“Ah,” said Agatha, “I have not seen the wilderness, but next summer I hope to make an exploring trip.”

“But where?”

“To the Shadow River and on into the Territories,” she answered quietly.  Thirlwell looked hard at her, and she smiled.  “Yes; if things go well with me, I mean to look for the silver ore.”

“Now I begin to understand!  This is why you wanted to learn to manage a canoe and train yourself to walking through the bush.  But it’s a ridiculous undertaking.  Your father, who found it, could not locate the ore again.”

“I may be luckier.  Luck counts for something when you go prospecting, doesn’t it?”

“Success in prospecting is often due to luck,” Thirlwell admitted.  “But it’s a very rough country where no food can be got.  You will need canoes, tools, and tents, and two or three good packers to carry the outfit across the divides.  This would be expensive.  Then I doubt if you are strong enough to bear the strain; I imagine very few women could do so without breaking down.”

“You have seen how I have tried to harden myself, but I have made other preparations.  It’s some time since I resolved to go, and every month I put by a little money.  By next summer I ought to have enough.”

“I wonder whether you found it easy to save.”

“I did not,” said Agatha, smiling.  “Sometimes it was very hard; I should not have taken this holiday only that I wanted to get used to the lakes and woods.  I am grateful for all you have taught me.”

A thought that pleased him took shape in Thirlwell’s brain, but he used some restraint.  He must not encourage the girl in what he imagined was folly.

“The chance of your finding the vein is very small, and there’s another thing.  You have told me your father’s story, and I have met men like him in the woods, who had wasted their money and lost their health following an illusion.  The lode, so to speak, haunted him and made him restless when he might have been content at home, and then drove him into the wilds when he was old.  It’s dangerous to give oneself up to a fixed idea, and you mustn’t let the infatuation get hold of you.  It will bring you disappointment and trouble.”

“The warning’s too late,” said Agatha in a curious quiet voice.  “The infatuation has got hold of me, but one must follow one’s bent, and life is tame if one does nothing that is not prudent and safe.  Besides, romantic dreams sometimes come true.”

“Not often,” said Thirlwell dryly.  “But why do you really want to go?”

“The silver is mine; my father gave it me.  It looked as if my brother would prosper without his help, and I think he loved me best.  Perhaps this was because I believed in the vein.”

Thirlwell shook his head.  “I cannot think you greedy.”

“Then,” said Agatha with a flush of color, “if you must have the truth, I feel I must finish my father’s work.  His son and his best friends thought him the victim of his imagination and the lode a joke; but if I succeed, his dreams will be justified.”