"If I owned it, the slide is the first thing I would destroy."

"What? And ruin the lumber industry of the Upper St. Maurice? Oh, you
wouldn't do such a thing! If that is your idea, I give you fair warning
that I will oppose your claims with all the arts of the lobbyist. If
you want to become the private owner of the falls, you should tell the
Government that you have some thoughts of encouraging the industries of
the province by building a mill----"

"A mill?"

"Yes; why not? Indeed, I have half a notion to put a saw-mill there
myself. It always grieves me to see so much magnificent power going to
waste."

"Oh, seriously, Mr. Mason, you would never think of committing such an
act of sacrilege?"

"Sacrilege, indeed! I like that. Why, the man who makes one saw-mill hum
where no mill ever hummed before is a benefactor to his species. Don't
they teach political economy at Boston? I thought you liked saw-mills.
You drew a very pretty picture of the one down the stream."

"I admire a _ruined_ saw-mill, as that one was; but not one in a state
of activity, or of eruption, as a person might say."

"Well, won't you go up to the falls to-day, Miss Sommerton? I assure you
we have a most unexceptionable party. Why, one of them is a Government
official. Think of that!"