He wanted to start out buying at once, but that was going too far
in the future for Kate. While the stream was low, and the banks
firm, Kate built her dam, so that it would be ready for spring,
put in the abutments, and built the bridge. It was not a large
dam, and not a big bridge, but both were solid, well constructed,
and would serve every purpose. Then Kate set men hauling stone
for the corner foundations. She hoped to work up such a trade and
buy so much and so wisely in the summer that she could run all
winter, so she was building a real mill in the Bates way, which
way included letting the foundations freeze and settle over
winter. That really was an interesting and a comfortable winter.
Kate and George both watched the children's studies at night,
worked their plans finer in the daytime, and lived as cheaply and
carefully as they could. Everything was going well. George was
doing his best to promote the mill plan, to keep Kate satisfied at
home, to steal out after she slept, and keep himself satisfied in
appetite, and some ready money in his pockets, won at games of
chance, at which he was an expert, and at cards, which he handled
like a master.