So she bought each of them an orange, some candy, and goods for a new Sunday outfit and comfortable school clothing.  Then she took the hack for Walden, feeling in a degree as she had the day she married George Holt.  As she passed the ravine and again studied the location her spirits arose.  It was a good scheme.  It would work.  She would work it.  She would sell from the yards to Walden and the surrounding country.  She would see the dealers in Hartley and talk the business over, so she would know she was not being cheated in freight rates when she came to shipping.  She stopped at Mrs. Holt’s, laid a deed before her for her signature, and offered her a check for eight hundred for the Holt house and lot, which Mrs. Holt eagerly accepted.  They arranged to move immediately, as the children were missing school.  She had a deed with her for the ravine, which George signed in Walden, and both documents were acknowledged; but she would not give him the money until he had the horse and buggy he was to use, at the gate, in the spring.

He wanted to start out buying at once, but that was going too far in the future for Kate.  While the stream was low, and the banks firm, Kate built her dam, so that it would be ready for spring, put in the abutments, and built the bridge.  It was not a large dam, and not a big bridge, but both were solid, well constructed, and would serve every purpose.  Then Kate set men hauling stone for the corner foundations.  She hoped to work up such a trade and buy so much and so wisely in the summer that she could run all winter, so she was building a real mill in the Bates way, which way included letting the foundations freeze and settle over winter.  That really was an interesting and a comfortable winter.

Kate and George both watched the children’s studies at night, worked their plans finer in the daytime, and lived as cheaply and carefully as they could.  Everything was going well.  George was doing his best to promote the mill plan, to keep Kate satisfied at home, to steal out after she slept, and keep himself satisfied in appetite, and some ready money in his pockets, won at games of chance, at which he was an expert, and at cards, which he handled like a master.

“As A man Soweth”

At the earliest possible moment in the spring, the building of the mill began.  It was scarcely well under way when the work was stopped by a week of heavy rains.  The water filled the ravine to dangerous height and the roaring of the dam could be heard all over town.  George talked of it incessantly.  He said it was the sweetest music his ears had ever heard.  Kate had to confess that she like the sound herself, but she was fearful over saying much on the subject because she was so very anxious about the stability of the dam.  There was a day or two of fine weather; then the rains began again.  Kate said she had all the music she desired; she