And any one who goes about to persuade the working-people--as they are
called, because they have to use their hands more--that people like
my father look down upon them, and treat them like dogs, and all those
wicked stories--all I can say is, any man who does it deserves to be put
in the stocks, or the pillory, or even to be transported as an enemy to
his country."
Dan looked at the lady with great surprise. He had always known her
to be kind and gentle, and what the old people called "mannersome," to
every living body that came near her. But to hear her put, better than
he could put them, his own budding sentiments (which he thought to be
new, with the timeworn illusion of young Liberals), and to know from her
bright cheeks, and brighter eyes, that her heart was in every word of
it, and to feel himself rebuked for the evil he had thought, and the
mischief he had given ear to--all this was enough to make him angry with
himself, and uncertain how to answer.
"I am certain that you never thought of such things," Miss Darling
continued, with her gentle smile returning; "you are much too
industrious and sensible for that. But I hear that some persons are now
in our parish who make it their business, for some reason of their own,
to spread ill-will and jealousy and hatred everywhere, to make us all
strangers and foes to one another, and foreigners to our own country. We
have enemies enough, by the will of the Lord (as Mr.
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