't trying to take advantage
of you. But the minute I got the mine it seems as if everybody turned
against me--and you turned against me, too. That hurt me, Virginia,
after what I'd tried to do for you, but I know you had your reasons. You
blamed me for things that I never had done and--well, you wouldn't even
speak to me. But that was all right--it was perfectly natural--and on
Christmas I sent you back your stock. I only bought it from Charley to
help you get to Los Angeles, and I considered that I was holding it in
trust; so I sent it back by Charley, but I suppose he made some break,
because I found it on my table that night. But you'll take it back now;
won't you, Virginia?"

His voice broke like a boy's in the earnestness of his appeal and yet it
was hopeless, too, for he saw that she stood unmoved. He waited for an
answer, then as she shifted her feet impatiently he went on with dogged
persistence. It was useless, he knew it; and yet, sometime in the
future, she might recall what he had said and take advantage of it.

"Well, all right, then," he assented, "but the stock's yours if you want
it. I'm holding it for you, in trust. But now here's what I wanted to
tell you--I'd hoped we could do it together; but you ought to do it,
anyway. You know that stock that your mother lost to Blount? Well, I
know how you can get it back."

He paused for her to speak, to exclaim perhaps at his magnanimity in
offering to help her against her will, but she shrouded herself
pettishly in her cloak.

"Oh, you don't care, eh?" he asked with a bitter laugh. "Well, I wish to
God, then, I didn't. But I do, Virginia! I can't stand it to see you
slaving when there's anything in the world that I can do. Now here's the
proposition: according to law your father isn't legally dead--he won't
be for seven years--and so your mother, not being his heir yet, had no
right to hypothecate that stock. It still belongs to your father's
estate and all you have to do is to go to a lawyer and demand the
property back. You're his daughter, you see, and a co-heir with your
mother, and Blount will not dare to oppose it!"

"Yes, thanks," returned Virginia. "Is that all?"

"Why--no!" he said at last, clutching his hands at his side.
"There's--I'll lend you the money, Virginia."

"No, thank you!" she answered, and started off down the trail, but he
stepped in her way and stopped her. His mood had changed, for his voice
was rough and threatening, but he st