r than of--of the other things. Do
you suppose Mr. North will be content with your resignation now?"

Ford looked up quickly. Here was a new revelation--an unsuspected facet
of the precious gem. He could hardly believe that this steady-voiced,
far-seeing young woman was the insouciant, school-girlish--though none
the less lovable--young person with whom he had tramped to the
wind-swept summit of Plug Pass in the golden heart of the yesterday.

"You mean--?" he began.

"I mean that you will be discredited; disgraced if possible. Are you
sure you haven't been doing anything over here that you wouldn't want
Uncle Sidney to find out?"

"Not consciously, you may be sure," he asserted unhesitatingly.

"Think; think hard," she urged. "Is there nothing at all?"

He could not help smiling lovingly at her scarce-concealed
anxiety--though it was merely the anxiety of a noble soul unwilling to
stand by and see injustice done.

"My methods never get very far underground," he averred. "Not far enough
for my own safety, Frisbie says. If I had been keeping a diary, I think
I should be quite willing to let Mr. Colbrith read it--or print it, if
he cared to."

"And yet there _is_ something," she asserted, and the straight brows
went together in a little frown of perplexity. "You don't ask me how I
know: I'm going to tell you, Mr. Ford--though it's rather shameful.
Three days ago, while we were in Denver, Mr. North came down to the car
to see Uncle Sidney."

"Yes?" he encouraged.

"They were closeted in Uncle Sidney's state-room for a long time," she
went on. "I--I was walking with Miss Van Bruce, up and down on the
station platform beside the Nadia, Uncle Sidney had told me not to go
very far away because we were likely to start at any moment. The--the
car windows were open--"

Her embarrassment was growing painfully apparent, and Ford came to the
rescue.

"You were not even constructively to blame," he hastened to say. "They
must surely have seen you passing and repassing, and if they wished for
privacy they might have closed the windows."

"I didn't hear much: only a word or two, now and then. They were talking
about you and brother; and--" She stopped short and laid her hand on the
throttle-lever of the big engine: "What did you say this was for?" she
asked ingenuously.

Ford's up-glance of surprise was answered by a glimpse of Penfield
sauntering past on the other side of the track. She could not have seen,
but she