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202
THE MASTER OF THE MINE.
Kead this, Eugenie," he cried. "' We are rich once more, and you can leave your plebeian husband as soon as you like "
Eugenie took the letter, and read it slowly. No thought of injustice to Philip, or of the pain her desertion might give him ciossed her mind. She saw in the sudden accession of fortune only the means by which she could secure her freedom from a distasteful marriage. She made up her mind at once, and ordered the car to be got ready .so that she could go at once to the mine and acquaint Philip of her decision.
Aflfairs at the mine had reached a crisis. Hartmann had summoned a meeting of the workers, and had aroused them to fury by his wild talk. He made out Philip to be a monster incarnate, who w;is amassing immense wealth by driving men and women like slave-;, compelling them to work under impossible conditions for a juttance barely -sufficient to keep body and soul together. Let m teach him a lesson,'' he cried.
decided that Hartmann and two other men should go to the office, see Uerkow, and tell him if he did not at once accede to their demands work would 1)e stopped.
The men were in a dangerous mood, and while a shouting crowd of them accompanied the deputation to the door of the office, three or four others descended the mine and dispersed about the passages, placing sinisterlooking parcels here and there.
Hartmann and his two companions hardly gave the old chief clerk time to announce their arrival before forcing their way to the inner office to the mineowner.
It was at this moment that Eugenie's car drove up to the works. On alighting, she was surrounded by an angry crowd of men and women, who jeered at her, shouted insulting remarks, and hustled her as she walked across the yard to the office. Their demeanour frightened her badly, but she held her head high. She entered her husband's office in time to hear the end of his reply to Hartmann.
" Philip, exerting all his strength, wrenched him free.
Let us show him we are men, not slaves. Let us force him to do what we want. Words are of no use any longer ; this is the time for deeds. I am all for a strike."
They answered with a shout, and it was
" No, I'll fight you," he was saying, his face set hard, and his eyes shining like steel. " If you had come to me with your grievances in a proper way, I would have met you fairly ; but now you may strike, and be