g why, he had expected her to meet him with a
different look in her eyes. It had been there before, but now it was
absent--a look that he liked very much. In fact, he had remembered it
and thought, apropos of nothing, that it was a pity she was so deaf.
He looked again and smiled very slightly. But no, the look had fled.

CHAPTER VI

RIMROCK PASSES

In the big moments of life when we have triumphed over difficulties and
quaffed the heady wine of success there is always something--or the
lack of something--to bring us back to earth. Rimrock Jones had
returned in a Christmas spirit and had taken Gunsight by storm. He had
rewarded his friends and rebuked his enemies and all those who grind
down the poor. He had humbled L. W. and driven McBain into hiding; and
now this girl, this deaf, friendless typist, had snatched the cup from
his lips. The neatly turned speech--the few well-chosen words in which
he had intended to express his appreciation for her help--were effaced
from his memory and in their place there came a doubt, a dim
questioning of his own worth. What had he done, or neglected to do,
that had taken that look from her eyes? He sank down in a chair and
regarded her intently as she sat there, composed and still.

"Well, it's been quite a while," he said at last, "since I've been
round to see you."

"Yes, it has," she replied and the way she said it raised a more
poignant question in his mind. Was she miffed, perhaps, because he had
failed to call on her, that time when he came back to town? He had
borrowed her money--she might have been worried, that time when he went
to New York.

"I just got in, a little while ago--been back to New York about my
mine. Well, it's doing all right now and I've come around to see you
and pay back that money I owe."

"Oh, that four hundred dollars? Why, I don't want it back. You were
to give me a share in your mine."

Rimrock stopped with his roll half out of his pocket and gazed at her
like a man struck dumb. A share in his mine! He put the money back
and mopped the sudden sweat from his brow.

"Well, now say," he began, "I've made other arrangements. I've sold a
big share already. But I'll give you the money, it'll come to the same
thing!" He whipped out his roll and smiled at her hopefully but she
drew back and shook her head.

"No," she said, "I don't want your money. I want a share in that mine."

She faced him, determined, and Rimrock went