then, with a cry of, "Oh, John, John, be
merciful!" she ran after him, and threw her arms about him.

"Let me go, Mary," said he, hoarsely. "If you wish to see Charles
Erskine, you can do as you please. _I_ wash my hands of him."

"But, John, he is ill; he is suffering; he may die--and at your gate!"

"Let him die!"

It was then that the soul of Miss Edwards "stood up in her eyes, and
looked at" her brother. She withdrew her arms and turned mutely toward
the door, out of which she passed, with a proud, resolute, and rapid
tread. Without hesitation she did that which is so hard for a woman to
do--make advances toward the man with whom she had once been in tender
relations, but whose position has, for any reason, been made to appear
doubtful. She went to him, took him by the hand, and inquired, more
tremulously than she meant, what she could do for him.

"Mary!" answered the sick man, and then fainted quite away.

Miss Edwards had him conveyed to her own room, by the hands of Missouri
Joe and the Chinese cook, where she dispensed such restoratives as
finally brought back consciousness; and some slight nourishment being
administered, revealed the fact that exhaustion and famine, more than
disease, had reduced the invalid to his present condition; on becoming
aware of which fact, Miss Edwards grew suddenly embarrassed, and,
arranging everything for his comfort, was about to withdraw from the
apartment, when Erskine beckoned to her, and, fumbling in his pockets,
brought out several pieces of white quartz, thickly studded with yellow
metal, but of the value of which she had little conception.

"Take these to John," he said, "and tell him they are a peace-offering.
They came from _el tesoro_."

"You have seen James Harris; and he has discovered the mine!"

"I have seen no one. I discovered the mine myself."

"But the horse? It was Harris' horse you were riding."

"I did not know it; I found him, fortunately, when I could no longer
walk."

"Poor Charlie," whispered Miss Edwards, moved by that womanly weakness
which is always betraying the sex. She never knew how it was, but her
head sank on the pillow; and, when she remembered it afterward, she was
certain that, in the confusion of her ideas, he kissed her. Then she
fled from the room, and sought her brother everywhere, saying, over and
over, to herself, "Poor Jim! I wonder what has happened to him;" with
tears streaming from her eyes, which she piously attributed