Page:Between Two Loves.djvu/118

Rh have to bear many an unpleasant look and gibe. She knew also that Steve was on the alert for offence, and a man in that condition is very apt to get what he is looking for. She dreaded the dinner-hour. The rude jokes, so natural to the men and women, and so pleasantly given and taken as a general thing, had always riled Steve's sensitive nature, and she felt that he was in precisely that temper which appropriates and resents the most innocent freedoms.

As twelve o'clock approached she became heart-sick with fear, but a few minutes before it the master entered the room. He walked straight to Steve's loom, and every eye was upon him. Sarah's hands trembled, her face flushed, and then turned deadly pale, and she could not help but watch the meeting, upon which so much depended.

But if she had known Jonathan better she would have been sure that his visit meant kindness. In fact, the master, having been himself a hand, knew pretty well the drift of Steve's fears and feelings, nor had he forgotten the gauntlet of the noon hour's mirth which Steve might have to run. Ben Holden had said, "Let 8