I told him I thought he should impart the good news at once and stand the consequences. He left me for that purpose. As I walked into the dining-room, I saw the dear "child" Bertrand leaning over the bar quaffing a glass of absinthe. When he saw me he gulped down the drink and said:
"Mamma would like to speak to you—she thought you would have called."
I recalled the adventure with the eyes and hesitated. Then I decided to go to room 12 on the second flat and see the thing out. A knock on the door was responded to by a sweet "Come in." Mme. Fabre was seated in an easy chair before a cheerful coal fire.
She arose at once and extended a plump and white hand. As we seated ourselves she flashed those burning eyes upon me and said:
"I am so glad you have come! I do want your advice about my mining venture. In the first place I may tell you that I have found the man who owns the shares. He is here in Victoria with his family. He is desperately poor. A hundred dollars if offered would be a great temptation. I would give more—five hundred if necessary."
"The property you told me of the other day is valuable, is it not?" I asked.
"Yes—that is to say, we think it is. You know that mining is the most uncertain of all ventures. You may imagine you are rich one day and the next you find yourself broke. It was so with my husband. He came home one day and said, ‘We are rich’; and the next he said, ‘We are poor.’ This Maloney mine looks well, but who can be sure? When I came here I thought that if I found the man with the shares I could get them for a song. I may yet, but my dear child tells me that he has seen here a man from Grass Valley named Barclay who is a friend of that shareholder, and," she added, bitterly, "perhaps he has got ahead of me. I must see the man at once and make him an offer. What do you think?"
"I think you might as well save yourself further trouble. By this time the shareholder has been apprised of his good fortune."
"What!" she exclaimed, springing to her feet and transfixing me with her eyes. "Am I, then, too late?"
"Yes," I said, "you are too late. Forbes—that is the man’s name—knows of his good fortune and I do not believe he would sell now at any price."