What You Wish For

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

In the event, Mr Thornton didn't come up with any grand plans to win Carrie back because he knew her well enough to realise that schemes wouldn't work. The only way she would learn to trust him was if she spent time with him again so that he could show her that he really was trustworthy.

Of course, that was the easy part. The hard part was convincing her to spend time with him at all!

Instead he had decided to put a recent idea into action.

For many weeks now, Carrie's words, 'be the change you want to see' had been on his mind and he had come up with a somewhat hair brained scheme. He had thought it through from many angles and found it to be a very flawed plan indeed, nevertheless it kept plaguing him and finally he had decided to act.

As he made his way through Milton's slums, the conditions came as a shock to him. They shouldn't of course, for he had been here before and yet time somehow always seemed to dim the horror until he was directly confronted with it again.

He walked up to Nicholas Higgins door and knocked swiftly. Higgins looked surprised to see a Milton master at his door, probably more so since he had never worked for Thornton, but never the less he stepped back and invited him in.

Mr Thornton smiled slightly for though they were considered enemies, northern hospitality still prevailed.

"I must say I'm surprised by your visit," Nicholas said as they seated themselves at the table.

"Probably no more than I am by making it," Mr Thornton answered. "I have questioned myself constantly on why it is I wish to speak with you but I can find no reasonable answers, other than the fact that the current working conditions, the animosity between workers and masters cannot continue."

"So you've come here to make peace?" Nicholas managed to sound both surprised and affronted. "Forgive me, master, but I thought you masters had already got your way."

"The workers have returned, that is true, but the bad feeling remains."

"And how do you propose to end it?" Nicholas asked.

"I have no firm answers for you," Mr Thornton answered honestly. "I have a few ideas but I was hoping that between us we might be able to come up with some kind of workable plan."

"All the while you masters keep cutting pay and expecting us to lump it, there will never be peace between us. Prices rise almost daily and even reasonable sized families have trouble managing. Those with large families, widows and widowers and those with ill relatives would starve were it not for the kindness of their neighbours, who can ill afford charity themselves."

"I did not come here for a sermon," Mr Thornton said, though he tried every hard not to sound angry. "You make it sound like we enjoy cutting wages."

"Don't you? We don't see you taking a pay cut, you still keep your fancy houses and your fancy clothes and your-"

"You shouldn't judge a book by it's cover," Mr Thornton snapped. "While it is true that some masters do live in luxury others, such as myself, merely have to keep up appearances. My fine clothes are none younger than three years old and have been expertly darned many times by my mother. The only indulgence I have had since the market hit hard times has been the money I spend on my sister, though thankfully even she will be someone else's responsibility soon."

Higgins was inclined to snort and roll his eyes but something in Mr Thornton's tone made him believe that the man spoke the truth.

"If times really are that hard, why retain the maids in your home?"