"The accommodation is all in keeping." "It will be better in a day or two," he continued, casting a longing look towards the door--the first refuge of masculine weakness in an impending domestic emergency.

"I'll go and see what can be done," he said feebly, with a sidelong impulse towards the opening and freedom.
"I've got to see Fairfax again to-night any way." "One moment, father," said Christie, wearily.

"Did you know anything of this place and these--these people--before you came ?" "Certainly--of course I did," he returned, with the sudden testiness of disturbed abstraction.

"What are you thinking of?
I knew the geological strata and the--the report of Fairfax and his partners before I consented to take charge of the works.

And I can tell you that there is a fortune here.