He took her wrists and moved her hands off his waist. ‘I would feel so terribly ashamed,’ he said.
‘Oh, so now I’m something to be ashamed of.’
‘Only when you betray your husband like this.’
She broke apart from him, turned, and walked away.
Even now, striding angrily, she looked irresistibly alluring.
He watched her go, and thought: What a damn fool I am.
*
One evening at eight o’clock, when Sal and Jarge were getting ready for bed, Jarge said: ‘There’s a rumour going round that Hornbeam’s new mill will have a gigantic steam engine that will operate dozens of looms, and most of us weavers will no longer be wanted, because in the new mill one man will supervise four steam looms.’
Sal said: ‘Is that possible? Can a steam engine be a weaver?’
‘I don’t see how.’
She frowned. ‘I have heard that steam looms are used in the cotton mills up north.’
‘I find it hard to believe,’ said Jarge.
Sal said: ‘Let’s say it might be true. What are the consequences?’
‘Three out of four of Hornbeam’s weavers are going to be lookingfor work. And with things the way they are, we may not find it. But what can we do about it?’
Sal was not sure she had an answer. It seemed she had become some kind of leader of the Kingsbridge hands, but she did not know how it had happened and she did not feel qualified to fulfil the role.
Jarge said belligerently: ‘In the past, hands have rioted against new machines.’
‘And been punished for it,’ said Sal.
‘That doesn’t mean we should allow the masters do anything they want to us.’
‘Let’s not get carried away,’ Sal said pacifically. ‘Before we do anything, we need to find out whether the rumour is true.’
‘How can we do that?’ said Jarge.
‘We can go and take a look. The builders are camped on the site, but they won’t care who looks around, as long as we don’t do any damage.’
‘All right,’ said Jarge.
Sal said: ‘We’ll go on Sunday afternoon.’
*
Kit had never seen a steam engine, but he had heard about them, and he was fascinated. How could steam drive a machine? He understood how flowing water could turn a mill wheel, but steam was just air – wasn’t it?
After dinner on Sunday, when he and Sue were about to go to Elsie Mackintosh’s Sunday school, Kit’s mother and Jarge got ready to go out. ‘Where are you off to?’ Kit asked Sal.
‘We’re going to take a look at Hornbeam’s big new mill.’
‘I’m coming with you.’
‘No, you’re not.’
‘I want to see the steam engine.’
