"I thought you would have liked to see London and go to the seaside; you used to be so anxious to travel."
"Yes, but I'd rather go to America with you," wistfully.
"That is out of the question," said the doctor decidedly, "on account of your health; besides, what should I do with you while I went to my meetings and sat on my commissions, et cetera? No, no; you must be content, and perhaps you'll go next time." And he kissed Marjory, feeling that the affair was settled.
CHAPTER XIX.
IMPORTANT LETTERS.
"Circumstances are like clouds, continually gathering and bursting."
Keats.
The manager of the A1 Shipping and Transportation Company was sitting in his office in the largest building in the main street of the town of Skaguay in the far-away North-West. That office was the centre of the business activities of an immense district, and the work of its manager demanded much time and energy.
He was not an old man, but his hair was gray and his forehead lined and furrowed. A pair of piercing dark eyes looked from beneath thick grizzled eyebrows. It was a strong and striking face, severe in its lines, but when lit up by one of its rare smiles the hardness disappeared in a wonderful way. He was sitting at his desk apparently studying some papers that lay before him, but there was a dreamy, far-away look in his eyes which told that his thoughts had travelled beyond the walls of his office and the business of the day.