Marcia nodded. "Even your graceful toast to her."

At this he settled back in his seat, laughing. "Well, I am glad I made it.
I could hardly have put it more neatly had I known she was there."

"She couldn't have missed a word. We had found a bench behind the Kodiak
skin, and she sat straight as a soldier, listening through it all. I
couldn't get her to come away; it was as though she was looking on at an
interesting play. She was just as neutral and still; only her face turned
white, and her eyes were wide as stars, and once she gripped the fur of
the Kodiak so hard I expected to see it come down. But I know she failed
to grasp the vital point of the story. I mean the point vital to her. She
doesn't understand enough about law. And I myself slept on it the night
through before I saw. It came the moment I wakened this morning, clear and
sudden as an electric flash. If David Weatherbee was mentally unbalanced
when he made that transfer, the last half interest in the Aurora mine
ought to revert to her."

Feversham started. He lifted his plump hands and let them drop forcibly on
his broad knees. But she did not notice his surprise. They were
approaching the station, and time pressed. "You know it is not a simple
infatuation with Frederic," she hurried on, "to be forgotten tomorrow. He
has loved her passionately from the day he first met her, four years ago.
He can't think of anything else; he never will do anything of credit to
the family until she is his wife. And now, with David Weatherbee safely
buried, it seems reasonably sure. Still, still, Miles, this unexpected
fortune held out to her just now might turn the scales. We have got to
keep it from her, and if those coal claims are coming up for trial, you
must frame some excuse to have them postponed."