“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.