gonally over the knuckles. "It's entirely well now."

The girl caught her breath. No query this time.

The hand returned idly to the man's lap. He looked away.

"It's a rough life out there," he resumed evenly, "wild and primitive;
but it's fascinating in a way. Besides, it's one of the things I wanted
to know. I think I do know it. I don't believe any one could fool me on a
mine now."

Elice Gleason looked at him steadily, until perforce he returned her
gaze.

"Granted," she admitted steadily; "but is it worth while?"

"Worth while? How do I know--or any one. It's necessary for some one to
know. It's part of the big game. Farther than that--My hair is all gray
now--and I don't know."

His companion looked away, with a little gesture of impatience.

"Last of all, the mine itself?" she suggested.

Roberts hesitated, his face inscrutable as a book closed.

"If I knew what you wanted to know," he said at last, "I'd tell you; but
I don't. It's fabulous, if that answers your question. It's like
Aladdin's lamp: there's nothing material on the face of the earth it
won't give for the asking. It's producing enough now daily to keep a sane
man a year. It's power infinite for good or evil, and creating more power
day by day." He halted, then unconsciously repeated himself. "Yes, power
infinite, neither more nor less."

There was a long silence before his companion spoke.

"And power, you said once, was the thing you wanted most. You have it at
last."

"Yes, I have it at last, that's true. I can command the services of a
thousand men, to work for me or amuse me; or for another if I direct. I
can pass current anywhere at any time, and make any one I care to name
pass current with me. The master key is in my possession tight. I can
choose my tools for whatever I wish done from a multitude. The material
is limitless, for I can pay. Besides, as I said before, this power is
increasing inevitably, whether I'm asleep or awake, growing by its own
momentum. I have it at last, yes; but it neither is nor ever was what I
wanted most, Elice. I said I wanted it, you're right; but I never said I
wanted it most. You know what I want most in the world, Elice."

Listening, Elice Gleason folded her hands tight, until the blood left the
fingers.

"Yes, I know," she said steadily. "We understand each other; it's useless
to pretend otherwise. I've tried, and you've seen through the disguise
and smiled. It's simply useless." The clasped