ver
found the lode, but I'm not sure. Anyhow, it looks as if Stormont didn't
agree with you."

"But how did he hear about the lode?"

"It's not very plain, but I have a suspicion. There's a curious thing; I
don't see much difference between Stormont's object and the burglar's.
Both seemed to want the letters Strange wrote to the girl."

"Now I come to think of it, perhaps there wasn't much difference. The
fellow stole nothing, although he broke open the writing-table and Miss
Strange's trunk. She says he disturbed nothing else. But the matter gets
no clearer."

Scott smiled. "My explanation is that Stormont tried to buy the letters
after he found they couldn't be stolen."

"But he'd have to trust the man he hired to break into the house; and
this would put him in the fellow's power."

"I reckon the man told him about the lode; Miss Strange states that he
was lame," Scott remarked in a meaning tone. "Where has Black Steve been
since he left this neighborhood?"

Thirlwell started. "It's possible you have got near the truth. Nobody
knows as much as Driscoll about Strange's prospecting. But I must answer
the letter. What am I to say?"

"If you tell her to have nothing to do with Stormont, it ought to be
enough in the meantime," Scott replied. "You could send down your answer
when, the next Hudson's Bay breeds come along."

They were silent for a few minutes, and then Scott resumed: "I
understand Miss Strange means to look for the vein next summer and you
are going. Why is that, since you don't believe her father's tale?"

"She's resolved to go and I can help. When she's persuaded the ore can't
be found she'll be content to give the notion up. I don't want the thing
to occupy her thoughts until it becomes a kind of mania, as it did with
Strange."

"I imagine she's an attractive girl."

"She is attractive; but that has nothing to do with it," Thirlwell
replied with a frown. "I'm not in love with Miss Strange. To begin with,
I can't support a wife, and marriage hasn't much charm for me. Then I
think she's clever enough to make her mark, and will stick to her
occupation until she does, if she gets rid of this foolish notion of
looking for the ore."

"I see," said Scott, with some dryness. "You feel sorry for the girl and
want to save her from getting like Strange? Well, it's a chivalrous
object; but there's a thing you don't seem to have thought of yet.
Prospecting a big belt of country is a long job, and if yo