"How much do the unskilled workers earn?" Caspar asked.
"About twenty dollars a day," Gottfried said.
"That's more than I earned as a charcoal burner."
"Is that why you left charcoal burning to work for the brick works?" Gottfried asked.
Caspar shook his head. "I've been forced out of the woods my family has worked for over a hundred years by the new coke. We used to supply the forges of Kamsdorf, but no more. Everyone uses coke now."
Gottfried stared at the man. He'd never thought of charcoal making as being a desirable job, but here was someone who sounded like he missed it. "Surely you're earning better money at the brick works?"
"Better money," Caspar admitted, "but I miss the hills."
"Can't you sell the wood for something else?"
Caspar shook his head. "We only had the right to use coppice wood for charcoal. As soon as we stop making charcoal the rights revert back to the owners."
"Who are the owners of the rights?" Gottfried asked.
"The city of Saalfeld owns the land my family works."
Saalfeld
Veronika checked the latest tax invoice she'd just finished typing. It seemed correct, so she inserted another invoice and typed a second copy. Every form had to be typed out three times-one copy for the customer, one copy for the office, and one copy just because someone seemed to think they needed a third copy. It made for a very boring existence, only relieved by the occasional call to the reception desk. She let her mind drift for a moment, dreaming of how much better things would be when she gained her GED.
"Excuse me!"
She looked up to see a man waiting at the desk. "One moment," she called as she hastily finished the invoice she was working on before hurrying over to serve him.
"How can I help you?"
"I would like to talk to someone about taking up the coppice rights to some woods that I believe have become available," Gottfried Spengler said.
Veronika studied the man. His broad shoulders stretched the woolen fabric of his doublet, while his legs were covered by heavy full-length woolen trousers in the new up-time pattern. He also looked sufficiently affluent that it probably wouldn't be a waste of Stephan's time to speak to the man. "You'll want to talk to our land lease specialist. If you'd like to take a seat, I'll see if he can see you."
She left Catrin to watch the desk while she left reception to talk to Stephan. She found him in his office with his nose buried in a massive legal tome. "Stephan, there's a man in reception who would like to talk to someone about taking up coppice rights."
"Coppice rights? I wonder what he wants to do with them." He took off his spectacles and polished them. When they were cleaned to his satisfaction, he put them on. "And you think it might be worth my time to talk to him?"
Veronika nodded.
"Well, go and get him then."
****
An hour later Veronika watched Stephan escort his visitor out of the building. It must have been a most productive meeting to have taken so long. "What did you talk so long about?" she asked Stephan when he returned from showing his visitor out.
"Coppice rights," Stephan said most un-helpfully.
"But what would you find to talk about for an hour?" Veronika asked.
Stephan stood tall and puffed out his chest. "I'll have you know coppice rights can be very complex."
"You can't have been talking about available coppice rights all that time," Veronika insisted.
Stephan smiled. "We could have, but we got to talking about why Herr Spengler was interested in purchasing coppice rights."
Veronika sighed, and glared at Stephan. "Why does a man who looks like he's a journeyman want coppice wood?"
"He wants to use wood pulp in place of rag pulp to make paper."
"Can he do that?"
"He believes so. Certainly the up-timers seem to have done so."
"How much money does he have?" Catrin asked.
"Catrin!" Veronika cried. "You shouldn't ask questions like that?"
"Well, what else is there worth knowing about a man?"
"Whether or not he is available for marriage," Stephan said. "And I believe Herr Spengler is uncommitted."
"There you are, Veronika, the perfect man for you. Not only does he have money, but he's also cute."
"I am not thinking about marrying a man I've only met once," Veronika protested.
"His name's Gottfried Spengler, from Naumburg, and he's been a journeyman papermaker for over a decade," Stephan told Catrin.
"Veronika needs to visit the library to find out everything she can about papermaking so she can impress him with her knowledge," Catrin said.
"I am standing right here, you know," Veronika said. "And what's the good of going to the library? Everything will be in English."
"Stop being so negative, Veronika. You'll never catch a man that way. There are dictionaries. Besides, I'll be there to help you."
That didn't reassure Veronika as much as Catrin probably hoped. It was one thing to be embarrassed in front of Stephan. The older man had been a friend and confidant ever since she first started work at the council. She just hated to think about what level of embarrassment Catrin could induce in a public place like the library.
****
The Grantville Public Library was as busy as usual that evening. It wasn't totally due to the knowledge in the books. The fact that the building was heated also had something to do with it. Veronika and Catrin considered themselves lucky to get almost immediate assistance from the front desk.
"My friend is interested in finding out something about how up-timers made paper," Catrin told the library aide.
"The main library at the high school is better equipped to handle that kind of request," Yvette Tyler said.
"Veronika doesn't need to know everything about it, just enough to hold a conversation." Catrin leaned closer to the up-timer and whispered loudly across the counter. "There's this guy she's interested in, who's a papermaker."
"Catrin!" Veronika grabbed her friend and pulled her away from the counter.
Yvette's lips twitched. "That level we can probably help you with. How good is your English?" she asked Veronika
"Not very good."
"Then you probably don't want to use any of the encyclopedias." Yvette pulled out a draw and started flipping through cards.
"We'd like use an encyclopedia. We just don't think we'd understand what they said," Catrin said.
"Well, it seems you might be in luck. Someone's written a monograph on paper and papermaking in German, and we have a copy. Are you a member?"
Veronika passed over the library card she'd first been issued when she started training at the Vo Tech.
"Right, that seems to be in order. I'll be right back."
Yvette returned with a hard-covered monograph of about thirty pages. She flicked through all the pages to prove they were there and in good condition before passing Veronika a borrower's form to fill out. When that was done she exchanged the form for the monograph. "Remember, no drink or food near the book. Any note taking to be done with a pencil, and no writing in the book."
A few days later
Gottfried stood, breathing heavily from the hard climb, on the highest peak of the land he'd acquired the coppice rights to, and gazed around him. To the west, about a mile distant, were the cliffs of the Ring Wall around Grantville. A quarter mile to the south was the Saale and the Grantville-Kamsdorf railroad. The land was steep, but that was all the better for moving wood down to the river flats where he planned to locate his mill.
There was one thing wrong with this land, and that was the lack of water. There was a creek in the valley, but its flow didn't amount to much. That meant he'd need to negotiate for a waterwheel on the Saale, or invest in one of the new steam engines.