t either. Besides,"--and
there was a twinkle in his eyes--"you are making my new friend
uncomfortable. He is a railroad builder. Are you working for philanthropic
notions, Mr. Lorimer?"

"No," I answered soberly; and the rest of the party laughed as I added:
"Only to pay back what I owe; and we are making slow progress in that
direction. Still, the work has its fascination, and it will last and be
useful after we are gone."

Then, while Calvert spoke to Miss Carrington, Grace turned toward me with
a sudden look of interest.

"You are not exactly prospering, I gather," she said, "and I am very
sorry. Please commence when you left Fairmead and tell me all the story."

I did so--perhaps not very clearly, for she asked many questions during
the course of the narrative; and her eyes sparkled at the story of our
profitless struggle in the coulee.

"Flour--poor thirds; whose brand?--local pork--and doubtless the cheapest
tea, you lived on. I manage the affairs of the Manor, and may I ask what
your grocery list came to? How much maize and oats for the horses? Thank
you. It was just as one might have expected. No, I have never been
disappointed in either Harry Lorraine or you."

She dragged the particulars from me--and no one, much less Ralph Lorimer,
could refuse to answer Grace Carrington--with a skill that came from
practical knowledge of such details, before I even guessed what she
wished to arrive at. Then she laughed at my confusion.

"You have no need to blush. Starved yourselves and fed the cattle. It was
well done. And didn't the new partner grumble?"

"No," I answered, glad to change the subject. "Johnston never grumbled at
anything in his life, I think. It was he who managed the commissariat."

"Do you realize, Mr. Lorimer, that you are in many ways a lucky man?" she
added. "I understand perfectly what it means to lose a crop and carry out
an unprofitable contract. But it is in reference to your comrades I speak.
Fearless, loyal partners are considerably better than the best of gear
with half-hearted help, and it is evident that you have them."

"Yes," I said. "No man ever had better; and it is quite true what you say.
With a loyal partner a man may do very much, and, if he is sure of
himself, with a higher mind to show him the way, he might reach out toward
the heavens and--"

Here I stopped abruptly. Wild thoughts were crystallizing into words I
might not speak, and I grew hot with the struggle to check