l them, or work them in any
other town, and also free, in Hillsborough, to grind saws by hand, or do
any other established operation of cutlery.

The parties signed; and Bolt went to work in earnest. With all his
resolution, he did not lack prudence. He went into the suburbs for his
site and bought a large piece of ground. He advertised for contracts
and plans, and brought them all to Henry, and profited by his practical
remarks.

He warned the builders it must be a fortress, as well as a factory: but,
at Henry's particular request, he withheld the precise reason. "I'm not
to be rattened," said he. "I mean to stop that little game. I'm Ben Bolt,
that's bad to beat."

At last the tender of Mr. White was accepted, and as Mr. Bolt,
experienced in the delays of builders, tied him tight as to time, he, on
his part, made a prompt and stringent contract with Messrs. Whitbread,
the brickmakers, and began to dig the foundations.

All this Henry communicated to Grace, and was in high spirits over
it, and then so was she. He had a beautiful frame made for the little
picture she had given him, and hung it up in his studio. It became the
presiding genius, and indeed the animating spirit, of his life.

Both to him and Grace the bright and hopeful period of their love had
come at last. Even Bolt contributed something to Little's happiness.
The man, hard as he was in business, was not without a certain rough
geniality; and then he was so brisk and bustling. His exuberant energy
pleased the inventor, and formed an agreeable relief to his reveries and
deep fits of study.

The prospect was bright, and the air sunny. In the midst of all which
there rose in the horizon a cloud, like that seen by Elijah's servant, a
cloud no bigger than a man's hand.

Bolt burst into the studio one day, like a shell, and, like a shell,
exploded.

"Here's a pretty go! We're all at a standstill. The brickmakers have
struck."

"Why, what is the matter?"

"Fourpence. Young Whitbread, our brickmaker's son, is like you--a bit
of an inventor; he altered the shape of the bricks, to fit a small
hand-machine, and Whitbreads reckoned to save tenpence a thousand. The
brickmakers objected directly. Whitbreads didn't want a row, so they
offered to share the profit. The men sent two of their orators to
parley; I was standing by Whithread when they came up; you should have
heard 'em; anybody would have sworn the servants were masters, and the
masters negro sla