ons. Only in the
conduct of our action can we find the sense of mastery over the Fates.
For his action, the mine was obviously the only field. It was imperative
sometimes to know how to disobey the solemn wishes of the dead.
He resolved firmly to make his disobedience as thorough (by way of
atonement) as it well could be. The mine had been the cause of an absurd
moral disaster; its working must be made a serious and moral success.
He owed it to the dead man's memory. Such were the--properly
speaking--emotions of Charles Gould. His thoughts ran upon the means
of raising a large amount of capital in San Francisco or elsewhere; and
incidentally there occurred to him also the general reflection that the
counsel of the departed must be an unsound guide. Not one of them
could be aware beforehand what enormous changes the death of any given
individual may produce in the very aspect of the world.

The latest phase in the history of the mine Mrs. Gould knew from
personal experience. It was in essence the history of her married life.
The mantle of the Goulds' hereditary position in Sulaco had descended
amply upon her little person; but she would not allow the peculiarities
of the strange garment to weigh down the vivacity of her character,
which was the sign of no mere mechanical sprightliness, but of an
eager intelligence. It must not be supposed that Mrs. Gould's mind was
masculine. A woman with a masculine mind is not a being of
superior efficiency; she is simply a phenomenon of imperfect
differentiation--interestingly barren and without importance. Dona
Emilia's intelligence being feminine led her to achieve the conquest of
Sulaco, simply by lighting the way for her unselfishness and sympathy.
She could converse charmingly, but she was not talkative. The wisdom of
the heart having no concern with the erection or demolition of theories
any more than with the defence of prejudices, has no random words at its
command. The words it pronounces have the value of acts of integrity,
tolerance, and compassion. A woman's true tenderness, like the true
virility of man, is expressed in action of a conquering kind. The ladies
of Sulaco adored Mrs. Gould. "They still look upon me as something of a
monster," Mrs. Gould had said pleasantly to one of the three gentlemen
from San Francisco she had to entertain in her new Sulaco house just
about a year after her marriage.

They were her first visitors from abroad, and they had come to look at