BY March, all at the mine was in readiness, every vacant house in Nootwyck rented and many rough ones were in course of construction on the mountain side. Mills was one of the first to visit the works and offer congratulations. “Your mine is apparently inexhaustible,” he said to Mr. De Vere, “and Nootwyck bids fair to fulfill your hopes. Every foot of ground within ten miles of the mine is staked out in claims and there is not an idle man in the town. I rejoice with you. God has answered our prayers, may He indeed grant that this valley shall blossom as the rose,” and he stroked his beard reverently.
Mr. De Vere could not conceal a smile as he replied, “Undoubtedly, God is good, but Hernando Genung has a hand in this job.”
“His ways are inscrutable, and unworthy means are sometimes used to accomplish a blessing,” said Mills softly, and De Vere who was looking toward the village, did not see his look of hatred and revenge. “I fail to see that application here,” said Mr. De Vere.
“It is not necessary that you do. Pardon me for even hinting at the past of one who is deemed worthy to be an instrument for good in the hands of our Heavenly Father.”
We always judge others by our own standard. Incapable of baseness himself, Mr. De Vere never suspected it in others. He was greatly attached to Hernando, and this imputation on his character nettled him, but he soon forgot it.
A large force of men was busy at the smelting and reduction works which were to be located at the foot of the mountains. Ore could be brought down in chutes. Work at the coal mines had been resumed, a track to them was nearly completed and fuel from there could be sent down to the works at slight expense.
Hernando’s training and experience among mines pre-eminently fitted him for the position he now occupied, and work under his intelligent supervision progressed rapidly, and soon the crushers indicated that the mills were in operation.
At last the rails were laid to Nootwyck, and the village was in the buzz of excitement. From all along the route people assembled to celebrate the arrival of the incoming train, which was loaded with prospectors and new inhabitants. Mills was on the train and his uniformly gracious manner won him the good-will of these honest people.
The depot, which was to be a handsome structure, was under way, but a rude shanty answered the purpose now.
As the train swerved around a curve a shout went up, such as had not resounded in this peaceful valley since the days when they cheered, “Taxation of America.”
Mills sprang to the platform, shaking hands right and left and dilating upon the future of the valley. He took a carriage for Wawarsing, where the next section of men was ballasting, and further still, Elisha Vedder with his skilled assistants was pushing on.
Elisha Vedder was now a member of the De Vere household, and in the great handsome fellow, with his hearty manner and big heart, Mr. De Vere saw simply the development of noble traits shown years ago in Missouri. Under his skillful management, the road promised to be completed by fall. Mills’s manner towards him was straight-forward. He was keen enough to perceive that this great-hearted, honest engineer would tolerate nothing but the best methods in making the road a success, and any economical schemes he might propose must be supported by proof as to their sufficiency. Elisha knew exactly what the cost of putting this road through would be, and intended that every dollar of the company’s funds should be honestly expended. Toward Mills his manner was respectful, but the latter realized that, as one of the directors, no manipulation of books nor watering of stock would be tolerated. Then too, he was backed by one of the richest mine owners in the State, who considered his honor much more precious than all the treasures of earth combined.
“Ah!” thought Mills, with a look of malicious triumph, “you discovered the mine, but those precious jewels are simply the product of Benny Depuy’s distorted imagination, are they? Hernando Genung, have a care, that old score is still unsettled. Would you adorn the fair Celeste with those sparkling gems? She would grace them, but there is a sequel to this matter.”
His inspection over, he was about to re-enter his carriage when Vedder inquired the prospects for running a branch through to connect with the Ulster and Delaware.
“Rather dubious,” Mills replied. “All the way up hill, and what is the country to be opened up worth?”
“The cost, in my estimation, need not be so great. The route beyond Honk Falls is a natural grade and one of the most beautiful in the United States. Its historical interests would attract thousands,” Vedder replied earnestly.
“True, Shandaken claims the honor of owning the highest peak of the Catskills. Slide Mountain has, I believe, an altitude of four thousand feet. I understand that the view from it is marvelous; that the trees are so stunted by heavy snows that their flattened branches appear like a table from which one can look down and off on a vast amphitheater of rocks, trout streams and picturesque hamlets. But scenery is not a tangible commodity, and the people regard the project as a wild-cat scheme.”
“That section of the country is one of the driest atmospheric belts in the State and its healthfulness is an accepted fact. This with its magnificent forests and undoubted mineral deposits would, in my estimation, warrant running a branch through.”
“Oh! well, let us complete this one before we agitate that.” And with a gay laugh he sprang into his carriage and was off for Kingston.
Hernando and Elisha were mutually attracted toward each other from the first. One true nature instinctively understands another, and the two young men were naturally thrown together a great deal.
At Mrs. De Vere’s earnest solicitation, Hernando shared Elisha’s room—the one which had been Granny’s. One year of unparalleled prosperity in this locality had rolled by. The output from the mine had been such as to stir the hearts of all true miners. Nootwyck would soon be incorporated as a city, and Mills’s doubts in regard to the wisdom of a branch to meet the Ulster and Delaware at Big Indian were unheeded. In fact the road was already under way and the stock sold. People went wild with excitement. Mills smiled urbanely but said nothing. Elisha, as chief engineer, was in his element and his work bespoke intimate acquaintance with and mastery of the intricacies of railway engineering.
It was Saturday night in the last of March. The air was full of snow; that kind which falls in such minute flakes that one is sure of plenty more in reserve. Elisha and Hernando were squaring the week’s accounts in their room before going to bed, and they represented two distinct types. Elisha was strangely nervous. Again and again was the same column of figures added, but no result followed. Hernando laughed aloud and said: “Vedder, old man, your method of addition seems to give unsatisfactory results and your wits are apparently wool-gathering.”
Elisha threw himself helplessly into a chair but made no reply.
“Come, out with it, make me your father confessor,” said Hernando with a look of such genuine interest that Elisha replied: “I meant to have taken you into my confidence before, but there are some events in one’s life too sacred to mention.”
Hernando was looking intently into the fire. “I am grateful for all confidences,” he answered, “and especially those of a friend.”
“Have you seen my devotion to Celeste?”
“I’d be blind if I hadn’t,” returned Hernando quietly.
“Honestly, Hernando, do you think I am worthy to become the husband of that angel?”
“Can you wonder that her promise, given to-night, to accept me as such sends my wits ‘wool-gathering’?”
Hernando grasped his friend’s hand and wrung it warmly, but in silence.
“Do you know,” Elisha went on with his eyes on the floor, “I have sometimes thought that you cared for her and I did not wish to cast a straw in your way, so waited this long to speak for that reason.”
“I should never have asked her to be my wife,” said Hernando, in a voice so unlike his own that Elisha looked quickly into his face, “and the fact of her having accepted you proves her heart is yours. No, Vedder, I congratulate you and from the bottom of my heart wish you the happiness so richly deserved.”
The ice once broken, Elisha unfolded plan after plan for their future, little dreaming of the misery thereby inflicted on one who would have exchanged worlds for the obliteration of one year of his life.
“I reckon you’ll be taking me into your confidence on a like matter, some day, eh, Hernando?” Elisha concluded.
“Never, my friend, there are different roads to happiness.”
“But you will admit that man alone is but half of himself?”
“Individually, yes; but collectively man is two-thirds,” he replied with a laugh.
“I’ll forgive you, old man, but let me tell you that you will get bravely over all preconceived opinions on love. It is like faith; must be experienced to be understood. So good-night and happy dreams.”