The dinner over, a half-hour was
spent with music and magazines, and the party retired for the night.
Breakfast was served as the Express approached Lake Erie. It was agreed
that Mr. Searles should accompany Mrs. Eastlake and Gertrude in the car
"Alfonso," and spend a day or two at Niagara Falls.
Colonel Harris kissed Gertrude, said good-bye to all, and taking a seat
in a Pullman, continued alone on his journey to Harrisville. Returning
home he hoped, if possible, to set matters right at the steel mills
before Mr. Searles arrived.
Left to himself, he now had opportunity for reflection. The time was,
when he was as proud of his ability to do an honest day's work at the
forge as he was to-day proud of his great wealth and growing power in the
manufacturing world. Then he was poor, but he was conscious of forces
hidden within which if used on the right things and at the right time and
place he believed would make him a man of influence.
He was able then with his own hands to fashion a bolt, a nail, or
horseshoe, unsurpassed in the county. He was handy in shaping and
tempering tools of every kind. When he ate his cold dinner, reheating his
coffee over the forge coals, he often thought of the dormant fires within
him, and he wondered if they would ever be fanned to a white heat.
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