Scott's and the clerk's wives to bear them company.
Besides, of course, there is no real danger to be apprehended now: weeks will
elapse before the rioters can again rally, or plan any other attempt; and I am
much mistaken if Moore and Mr. Helstone will not take advantage of last night's
outbreak to quell them altogether: they will frighten the authorities of
Stilbro' into energetic measures. I only hope they will not be too severe - not
pursue the discomfited too relentlessly.«
    »Robert will not be cruel: we saw that last night,« said Caroline.
    »But he will be hard,« retorted Shirley; »and so will your uncle.«
    As they hurried along the meadow and plantation-path to Fieldhead, they saw
the distant highway already alive with an unwonted flow of equestrians and
pedestrians, tending in the direction of the usually solitary Hollow. On
reaching the hall, they found the back-yard gates open, and the court and
kitchen seemed crowded with excited milk-fetchers - men, women, and children,
whom Mrs. Gill, the housekeeper, appeared vainly persuading to take their
milk-cans and depart. (It is, or was, by-the-by, the custom in the north of
England for the cottagers on a country squire's estate to receive their supplies
of milk and butter from the dairy of the Manor-House, on whose pastures a herd
of milch kine was usually fed for the convenience of the neighbourhood. Miss
Keeldar owned such a herd - all deep-dewlapped, Craven cows, reared on the sweet
herbage and clear waters of bonnie Airedale; and very proud she was of their
sleek aspect and high condition.) Seeing now the state of matters, and that it
was desirable to effect a clearance of the premises, Shirley stepped in amongst
the gossipping groups. She bade them good-morning with a certain frank, tranquil
ease - the natural characteristic of her manner when she addressed numbers;
especially if those numbers belonged to the working-class: she was cooler
amongst her equals, and rather proud to those above her. She then asked them if
they had all got their milk measured out, and understanding that they had, she
further observed that she »wondered what they were waiting for, then.«
    »We're just talking a bit over this battle there has been at your mill.
Mistress,« replied a man.
    »Talking a bit! Just like you!« said Shirley. »It is a queer thing all the
world is so