such things. "Now listen to me for a few minutes, and try to be
sensible!"

"One misses much by always being sensible," Agatha remarked with a
resigned smile.

"It often saves one's relations trouble. Anyhow, the blamed lode has
thrown its shadow on all our lives, and I don't mean to stand off,
saying nothing, and see you spoil yours."

"You escaped the shadow, because you never believed in the lode."

"I certainly didn't and don't believe in it now! For all that, I saw
father's restlessness and mother's fears."

"Ah!" said Agatha, "I didn't think--"

"I allow I haven't your imagination, but I can see a thing that's
obvious. Father thought he hid his feelings, but mother knew and
grieved. She was afraid he would give us up and go back to the North."

"No!" said Agatha with firmness; "she was not afraid he would give us
up! Father never failed in his duty."

"Then she was certainly afraid he'd die in the bush; as he did. She knew
what the prospectors were up against, and though she smiled when he
talked about the ore, I knew she had an anxious heart. I don't claim
that the anxiety broke her down, but it made a heavy load and helped."

"Yet when she was very ill she did not ask him to promise he wouldn't