Frances received this intelligence with new-born hope. She felt certain, that one month, passed amidst the tranquil pleasures of the country, would regenerate his early tastes. She talked eloquently of the corrupting atmosphere of the city, and was sanguine that now all would go well; that his inordinate engrossment in business would yield to the influences by which he would find himself surrounded. And so it turned out, for a few days. Mr. Draper was as happy as an affectionate husband and father must naturally be, reunited to the objects of his tenderness. He said that "he felt uncommonly well, had much less of the dyspepsy than he had experienced for years," followed his little girls to their favorite haunts, and seemed to realize the blessing of leisure. Howard, with his family, passed the third day with them. Towards evening, they all ascended the hill. Mr. Draper was struck with the extensive view, and the beauty of his wife's domain, for he scrupulously called it her own. "What a waste of water!" he exclaimed. "What a noble run for mills and manufactories!" Poor Frances actually turned pale; but, collecting her spirits, she said, "It is hardly right to call it a _waste_ of water." "Liberal, not lavish, is kind Nature's hand." In the mean time, Mr. Draper had taken his pencil, and on the back of a letter was making lines and dashes. "Look here," said he to Howard. "See how perfectly this natural ledge of rocks may be converted into a dam: it seems precisely made for it: then, by digging a canal to conduct the water a little to the left, there is a fine site for a cotton-manufactory, which, built of granite, would add much to the beauty of the prospect. Just here, where that old tree is thrown across the stream, a bridge may be built, in the form of an arch, which also must be of stone. It will make the view altogether perfect." "I cannot think," said Howard, "the view would be improved; you would have a great stone building, with its countless windows and abutments, but you would lose the still, tranquil effect of the prospect, and take much from the beauty of the stream." "Not as I shall manage it," said Mr. Draper. "I am sure Frances herself will agree with me that it adds fifty per cent. to the beauty of the prospect when she sees it completed."