er-color of my mother's, that hung in my room when I was a boy. But
this pocket has changed some since we first saw it; your dragon's teeth
are drawn."

"Isn't it marvelous how the expression of the whole mountain has altered?"
she responded. "There, at the end of the pines, that looked like a
bristling mane, the green gables of Mrs. Banks' home have changed the
contour. And the Chelan peaks are showing now beyond it. That day the
farther ones were obscured. But we watched the rain tramp up Hesperides
Vale, you remember, and swing off unexpectedly to the near summits. There
was a rainbow, and I said that perhaps somewhere in this valley I should
find my pot of gold."

"I remember. And I shouldn't be surprised if you do."

"Do you think I do not know I have already?" she asked. "Do you think I
have no appreciation, no gratitude? Why, even had I been too dull to see
it, Elizabeth would have told me that this house alone, to say nothing of
the project, must have cost a good deal of money; and that, no matter how
deeply Mr. Banks may have felt his obligation to David, it was not in
reason he should have allowed everything to revert to me. But I told him I
should consider the investment as a loan, and now, since he has let me
know the truth"--her voice fluctuated softly--"I shall make it a debt of
honor just the same. Sometime--I shall repay you."

It was very clear to Tisdale that though she saw the property had so
greatly increased in value, and that the reclamation movement in the outer
vale made the tract readily salable, she no longer considered placing it
on the market. "I thought Banks showed you a way easily to cancel that
loan," he began. But meeting her look, he paused; his glance returned to
the window while he felt in his pocket for that deed Foster had refused to
bring. It was going to be more difficult than he had foreseen to offer it
to her. "Madam," and compelling his eyes to brave hers, he slightly
frowned, "your share in the Aurora mine should pay you enough in dividends
the next season or two to refund all that has been expended on this
project."

"My share in the Aurora mine?" she repeated. "But I see, I see. You have
been maligned into giving me the interest David conveyed to you. Oh, Mr.
Banks told me about that. How you were attacked at the trial; the use that
was made of that Indian story in the magazine; that monstrous editorial
note."

Tisdale smiled. "That had nothing to do with it. This deed