God I
were a little nearer him - could hear him speak - could speak to him! With my
will - my longing to serve him - I could not be a useless burden in his way: I
could be turned to some account.«
    »They come on!« cried Shirley. »How steadily they march in! There is
discipline in their ranks - I will not say there is courage: hundreds against
tens are no proof of that quality; but« (she dropped her voice) »there is
suffering and desperation enough amongst them - these goads will urge them
forwards.«
    »Forwards against Robert - and they hate him. Shirley, is there much danger
they will win the day?«
    »We shall see. Moore and Helstone are of earth's first blood - no bunglers -
no cravens -«
    A crash - smash - shiver - stopped their whispers. A simultaneously - hurled
volley of stones had saluted the broad front of the mill, with all its windows;
and now every pane of every lattice lay in shattered and pounded fragments. A
yell followed this demonstration - a rioters' yell - a North-of-England - a
Yorkshire - a West-Riding - a West-Riding - clothing-district-of-Yorkshire
rioters' yell. You never heard that sound, perhaps, reader? So much the better
for your ears - perhaps for your heart; since, if it rends the air in hate to
yourself, or to the men or principles you approve, the interests to which you
wish well, Wrath wakens to the cry of Hate: the Lion shakes his main, and rises
to the howl of the Hyena: Caste stands up, ireful, against Caste; and the
indignant, wronged spirit of the Middle Rank bears down in zeal and scorn on the
famished and furious mass of the Operative Class. It is difficult to be tolerant
- difficult to be just - in such moments.
    Caroline rose; Shirley put her arm round her: they stood together as still
as the straight stems of two trees. That yell was a long one, and when it
ceased, the night was yet full of the swaying and murmuring of a crowd.
    »What next?« was the question of the listeners. Nothing came yet. The mill
remained mute as a mausoleum.
    »He cannot be alone!« whispered Caroline.
    »I would stake all I have, that he is as little alone as he is alarmed,«
responded Shirley.
    Shots were discharged by the rioters. Had the defenders waited for this
signal? It seemed so