and gilding the dark green leaves of the palms near them with a
border of silver. Directly below them lay the waters of the bay,
reflecting the red and green lights of the ships at anchor, and beyond
them again were the yellow lights of the town, rising one above the
other as the city crept up the hill. And back of all were the
mountains, grim and mysterious, with white clouds sleeping in their
huge valleys, like masses of fog.

Except for the ceaseless murmur of the insect life about them the night
was absolutely still--so still that the striking of the ships' bells in
the harbor came to them sharply across the surface of the water, and
they could hear from time to time the splash of some great fish and the
steady creaking of an oar in a rowlock that grew fainter and fainter as
it grew further away, until it was drowned in the distance. Miss
Langham was for a long time silent. She stood with her hands clasped
behind her, gazing from side to side into the moonlight, and had
apparently forgotten that Clay was present.

"Well," he said at last, "I think you appreciate it properly. I was
afraid you would exclaim about it, and say it was fine, or charming, or
something."

Miss Langham turned to him and smiled slightly. "And you told me once
that you knew me so very well," she said.

Clay chose to forget much that he had said on that night when he had
first met her. He knew that he had been bold then, and had dared to be
so because he did not think he would see her again; but, now that he
was to meet her every day through several months, it seemed better to
him that they should grow to know each other as they really were,
simply and sincerely, and without forcing the situation in any way.

So he replied, "I don't know you so well now. You must remember I
haven't seen you for a year."

"Yes, but you hadn't seen me for twenty-two years then," she answered.
"I don't think you have changed much," she went on. "I expected to find
you gray with cares. Ted wrote us about the way you work all day at
the mines and sit up all night over calculations and plans and reports.
But you don't show it. When are you going to take us over the mines?
To-morrow? I am very anxious to see them, but I suppose father will
want to inspect them first. Hope knows all about them, I believe; she
knows their names, and how much you have taken out, and how much you
have put in, too, and what MacWilliams's railroad cost, and who got the
co