"Yes."
"It's the beginning of the end, and I'm glad it's come." Helen spoke with decision.
"The end of everything?"
"No; only a weeding out. It was bound to come, only I didn't think it would be so soon."
"I don't feel so sure that anything will be left."
"Things that are worth while, will be."
Elijah made no immediate reply. He could not get away from the thought of the thing that he had done; the thing that Helen had almost commanded him not to do. He knew what she would think could she know of the packet which he had stealthily slipped into his private box. He raised his eyes, to meet Helen's looking frankly into his own, or—was it his imagination? Was there an anxious questioning, born of a half suspicion? He put the thought from him.
"Ysleta was worth while," he ventured.
"In itself, it was." Helen's face was firm with conviction. "But these scheming rascals have made it not worth while for a long time. There will be room for Ysleta if Las Cruces is managed right."
"It's going to be." Elijah spoke with no less conviction.