ow, with a crescent
in the hilt of unique stones. The collector who wanted it promised to give
me the opportunity to redeem it if ever he wished to part with it, and
Elizabeth had the agreement written and signed."

"Like a true Morganstein. But I knew how much she thought of you. I used
to remind myself, up there in the Iditarod wilderness, that you had her
clear, practical sense and executive ability to rely on."

"That has been my one rare good-fortune; to have had Elizabeth. Not that I
depreciate my other friends," and she gave Foster another fleeting smile.
"There was Mrs. Brown who in the autumn, when I saw the necessity to give
up my apartment at Vivian Court, asked me to stay in exchange for piano
and dancing lessons. I had often taught her little girls for pleasure,
they were so sweet and lovable, when they visited in my rooms. Still,
afterwards, I learned the suggestion came from Elizabeth. Now you know
everything," she added with determined gaiety. "And I have had my draught
of ozone. We must hurry back, or they will wonder what has become of us."

She turned to the path, and the young engineer followed in silence. He did
not know everything; deep in his heart the contradiction burned. Whatever
may have caused her exhilaration at the time the _Aquila_ arrived, it was
not his return, and while her explanations satisfied him that she was in
no immediate financial distress, he felt that her confidence covered
unplumbed depths she did not wish him to sound.

They had reached the footbridge over the cascade when he said abruptly:
"After all, I am glad Lucky Banks got ahead on the irrigation project. He
will find it feasible, if any one can. He grew up on an Oregon farm, and
what he hasn't learned about sluicing in Alaska isn't worth knowing. It
leaves Hollis Tisdale no alternative."

She turned waiting, with inquiry in her eyes.

"I mean in regard to the Aurora. He hasn't the saving grace of an excuse,
now, not to convey that last half interest back to you."

"I do not want a half interest in the Aurora mine." She drew herself very
straight, swaying a little on the balls of her feet. "You must not suggest
it. I should not accept it even through a United States court. It belongs
to Mr. Tisdale. He furnished the funds that made my husband's prospecting
trip possible. And all the gold in Alaska could not repay him for--what he
did. Sometimes, when I think of him alone on that terrible trail, he
stands out more