the others laughed and joked Agatha mused. They
had commonplace aims and duties that brought them happiness; but she had
been given a harder task. Still it was a task that could not be shirked;
she had accepted it and must carry it out.

Some time after supper Mrs. Farnam went away, and Farnam presently made
an excuse for following his wife. When they had gone George remarked: "I
must pull out to-morrow, but Florence sends a message. She wants you to
stop with us for two or three months."

"Florence is kind," said Agatha. "I would like to go, but you know it's
impossible."

"I don't know," George rejoined in an authoritative voice. "I'm your
elder brother and it's my duty to see you do what you ought. To begin
with, I looked up your doctor and he told me you needed a long rest."

"It can't be got. I must go back to school when the holidays are over."

"Wait a bit! None of us is as indispensable as we sometimes think."

Agatha felt half amused and half annoyed. George often made remarks like
this and imagined that they clinched his arguments. She saw that he had
been meddling.

"What did you do after seeing the doctor?" she asked suspiciously.

"I went to your principal at the school. She said she would talk to the
managers and had no doubt that if it was needful they would let you off
for a time. Now as I can fix the thing with the doctor, there's no
reason you shouldn't quit work and stop with us."

Agatha colored angrily. George meant well, but he had gone too far. She
felt this worse because she was tempted to give way. She liked her
brother's wife and needed a rest.

"Well," she said, "I suppose I ought to have expected something of the
kind, but it's comforting to feel that your efforts are wasted. I shall
be quite well in a week or two and am going back to school. For one
thing, I shall need some money before very long."

George looked hard at her. "You don't say why. Still if it's money that
prevents you taking the proper line, I might lend you some--" He stopped
and resumed with suspicion: "But I won't give you a dollar to waste in
searching for father's silver lode!"

"I am going to look for the lode," said Agatha quietly.

"I hoped you had got over that foolishness," George rejoined, throwing
his cigarette on the floor, although he was generally careful about
such things. "Now listen to me for a few minutes, and try to be
sensible!"

"One misses much by always being sensible," Agatha remarked w