No one had ever spoken to her in this way before, and had she known how to
do so she would have resented his familiarities. Once their hands met. The
contact caused her a thrill; she put aside the unbaked plate they were
examining and said: 'We'd better make haste or we shall lose them.'

The next two rooms were considered the most interesting they had been
through; even the three clergymen lost something of their stolid manner and
asked Lennox his opinion regarding the religious character of Hanley, and
if he were of their persuasion.

'What is that?' asked Lennox, affecting a comic innocence which he hoped
would tickle Kate's fancy.

'We're Wesleyans,' said the minister.

'And I'm an actor; but, I beg your pardon, stage-managing's more my
business,' news that seemed to cast a gloom over the faces of the
ministers; and leaving them to make what they could of his reply, he drew
Kate forward confidentially and pointed to an old man sitting
straddle-legged on a high narrow table just on a line with the window. He
was covered with clay; his forehead and beard were plastered with it, and
before him was an iron plate, kept continually whirling by steam, which he
could stop by a pressure of his foot. He squeezed a lump of clay into a
long shape not unlike a tall ice, then, forcing it down into the shape of a
batter-pudding, he hollowed it. Round and round went the clay, the hands
forming it all the while, cleaning and smoothing until it came out a true
and perfect jampot, even to the little furrow round the top, which was
given by a movement of the thumbs. He had been at work since seven in the
morning, and the shelves round him were encumbered with the result of his