"Have you seen the man who brought the message?" she said.

"I have," said Alton. "You were right, of course. He'd had too much whisky."

The girl appeared, so Seaforth fancied, curiously relieved. "I was almost afraid you might think I was in some respects to blame," she said.

"No," said Alton simply, "That was one of the things I couldn't do. It was right out of the question."

He went in, and the warm colour crept into Miss Deringham's face as she presently followed him.

CHAPTER XII

IN VANCOUVER

Autumn was merging into winter when one morning Alton and his comrade strolled along the water-front at Vancouver. It was still early, and the store and office clerks were just hastening to their occupations, but Alton had spent an hour already in a great sawmill. His face was thoughtful, and he seemed to be repeating details of machines and engines half aloud. Presently he stood still and gazed about him, and Seaforth, who followed his gaze, knew there was something working in his comrade's mind. The scene was also inspiriting and suggestive.

Across the wide inlet, mountain beyond mountain towered against the blueness of the north. To the east, sombre forest shut the sheltered basin in, its black ridge serrated by the ragged spires of taller pines, and blurred in places by the drifting smoke of mills. Between them and the water stood long lines of loaded cars, with huge locomotives snorting in the midst of them, and where the metal road which commenced at Quebec ended, the white shape of an Empress liner rose above the wharf, the clasp of the new steel girdle which bound England to the East. Above the pines which shrouded the narrows shone the topsails of a timber-laden barque, and a crawling cloud of smoke betokened a steamer coming up out of the wastes of the Pacific, while four-masted ships lay two deep beneath the humming mills. Then, rising ridge on ridge, jumbled in picturesque confusion, and flanked by towering telegraph poles, store and bank and office climbed the slope of the hill. It was a new stone city which had sprung, as by enchantment, from the ashes of a wooden one, and would, purging itself of its raw crudity, rise to beauty and greatness yet.

Alton glanced towards it with a comprehensive gesture. "What a place this will be by and by," he said. "Sometimes I'm proud I was born in this country. Now I might have been raised back there at Carnaby, and taught it was every man's chief duty to dress and talk nicely, chase foxes, and think about his dinner."

"I fancy there are men who would not have thought that a great misfortune," said Seaforth dryly. "You could also, if you liked it, do so still."

Alton laughed a little grimly. "There are two kinds of men in this world, Charley, and which of them makes it go?" said he. "The ones who have too much to eat and too little to do, or the others who have to keep on doing something because they're hungry? Well, I needn't ask you, because the conundrum was answered long ago, and that kind of talking's no great use to anybody. That was a very fine mill, and I picked up a good deal down there. Still, we will scarcely want such a big one at Somasco."

"No," said Seaforth, smiling. "I don't quite see how we are going to keep the one we have busy."

"Well," said Alton, "you will by and by, and I'm going to buy three or four new saw-fixings to-day. You don't know anything about bookkeeping, Charley?"

"You have surmised correctly," said Seaforth. "I don't know that I want to."

Alton laughed, and presently stopped in front of a building on which a brass plate was inscribed, "Bookkeeping and Shorthand taught efficiently."

"I think you're wrong, and this is the place," said he. "That's a sensible man, and he just puts down what he can do. Go right in, and ask how long he'll take to make a business man of you."

Seaforth stared at him in bewilderment. "You took nothing with your breakfast, Harry?" said he.

Alton smiled a little grimly. "I haven't had any yet. I've been too busy," he said. "Walk in, Charley, while I see whether they'll lend me twenty thousand dollars at the bank yonder."

Seaforth, who, however, knew that there was no use in arguing with his comrade, shook his head. "It's a long rest you want, Harry," he said.

He went in, and Alton, proceeding down the street, presently entered the Bank of Montreal, where he left the manager divided between astonishment and admiration. He, however, came out with just as many dollars as he carried into the building, and lighting a cigar, watched the passers-by gravely as he waited for his comrade. They were of many and widely different types; men with keen, sallow faces from eastern cities hastening as though every moment lost was an opportunity wasted; others moving with the tranquillity which proclaimed them Englishmen; bronzed prospectors, and solemn axemen from the shadowy bush, with the stillness of the forest in their eyes; sailors, Japs, and Siwash sealermen. All of them appeared well fed and prosperous, and Alton was wondering whether there was any one hungry in that city, when a girl came down the stairway of the building Seaforth had entered.

Alton did not at first see her face, but he noticed that her dress was threadbare, and she was walking wearily, while the man who read dejection in her attitude was sorry for her. She stopped in the passage, glancing at the card in her hand, then drew herself up a little and with a quick, nervous movement lifted her head. Alton saw her face at last, and though it had grown a trifle hollow and pale, he recognized Miss Townshead. Then she saw him, and he moved forward hastily.

"This is a pleasure I was not expecting," he said.

He fancied for a moment that the girl would have retreated. She, however, looked at him quietly, though something in her manner checked Alton's outstretched hand.

"Are you staying here?" she said.

"No," said Alton. "I'm going away to-morrow, but I want quite a long talk with you."

"I do not wish to hear anything about Somasco," said the girl.

"Well," said Alton, who understood her, smiling, "we'll let that go by.

Now, they begin on time in this city, and as your father doesn't like his breakfast early, I'm figuring you haven't had any. We'll get some together. I've been too busy to think of mine."

Nellie Townshead was afterwards both astonished and angry with herself.

She had lost her respect for this man who had, it seemed, betrayed her confidence, and if he had given her a moment's time, would probably have dispensed with his company. As it was, however, Alton drew her out into the street with a swift forcefulness before she could frame an answer. She was also feeling very lonely and downcast then, and it was pleasant to find somebody she knew in the busy city that had apparently no place for her.

"Now," said Alton presently, "we'll go in here. It's nice and quiet for Vancouver, but I expect you know this place."

He realized that he had blundered when he saw the girl's face, but in another second she was laughing a little. "No," she said. "I'm afraid you are forgetting."

Alton apparently misunderstood her. "Well," he said, smiling, "it's quite possible you know another place that's nicer; but sit right yonder while I waken some of these people up."

Now the public breakfast is an institution in Western cities whose inhabitants frequently take no meals at home, and the appearance of the bronzed man and girl together excited no comment, while Alton was able to contrive that they had a table in a corner to themselves. His tastes were, as his companion knew, severely simple, and she wondered a little, because that establishment was one of the most expensive in the city. In the meanwhile, the man talked assiduously, if somewhat at random, and was contented when he found that he could keep the girl's attention occupied so that she scarcely noticed how often he refilled her plate. At last, as he passed a great cluster of fruit across, he said, "It's time you did the talking now. You are going right ahead in this city?"

The girl's face quivered for a second, and her fingers moved nervously, "I am afraid I have not commenced yet," she said.

"No?" said Alton. "Now Susie Thomson told me you were running a typewriter for somebody."

A tinge of carmine flickered into the cheek of his companion and faded swiftly again. "I was," she said. "The commercial school found a place for me, but it was impossible that I should stay there."

Alton half closed his eyes, and the girl noticed his big hand slowly clenched, for he fancied he understood. "It's a pity I wasn't a brother of yours, Miss Nellie. I should like to see those folks," he said. "Still, you have known me a long while, and that's something to go upon."

"I'm afraid it's not sufficient," said the girl hastily, with a little smile.

"Well," said Alton, with a sigh, "you have got hold of something better."

Miss Townshead appeared to make an endeavour to answer hopefully, but again her fingers trembled, and there was a little less courage than usual in her eyes. "Not yet, but I shall soon," she said.

"Of course," said Alton gravely. "Now how long have you been looking for it?"

"A month," said the girl without reflection, and Alton nodded as though in answer to some question he had put to himself.

"And when you went into that place this morning there was nothing again?" he said.

"No," said Miss Townshead, with a trace of despondency she could not quite conceal. "There was a post vacant, but it had some trust attached to it, and nobody knows me."

Now while he talked Alton's eyes had been busy, and he had noticed a curious weariness which he had not seen before in his companion's face.

Her fingers, which had grown white, were also very slender, and the well-worn dress, which he remembered, did not seem to hang about her as it had done. Her eyes, however, were brighter, and now and then a little florid colour flushed her cheeks, but that did not please him, for Alton had seen not a little of want and hunger in the snows of the North.

"You mean they want security?" said he.

"Yes," said Miss Townshead hastily. "Still, one of the girls I met at the school told me there was somebody wanted at a big dry goods store, and I think I had better go round and see the people now."