“Thank God for that!” ejaculated Vance.
“Yes, I sold them for $800 apiece, or $20,000. As they only paid $2,500 for them, I hardly think they can complain at the profits. Oh, you have no idea what a city Waterville has become. The great waterpower has been effectually harnessed, the streets are paved; electric car lines, planing mills, and scores of other manufacturing concerns are in full operation. Our population is now numbered by thousands, instead of hundreds, while busy activity and prosperity are apparent on every hand.”
“You quite astonish me, old fellow,” replied Vance, “indeed you do; but I needed no greater proof of Waterville’s prosperity than your report of the sale of lots belonging to my New York friends. Once, old fellow, I gave you my promise to wait five years before passing judgment on your enterprise. Hardly half that time has elapsed, yet it gives me pleasure to assure you that I am already better satisfied with Waterville than I ever dared hope for.”
“Thank you,” said Homer, “your ‘Two Honorable Exceptions’ article in the New York Banner was indeed prophetic.”
“Yes,” said Vance, “while the prophecies of Col. Alexander, B. Webster Legal, Gen. Ira House, and other members of your Waterville Town Company, have been more than realized.”
“My associates,” said Homer, “in the great work of building up Waterville, have at last met with a compensation which I cannot but feel is a just one. Taking it all and all, they are a grand lot of fellows, each one a study within himself; nevertheless, collectively a phalanx of strength.”
“By the way,” he continued, “it was my noble little wife, Virgie, that started the boom last spring. She learned in some mysterious way that a private school fund had been created for her special benefit, and in order to return the money, purchased the first lots that we had sold for months and months, and from that day the boom started, until now—well, you’ll have to see the place to realize the wonderful changes and improvements.”
"Hers,” said Vance, “is certainty a sweet and noble character.”
“Yes, indeed,” replied Winthrop, laughingly, “I still think she is the most practical member of the Bonifield family.”
“Indeed,” said Vance, “I remember the allusion, and I beg to assure you that my opinion remains unchanged in regard to Louise.”