Yet, if she went North, she must refuse an alluring offer and throw away an opportunity for making her mark.  Her ambition must be abandoned, and if she failed to find the silver, she would have to resume her monotonous duties at the school.  She was beginning to find them strangely dreary.  Then George had warned her against sacrificing her youth, and perhaps all her life, to the pursuit of a shadow.  Her friends did not believe in the silver, and she doubted if she could find the vein.  Failure might leave her sour and the hardships break her health; she would come back with her savings exhausted to toil and deny herself again.  Yet the lode was waiting to be found somewhere in the North, and the duty she had accepted long since must come first.

“Then I’m sorry I cannot go,” she said with an effort.

The man looked surprised.  “The voyage is short and comfortable if one travels by a big, fast boat.  I expect to work hard, but you would have some leisure and opportunities for seeing famous pictures, statues, and laboratories.  Then you would meet eminent chemists and learn something from their talk.  In fact, the visit ought to be of help in many ways, and, if you afterwards left my employment, make it easy for you to get another post.”

Agatha struggled for calm.  He had rather understated than exaggerated the reasons why she ought to go.  Then Toronto and Montreal were the only cities she knew, and she was offered a chance of seeing some of the capitals of Europe, with their treasures of art, and meeting men who had made famous scientific discoveries.  It would help her more than many certificates if later on she resumed her work of teaching.

“Ah,” she said in a strained voice, “please don’t try to show me all that I shall miss!  I want to go so very much, but it’s impossible.  If I went, I should neglect a duty that has a stronger claim.”

He bowed.  “Then, although I’m sorry, there’s nothing to be said.  Would it be an impertinence if I asked about the duty?”

Agatha was silent for a moment or two.  Her refusal had cost her much; indeed, she was afraid to think what she had lost and felt she must do something to banish the crushing sense of disappointment.

“No,” she said impulsively; “I cannot resent anything you ask.  I must start North soon to look for a vein of ore my father told me about, I’m forced to make the search, but it would be a long story if I told you why.”  She hesitated and then went on:  “I wonder whether you would look at this analysis and tell me what you think—­I mean if you think there is ore of that kind on the Northern slope of the Ontario watershed.”

He took the paper she had long carried about and studied it for a time.  Then he said:  “It is not the ore a practical miner would expect to strike, but practical miners are sometimes deceived.  As a rule, they know more about shafts and adits than scientific geology.”

“Would you expect to find the ore where I have told you?”