erted. "You're carrying too
heavy a load, and it's wearing you thin. You look a very sick man
to-day, and ought to remember that the main way to preserve one's
health is to take life easily."

"I have no doubt of it, madam," Thurston fidgeted, fearing what might
follow; "but, unfortunately, one cannot always do so."

Mrs. Savine held out a little phial as she explained: "A simple
restorative is the next best thing, and you will find yourself braced
in mind and body by a few doses of this. It is what I desired to fix
up my poor brother-in-law with when you prevented me."

"Then the least I can do is to take it myself," said Geoffrey, smiling
to hide his uneasiness. "I presume you do not wish me to swallow it
immediately?"

Mrs. Savine beamed upon him. "You might hold out an hour or two
longer, but delays are dangerous," she warned him. "Kindness! Well,
there's a tolerable reason why we should be good to you, and, for I
guess you're not a clever man all round, Geoffrey Thurston, you have
piled up a considerable obligation in your favor in one direction."

"May I ask you to speak more plainly, Mrs. Savine?" Geoffrey requested
and she answered:

"You may, but I can't do it. Still, what you did, because you thought
it the fair thing, won't be lost to you. Now, don't ask any more fool
questions, but go right away, take ten drops of the elixir, and don't
worry. It will all come right some day."

The speaker's meaning was discernible, and Geoffrey, having a higher
opinion than many people of Mrs. Savine's sagacity, went out into the
sunlight, satisfied. He held up the phial and was about to hurl it
among the firs, but, either grateful for the donor's words, or softened
by what he had heard and seen, he actually drank a little of it
instead. Then came a revulsion from the strain of the last few days,
and he burst into a laugh.

"It would have been mean, and I dare say I haven't absorbed sufficient
of the stuff to quite poison me," he said.

CHAPTER XVI

MILLICENT TURNS TRAITRESS

It was with a heavy sense of responsibility that Geoffrey returned from
a visit to Savine's offices in Vancouver, and yet there was
satisfaction mingled with his anxiety. Thomas Savine, who knew little
of engineering, was no fool at finance, and the week they spent
together made the situation comparatively plain. It was fraught with
peril and would have daunted many a man, but the very uncertainty and
prospect of a str