As she left the stable, Mr. King crossed to the office. He waited for her in the path, and she pulled up the horse.
"Aren't you very energetic so early in the day?"
"One has to do something for a change, even if one becomes energetic. Life is rather like those travelling shows that find the way here sometimes. You have to clap and laugh loud in case you yawn your head off."
"I would sooner yawn than clap on a day like this. Where are you off to?"
"Somewhere. Anywhere. As the spirit shall move."
She felt friendly towards this man, who stood wrinkling his face at the sunlight—a little slow, a little stout, and rather middle-aged. He too was tangled in this stupid net. Could he have guessed it, she was in no better case than he. He might have guessed it. The laugh might be his as much as hers.
"Sometimes life moves fast enough to prevent one yawning," he said.
"So you have told me lately. Then you still look for copper by Pelican Pool? You are a good miner, Mr. King. You follow the lode to its end."
"Did you think the fool ever learns from his folly?" he said.