always called him "Sir" in working hours.)
"Well, then, you may go home to-day, and the same on Thursday and
Friday; for there's a large batch of work for the ovens to-night, and
there'll be the same to-morrow night and the night after."
"All right, sir," said I. "Then I'll be here by seven this evening."
"No, half-past nine will be soon enough. I've some accounts to make up,
and I shall be here myself till then. Mind you are true to time, though."
"I'll be as true as the clock, sir," I replied, and was turning away when
he called me back again.
"You're a good lad, Ben," said he. "Shake hands."

I seized his hand, and pressed it warmly.
"If I'm good for anything, George," I answered with all my heart, "it's
you who have made me so. God bless you for it!"
"Amen!" said he, in a troubled voice, putting his hand to his hat.
And so we parted.
In general, I went to bed by day when I was attending to the firing by
night; but this morning I had already slept longer than usual, and
wanted exercise more than rest. So I ran home; put a bit of bread and
meat in my pocket; snatched up my big thorn stick; and started off for a
long day in the country. When I came home, it was quite dark and
beginning to rain, just as it had begun to rain at about the same time
that wretched Sunday evening: so I changed my wet boots, had an early
supper and a nap in the chimney-corner, and went down to the works at
a few minutes before half-past nine. Arriving at the factory-gate, I
found it ajar, and so walked in and closed it after me. I remember
thinking at the time that it was unlike George's usual caution to leave it
so; but it passed from my mind next moment. Having slipped in the
bolt, I then went straight over to George's little counting-house, where
the gas was shining cheerfully in the window. Here also, somewhat to
my surprise, I found the door open, and the room empty. I went in. The
threshold and part of the floor was wetted by the driving rain. The
wages-book was open on the desk, George's pen stood in the ink, and
his hat hung on its usual peg in the corner. I concluded, of course, that
he had gone round to the ovens; so, following him, I took down his hat
and carried it with me, for it was now raining fast.
The baking-houses lay just opposite, on the other side of the yard.
There were three of them, opening one out of the other; and in each, the
great furnace filled all the middle of the room. These furnaces