CHAPTER XVII.
The baron carried on his undertaking with the greatest possible spirit.
He superintended the burning of the bricks; he himself marked the trees destined to be cut down for the building.

Ehrenthal had recommended a builder, and the baron had found out a manager for the concern.

He had made careful inquiries as to this man's past career, and congratulated himself upon the amount of his theoretical knowledge.

Possibly this was not wholly an advantage, for plain practical men declared that he could never let a factory go quietly on, but was always interrupting the daily work with new inventions and contrivances, and was therefore both expensive and unsafe.

But the baron, naturally enough, considered his probity and intelligence to be the main point, and valued the theoretical skill of the manager in proportion to his own ignorance.
Pleasant as his prospects were, there were yet many drawbacks.