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“I only said, ‘Good heavens!’ Well?” she added impatiently.

“Well?” repeated Uncle Sylvester vaguely. “Oh, that’s all. I only wanted to explain what I meant by saying I had ridden in my sleep.”

“But,” said Cousin Jane, leaning across the table with grim deliberation and emphasizing each word with the handle of her knife, “how–did–you–and–that–mule get down?”

“Oh, with slings and ropes, you know–so,” demonstrating by placing his napkin-ring in a sling made of his napkin.

“And I suppose you carried the slings and ropes with you in your five trunks!” gasped Cousin Jane.

“No. Fellows on the river brought ’em in the morning. Mighty spry chaps, those river miners.”

“Very!” said Cousin Jane.

Breakfast over, they were not surprised that their sybaritic guest excused himself from an inspection of the town in the frigid morning air, and declined joining a skating party to the lake on the ground that he could keep warmer indoors with half the exertion. An hour later found him standing before the fire in Gabriel Lane’s study, looking languidly down on his elder brother.

“Then, as far as I can see,” he said quietly, “you have made ducks and drakes of your share of the property, and that virtually you are in the hands of this man Gunn and his father.”

“You’re putting it too strongly,” said Gabriel deprecatingly. “In the first place, my investments with Gunn’s firm are by no means failures, and they only hold as security a mortgage on the forest land below the hill. It’s scarcely worth the money. I would have sold it long ago, but it had been a fancy of father’s to keep it wild land for the sake of old times and the healthiness of the town.”

“There used to be a log cabin there, where the old man had a habit of camping out whenever he felt cramped by civilization up here, wasn’t there?” said Uncle Sylvester meditatively.

“Yes,” said Gabriel impatiently; “it’s still there–but to return to Mr. Gunn. He has taken a fancy to Kitty, and even if I could not lift the mortgage, there’s some possibility that the land would still remain in the family.”

“I think I’ll drive over this afternoon and take a look at the old shanty if this infernal weather lets up.”

“Yes; but just now, my dear Sylvester, let us attend to business. I want to show you those investments.”

“Oh, certainly; trot ’em out,” said his brother, plucking up a simulation of interest as he took a seat at the table.

From a drawer of his desk Gabriel brought out a bundle of prospectuses and laid them before Uncle Sylvester.

A languid smile of recognition lit up the latter’s face. “Ah! yes,” he said, glancing at them. “The old lot: ‘Carmelita,’ ‘Santa Maria,’ and ‘Preciosa!’ Just as I imagined–and yet who’d have thought of seeing them HERE! A good deal rouged and powdered, Miss Carmelita, since I first knew you! Considerably bolstered up by miraculous testimony to your powers, my dear Santa Maria, since the day I found you out, to my cost! And you too, Preciosa!–a precious lot of money I dropped on you in the old days!”

“You are joking,” said Gabriel, with an uneasy smile. “You don’t mean to imply that this stock is old and worthless?”

“There isn’t a capital in America or Europe where for the last five years it hasn’t been floated with a new character each time. My dear Gabriel, that stock isn’t worth the paper it is printed on.”

“But it is impossible that an experienced financier like Gunn could be deceived!”

“I’m sorry to hear THAT.”

“Come, Sylvester! confess you’ve taken a prejudice against Gunn from your sudden dislike of his son! And what have you against him?”

“I couldn’t say exactly,” said Uncle Sylvester reflectively. “It may be his eyes, or only his cravat! But,” rising cheerfully and placing his hand lightly on his brother’s shoulder, “don’t YOU worry yourself about that stock, old man; I’LL see that somebody else has the worry and you the cash. And as to the land and–Kitty–well, you hold on to them both until you find out which the young man is really after.”