d, at last, "are you thinking of what we shall do if
we find ourselves millionaires?"

"No," answered Tom.

His eyes rested on the boy in thoughtful questioning.

"No; I'll own I'm not thinking of that."

"Neither am I," said Rupert. He drew nearer to Sheba. "It would be a
strange thing to waken and find ourselves owners of a fortune," he said.
"We may waken to find it so--in a few days. But there is always a chance
that things may fail one. I was thinking of what we should do if--we lose
everything."

Sheba put out her slim hand. She smiled with trembling lips.

"We have been across the mountain," she said. "We came together--and we
will go back together. Will you go back with us, Rupert?"

He took her in his strong young arms and kissed her, while Tom looked on.

"That is what I was thinking," he cried; "that it does not matter whether
we win the claim or lose it. The house is gone and the store is gone, but
we can add a room to the cabin in Blair's Hollow--we can do it
ourselves--and I will learn to plough."

He dropped on one knee like a young knight and kissed her little, warm,
soft palm.

"If I can take care of you and Uncle Tom, Sheba," he said, "will you
marry me?"

"Yes, I will marry you," she answered. "We three can be happy
together--and there will always be the spring and the summer and the
winter."

"May she marry me, Uncle Tom," Rupert asked, "even though we begin life
like Adam and Eve?"

"She shall marry you the day we go back to the mountains," said Tom. "I
always thought Adam and Eve would have had a pretty fair show--if they
had not left the Garden of Eden behind them when they began the world for
themselves. You won't have left it behind you. You'll find it in the
immediate vicinity of Talbot's Cross-roads."

CHAPTER XXXVIII

The facts in detail which the Reverend John Baird had journeyed to
Delisle County in the hope of being able to gather, he had been
successful in gaining practical possession of. Having personal charm,
grace in stating a case, and many resources both of ability and manner,
he had the power to attract even the prejudiced, and finally to win their
interest and sympathies. He had seen and conversed with people who could
have been reached in no ordinary way, and having met them had been
capable of managing even their prejudices and bitterness of spirit. The
result had been the accumulation of useful and convincing evidence in
favour of the De Willoughbys,