However that
might be, it is certain that shortly after the accident referred to,
which was coincident with the arrival of an awakening Methodist preacher
at Treddleston, a great change had been observed in the brickmaker; and
though he was still known in the neighbourhood by his old sobriquet of
"Brimstone," there was nothing he held in so much horror as any further
transactions with that evil-smelling element. He was a broad-chested
fellow with a fervid temperament, which helped him better in imbibing
religious ideas than in the dry process of acquiring the mere human
knowledge of the alphabet. Indeed, he had been already a little shaken
in his resolution by a brother Methodist, who assured him that the
letter was a mere obstruction to the Spirit, and expressed a fear that
Brimstone was too eager for the knowledge that puffeth up.
The third beginner was a much more promising pupil. He was a tall but
thin and wiry man, nearly as old as Brimstone, with a very pale face and
hands stained a deep blue. He was a dyer, who in the course of dipping
homespun wool and old women's petticoats had got fired with the ambition
to learn a great deal more about the strange secrets of colour. He had
already a high reputation in the district for his dyes, and he was
bent on discovering some method by which he could reduce the expense
of crimsons and scarlets.
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