n.

"These are two young friends of mine from the hills, General," said
the Bishop, as he seated his old friend. "They both own farms in the
Beaver Run country. They have come to me to find out what the U. & M.
Railroad wants with options on all that country. Can you, will you
tell them?"

The General plucked for a moment at the empty left sleeve of his
coat.

"No, Bishop," he said finally, "I cannot give out what I know of that
matter. The interests behind it are too large for me. I would not
dare. I do not often have to say that."

"No," said the Bishop slowly, "I never heard you say that before."

"But I can do this, Bishop," said the General, rising. "If you will
come over here to the end of the room, I can tell you, privately, what
I know. You can then use your own prudence to judge how much you can
tell these young people."

The Bishop followed to the window at the other end of the room, where
the two men stood and talked in undertones.

"Jeffrey," said Ruth through teeth that gritted with impatience, "if
you don't tell me this instant what it's all about, I'll--I'll _bite_
you!"

Jeffrey laughed softly. It took just that little wild outbreak of hers
to convince him that the young lady who had swept into the room and
faced the Bishop was really his little playmate, his Ruth, after all.

In quick whispers, he told her all he knew.

The Bishop walked to the door with the General, thanking him. From the
door the General saluted gravely and stalked away.

"The answer," said the Bishop quietly, as he came back to them, "is
one word--Iron."

To Ruth, it seemed that these men were making a mysterious fuss about
nothing. But Jeffrey saw the whole matter instantly.

"No one knows how much there is, or how little there is," said the
Bishop. "The man lied to you, Jeffrey. The road has no eminent domain.
But they can get it if they get the options on a large part of the
farms. Then, when they have the right of eminent domain, they will
let the options lapse and buy the properties at their own prices."

"I'll start back to warn the people to-night," said Jeffrey, jumping
up. "Maybe they made that offer to other people besides me!"

"Wait," said the Bishop, "there is more to think of. The railroad, if
you serve it well, will, no doubt, buy your farm for much more than it
is worth to you. There is your mother to be considered first. And they
will, very likely, give you a chance to make a small fortune in your