"In a couple of months," answered Drayton. He saw that it would be
useless to protest. "I'm a clerk in the Winstanley mills, and as one of
the staff is going, I'll get a move up then. We are to be married as
soon as I do."

He said a little more on the same subject, and then after a few moments'
silence he added:

"I wonder if the Clermont business keeps your hands full, Mr. Vane?"

"It doesn't. It's a fact I'm beginning to regret."

Drayton appeared to consider.

"Well," he said, "people seem to regard you as a rising man with snap in
him, and there's a matter I might, perhaps, bring before you. Let me
explain. I'm a clerk on small pay, but I've taken an interest outside my
routine work in the lumber trade of this Province and its subsidiary
branches. I figured any knowledge I could pick up might stand me in some
money some day. So far"--he smiled ruefully--"it hasn't done so."

"Go on," prompted Vane. His curiosity was aroused.

"It has struck me that pulping spruce--paper spruce--is likely to be
scarce presently. The supply's not unlimited and the world's consumption
is going up by jumps."

"There's a good deal of timber you could use for pulp, in British
Columbia alone," Vane interposed.