he explained,
"I've got a few shares of stock."

She said it quietly and the suggestion of scolding gave way to a
chastened appeal. She remembered--and he sensed it--that winged shaft
which he had flung back when she had said he was honest, like his
father. He had told her then she was becoming like her mother, and
Virginia could never endure that.

"Ah, I see," he answered and went on hurriedly with a new note of
friendliness in his voice. "Well, I'll tell you, Virginia, if it will be
any accommodation to you I'll take over that stock myself. But--well, I
hate to advise you--because--how many shares have you got?"

"Oh, several thousand," she responded casually. "They were given to me
by father--and by different men that I've helped. Mr. Masters, you know,
that I took care of for a while, he gave me all he had when he died. But
I don't want to sell them--I know there's no market, because Blount
wouldn't give Mother anything--but if he should happen to strike
something----"

She glanced across at him swiftly but Wiley's face was grim.

"Yes, _him_ find anything!" he jeered. "That fat-headed old tub! He
knows about as much about mining as a hog does about the precession of
the equinox. No; miracles may happen but, short of that, he'll never get
back a cent!"

"No, but Wiley," she protested, "you know as well as I do that the
Paymaster isn't worked out. Now what's to prevent my stock becoming
valuable sometime when they open it up?"

"What's to prevent?" he repeated. "Well, I'll tell you what. If Blount
makes a strike he'll close that mine down and send the company through
bankruptcy. Then he'll buy the mine back on a judgment and you'll be
left without a cent."

"But what about you?" she suggested shrewdly. "Will you let him serve
_you_ like that?"

"Don't you think it!" he answered. "I know him too well--my money is
somewhere else."

"But if you should buy the mine?"

"Well----" he stirred uneasily and then shot his machine ahead--"I
haven't bought it yet."

"No, but you offered to, and I don't see why----"

"Do you want to sell your stock?" he asked abruptly and she flushed and
shook her head. "Well!" he said and without further comment he slowed
down and swung about.

"Oh, dear," she sighed, as they started back and he turned upon her
swiftly.

"Do you know why I wouldn't have that mine," he inquired, "if you'd hand
it to me as a gift? It's because of this everlasting fight. I own it,
right now,