Mrs. Osborn thought the expense did not count for much by comparison with her husband’s extravagance; but he had been rather patient and she must not go too far.

“Well,” she said, “you have got Railton’s fine.”

“It is not a large sum,” Osborn answered with a frown.  “I need the money, but in a sense I’d sooner it had not been paid.  Anyhow, I’d sooner it had not been paid like that.  The others’ confounded organized opposition annoys me.”

“They were forced to subscribe to a fund if they wanted to help.”

“Just so; but they probably wouldn’t have thought about subscribing if Askew hadn’t suggested it.  They’re an independent lot and believe in standing on their own feet.  For a time after I got Tarnside, they used a sensible, give-and-take attitude; it’s only recently they’ve met with stupid, sullen suspicion.”

“Perhaps it was rather a mistake to give Bell the coal yards’ lease.”

“The coal yards had nothing to do with it,” Osborn declared.  “The trouble began earlier, and I’ve grounds for believing it began at Ashness.  If I was rich enough, I’d buy the Askews out.  They know I’ve no power over them and take advantage of the situation.  The old man was a bad example for the others, but his son, with his raw communistic notions, is dangerous.  If I could get rid of the meddling fool somehow, it would be a keen relief.”

He came back to the table and picked up a cup of tea.  Then, grumbling that it had gone cold, he put it down noisily and went out.

CHAPTER VIII

GRACE FINDS A WAY

Soon after the reckoning at Mireside, the snow melted off the fells and for a month dark rain clouds from the sea rolled up the dale.  They broke upon the hill tops in heavy showers, gray mist drifted about the wet slopes, the becks roared in the ghylls, and threads of foam that wavered in the wind streaked the crags.  In the bottom of the valley it was never really light, water flowed across the roads, and the low-standing farmsteads reeked with damp.

All this was not unusual and the dalesfolk would have borne it patiently had fuel not been short.  Large fires were needed to dry the moisture that condensed in the flagged kitchens and soaked the thick walls, but coal could not be got at a price the house-wives were willing to pay.  Some would have had to stint their families in food had they bought on Bell’s terms, and the rest struggled, for the common cause, against the mould that gathered on clothing and spoiled the meal.  They grumbled, but their resolution hardened as the strain got worse, while Bell waited rather anxiously for them to give way.