Rorlund: Hm!--

Vigeland: There is no denying that it looks as though Providence had
just planned the configuration of the country to suit a branch line.

Rorlund: Do you really mean it, Mr. Vigeland?

Bernick: Yes, I must confess it seems to me as if it had been the hand
of Providence that caused me to take a journey on business this spring,
in the course of which I happened to traverse a valley through which I
had never been before. It came across my mind like a flash of lightning
that this was where we could carry a branch line down to our town. I
got an engineer to survey the neighbourhood, and have here the
provisional calculations and estimate; so there is nothing to hinder us.

Mrs. Bernick (who is still with the other ladies at the verandah door):
But, my dear Karsten, to think that you should have kept it all a
secret from us!

Bernick: Ah, my dear Betty, I knew you would not have been able to
grasp the exact situation. Besides, I have not mentioned it to a living
soul until today. But now the decisive moment has come, and we must
work openly and with all our might. Yes, even if I have to risk all I
have for its sake, I mean to push the matter through.

Rummel: And we will back you up, Bernick; you may rely upon that.

Rorlund: Do you really promise us so much, then, from this undertaking,
gentlemen?

Bernick: Yes, undoubtedly. Think what a lever it will be to raise the
status of our whole community. Just think of the immense tracts of
forest-land that it will make accessible; think of all the rich
deposits of minerals we shall be able to work; think of the river with
one waterfall above another! Think of the possibilities that open out
in the way of manufactories!

Rorlund: And are you not afraid that an easier intercourse with the
depravity of the outer world--?

Bernick: No, you may make your mind quite easy on that score, Mr.
Rorlund. Our little hive of industry rests now-a-days, God be thanked,
on such a sound moral basis; we have all of us helped to drain it, if I
may use the expression; and that we will continue to do, each in his
degree. You, Mr. Rorlund, will continue your richly blessed activity in
our schools and our homes. We, the practical men of business, will be
the support of the community by extending its welfare within as wide a
radius as possible; and our women--yes, come nearer ladies--you will
like to hear it--our women, I say, our wives and daughters--you,
ladies--will work on