The Tides of Fate; A Novel (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1919. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XIII It was early the following May at Rickerton's Lodge. The wide veranda commanded an expansive view of the great valley to the westward, bedecked with apple orchards whose full blown branches resembled vast snow banks lying here and there on the distant landscape, with now and then a patch of lively green. A mile or so in the foreground to the right, near the base of the cragged bluffs, where the waters of the mineral spring trickled over the rocks, were a dozen or more temporary buildings occupied by the workmen engaged in the construction of Happyland Sanitarium. The great stone foundations, now completed, lay hidden in a towering maple grove bordering a clearing of several acres, spotted with piles of lumber and other building materials, and through field glasses one could plainly see the workers moving about, busy with their various tasks in shaping this aggregation of crude matter into structural form. Several adjoining farms, with a considerable tract of mountain land, had been purchased and amalgamated into one estate, and an experienced agriculturist was already in charge of the farm work. Poultry yards, pig-sties, cow-barns and other outbuildings were all in process of construction, and the natives for miles about were all agog over the activities of this stupendous new venture in the midst of their hitherto secluded retreat. News of the building operations had gradually filtered through the barriers of secrecy imposed by Rumford, and the newspapers throughout the state and middle west lauded the undertaking as one of the most praiseworthy acts of benevolence known to modern times. Strangely enough, the origin of the whole scheme was accredited to "the wife of a retired millionaire," from Kansas City, who had purchased the lands in the...