“Oh, thank you!” Jo Ann cried. “But we really don’t deserve it.”
“That’s so good of you and Carlitos,” Florence added. She turned to Carlitos then and told him how glad she and Jo Ann were to be partners with him in his mine. “We want always to be your friends,” she ended.
“Don’t forget the other señorita,” Carlitos said, shining eyed. “I want her to be a partner in my mine, too. Tell my uncle that.”
Florence turned and repeated this to Mr. Eldridge.
He smiled back at her, then at Dr. Blackwell. “We have already arranged for her to have some shares also. I’m going to see that José and his family are well taken care of the rest of their lives, too. They have been so good to my boy.”
“That’ll be fine!” exclaimed both girls together.
Jo Ann pressed Florence’s hand. “I’m so glad! They deserve to, after all they’ve been through.”
Jo Ann squeezed Florence’s hand tightly, her eyes like twin stars. “Didn’t you say that Esperanza means hope? It’ll mean new hope now for Carlitos and José and his family—and for us too. Let’s call it the New Hope Mine from now on.”
“A grand idea!”