f people ready
to buy such things, if they are only offered cheaply enough," he said
to himself; "and Heaven knows I wouldn't hold out for any fancy price.
Ten thousand dollars, or even five, would be sufficient for the Norway
trip, and after that something would be certain to turn up."

Of all his trials none had seemed so hard to bear as the giving up of
that journey to Norway, and now it might be accomplished, after all.
He had written several letters to Rose since reaching New York, and at
first they had been filled with hopes of a speedy reunion. Then, as he
began to realize the condition of his fortunes, they became less
frequent and less hopeful, until for some weeks, not knowing what to
write, he had not written at all.

Now filled with a new courage, he wrote a long and cheerful letter,
in which he stated a belief that his business troubles were so nearly
ended that he would speedily be able to join his friends in Norway.
This letter, finished and mailed, the young mine-owner visited his
lawyer, to inform him of his discovery and learn its probable value.

Mr. Ketchum smiled grimly as he glanced at the contract on which
Peveril was building such high hopes, and then, handing it back, said,
pityingly:

"My dear boy, I hate to dash your hopes, but I doubt if this thing is
worth anything more than the paper on which it is written. Boise
Carson brought it to us years ago, and we looked into it at that time.
We discovered that a property located somewhere in Northern Michigan,
and supposed to be rich in copper, had been purchased at a stiff price
by your father and this Ralph Darrell, who was a banker in one of the
New England cities--Boston, I believe. They christened it the 'Copper
Princess,' invested nearly a million dollars in a complete
mining-plant, and sank a shaft into barren rock. Not one cent did the
mine ever yield, and the deeper they went the poorer became their
prospects. Finally, Darrell, completely ruined financially, became
crazed by his troubles and disappeared; nor has he ever been heard
from since. Your father, having put half of his fortune into the
venture, brooded over its loss until his death, which, I am convinced,
was largely caused by the failure of the Copper Princess."

"What became of the property after that?" asked Peveril, who had
listened with a sinking heart to this recital.

"I believe it stands to-day, as it was abandoned years ago, one of the
many monuments of ruined hopes