No, he could not run away; he must find
in the fulfilling of his duty whatever consolation duty could give him,
and he turned doggedly to the mill and his mail.
Once more as he lifted his mail, he had that fear of a letter from Harry
which had haunted him more or less for some months. He shuffled the
letters at once, searching for the delicate, disconnected writing so
familiar to him and hardly knew whether its absence was not as
disquieting as its presence would have been.
The mail being attended to, he sent for Greenwood and spoke to him about
the likelihood of war and its consequences. Jonathan proved to be quite
well informed on this subject. He said he had been on the point of
speaking about buying all the cotton they could lay hands on, but
thought Mr. Hatton was perhaps considering the question and not ready to
move yet.
"Do you think they will come to fighting, Greenwood?" Mr. Hatton asked.
"Well, sir, if they'll only keep to cotton and such like, they'll never
fire a gun, not they.
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