Yet it pained him somehow,
being new at the game, to see all these miners against him and as they
piled their rolls on the stage he lingered to see them off. He had paid
them union wages and treated them right but now, with their time-checks
in their pockets, they looked past him in stony silence. It puzzled him
somehow, leaving him vaguely uneasy; but just as the stage pulled out he
found the answer to his enigma. On the gallery of the Huff house as the
automobile sped past there was a sudden flash of white and as Virginia
appeared the young engineer rose up drunkenly and wafted her a kiss.
After that the answer was plain.

CHAPTER XX

AN APPEAL TO CHARLEY

What is a kiss waved by a drunken hand, to a man whose love is like the
hills? And yet that kiss, wafted so amorously to Virginia, stirred up a
rage in Wiley Holman's heart. Was it not enough to wait on the table,
without cultivating the acquaintance of her boarders? And this foolish
affair, whatever it was, had cost him at least ten thousand dollars. It
would come to that before he was through with it--in lost time and new
machinery and unearned profits--and all because Virginia had smiled at
this drunken engineer, who had promptly sent his overalls through the
driving-gear. Yet that was the natural result of letting his men board
in town where they could hear the Widow's ravings against him.

In the midst of his telephoning and giving directions to his mill-crew,
who were still rushing their work on the mill, Wiley turned the matter
over in his mind and it left him sick with doubts. He had counted upon
the opposition of Blount, but Virginia's almost staggered him. It would
make a difference, before his six months was up, if she set all his men
against him, and yet he could not stop her. If he withdrew his men and
boarded them himself that would only inflame the neighborhood the more,
for it would deprive the Huffs of their livelihood; and if he let things
go on it might result in more wrecks that would seriously interfere with
his plans. No, the thing to do was to see Virginia at once and come to
an understanding.

A telegram from his supply-house reported the engine an old type with
all parts out of stock, and he worked for hours making tedious
measurements before he ordered the new gear-wheel made. Then he sent an
urgent wire to rush him the new engine that had been ordered to supply
power to the mill, only to be told once more that it was held up