labours. Everyone marvelled at his dexterity, until he was forgotten in the
superior attractions of the succeeding room. This was the turning-house,
and Lennox could not help laughing outright, so amusing did the scene
appear to him. Women went dancing up and down on one leg, and at such
regular intervals that they seemed absolutely like machines. They were at
once the motive power and the feeders of the different lathes. It was they
who handed the men lumps of dry clay, which they turned into shapes. The
strangeness of the spectacle gave rise to much comment. The clergymen were
anxious to know if the constant jigging was injurious to health. Lennox
inquired how much coin they made by their one-leg dancing. He spoke of
their good looks, and this led him easily into the question of morals, a
subject in which he was much interested. He wanted to know if this crowding
together of the sexes could be effected without danger. Surely cases of
seduction must occur occasionally. In answering him the guide betrayed a
certain reticence of manner which encouraged Lennox to ask him if he really
meant to say that nothing ever befell these young women who were working
all day side by side with people of the other sex. Did their thoughts never
wander from their work? The guide assured Mr. Lennox that there was no time
to think of such nonsense in the factory, and, anxious to vindicate the
honour of the establishment, he declared that any who took the smallest
liberty with any female would be instantly dismissed from the works. The
ministers listened approvingly, although they seemed to think the subject
might have been avoided. Kate felt a little embarrassed, and Mr. Lennox
watched a big, blonde-haired woman who smiled prettily and seemed quite
conscious of her sex, notwithstanding the ludicrous bobbing up and down
position she was in. With a courage that surprised herself Kate proposed
that they should go on. She was beginning to feel uneasy at the time she
had been away from home and certain that Mrs. Ede would be on the doorstep
looking up and down the street; and she could well imagine how cross Ralph
would be if he heard she had been to the potteries with Mr. Lennox. She