The Harris-Ingram Experiment Part 29

"Alfonso, I have waited long for you," Christine replied.

"Ah, yes, Christine, but have you been true all these years?"

As Alfonso spoke these words, he sat with Christine's hand in his own, looking inquiringly into her blue eyes for her answer. Her face flushed and she was speechless.

Alfonso, dropping her hand, said in a kindly voice, "For years I have kept pure and sought to be worthy of you, and fortune has smiled upon me; I could now match gold with gold, but when I demand purity for purity your silence and your blushes condemn you, and I must bid you a final farewell."

Christine could not answer, and as Alfonso left the house, she fell weeping upon the sofa, where her sister Fredrika found her, long past midnight. The terrible sorrow of that evening remained forever a mystery to Fredrika.

It was 10 o'clock next morning when the marquis called upon Alfonso Harris at the Hotel Holland. He found him busy answering important letters from the coast. The marquis was not long in detecting that Alfonso lacked his usual buoyancy of spirits, and so rightly concluded that the meeting with Christine the night before had resulted unfavorably.

Alfonso explained all that transpired, and the two artists, who had flattered themselves that they knew women well, admitted to each other their keen disappointment in Christine's character. Both lighted cigars, and for a moment or two unconsciously smoked vigorously, as if still in doubt as to their unsatisfactory conclusions.

Soon Alfonso said, "Leo, how about your own former love, Rosie Ricci? To meet Rosie again was possibly the motive that prompted you to leave your estate in Italy."

"Yes, Alfonso, I loved Rosie, as I once frankly stated to your sister on the ocean, but in a moment of peevishness she returned the engagement tokens, and the lovers' quarrel resulted in separation. But after the death of Lucille I found the smouldering fires of the old love for Rosie again easily fanned into a flame, so I crossed the sea in search of my dear country-woman."

"And did you find her!"

"Yes, Alfonso, that is, all that was left of the vivacious, happy songster, as we once knew her. Her new world surroundings proved disastrous."

"How so?"

"Look, here is a picture in water color, that tells the story." Saying this the Marquis slowly removed a white paper from a small sketch which he had made the week before. It was a picture in the morgue on the East River, with its half hundred corpses, waiting recognition or burial in the Potter's Field. Upon a cold marble slab lay the body of a young girl, her shapely hands across her breast. Alfonso recognized Rosie's sweet face and golden tresses that artists had raved over.

The marquis in sad tones added a few words of explanation. "The senator who educated Rosie proved a villain. When she acted as Juliet at the Capitol, fashionable society gave hearty approval of her rare abilities.

Rosie's genius, like a shooting star, flashed across the sky and then shot into oblivion."

A few days afterwards, Alfonso on the pier with his white handkerchief waved adieu to Leo who had resolved to wed art in sunny Italy. Sad memories decided Alfonso to leave New York at once. For a short time he was inclined to give up a new purpose, and return to his own family at Harrisville, but the law of equity controlled his heart, he journeyed back to the Pacific Coast, and again approached the Yosemite Valley.

Seated again on Inspiration Point, he gazed long and earnestly into the gorge below. He could discern neither smoke nor moving forms. All had changed; not the peaks, or domes, or wonderful waterfalls; all these remained the same. But where were Red Cloud and kind-hearted Mariposa?

Alfonso's own race now occupied the valley for pleasure and for gain.

Mariposa might not be of his own race, but she had a n.o.ble heart.

Education had put her in touch with civilization, and she was as pure as the snow of the Sierras. He wondered if she ever thought of him. He remembered that, when he rode away, her face was turned toward the Bridal Veil Falls. Did she thus intend to say, "I love you?"

At midnight, as the moon rose above the forest, the tall pines whispered of Mariposa, of wild flowers she was wont to gather, of journeys made to highest peaks, of weeks of watching and waiting, and of the burial of Red Cloud at the foot of an ancient sequoia; then the language of the breezes among the pines became indistinct, and Alfonso, half-asleep, half-awake, saw approaching a white figure. Two dark eyes full of tears, gazed into his face, at first with a startled look, and then with a gleam of joy and trust.

Alfonso exclaimed, "Mariposa!" He sought to clasp her in his arms, but the graceful figure vanished, and the pines seemed to whisper, "Alfonso, I go to join the braves in the happy hunting grounds beyond the setting sun. You will wed the fairest of your people. Adieu."

When Alfonso awoke, the ring of beaten gold was gone, where, he knew not.

The tourist-coach was rumbling down the mountain road, and he joined it.

After an inspection of his mines, he sadly left the Sierras for San Francisco.

The prophetic words of Mariposa, whispered among the pines, proved true.

Alfonso again met Gertrude's best friend, beautiful Mrs. Eastlake, now a young widow, and later he married her, making their home on k.n.o.b Hill, the most fashionable quarter of the city by the Golden Gate.

CHAPTER XXVII

THE CRISIS

What is of more value to civilization, or what commands a greater premium in the world than successful leadership? Successful leaders are few, and the ma.s.ses follow. Honor, fame, power, and wealth are some of the rewards of great leadership. The confidences bestowed and the responsibilities a.s.sumed are often very great. A betrayal of important trusts, or a failure to discharge responsibilities, usually brings swift and terrible punishment, poverty, prison, disgrace, and dishonor to descendants.

George Ingram had proved himself a successful leader, and those who knew him best, by study of his methods and his works, saw his capacity for leadership. Hence the popular demand for him to stand as candidate for mayor of Harrisville. His practical intelligence, and his acuteness in observation of character, had served him well in organizing, developing, and controlling the greatest model steel-plant of his generation, which for quality, quant.i.ty, and minimum cost of products had attracted the attention of manufacturers and scientists. Politicians soon discovered in George Ingram natural prudence and tact in behavior. The strong religious element of the city conceded that he possessed, as a certain doctor of divinity said, "a nice sense of what is right, just and true, with a course of life corresponding thereto."

The alert women of the city were in hearty approval of conferring the honor of Mayor upon George Ingram. They knew that the completeness of his character resulted in no small degree from the influence of his gifted wife. The practical business men of the city saw that the proposed candidate for mayor had good common sense. So all party spirit was laid aside, as it should be in local politics, and George Ingram was nominated and elected unanimously as the mayor of Harrisville. His cabinet, composed of the heads of several departments, was filled with able men, who with zest took up their portfolios not with the thought of personal gain but with the lofty purpose of securing the utmost good to every citizen.

Fortunately the city had adopted the just principle of paying its servants liberally for all services rendered. By the so-called "Federal Plan" the number of members of the Cabinet, of the Board of Control, of the Council, and of the School Board, has been so reduced that at their meetings speeches and angry discussions were tabooed; each a.s.sociate member was respected, if not on his own account, then on behalf of his const.i.tuency, and all business was discussed and consummated with the same courtesy and efficiency, as at a well regulated board of bank directors.

Never before were streets so well paved, cleaned and sprinkled; never were city improvements so promptly made without increase of debt, and never did public schools prosper better. Men of experience on all lines were drafted on special committees and commissions, and vigorous work toward practical ends went forward on river, harbor, and other improvements.

Electricity, supplied by the city, furnished power, heat, and light. High pressure water relegated the steam fire-engine to the Historical Society, and low pressure water, at minimum cost, was supplied to the people in such abundance that during the summer season, before sunrise, all paved streets were cleansed by running water and brush brooms. All sewerage and garbage were promptly removed, and used to enrich the suburban market-gardens.

Every country road leading into the city had its electric railway with combination pa.s.senger and freight cars, and farm products for the people were delivered in better condition, earlier at the markets, and at much reduced prices. The advantages enjoyed by rich and poor in Harrisville were soon noised abroad, and the influx of new comers constantly increased the growth of the city. Mayor Ingram had been given a re-election. Prosperity in his own business had brought great returns, and the mayor's chief concern was, what to do with his acc.u.mulations.

One day the County Commissioners, the City Government, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Board of Education were equally surprised to receive from George Ingram the announcement that he would build for the people at his own expense a court house, a city hall, a public library, and public baths. He had often wondered how it was possible that other millionaires could overlook and miss such opportunities to distribute surplus funds among the people. Gertrude early observed the city's needs, and had pointed out the opportunity to George, urging that part of her father's money should be united with their own increasing wealth to supply funds for the execution of their plans.

The four committees appointed by city and county acted speedily in the consideration of details. It was decided to construct a group of buildings on the park. The architecture adopted for all four structures was Romanesque in style; granite was used for wall work, and darker stone for ornamentation. The plans accepted exhibited less ma.s.siveness than the original Romanesque, and showed a tendency towards the lightness and delicacy of finish which modern culture demands.

The new court house located on the park enabled the architect to connect it by an historical "Bridge of Sighs" with the prison and old court house across the street. The city hall was properly made the most prominent of the group of buildings. Its first floor and bas.e.m.e.nt were combined in a great a.s.sembly hall, capable of seating 10,000 people with an abundance of light, fresh air, and eight broad entrances for exit. As the belfry or tower was a leading feature of most mediaeval town-halls, so the artistic feature of the Harrisville city hall was its lofty tower, containing chimes, above which was to be placed an appropriate bronze statue. The library and the baths were built on the park.

The Romanesque style of all the buildings gave fine opportunity to introduce elaborate carvings about the entrance arches, and across the facades to chisel quaint faces above the windows, and grotesque heads out of corbels at the eaves.

The group of public buildings was finally completed and dedicated with much formality. The city government unanimously adopted resolutions as follows:--

"Resolved,--That the City of Harrisville accepts, with profound grat.i.tude, from Mayor George Ingram, the munificent gift of buildings for a City Hall and Public Library as stated in his letters of ----; That the City accepts the three n.o.ble gifts upon the conditions in said letter, which it will faithfully and gladly observe, as a sacred trust in accordance with his desire.

"Resolved,--That in gratefully accepting these gifts, the City tenders to Mayor George Ingram its heartfelt thanks, and desires to express its deep sense of obligation for the elegant buildings, for years of wise counsel and unselfish service, and for the free use of valuable patents. The City recognizes the Christian faith, generosity, and public spirit that have prompted him to supply the long felt wants by these gifts of great and permanent usefulness."

Similar resolutions were adopted by the county commissioners.

Nearly three millions were thus disposed of by the mayor and his wife.

Close attention to business, and the severe labors in behalf of the city, undermined the health of George Ingram, and his physical and mental strength failed him at the wrong time, for his ship was now approaching a cyclone on the financial sea.

Tariff matters had been drifting from bad to worse, politicians were seeking to secure advantages for their const.i.tuents by changes in the tariff schedule, speculation was running wild in the stock exchanges of the country, cautious business men and bankers in the larger cities discovered an ominous black cloud rising out of the horizon. Bank rates of interest increased, more frequent renewals were made, deposits dwindled, country bankers weakened, and financiers in the metropolis were calling loans made to the interior. With the financial cyclone at its height, the demands were so great upon The Harris-Ingram Steel Co.

that creditors threatened to close the steel plant.

The cry for help went up from the Harris-Ingram mills, but their trusted leader was powerless. George Ingram lay insensible at death's door, the victim of pneumonia. For a week, the directors of the steel company struggled night and day with their difficulties. Gertrude could neither leave the bedside of her dying husband, nor would she give her consent to have the Harris-Ingram Experiment wrecked. She had already pledged as collateral for the creditors of the steel company all their stock and personal property, and had telephoned the directors to keep the company afloat another day, if in their power.

The ablest physicians of the city were standing at George Ingram's bedside in despair, as all hope of his recovery had vanished. Gertrude stepped aside into her library, and was in the very agony of prayer for help, when in rushed her brother Alfonso, whom the family believed dead.

He had come from California with his wife, and stopping at the company's office, had learned of the terrible trouble of his family.

Lifting up his broken-hearted sister, who for a moment thought that she had met her brother on the threshold of the other world, he kissed Gertrude and said, "Be brave, go back to your husband, and trust your brother to look after the steel company's matters."