I couldn't
bear its deserted look without you," he added boldly. Here, seeing her
face grew grave again, he added, "But how did you get the letter to the
spring? and how did you know that it was found that day?"

It was her turn to look embarrassed and entreating, but the combination
was charming in her proud face. "I got the little schoolboy at the
summit," she said, with girlish hesitation, "to take the note. He knew
the spring, but he didn't know YOU. I told him--it was very foolish, I
know--to wait until you came for water, to be certain that you got the
note, to wait until you came up, for I thought you might question him,
or give him some word." Her face was quite rosy now. "But," she added,
and her lip took a divine pout, "he said he waited TWO HOURS; that you
never took the LEAST CONCERN of the letter or him, but went around the
mountain side, peering and picking in every hole and corner of it, and
then he got tired and ran away. Of course I understand it now, it wasn't
YOU; but oh, please; I beg you, Mr. Bray, don't!"

Bray released the little hand which he had impulsively caught, and which
had allowed itself to be detained for a blissful moment.

"And now, don't you think, Mr. Bray," she added demurely, "that you had
better let me fill my pail again while you go round to the front door
and call upon me properly?"

"But your father"--

"My father, as a well-known investor, regrets exceedingly that he did
not make your acquaintance more thoroughly in his late brief interview.
He is, as your foreman knows, exceedingly interested in the mines on
Eureka ledge. He will be glad if you will call." She led him to a little
door in the wall, which she unbolted. "And now 'Jill' must say good-by
to 'Jack,' for she must make herself ready to receive a Mr. Bray who is
expected."

And when Bray a little later called at the front door, he was
respectfully announced. He called another day, and many days after. He
came frequently to San Francisco, and one day did not return to his old
partners. He had entered into a new partnership with one who he declared
"had made the first strike on Eureka mountain."

MR. BILSON'S HOUSEKEEPER

I

When Joshua Bilson, of the Summit House, Buckeye Hill, lost his wife,
it became necessary for him to take a housekeeper to assist him in the
management of the hotel. Already all Buckeye had considered this a mere
preliminary to taking another wife, after a decent probation, as the