At this point dinner was announced and he took Lady Sybil in. The meal was approaching its end when she revived the question of the disposal of his purchases. "Are you greatly interested in charities, Mr. de Silva?" Pinto inclined his head. "Both here and in Portugal I take a very deep interest in the welfare of the poor," he said solemnly. "That's fine," said Mr. Crotin, nodding approvingly. "I know what these poor people have to suffer. I've been amongst them----" His wife silenced him with a look. "It frequently happens that cases are brought to my notice," Pinto went on, "and I have one or two cases of women in my mind where these purchases of mine would be most welcome. For example," he said, "I heard the other day, quite by accident, of a poor woman in Wales whose husband deserted her." Mr. Crotin had his fork half-way to his mouth, but put it down again. "I don't know much about the case personally," said Pinto carelessly, "but the circumstances were brought to my notice by a friend. I think these people suffer more than we imagine; and I'll let you into a secret, Lady Sybil," he said, speaking impressively. He did not look at Crotin, but went on: "A few of my friends are thinking of buying a mill." "A woollen mill?" she said, raising her eyebrows. "A woollen mill!" he repeated. "But why?" she asked. "We wish to make garments and blankets for the benefit of the poor. We feel that, if we could run this sort of thing on a co-operative basis, we could manufacture the stuff cheaply, always providing, of course, that we could purchase a mill at a reasonable figure." For the first time he looked at Crotin, and the man's face was ghastly white. "What a queer idea!" said Lady Sybil. "A good mill will cost you a lot of money." "We don't think so," said Pinto. "In fact, we expect to purchase a very excellent mill at a reasonable sum. That was my object in coming to Yorkshire, I may tell you, and it was only by accident that I saw the advertisement of your bazaar and called in." "A fortunate accident for me," said Lady Sybil. Crotin's eyes were on his plate, and he did not raise them. "I think it is a great mistake to be too generous with the poor," said Lady Sybil, shaking her head. "These women are very seldom grateful." "I realise that," said Pinto gravely. "But I am not seeking their gratitude. We find that many of these women are in terrible circumstances owing to no fault of their own. For example, this woman in Wales, whose husband is supposed to have deserted her--now, there is a bad case." Lady Sybil was interested. "We found on investigation," said Pinto, speaking slowly and impressively, "that the man who deserted her has since married and occupies a very important position in a town in the north of England." Mr. Crotin dropped his knife with a crash and with a mumbled apology picked it up.