Part 14 (1/2)
Winters, shaking his head, ”and my own boy, Harry, among the lot.”
”Once is enough for me, papa dear,” said Miss Gladden lightly, yet in a more tender tone, ”when the right one comes; but it could never have been Harry, any more than his brother, Richard; you and mamma were like parents to me, and the boys both seem like brothers.”
”Have you found the right one, yet?” asked the old gentleman, watching her keenly.
”As I told you, I am not looking for a knight,” she answered brightly, but the color deepened on her cheek, ”if he ever comes, he must find me.”
Mr. Winters noted the telltale flush, and slowly shaking his head, remarked, ”I don't know, Leslie, about the advisability of leaving you here; you were always inclined to be very philanthropic, and it would be like you to adopt some young man out here, thinking you had money enough for yourself and him, too; that clerk down at the office, for instance, or this kid that was prancing around in eye-gla.s.ses.”
”The 'kid' as you call him,” Miss Gladden answered demurely, ”has plenty of money of his own, and Mr. Houston seems abundantly able to take care of himself; if I adopt any one, it will be that beautiful girl who waited on you at dinner.”
”What is that, my dear?” said the old gentleman, brightening, ”I noticed that girl at the table to-day; she is remarkably fine looking, and seemed to conduct herself like a perfect lady; who is she?”
Miss Gladden, in her enthusiastic manner, began telling him of Lyle, and of the interest she had taken in her, but before she had proceeded very far, the team appeared at the junction of the roads, the men calling Mr. Winters.
”Bless my stars, if there isn't the team!” he exclaimed, ”well my little girl, good-bye for the present, you will see us both this evening,” and having given Miss Gladden a promise that neither he nor his son would betray her secret, he hastened down the road to the waiting team.
”Well, boys,” he said, stopping to carefully empty the ashes from his pipe on a projecting ledge of rock, ”I will have to give you credit for being on hand very promptly; that was about the shortest half hour that I can remember.”
A loud, ringing laugh greeted this remark, which caused Mr. Winters, who was replacing his pipe in its case, to look up in mild wonder.
”That's one on you, father,” called his son, while Mr. Blaisdell remarked, ”The time evidently has pa.s.sed very pleasantly.”
”What is the origin of all this mirth?” demanded Mr. Winters, as he seated himself with considerable dignity.
”It seems,” said Mr. Rivers, in explanation, ”to be because you were so unconscious of the lapse of time; we were delayed in getting together our papers, and it is over an hour since we left the house.”
”I looked for you at every turn of the road,” said his son.
”I didn't,” said Van Dorn, ”I thought he had fallen asleep over his pipe; I never dreamed he was disgracing the whole crowd of us by such open flirtation as that,--I wish we had brought along a chaperon.”
”Well, gentlemen,” said Mr. Winters very deliberately, ”all I have to say is, that had you been in my place, the time would have seemed equally short to you, and I don't think there's one of you but would have been mighty glad to have been in my place.”
”Mr. Winters,” said Mr. Blaisdell, ”I begin to think you're the youngest man of our party.”
CHAPTER XVII.
With many jokes and much hilarity, the mining party proceeded on their way. Arriving at the mines, they found Morgan and Haight awaiting them, who were duly introduced to the party, the English expert looking at Haight with much the same expression with which a mastiff might regard a rat terrier.
Everything being in readiness, they began the descent of the long incline shaft, Mr. Blaisdell and Haight leading the way with Mr.
Lindlay, while Mr. Rivers followed with Mr. Winters and his son and Van Dorn, Morgan bringing up the rear.
It was nearly three hours before they reappeared at the surface, and to a physiognomist, their faces, as they emerged from the mouth of the shaft, would have furnished an amusing study.
Mr. Blaisdell looked irritated and annoyed, but jubilant. He had been thoroughly disgusted by the conduct of the English expert. Instead of taking Mr. Blaisdell's word regarding the mine, corroborated as it was by undisputable evidence in the shape of mining reports, surveyor's notes, and maps, he had insisted on ascertaining for himself the important data, the width, dip and course of the vein, and the measurement of various angles and distances, with a persistency and accuracy that was simply exasperating. He also picked up samples of ore in the most unexpected places which he examined with the closest scrutiny. But having taken his measurements and made his examinations, the results were immediately jotted down in his note book, and the samples dropped in his pockets, without a word, which convinced Mr. Blaisdell that the expert knew very little of his business, and was probably either doing this to keep up appearances, or to gain a little information for his own benefit. Not a word had been said contradicting the statements he had made, not a question raised implying any doubt of their correctness;--evidently they were just the kind of purchasers he wanted, and his firmly set jaws and tightly compressed lips expressed his satisfaction.
Mr. Rivers scanned the company keenly with his ferret-like glances; such unexpected acquiescence on their part made him slightly suspicious and very watchful. The thought uppermost in his mind was, ”Either these people know absolutely nothing about mining, or they know too much for our good.” He had intended going back to the city that evening, but he now decided to remain over.
Mr. Winters, senior, reappeared, wearing the same expression of benevolence and dignity with which he had entered the mine. He seemed serenely unconscious of the existence of deceit or fraud in business transactions generally, and in mining negotiations in particular. Only those well acquainted with him could detect from the exaggerated twinkle of his eyes, that something had more than ordinarily amused him.