Page:Barr--Stranleighs millions.djvu/127

Rh sponsible person so far as the repair of the cottages s concerned?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Ah, you say the farmers should do it; the farmers say I should do it; Wilson says you should do it, and between the three stools you come to the ground, or at least ten inches or a foot below it, as you remarked."

The farm labourers laughed. They liked this young man, and his beer was excellent. During their long lives they had never tasted anything to compare with it.

"Well, my lord, in the wet weather there's a good bit of sickness round about: coughs and colds and such-like on account of the dampness, and here and there a touch of fever."

"How many tenants do you represent?"

"What's that, my lord?"

"How many of you are there altogether? You haven't all come to London?"

"Oh, no, my lord. There's between thirty and forty of us, thirty or forty families, and we've all subscribed a bit, and us five came up to see you, my lord. We've seen enough of the farmers, and we've seen enough of Mr. Wilson."

"You don't wish to solve the problem by doing the work yourselves?"

"No, my lord, we're poor men, with a hard struggle to keep bread in the mouths of our children, but the farmers be rich, and" the speaker