danced about, with a thousand, strenuous activities of hand and foot and
eye. Their work dazed him and he wanted to stop here and ask Sabina many
questions. She looked much more beautiful while spinning than in her
black dress and white apron--so the young man thought. Her work
displayed her neat, slim shape as she twirled round, stooped, leapt up
again, twisted and stood on tip-toe in a thousand fascinating
attitudes. Never a dancer in the limelight had revealed so much beauty.
She was rayed in a brown gown with a short skirt, and on her head she
wore a grey woollen cap.

But Mr. Best forbade interest in the spinners.

"You'll not get to them for a week yet," he said. "I'll ask you to just
take in the general hang of it, Mister Raymond, please. Power comes from
the water-wheel and the steam engine and it's brought down to each
machine. Just throw your eyes round. You ain't here to look at the
girls, if you'll excuse my saying so. You're here to learn."

"You can learn more from the girls than all these noisy things put
together," laughed Raymond; while Mr. Best shook his head and proceeded
with his instructions.

"Those exhausts above each system suck away the dust and small rubbish,"
he explained. "We shouldn't be able to breathe without them."

The other looked up and saw great leaden-coloured tubes, like organ
pipes, above him. Mr. Best droned on and strove to lay a foundation for
future knowledge. He was skilled in every branch of the work, and a past
master of all spinning mysteries. His lucid and simple exposition had
very well served to introduce an attentive stranger to the complex