Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1903-08-12
CHAPTER XIV.
f~~ HE next morning Alan found
Rayburn Miller standing in
lTSsSI the door of his little office
l4&XES4H building whiting for him

II reckon my message surprised
you," Miller said tentatively as he
shook hands.
sit took me off my feet" smiled Alan.
You see, never hoped to get you in
terested in that scheme, and when
heard you were actually going to At
lanta about it hardly knew what to
make of it,
Miller turned into his Office, kicked n
chair coward Aim and dropped into
his creaking rocker.
ut was not due to you that did get
Interested" he said. do you know, l
can't think of 1t without getting hot all
over with shame. To tell you the truth,
there is one thing have always been
vain about. didn't honestly think
there was a man In Georgia that could
give me any tips about investments,
but / had to take backwater, and for a
woman Think of thnt-a woman
knocked me off my perch as clean and
easy as she could stick IL hairpin in n
ball of hair. Pm not unfair. When
anybody teaches me any tricks, ac-
knowledge the corn and take off my
hat. 1t was this way. dropped In
to see Miss Dolly the other evening.
accidentally disclosed two things in
an offhand sort of way. told her
some of the views gave you Mt the
dance in regard to marriage and love
and one thing and another, and then,
in complimenting you most highly in
other things. confess sort Of poked
fun at your railroad idea"
II thought you had" said Alan good
naturally. but go on"
well, she first read me lecture
about bad, empty, shallow men, whose
very souls were damned by their past
careers. interfering with the pure I'M
pulses of younger men, and I'll swear
l felt like crawling In a hole and pull
ing the hole in after me- Well, got
through that In fashion because she
didn't want me to see her real heart,
and that helped me. Then She took up
the railroad scheme. You know l had
heard that she advised her father In
all his business matters: but, geewhil-
ikins. never dreamed she could give
me points, but she did-she simply did.
She looked me straight In the eye and
stared at me like a national bank ex-
aminer as she asked me to explain why
that particular road could not be built
and why 1t would not be bonanza for
the owners of the timber land
thought she was an easy fish at first,
and gave her plenty Of line, but she
kept peppering me with unanswerable
questions till lay down on the bank
as weak as rag. The first bliff she
gave me was in wanting to know If
there were not many branch roads that
did not own their rolling stock. She
said she knew one in the iron belt in
Alabama that didn't own car or an
engine, and wouldn't have them as a
free gift. She said II such road were
built as you plan these two main lines
would simply Tall over each other to
send out cars to be loaded for ship
ment at competitive rates. By George
1t was corker! found out the next
day that she was right, and that doing
away with the rolling stock, shops and
30 forth would cut down the cost of
your road more than half"
That's fact" exclaimed Alan,
"and had not thought of IT,,
She's a stronger woman than ever
imagined" said Miller. by George,
IL she were not OH your string, I'd
make dead set for her. A wife like
that would make man complete.
She's-in love with you, or thinks she
Is, but she hasn't that will-0 -wisp
glamour. She's business from her toes
to her finger tips. By George, be-
Meve she makes a business of her love
affair. She seems to think she'll settle
1t by o sum In algebra. But to get
back to tho railroad. for I've got Lots
to tell you. What do you reckon
found that day9 You couldn't guess in
thousand years. 1t was prelimi-
nary survey Of q railroad once planned
from barley right through your fa-
TIERS purchase to Morganton, N. g.
1t was made just before the war by
old Colonel Wade, who, in his day, was
one of the most noted surveyors in the
state. This end of the line was all
cared about. and that was almost Us
level rs a floor along the river and
down the valley into the north end OF
town. It's bonanza, my boy! Why
TINT big bottle of timber land has ney-
er been busted Is wonder to me II
as many Yankees had been nosing
about here as there have been in other
southern sections, 1t would have been
snatched up long ago"
Tin awfully glad to hear you say all
this" said Alan. flor 1t is the only
way out Of our difficulty. and some
thing has to be done"
ut may cost you few years of the
hardest work you ever bucked down
to-" said Miller, '.and some sieepless
nights. but l really believe you have
fallen on to better thing than any
ever struck I could make 1t whiz
I've already done something that will
astonish you. happen to know slight
" Tillman Wilson. the president Of the
Southern Land and Timber company
Their offices are in Atlanta. I knew
he was my man to tackle, SO when
got to Atlanta yesterday ran upor
him just us II 1t were accidental.
invited him to lunch with me at thu
Capitol City club; you know I'm Q
nonresident member. You see. knew
II put myself In the light of mar
with something to sell. he'd hurry
away from me. but didn't. AS 6
pretext 1 told him had some client:
up here who wanted to raise a consid
cradle amount of money and that thu
security offered was ane timber land
You see that caught him; he was OF
his own ground. saw that he was
interested. and doomed the property
to the skies:
The more I talked the more he wat
interested. till 1t was bubbling out al
over him He's New Highlander, WIN
thinks country lawyer without {
Harvard education belongs to an effet,
civilization. and I Yet him think HI
was pumping me. l even left off m,
g's and ignored my "a Yet him thinl
he.had struck the softest thing OF hi
life Pretty soon he begun to want t
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