VII
The day after the next Thanksgiving, Paul, excited and jubilant, drove up the graveled path to the side door of Hillcrest. "Read those," he pushed three papers into Mary's hands, as she rose from the veranda rocker.
Her eyes blurred, so that she had to take off her glasses, as, sick at heart, she realized what the documents were. Her husband spread them out on her lap, explaining rapidly. "This is the certificate of incorporation of the Mountain Mining Company. Here's my contract with them—I hold fifty-one per cent of the stock, counting twenty shares in your name and one in Pelham's, so we retain the controlling interest—which provides the terms for the taking out of the ore. This last is a carbon of the letter I got off to the boy this morning, giving all the details."
She had lost her fight after all. "The cottage," she whispered, "how long now before we must leave it?"
He slapped a pointing finger at the center of the second paper. "Section seven—here it is—we won't move at all! This part of the mountain is not to be touched, until all the rest is mined. As long as the house stands, we're safe." He smiled, in conscious self-approval.
She raised dimmed eyes. "That's good of you, Paul. It hurts me to see any of it disturbed.... I suppose you could do nothing else."
Refolding the sheets, he slipped them into an envelope with enthusiastic finality. "The thing grows bigger and bigger every time I go over it. If it pans out, we can buy Adamsville! I said a mountain of gold, remember.... Ground will be broken in the spring. We'll put Tow Hewin in charge of it now—he's the man poor Nate spoke of—and when Pelham comes back in June, he can put his M. E. degree right into harness.... God! It means millions!"
"You're sure the cottage is safe? It would break my heart to think we'd have to give it up. It's such a splendid home for the children——"
He pushed out his lips. "It is a lovely place, Mary; but you've gotten rooted here. By the way, I'll wire to St. Simon's Island to-night for rooms for you and the girls for the summer. It will be a fine change. The children can go, too. Pelham and I will stay on the job here."
Her lips trembled; leave before Pelham came—not see him all summer?...