"You are going away?" she asked.
"Yes; out to the 'beyond' in northern Arizona. There is a new iron field out there to be prospected, and Mr. Clarkson wants me to go and report on it. And that brings us back to business. May I talk business—cold money business—to you for a minute or two?"
"If you like," she permitted. "Only I think the other kind of talk is more profitable."
"Wait till you hear what I have to say in dollars and cents. That ought to interest you."
"Why should it—particularly?"
"Because you are going to marry a poor man, and—"
She turned away from him quickly and stood facing the window. But he went on with what he had to say.
"That's all right; I can say it to your back, just as well. You know, I suppose, that your—that the Farleys have lost out completely?"
"Yes,"—to the window-pane.
"Well, a curious thing has come to pass—quite a miraculous thing, in fact. Chiawassee will pay the better part of its debts and—and redeem its stock; or some of it, at least." He rose and stood beside her. "Isn't it a thousand pities that Colonel Duxbury couldn't have held on to his shares just a little longer?"