he mountain peaks, whose immitigable crags took
on added majesty from the play of the delicate near-by branches against
their distant rugged slopes.

"You have a magnificent outlook here, Captain Haney."

"'Tis so, and I try to be content with it; but it's hard for one who has
roamed the air like a hawk all his life to be content with ridin' a
wooden horse. I couldn't endure it if it weren't for me wife."

His big form rested in his chair with a ponderous inertness which was a
telltale witness to his essential helplessness. His left hand still
failed to participate in the movements of his right, and yet, as he
showed, he could, by special effort of will, use it. "I'm gaining all
the time--but slowly," he went on. "I want to make a trip back up to the
mines, and I think I'll be able to do it soon." He put aside his own
troubles. "And you, miss, I hope the climate is doing you good?"

"Oh, indeed, yes," she brightly responded. "I feel stronger every day."

Ben at the moment experienced a sharp pang of uneasiness and pain, for
Alice was looking particularly worn and thin and yellow; and when Bertha
returned, flushed with her haste, the contrast between them was quite as
distressing as that between the withered, dying rose and the opening,
fragrant bud. The young man's heart rose to his throat. "We have waited
too long," he thought, and resolved to again urge upon her a new
treatment which they had discussed.

"Come in and see the house," said Bertha, in brusque invitation. "It
isn't ship-shape yet. I wanted to do it all myself, but I find it's a
big proposition to go up against. It sure is. But I like it. I'd like
nothing better than running a big hotel--not too big, but just big
enough. I tell the Captain that when our mines 'pinch out' I'll go to
Denver and start a hotel."

She was quite communicative, but not at ease as she led them from room
to room. Her manner was rather that of one seeking to conceal
trepidation, and her fluency seemed a little out of character.

In fact, she was trying to make the best possible impression on these
people, whose sincere interest she felt; but with Ben's eyes fixed upon
her so constantly, and a knowledge of Alice's delicate wit to trouble,
she was more deeply embarrassed than ever before in her life. It was not
her habit to blush or stammer, and she did not do so now, but she was
carried out of her wonted reticence.

"As I say, we bought the place for the porch. I didn't real