ra," he said, "they look more and more like a dear's. But tell
me, aren't you getting bored with it--missing New York things and
all and all?"

"No," she said stoutly, "I'm not. I'm useful here in some ways. And I
was about as useful there as--as all the other people. I'm not even
worried about the mines."

"Neither am I. But development's a great deal slower than I thought.
We've still plenty of money. And the moment we begin to ship ore, we'll
have plenty of credit which is just as useful. No! I'm not worried.
We're going to be rich, and we're going to live in a palace."

"And then what?"

"That _is_ worrying me. What do people do when the striving's over, and
the sixteen hours a day hard work? What _do_ they do? Oh, Barbs, we know
lots of such people, and we must find out exactly what they do, and--do
something else. Living as we are living has its drawbacks; but it's not
a place to hurry over."

"It's a good way to live," said Barbara. "If you've got sense enough to
know that it's good while it's going on. People who speak of the good
old days, or who are always looking forward to better days, are usually
unhappy. All the time I've been washing your clothes and mine this
morning I kept saying, 'Now this is really _good_--this is really worth
while,' and once when I got the better of an ink-spot, my heart began to
beat as if I'd just finished some immortal work."

They were much amused with Bubbles, who came out to them for the
Christmas vacation. The short fall term had already stamped him with the
better ear-marks of the great New England boarding-schools. He was quite
a superior person, rather prone to quotes just as if they had been facts
out of the gospel, the sayings of Mr. This and Mr. That. And he used
superior words, and spoke of various Kings of England as if he had
_always_ known that such persons existed. He had in addition a
smattering of Latin, his pride in which he strove in vain to conceal.
And most of all he considered the school-boy captain of the foot-ball
team a creature, on the whole, wiser and more knowing even than Abe
Lichtenstein.

But by the time he had been a week in camp he was himself again. And by
the time he returned to school he had forgotten the ablative singular
of Rosa.

They thought best to tell him that he would have plenty of money some
day. In view of this would he persist in being a secret service agent?
He thought so. He wasn't sure. The service needed money often an