‘Mr. Bell,’ said he, ’before you speak so, you should remember that all men are not as free to express what they feel as you are.  Let us talk of something else.’  For though his heart leaped up, as at a trumpet-call, to every word that Mr. Bell had said, and though he knew that what he had said would henceforward bind the thought of the old Oxford Fellow closely up with the most precious things of his heart, yet he would not be forced into any expression of what he felt towards Margaret.  He was no mocking-bird of praise, to try because another extolled what he reverenced and passionately loved, to outdo him in laudation.  So he turned to some of the dry matters of business that lay between Mr. Bell and him, as landlord and tenant.

’What is that heap of brick and mortar we came against in the yard?  Any repairs wanted?’

‘No, none, thank you.’

’Are you building on your own account?  If you are, I’m very much obliged to you.’

‘I’m building a dining-room—­for the men I mean—­the hands.’

’I thought you were hard to please, if this room wasn’t good enough to satisfy you, a bachelor.’

’I’ve got acquainted with a strange kind of chap, and I put one or two children in whom he is interested to school.  So, as I happened to be passing near his house one day, I just went there about some trifling payment to be made; and I saw such a miserable black frizzle of a dinner—­a greasy cinder of meat, as first set me a-thinking.  But it was not till provisions grew so high this winter that I bethought me how, by buying things wholesale, and cooking a good quantity of provisions together, much money might be saved, and much comfort gained.  So I spoke to my friend—­or my enemy—­the man I told you of—­and he found fault with every detail of my plan; and in consequence I laid it aside, both as impracticable, and also because if I forced it into operation I should be interfering with the independence of my men; when, suddenly, this Higgins came to me and graciously signified his approval of a scheme so nearly the same as mine, that I might fairly have claimed it; and, moreover, the approval of several of his fellow-workmen, to whom he had spoken.  I was a little “riled,” I confess, by his manner, and thought of throwing the whole thing overboard to sink or swim.  But it seemed childish to relinquish a plan which I had once thought wise and well-laid, just because I myself did not receive all the honour and consequence due to the originator.  So I coolly took the part assigned to me, which is something like that of steward to a club.  I buy in the provisions wholesale, and provide a fitting matron or cook.’

’I hope you give satisfaction in your new capacity.  Are you a good judge of potatoes and onions?  But I suppose Mrs. Thornton assists you in your marketing.’

‘Not a bit,’ replied Mr. Thornton.  ’She disapproves of the whole plan, and now we never mention it to each other.  But I manage pretty well, getting in great stocks from Liverpool, and being served in butcher’s meat by our own family butcher.  I can assure you, the hot dinners the matron turns out are by no means to be despised.’