ht! In his vague
sense of honor it seemed more creditable for him to fight it out with
HER. He burst out: "I never thought of myself! I never had an old
mother; I never knew what it was to want one--but the men did! And as
I couldn't get one for them, I got one for myself--to share and share
alike--I thought they'd be happier ef there was one in the camp!"

There was the unmistakable accent of truth in his voice. There came a
faint twitching of the young girl's lips and the dawning of a smile. But
it only acted as a goad to the unfortunate Prosper. "Ye kin laugh, Miss
Pottinger, but it's God's truth! But one thing I didn't do. No! When
your mother wanted to bring you in here as my sister, I kicked! I did!
And you kin thank me, for all your laughin', that you're standing in
this camp in your own name--and ain't nothin' but my cousin."

"I suppose you thought your precious friends didn't want a SISTER too?"
said the girl ironically.

"It don't make no matter wot they want now," he said gloomily. "For," he
added, with sudden desperation, "it's come to an end! Yes! You and your
mother will stay here a spell so that the boys don't suspicion nothin'
of either of ye. Then I'll give it out that you're takin' your aunt away
on a visit. Then I'll make over to her a thousand dollars for all the
trouble I've given her, and you'll take her away. I've bin a fool, Miss
Pottinger, mebbe I am one now, but what I'm doin' is on the square, and
it's got to be done!"

He looked so simple and so good--so like an honest schoolboy confessing
a fault and abiding by his punishment, for all his six feet of altitude
and silky mustache--that Miss Pottinger lowered her eyes. But she
recovered herself and said sharply:--

"It's all very well to talk of her going away! But she WON'T. You have
made her like you--yes! like you better than me--than any of us! She
says you're the only one who ever treated her like a mother--as a mother
should be treated. She says she never knew what peace and comfort
were until she came to you. There! Don't stare like that! Don't
you understand? Don't you see? Must I tell you again that she is
strange--that--that she was ALWAYS queer and strange--and queerer on
account of her unfortunate habits--surely you knew THEM, Mr. Riggs! She
quarreled with us all. I went to live with my aunt, and she took herself
off to San Francisco with a silly claim against my father's shipowners.
Heaven only knows how she managed to live t