of action mapped out as soon as possible, it was
several weeks before the trip could be arranged. To Elijah it seemed as
if one insistent detail after another was crowding upon him in a most
extraordinary manner. He grew fretful, and at the last decidedly
irritable.

"Don't worry, Elijah," Helen said, after an unusually impatient
outburst. "The world wasn't made in a day."

"Opportunities are, and are short-lived too."

"Not when they travel via Mexicanos. You can always count on one day
more with them. Manana has some redeeming features after all."

"Well," Elijah's lips straightened, "manana is tomorrow, and tomorrow we
start."

Helen glanced at her desk with its litter of correspondence.

"I guess we can manage it in some way."

"I don't guess, I know. It's tomorrow; so be ready early. Don't come to
the office; I will call for you."

Elijah was as good as his word. At six o'clock he was waiting at Helen's
door, and they were early on their way.

In the days that had followed their conversation relative to unpurchased
lands, Helen had given much thought to the possible results of the plan
suggested by Elijah. She had experienced no waver of hesitation over
their present confidential relations. These presumed nothing more than
their face value and were in no sense different from her relations with
other employers. Had she been possessed of a fortune, the proposed
partnership would have had a plausible excuse. She would then merely
have furnished the money necessary to carry out their mutual plans and a
partnership would naturally have followed. She had no fortune. Her
relations with Elijah would of necessity become more confidential, more
personal. Elijah was a married man, and intuitively she hesitated. But
then; here was the great business opportunity of her life; the
opportunity for which she had been waiting and hoping until hope had
become all but expectation, and now hope and expectation needed only her
consent to become reality. She had been really glad of the delays which
put from her the necessity of immediate decision. She would decide when
the time came. She thought of going to Winston again for advice; but
Winston was occupied. This was her excuse to herself. In her heart she
knew what he would say and she did not wish to listen to his words. She
dwelt long over the idea of buying land independently, for herself. But
this savored of using for her own benefit, information gained indirectly
from h