that there is nothing that would
fix you better than a few drops of the elixir. I think I sent you a
new bottle."

Then, though her eyes were misty, Helen laughed outright, as she
replied:

"It was very kind of you, but I fear I lost the bottle, and have wasted
too much time over my troubles. What can I tempt my father with for
supper?"

When Geoffrey returned to camp, Halliday, who had arrived that day from
Vancouver, had much to tell him.

"I've sold your English property, and the value lies to your credit in
the B. O. M. agency. All you have to do is to draw upon your account,"
he said. "As you intend to sink the money in these works I can only
wish you the best of good luck. Now, I'm starting for home to-morrow,
and there's the other question--how to protect the interests of Mrs.
Leslie. Anthony Thurston made a just will, and her share, while enough
to maintain her, is not a large one, but I don't see yet just how it's
to be handled. It was the testator's special wish that you should join
the trustees, and that her husband should not lay his hands upon a
dollar. From careful inquiries made in Vancouver, I judge he's a
distinctly bad lot. Anyway, you'll have to help us in the meantime,
Geoffrey, and in opening a small bank account I made your signature
necessary on every check."

"It's a confoundedly unpleasant position under the circumstances. What
on earth could my kinsman have been thinking of when he forced it upon
me of all men?" Geoffrey responded with a rueful face. "Still, I owe
him a good deal, and suppose that I must cheerfully acquiesce to his
wishes."

"I cannot take upon myself to determine what the testator thought," was
the dry answer. "He said the estimable Mr. Leslie might either shoot
or drink himself to death some day. The late Anthony Thurston was a
tenacious person, and you must draw your own conclusions."

"If there was one thing which more than another tempted me to refuse
you every scrap of assistance it was the conclusion I arrived at," said
Geoffrey. "However, I'll try to keep faith with the dead man, and
Heaven send me sense sufficient to steer clear of difficulties."

"I can trust your honesty any way," remarked Halliday. "There's a
heavy load off my mind at last. You are a good fellow, Geoffrey, and,
excuse the frankness, even in questions beyond your usual scope not so
simple as you sometimes look."

A day or two before this conversation took place, Henry Le