right.

'Brother Thomas,' said the thinnest and sharpest-looking, 'I intend to
enclose as far as we can see from this point. That southern bank will be
a first-rate place for young animals. I shall build a house, with three
rooms above and below, besides a small dairy; and I shall plant a
fir-wood behind it to keep off the east winds. The lime and bricks from
my own works will not cost me much more than the expense of bringing
them up here.'

'And a very pretty little hill-farm you'll make of it, James,' replied
Thomas Wyley admiringly. 'I should not wonder now if you got £20 a year
rent for it.'

'I shall get £25 in a few years,' said the other one: 'just think of
the run for ponies on the hill, to say nothing of sheep. A young,
hard-working man could make a very tidy living up here; and we shall
have a respectable house, instead of a pauper's family.'

'It will be a benefit to the neighbourhood,' observed Thomas Wyley.

The latter speaker, who was a degree pleasanter-looking than his brother,
was the relieving officer of the large union to which Botfield belonged;
and, in consequence, all poor persons who had grown too old, or were in
any way unable to work, were compelled to apply to him for the help which
the laws of our country provide for such cases. James Wyley, the elder
brother, was the owner of Botfield works, and the master of all the
people employed in them, besides being the agent of the lord of the
manor. So both these men possessed great authority over the poor; and
they used the power to oppress them and grind them down to the utmost.