He wouldn't hev got back to be Akers of Akerside if things wern't that way ordered." This Club news troubled John.

He did not believe that Akers cared a penny piece for a membership, and pooh-pooh it as he would, this trifling affair would not let him alone.

It gnawed under the great sorrow of Jane's absence, like a rat gnawing under his bed or chair.
But come what will, time and the hour run through the hardest day; the looms suddenly stopped, the mill was locked, the crowd of workers scattered silently and wearily, and John rode home with a sick sense of sorrow at his heart.

He had no hope that Jane would be there.

He knew the dear, proud woman too well to expect from her such an impossible submission.