"

"That was very kind of you, sir," rejoined Jack, without a trace of
either gratitude or surprise.

"Well, I'm glad you think so. Some of our directors also own a block of
that new road MacFarlane is finishing. They wouldn't hire anybody else
after they had gone up to Corklesville and had seen how he did his work,
so I had the secretary of the company write MacFarlane, and that's how
it came about."

Jack nodded and waited; his uncle's drift was not yet apparent.

"Well, what I wanted to see you about, Jack, is this:" here he settled
his fat back into the chair. "All the ore in that section of the
county,--so our experts say, dips to the east. They've located the vein
and they think a horizontal shaft and gravity will get the stuff to
tide water much cheaper than a vertical shaft and hoist. Now if the
ore should peter out--and the devil himself can't tell always about
that--we've got to get some ore somewhere round there to brace up and
make good our prospectus, even if it does cost a little more, and that's
where your Cumberland property might come in,--see? One of our lawyers
looked over a record of your deed in the town hall of Mulford--" here
he bent forward and consulted a paper on his desk--"No,--that's not
it,--Morfordsburg,--yes, that's it,--Morfordsburg,--looked up the deed,
I say, Jack, and from what he says I don't believe your property is
more than a quarter of a mile, as the crow flies, from where they want
MacFarlane to begin cutting. If the lawyer's right there may be a few
dollars in it for you--not much, but something; and if there is,--of
course, I don't want to commit myself, and I don't want to encourage you
too much--but if he's right I should advise your bringing me what papers
you've got and have our attorney look them over, and if everything's
O.K. in the title, your property might be turned over to the new company
and form part of the deal. You can understand, of course, that we don't
want any other deposits in that section but our own."

Breen's meaning was clear now. So was the purpose of the letter.

Jack leaned back in his chair, an expression first of triumph and then
of disgust crossing his face. That his uncle should actually want him
back in his business in any capacity was as complimentary as it was
unexpected. That the basis of the copartnership--and it was this that
brought the curl to his lip--was such that neither a quarter of a mile
nor two miles would stand in the way of a