ous mining town, hired a house, bought furniture
on credit, and took boarders again. I kept only first-class boarders,
had high prices--and succeeded."

"Did you never have the mining-stock fever, and invest and lose?"

"Not to any dangerous extent. One or two parties, in whose judgment I
knew I might confide, indicated to me where to invest, and I fortunately
lost nothing, while I made a little. My best mining-stock was a present
from a young man who was sick at my house for a long time, and to whom I
was attentive. He was an excellent young fellow, and my sympathies were
drawn out towards him; alone in a mining-camp, and sick, and, as I
suspected, moneyless. When he was well enough to go away, he confessed
his inability to pay up, and presented me with several shares in a mine
then but little known; saying that it might not be worth the paper it
was printed on, but that he hoped it might bring enough to reimburse my
actual outlay on his account; 'the kindness he had received could not be
repaid with filthy lucre.' A few months afterwards that stock was worth
several thousand dollars. I made diligent inquiry for my young friend,
but could get no news of him from that day to this. I have been
fortunate in everything I have touched since I came to California.
Benton grew well and strong; I recovered my health; Fortune's wheel for
me seemed to remain in one happy position; and now there seems nothing
for me to do but to move slowly and easily down the sunset slope of life
to my final rest."

Mrs. Greyfield smiled and sighed, and remarked upon the fact that the
hour-hand of the clock pointed to two in the morning. "It is really
unkind of me to keep you out of bed until such an hour as this," she
said, laughing a little, as if we had only been talking of ordinary
things. "But I am in the mood, like the 'Ancient Mariner;' and you are
as much forced to listen as the 'Wedding Guest.'"

"There is one thing yet I desire to be satisfied about," I replied. "As
a woman, I cannot repress my curiosity to know whether, since all the
troubles of your early life have been past, you have desired to marry
again. Opportunities I know you must have had. What I want to be
informed about is your feeling upon this subject, and whether any man
has been able to fill your eye or stir your heart."

The first smile my question called up died away, and an introspective
look came over Mrs. Greyfield's still handsome face. She sat silent for
a li