"Not at all," said Christie coldly.




CHAPTER VII


A few days after the girls had returned to San Francisco, they received
a letter from their father. His business, he wrote, would detain him in
Sacramento some days longer. There was no reason why they should return
to Devil's Ford in the heat of the summer; their host had written to
beg him to allow them a more extended visit, and, if they were enjoying
themselves, he thought it would be well not to disoblige an old friend.
He had heard they had a pleasant visit to Mr. Prince's place, and that a
certain young banker had been very attentive to Christie.

"Do you know what all this means, dear?" asked Jessie, who had been
watching her sister with an unusually grave face.

Christie whose thoughts had wandered from the letter, replied
carelessly,--

"I suppose it means that we are to wait here until father sends for us."

"It means a good deal more. It means that papa has had another reverse;
it means that the assay has turned out badly for the mine--that the
further they go from the flat the worse it gets--that all the gold they
will probably ever see at Devil's Ford is what they have already found
or will find on the flat; it means that all Devil's Ford is only a