was drawn last
year as soon as I reached Washington. David knew the value of the Aurora.
That is the reason he risked another winter there, in the face of--all--
that threatened him. And when he felt the fight was going against him, he
turned his interest over to me, not only as security on the small loan I
advanced to him, but because I was his partner, and he could trust me to
finish, his development work and put the mine on a paying basis. That is
accomplished. There is no reason now that I should not transfer his share
back to you."

He rose to give her the deed, and she took it with reluctance and glanced
it over. "I think it is arranged about as David would have wished," he
added. "He had confidence in Foster."

She looked up. "Mr. Foster knows how I regard the matter. I told him I
would not accept an interest in the Aurora mine. I said all the gold in
Alaska could not compensate you for--what you did. Besides, I do not
believe as you do, Mr. Tisdale. I think David meant his share should be
finally yours."

Hollis was silent. He stood looking off again over Cerberus to the loftier
Chelan peaks. For a moment she sat regarding his broad back; her lip
trembled a little, and a tenderness, welling from depths of compassion,
brimmed her eyes. "You see I cannot possibly accept it," she said, and
rose to return the deed to him.

She had forgotten the photograph, which dropped from her lap, and Tisdale
stooped to pick it up. It was lying face upward on the floor, and he saw
it was the picture of a child; then involuntarily he stopped to scan it,
and it came over him this small face, so beautifully molded, so full of
intelligence and charm, was a reproduction of Weatherbee in miniature; yet
retouched by a blend of the mother; her eyes under David's level brows. He
put the picture in her hand and an unspoken question flashed in the look
that met hers.

Since he had not relieved her of the deed, she laid it down on the
secretary to take the photograph.

"This is a picture of little Silva," she said. "It would have made a
difference about the share in the Aurora if he had lived. He must have
been provided for. David would have seen to that."

"There was a child!" His voice rang softly like a vibrant string. "You
spoke of him that night you were lost above Scenic Springs, but I thought
it was a fancy of delirium. It seemed incredible that David should not
have told me if he had a son."

She did not answer directly, b