him groan and weep as he apologized to me for his scornful and
disrespectful utterances and at the same time offered me the hand of his
daughter.

When the discovery of the ice-mine, as it grew to be called, became
generally known, my grounds were crowded by sightseers, and reporters
of newspapers were more plentiful than squirrels. But the latter were
referred to Burton, who would gladly talk to them as long as they could
afford to listen, and I felt myself at last compelled to shut my gates
to the first.

I had offers of capital to develop this novel source of wealth, and I
accepted enough of this assistance to enable me to begin operations on a
moderate scale. It was considered wise not to uncover any portion of the
glacier spur, but to construct an inclined shaft down to its wall-like
end and from this tunnel into the great mass. Immediately the leading
ice company of the neighboring town contracted with me for all the ice I
could furnish, and the flood-gates of affluence began slowly to rise.

The earliest, and certainly one of the greatest, benefits which came
to me from this bequest from the unhistoric past was the new energy and
vigor with which my mind and body were now infused. My old, careless
method of life and my recent melancholy, despairing mood were gone, and
I now began to employ myself upon the main object of my life with an
energy and enthusiasm almost equal to that of my friend, Tom Burton.
This present object of my life was to prepare my home for Agnes.

The great piles of gravel which my men had dug from the well-like pit
were spread upon the roadways and rolled smooth and hard; my lawn was
mowed; my flower-beds and borders put in order; useless bushes and
undergrowth cut out and cleared away; my outbuildings were repaired
and the grounds around my house rapidly assumed their old appearance of
neatness and beauty.

Ice was very scarce that summer, and, as the wagons wound away from the
opening of the shaft which led down to the glacier, carrying their loads
to the nearest railway station, so money came to me; not in large sums
at first, for preparations had not yet been perfected for taking out the
ice in great quantities, but enough to enable me to go on with my work
as rapidly as I could plan it. I set about renovating and brightening
and newly furnishing my house. Whatever I thought that Agnes would
like I bought and put into it. I tried to put myself in her place as I
selected the paper-h