In vain Frances protested she was satisfied with it as it was; the month that she had hoped was to be given to leisure was one of the busiest of her husband's life. Contracts were made--an association formed. Mr. Draper was continually driving to the city, and mechanics were passing to and fro. Clyde Farm began to wear the appearance of a business place. A manufacturing company was incorporated under the title of the Clyde Mills. The stillness of the spot was exchanged for the strokes of the pickaxe, the human voice urging on oxen and horses, the blasting of rocks; the grass was trampled down, the trees were often wantonly injured, and, where they obstructed the tracks of wheels, laid prostrate. Frances no longer delighted to walk at noon day under the thick foliage that threw its shadow on the grass as vividly as a painting. All was changed! It is true she now saw her husband, but she had but little more of his society; his mind and time were wholly engrossed; he came often, and certainly did not, as formerly, confine his visits to the Sabbath. All went on with wonderful rapidity; story rose upon story, till it seemed as if the new manufactory, with its windows and abutments, was destined to become another Babel. When Charlotte came to Clyde, she gazed with astonishment. "All this," said she to Howard, "is the project of a speculator! Grown men now-a-days remind me of the story of the boy who planted his bean at night, and went out in the morning to see how it grew; he found it had nearly reached the chamber windows; he went out the next morning, and it was up to the eaves of the house; on the third morning, it had shot up to the clouds, and he descried a castle, or a manufactory, I don't know which, on the top of it. Then it was high time to scale it; so up, up, he went, and when he arrived at the building, he put his foot into it, and then he perceived it was made of vapor; and down came bean, castle, and boy, headlong, in _three seconds_, though it had taken _three whole days_ to complete the work." "You must tell your story to my brother," said Howard. "No," replied Charlotte; "he would not profit by it; but I will tell it to my children, and teach them to train their beans in the good old-fashioned way, near the ground." Thus passed the autumn at Clyde; that period which every reflecting mind enjoys as a season of contemplation; that period when our New England woods assume every variety of color, and shine forth with a splendor that indicates decay. Still the two families had much enjoyment together; the health of Frances and little Charlotte had decidedly improved; but when the leaves began to fall, and the wind to whistle through the branches, they quitted Clyde and returned to the city. Their new house was not ready for them, and they were obliged to take lodgings at one of the hotels.