The girl pulled herself together with an effort. "I was thinking of
something else when you spoke,--he seems very nice indeed."
"He has a good salary, a good position and a good future," hazarded the
judge. "I'm glad you like him."
Later that evening, Belding turned homeward, his work finished, and,
walking close to the shore, looked across the black river to the blaze
of light at the works. On one side and low down he made out the glow
from the block-house windows. He could imagine Clark at the piano.
But his chief had deserted the piano and given himself up to a rare
hour of retrospect. He was under no misapprehension with regard to St.
Marys. The town was growing in jerky spurts, as the old inhabitants
took on new courage, or new blood came in from outside. Filmer, who
with the exception of Bowers and Belding, was closer to Clark than any
of the rest, enlarged his store, and new shops began to appear nearer
the rapids. Manson's premises were populated with an assortment from
the small army of laborers at the works, and a new hotel was under
construction. But, in the main, it was only by stress of business
demands that any expansion was made. The strangers, who constantly
appeared on the streets, ceased to be a cause of curiosity, and the
folk of St. Marys left it to them to start new enterprises.
As to Clark, himself, he began to be almost invisible to the
townspeople. There was nothing, after all, to bring him to town.
Others came to him. And ever the call of the rapids grew louder and
more dominant in his active brain. Others slept when he was awake, and
his imagination, caught up in a tremendous belief in the future of the
country, explored the horizon for new avenues and enterprises, while
the conclusions of his prophetic mind filled him with unfailing
confidence. He had now achieved the ability to arrive intuitively at
results reached by others after long and arduous labor. This faculty
was one of his outstanding gifts, no less than his mesmeric and
communicative influence.