would marry Miss Savine and sail on to riches--confusion to
him!"

Millicent was never afterwards certain why she accepted the quest from
which she shrank with loathing, at first. While her husband proceeded
to substantiate the truth of his statement, she was conscious of rage
and shame, as well as a profound contempt for him; and, because of it,
she felt an illogical desire to inflict suffering upon the man whom she
now considered had too readily accepted his rejection. Naturally, she
disliked Miss Savine. She was possessed by an abject fear of poverty,
and so, turning a troubled face towards the man, she said:

"I don't know that I shall ever forgive you, and I feel that you will
live to regret this night's work bitterly. However, as you say, it is
over late for us to fear losing the self-respect we parted with long
ago. Rest contented--I will try."

"That is better. We are what ill-luck or the devil made us," replied
Leslie, laying his hand on his wife's white shoulder, but in spite of
her recent declaration Millicent shrank from his touch.

"Your fingers burn me. Take them away. As I said, I will help you,
but if there was any faint hope of happiness or better things left us,
you have killed it," she declared in a decided tone.

"I should say the chance was hardly worth counting on," answered
Leslie, as he withdrew to soothe himself with a brandy-and-soda.
Millicent sat still in her chair, with her hands clenched hard on the
arms of it, staring straight before her.

CHAPTER XVII

THE INFATUATION OF ENGLISH JIM

It was perhaps hardly wise of Geoffrey Thurston to suddenly promote
English Jim from the position of camp cook to that of amanuensis.
Geoffrey, however, found himself hard pressed when it became necessary
to divide his time between Vancouver and the scene of practical
operations, and he remembered that the man he had promoted had been
Helen's _protege_. James Gillow was a fair draughtsman, also, and, if
not remarkable otherwise for mental capacity, wielded a facile pen, and
Geoffrey found it a relief to turn his rapidly-increasing
correspondence over to him. It was for this reason Gillow accompanied
him on a business trip to Victoria.

English Jim enjoyed the visit, the more so because he found one or two
acquaintances who had achieved some degree of prosperity in that fair
city. He was entertained so well that on the morning of Geoffrey's
return he boarded the steamer contented wi