At the hours of going to and leaving work, the Helstonleigh streets were alive with glove operatives, some being in one branch of the trade, some in another. There were parers, grounders, leather-sorters, dyers, cutters, makers-up, and so on: all being necessary, besides the sewing, to turn out one pair of gloves; though, I dare say, you did not think it. The wages according to the particular work, or the men's ability and industry, from fifteen shillings a week to twenty-five: but all could earn a good living. If a man gained more than twenty-five, he had a stated salary; as was the case with the foremen. These wages, joined to what was earned by the women, were sufficient to maintain a comfortable home, and to bring up children decently. Unfortunately the same drawbacks prevailed in Helstonleigh that are but too common elsewhere; and they may be classed under one general head—improvidence. The men were given to idling away at the public-houses more time than was good for them: the women to scold and to quarrel. Some were slatterns; and a great many gave their husbands the welcome of a home of , ill-management, and dirt: which, of course, had the effect of sending them out all the more surely.  
Just about this period, the men had their especial —or thought they had: and that was, a low rate of wages and not full employment. Had they paid a visit to other places and compared their wages with some earned by operatives of a different class, they had found less cause to complain. The men were rather given to comparing present wages with those they had earned before the dark crisis (dark as far as Helstonleigh's trade was concerned) when the British ports were opened to foreign gloves. But few, comparatively speaking, of the manufacturers had weathered that storm. Years have elapsed since then: but the employment remained scarce, and the wages (I have quoted them to you) low. Altogether, the men were, many of them, dissatisfied. They even went so far as to talk of a "strike"; strikes being less common in those days than they are in these.
 
It was Saturday night, and the streets were crowded. The hands were pouring out of the different manufactories; clean-looking, respectable workmen, as a whole: for the branches of glove-making are for the most part of a cleanly nature. Some wore their white ; some had rolled them up round their waists. A few—very few, it must be owned—were going to their homes, but the greater portion were bound for the public-house.
 
One of the most extensively patronised of the public-houses was The Cutters' Arms. On a Saturday night, when the men's pockets were lined, this would be crowded. The men flocked into it now and filled it, although its room for entertainment was very large. The order from most of them was a of mild ale and some tobacco.
 
"Any news, Joe Fisher?" asked a man, when the pipes were set going.
 
Joe Fisher tossed his head and . He was a tall, dark man; clothes and condition both dilapidated. The questioner took a few whiffs, and repeated his question. Joe growled again, but did not speak.
 
"Well, you might give a chap a civil answer, Fisher."
 
"What's the matter, you two?" cried a third.
 
"Ben Wilks asks me is there any news!" called out Fisher, indignantly. "I thought he might ha' heered on't without asking. Our pay was docked again to-night; that's the news."
 
"No!" uttered Wilks.
 
"It were," said Fisher . "A shilling a week less, good. Who's a-going to stand it?"
 
"There ain't no help for it," interposed a quiet-looking man named Wheeler. "I suppose the masters is forced to lower. They say so."
 
"Have your master forced hisself to it?" angrily retorted Fisher.
 
"Well, Fisher, you know I'm fortunate. As all is that gets in to work at Ashley's."
 
"And precious good care they take to stop in!" cried Fisher, much . "No danger that Ashley's hands'll give way and afford outsiders a chance."
 
"Why should they give way?" sensibly asked Wheeler. "You need never think to get in at Ashley's, Fisher, so there's no cause for you to ."
 
A titter went round at Fisher's expense. He did not like it. "I might stand my chance with others, if there was room. Who says I couldn't? Come, now!"
 
A man laughed. "You had better ask Samuel Lynn that question, Fisher. Why, he wouldn't look at you! You are not steady enough for him."
 
"Samuel Lynn may go along for a ill-natured broadbrim!" was Fisher's retort. "There'd not be half the difficulty in getting in with Mr. Ashley hisself."
 
"Yes, there would," said Wheeler, quietly. "Mr. Ashley pays first wages, and he'll have first hands. Quaker Lynn knows what he's about."
 
"Don't dispute about nothing, Fisher," interrupted a voice, borne through the clouds of smoke from the far end of the room. "To lose a shilling a week is bad, but not so bad as losing all. I have heard ill news this evening."
 
Fisher stretched up his long neck. "Who's that a-talking? Is it Mr. ?"
 
It was Stephen Crouch; the foreman in a large firm, and a respectable, intelligent man. "Do you remember, any of you, that a report arose some time ago about Wilson and King? A report that died away again?"
 
"That they were on their last legs," replied several voices. "Well?"
 
"Well, they are off them now," continued Stephen Crouch.
 
Up rose a man, his voice shaking with emotion. "It's not true, Mr. Crouch, sure—ly!"
 
"It is, Vincent. Wilson and King are going to wind up. It will be announced next week."
 
"Mercy help us! There'll be forty more hands throwed out! What's to become of us all?"
 
A dead silence fell on the room. Vincent broke it. Hope is strong in the human heart. "Mr. Crouch, I don't think it can be true. Our wages was all paid up to-night. And we have not heard a breath on't."
 
"I know all that," said Stephen Crouch. "I know where the money came from to pay them. It came from Mr. Ashley."
 
The assertion astonished the room. "From Mr. Ashley! Did he tell it abroad?"
 
"He tell it!" indignantly returned Stephen Crouch. "Mr. Ashley is an man. No. Wilson and King have a tattler too near to them; that's how it came out. Not but what it would have been known all over Helstonleigh on Monday, all particulars. Every sixpence, pretty near, that Wilson and King have, is locked up in their stock. They expected by the London mail this morning, and they did not come. They went to the bank. The bank was shy, and would not make advances; and they had nothing in hand for wages. They went to Mr. Ashley and told him their perplexity, and he drew a cheque. The bank cashed that, with a bow. And if it had not been for Mr. Ashley, Ned Vincent, you and the rest of their hands would have gone home to-night with empty pockets."
 
"Will Mr. Ashley lose the money?"
 
"Not he. He knew there was no danger of that, when he lent it. Nobody will lose by Wilson and King. They have more than enough to pay everybody in full; o............