papa. Of course I understand
her, and he doesn't. Dear old pops is a perfect child. She has
tricked him once; she seems to think him worth watching; she is
unbearable. So I am going to do the very natural thing and take him
away from her. Back where he belongs by the way; where we both belong.'

'That is not true; you don't belong anywhere but here.' He began
speaking slowly, very earnestly and with little show of emotion. But
little by little his speech quickened, his voice was raised, his words
became vehement. 'You belong here. There is no land in the world like
this, just as there is no girl like you. Listen to me, Helen! For
your sake, for my sake--yes, and for your father's sake--you must stay.
You were speaking of him; let's think of him first. He is like a child
in that he has kept a pure, simple heart. But he is not without his
own sort of wisdom. He knows rocks and strata and geological
formation; he found gold once, and that was not just accident. He
lost, but he lost without a whimper. He is a good sport. He will find
gold again because it is here and he knows how to find it and where to
find it.'

He paused, and Helen, though with no great show of interest and no
slightest indication of being impressed, waited for him to go on.

'The fault in what has occurred is less his than mine. Knowing the
sort Sanchia Murray is, I should not have given her the opportunity
that day of a long talk alone with him. But,' his meaning was plain as
he caught and held her eye, 'I was in the mood to forget Sanchia Murray
and Professor Longstreet and every one else but the girl I was with.'

Helen laughed lightly, again passing the remark by as a mere compliment
of the negligible order.

'Don't do that, Helen,' he said gravely. She saw that a new sort of
sternness had entered into his manner. 'I have been working, working
hard not alone for myself but for you. Desert Valley has always been
to me the one spot in the world; you saw it and loved it, and since
then there is no money that would buy it from me. If it were really
mine! And I have been working night and day to make it mine. So that
some day----'

She was not ready for this, and, though her colour warmed, she
interrupted swiftly:

'You speak as though there were danger of losing it.'

He explained, plunging into those matters which had absorbed his mind
during so many hard hours, telling her how he had paid Carr twelve
thousand and fiv