The Iron Master Read Online Free Page A

camel, am I?’
    ‘It ain’t what you lets out as bothers me,’ said the harassed guard, ‘it’s what you imbibes, Jacob. We’re two minutes late already. Put your mind to Derby, Jacob. Think of the ale at The Cat and Bells! You can wet your whistle there as much as you like, and I’ll not gainsay you.’
    Introductions once made inside the coach, and the man and his wife busy settling some private matter, Simon Peplow leaned forward confidentially.
    ‘I shall pray that your sister comes through her ordeal safely, and bears a healthy infant, Mr Howarth.’
    ‘I thank you, sir. We are all praying for that happy outcome.’
    ‘Her mother will be distressed, so far away from her daughter at such a time. Louisa and I were not blessed with children, but have had many at secondhand. Nephews, nieces and cousins. All were fruitful, save ourselves.’ And he was silent for a few moments, then brightened again. ‘Ah, Mr Howarth, I was about to ask a question when we encountered the Dreadnought. Poor souls, I do hope that none of them suffered injury, and were soon relieved! I was about to ask you whether you were six-and-twenty, which was my estimate of your age when we met at The Royal Oak. But, sir, you need not reply to that, for your youthful exuberance at the triumph of the Mail betrayed you. I struck off a few years instantly, sir. Am I correct?’
    ‘Sir, I am but recently one-and-twenty,’ said William, smiling. ‘I came home at the end of the summer, as journeyman and man, and celebrated both events royally. This splendid suit’ — indicating the tailored broadcloth — ‘was my mother’s gift, made up for me in Millbridge. This waistcoat she sewed with her own hands, and lined with silk from her wedding gown. And at Kit’s Hill, in the stables, is a stallion my father gave me and I wish I were riding him now, in my own stages, to London. But time was pressing, on both sides, and I yielded to my mother’s wishes and took the fastest mode of travelling.’
    ‘There I was wrong,’ mused Parson Peplow, ‘For I believed your journey — forgive an elderly man’s sentiments! — I believed it to be an affair of the heart.’
    ‘It is certainly a journey of strong affection and grave concern,’ said William, ‘For I am the family emissary. My sister married early this year, indeed she eloped, and we know nothing of her circumstances and little more of her husband. I seek to build a bridge between both sides, for my parents are inclined to be hasty in judging the fellow, whereas I shall love her well enough to attempt to love him, and so perhaps heal the hurt he has done.’
    ‘You are wise beyond your years, Mr Howarth. I pray you may succeed. And who cares for your forge while you are away?’
    ‘There lies another tale, sir,’ said William ruefully. ‘I came home, as I mentioned, intending to take a month’s holiday — for I have been away from Kit’s Hill for seven years — and then I should have begun work as a journeyman for the ironmaster, Caleb Scholes … ’
    ‘Indeed? An ironmaster! Well, well. Goodness me!’
    ‘ … but I found my friend and first master, Aaron Helm, gravely ill. He had let me work, nay play, at his forge in Flawnes Green when I was but a little fellow and I honoured and loved him exceedingly. What could I do but endeavour to set his business up again, while my mother ministered kindness and medicine? But, as she feared and prophesied, he is mortally ill and like to die at any time. He has neither wife nor child, and wishes to make me his inheritor. And I dread that he may leave this world without me there to comfort him at the last, and I travel with a heavy heart in consequence.’
    ‘My poor young friend. I grieve for you. I grieve for all of you.’ He pursed his lips reflectively. ‘But what of the ironmaster, Mr Howarth? Shall you not work for the ironmaster?’
    ‘No, sir,’ said William resolutely. ‘I have wrote and thanked him, and explained myself as