This had gone far enough. Too far already, by Severin’s reckoning. When he looked at Fancy, however, he saw the imploring look in her eyes.
Trust me,she seemed to be saying.You wanted to be a team, remember?
He found he couldn’t bring himself to put a stop to her stratagem. He wanted to see where she meant to take things and was prepared to jump in with both fists if Bodin showed her the slightest insult. For once, however, the weaver’s belligerence seemed tempered by what Severin was beginning to recognize as…respect.
“Knight said you were a man o’ principle,” Fancy was saying.
Bodin snorted. “Pull my other leg, ma’am. It’s shorter.”
“It’s true. My ’usband said you truly believe that you’re doing the right thing by your fellow workers, and I believe ’e admires you for it. Because ’e wants the same thing.”
“If that were true, ’e ’as a peculiar way o’ showing it. ’E’s building machines in secret at one o’ ’is warehouses to replace us weavers,” Bodin accused.
“I amtestingthe machines,” Severin corrected. “Until I know for certain that they will improve productivity, I see no need to disclose my actions to the competition.”
“You see? ’E’s not keeping a secret, merely trying to gain a competitive edge.” Fancy’s tone was calming. “An edge that will ’elp preserve the jobs o’ ’is workers.”
“Workers ’e means to replace with machines,” Bodin shot back.
“Machines can’t run themselves, can they?” she asked in a sensible tone. “Men will still be needed. Now their work might be changing, but it’ll be work just the same. As my da always says, the key to tinkering ain’t about skills: it’s about the ability toadaptthose skills to any situation.”
“’Ow are weavers supposed to adapt to these bloody modern contraptions?”
Although Bodin’s expression remained suspicious, he sounded less hostile. Could it be that the weaver was actuallylisteningfor once? Then Severin was flummoxed to realize that he, himself, was picking up something new: worry threaded the other’s tone. Perhaps it had always been there, hidden beneath that bellicosity.
Severin’s own anger began to wane as he realized Bodin was awaiting an answer.
“I’ll provide training,” he said curtly. “Once I verify that the machines are, indeed, of use.”
Bodin squared his shoulders. “You’ll guarantee that no weaver will lose ’is livelihood?”
“I make no guarantees. But any man who is willing to learn the new technology will have a chance to continue working for me. Change is going to happen, whether or not you, or I, like it,” Severin said. “Factories in other countries are modernizing, producing silk and other fabrics in greater quantities and cheaper prices. If we don’t adapt and embrace the new technology, our entire industry will die, and there will be no jobs of any kind for weavers,thatI can guarantee you.”
Bodin’s jaw worked, but he said nothing.
“So you see, sir, you and Knight are fighting on the same side.” Fancy’s tone was soft and persuasive, Severin noted with amusement, even as she went in for the kill. “The futures o’ the weavers depend on making this new technology work. And that would go a lot easier if you and Knight could band together, convince the other men that this is the path to the future.”
She gave Severin a meaningful look. Taking her cue, he extended his hand.
“What say you, Bodin? Shall we work together?” he asked.
Bodin stared at the hand offered to him and made no move to take it. Severin told himself that he’d expected this. Nothing in life came easy, and if a bloodbath was what Bodin wanted, then that was what he would get.
Severin began to withdraw his hand, only to find it grasped in a beefy grip.
“All right, Your Grace,” Bodin said. “We’ll give the machine a shot.”
Hiding his surprise, Severin returned the crushing handshake. “I am glad to hear it.”
Fancy beamed at both of them. “So am I.”
“It was a pleasure meeting you, Your Grace,” Bodin said. “My Meg will be tickled when I tell ’er I met another tinker’s daughter.”
“I’d like to meet Mrs. Bodin,” Fancy said warmly. “Would she come by for tea one afternoon?”
“I’m sure she’d enjoy that.” With gruff admiration, the weaver added, “Ain’t often she gets invited to tea by a true lady.”
30
