She shared Mr. Craig's anxiety
but not his gloom. Her courage was of that serene kind that refuses to
believe defeat possible, and lifts the spirit into the triumph of final
victory. Through the past week she had been carefully disposing her
forces and winning recruits. And yet she never seemed to urge or
persuade the men; but as evening after evening the miners dropped into
the cosy room downstairs, with her talk and her songs she charmed them
till they were wholly hers. She took for granted their loyalty, trusted
them utterly, and so made it difficult for them to be other than true
men.
That night Mrs. Mavor's large storeroom, which had been fitted up with
seats, was crowded with miners when Mr. Craig and I entered.
After a glance over the crowd, Craig said, 'There's the manager; that
means war.' And I saw a tall man, very fair, whose chin fell away to
the vanishing point, and whose hair was parted in the middle, talking
to Mrs. Mavor. She was dressed in some rich soft stuff that became her
well. She was looking beautiful as ever, but there was something quite
new in her manner.
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