oked at him with gracious
composure. It was impossible for him to know that this had cost her a
certain effort.

"Where have you come from? We certainly didn't expect to see you
here," she said.

"From Winnipeg. That is, immediately," said Weston, and added, "I
hired out to bring a draft of cattle."

Ida, who was quite aware that the tending of cattle on trains was not
a well-paid occupation, and was usually adopted only by those who
desired to save the cost of a ticket, fancied that she understood why
he mentioned this, and was not sure that she was pleased. It was, as
she recognized, the man's unreasonable pride which impelled him to
thrust facts of that kind into the foreground. Just then, however, her
father, who had waited a moment or two, stepped forward and shook
hands with him.

"Where are you staying in the city?" he asked.

"At Lemoine's boarding-house," answered Weston, mentioning a street in
the French Canadian quarter, from which any one acquainted with the
locality could deduce that he found it desirable to study economy.

"Doing anything here?" asked Stirling.

Weston said that he had some mining business in hand; and he looked
down at his clothes, when Stirling 'suggested that he should come'
home with them to supper, though, from his previous acquaintance with
the man, he was not astonished at the invitation. Stirling laughed.

"That's quite right," he said. "We call it supper, and that's how I
dress. I don't worry about the little men when I bring them along, and
the big ones don't mind."

Weston glanced at Ida, and when he saw that she seconded the
invitation, he said that he would run around to his boarding-house
first to see whether there were any letters or messages for him.
Stirling made a sign of comprehension, for this was a thing he could
understand. There had been a time when he had watched and waited for
the commissions which very seldom came.

"Then you can come straight across as soon as you have called there,"
said Ida.

She presented him to her companion, who, it appeared, came from
Toronto; and then she explained that they had climbed the mountain so
that her friend might see the surroundings of the city. They walked
back together until they reached a spot where two roads led downhill,
and Weston left them.

It was some little time later when he reached Stirling's house, and
was left to wait a few minutes in a very artistically-furnished room.
Its floor was of polished p