“You are talking nonsense, John.  If father is in heaven, he wouldn’t come back here about an old mill full of weariness and hatred and wretched lives; and if he isn’t in heaven, he wouldn’t be let come back.  I am not afraid of father now.”

“If you must sell or rent your share, I will make shift to buy or lease it.  Then what do you mean to do?”

“Mr. Fred Naylor is going to coach me for horse-racing.  You know I love horses, and Naylor says they will make me more money than I can count.”

“Don’t you tell me anything the Naylors say.  I won’t listen to it.  Horse-racing is gambling.  You don’t come from gamblers.  You will be a fool among them and every kind of odds will be against you.”

“And I shall make money fast and pleasantly.”

“Supposing you do make money fast, you will spend it still faster.  That is the truth.”

“Horse-racing is a manly amusement.  No one can deny that, John.”

“But, Harry, you did not come into this world to amuse yourself.  You came to do the work God Almighty laid out for you to do.  It wasn’t horse-racing.”

“I know what I am talking about, John.”

“Not you.  You are cheating and deceiving yourself, and any sin is easy, after that sin.”

“I have told you already what I thought of mill work.”

“You have not thought right of it.  We have nearly eight hundred workers; half of them are yours.  It is your duty to see that these men and women have work and wage in Hatton mill.”

“I will not do it, John.”

“You are not going to horse-racing.  I want you to understand that, once and for all.  Have no more to do with any of the Naylors.  Drop them forever.”

“I can not, John.  I will not.”

“Rule your speech, Henry Hatton.  John Hatton is not saying today what he will unsay tomorrow.  You are not going to horse-racing and horse-trading.  Most men who do so go to the dogs next.  People would wonder far and wide.  You must choose a respectable life.  I know that the love of horses runs through every Yorkshireman’s heart.  I love them myself.  I love them too well to bet on them.  My horse is my fellow-creature, and my friend.  Would you bet on your friend, and run him blind for a hundred or two?”

“Naylor has made thousands of pounds.”

“I don’t care if he has made millions.  All money made without labor or without equivalent is got over the devil’s back to be squandered in some devil’s pastime.  Harry, bettors infer dupes.  When you have to pay a jockey a small fortune to do his duty, he may be an honest man—­but there are inferences.  Can’t you think of something better to do?”

“I wanted to be an artist and father would not let me.  I wanted to have my voice trained and father laughed at me.  I wanted to join the army and father was angry and asked me if I did not want to be a pugilist.  He would not hear of anything but the mill.  John, I won’t go to the mill again.  I won’t be a cotton-spinner, and I’ll be glad if you will buy me out at any price.”