doubt that the
business could be handled almost as well by letter. I do not know that
there is very much that would please you to be seen in the Washington
townships either."

Alice Deringham glanced at him thoughtfully. "And?" she said.

Deringham glanced down a moment at his shoes. "I was wondering if you
could be of any use up there."

His daughter laughed a little. "I think that is readily answered. I
cannot cook, and neither can I wash, while I have never attended to a
sick person in my life."

"No," said her father with a trace of embarrassment. "Still, one
understands that it comes naturally to women. In any case your mere
presence would in a fashion be an advantage."

Alice Deringham watched him in silence for a few seconds and then
smiled again. "It is somewhat difficult to believe it. I am sincerely
sorry for Mr. Alton, but I can see no reason for intruding at Somasco
now."

Deringham regarded her steadily, and the girl knew it would be
advisable for her to yield. This did not displease her, for, though
she had negatived his suggestion, her father's wishes coincided with
her own. She, however, desired to visit Somasco as it were under
compulsion, and to feel that she had not done so of her own inclination.

"I think there is a reason--and it would please me," he said.

"Then I should be pleased to hear it."

Deringham appeared to consider, because the motives which influenced
him were ones he could not well reveal. "We are his only relatives in
this country--and there is the look of the thing," he said.

The girl moved a little, and her father watching her noticed her fine
symmetry, and how her red-gold hair gleamed against the white
panelling. It was possibly because of this background he also noticed
the faint flicker of warmth that crept into her face and neck, and that
there was a glow in her eyes he had not seen there previously.

"That," she said with a cold distinctness, "is precisely what I object
to."

Deringham laughed a little. "I think that aspect of the question will
not be evident to Alton."

"No?" said the girl, while the tinge of colour deepened a little.
"Still, it is very plain to me."

Deringham said nothing, and the two sat still while the voice of the
man dictating jarred upon one of them. "Very little interest taken in
mineral claims, no inquiries for ranching properties."

Alice Deringham turned, and saw the girl's fingers flittering across
the paper,