“I am his daughter; but I believe the lode was not in Ontario.”

“Then it was in the neighboring Territories.  I expect your father often talked to you about his find.”

“He did,” said Agatha.  “Still I don’t see—­”

Stormont smiled.  “You wonder where I am leading you?  Well, it’s part of my occupation to investigate mining propositions, and where the owners want to sell, to find a buyer.  Sometimes I lend them money to improve the claim.  In fact, I imagine you would find me useful in many ways.”

“I cannot sell the lode before I know where it is.”

“That’s obvious,” Stormont agreed.  “The difficulty, however, might be overcome, and that’s where I could help.  But, to begin with, am I to understand your father altogether failed to relocate the claim?  Although he filed no record, he may have found a clue.”

Agatha gave him a keen glance.  He had said nothing to excite much suspicion, but she felt that he was going too fast and asking too many questions.

“I did not see him after he went back to the North.  I suppose you know he lost his life on his last journey?”

Stormont made a sympathetic gesture.  “I heard so.  But, no doubt, he wrote to you and told you about his prospecting.”

“Yes,” said Agatha, with some reserve.  “He sent me letters.”

“Then I expect he told you where he went.  It’s possible that a study of the letters would give an experienced prospector a useful hint.”

Agatha pondered.  She had, with the help of her map, followed Strange’s journeys, and his letters showed where the silver was not to be found, which eliminated large belts of country.  Then if Stormont knew much about mining and was accustomed to negotiate the sale of claims, his curiosity implied that her father’s belief in the lode was well grounded.  This was encouraging, but the man was a stranger and she felt a vague distrust.

“The person who finds a vein of ore and files his record is registered as its owner when he has complied with the legal formalities,” she said.

“That is so,” Stormont agreed with a smile.  “You feel that if you parted with the letters, you would run some risk of losing the claim?  Well, one must trust one’s agent to some extent, and I’ll make you two propositions.  You can give me all the information you have about the ore, and, if I think it worth while, I will bear the cost of prospecting and development, and give you a large share of the profits when the mine is worked.  Or I’ll pay you a fixed sum for the letters and any clues you can supply.”

“After you have read the letters?”

“Certainly.  You can’t expect me to make a plunge of this kind in the dark.  Anyhow, if you decide on the first plan, you will be a partner and have some control.  It’s plain that you will benefit by my experience.”

For a few moments Agatha was tempted to agree.  She needed help and could not begin the search for some time, while a man who knew all about mining could undertake it with a better chance of success.  Still she saw that much depended on the man’s honesty, and she had no grounds for trusting Stormont.