He stopped to get his breath and then resumed:  “You won’t find the lode, and you’ll come back feeling sick and sore.  If they keep you on at the school, you won’t want to teach; you’ll think of nothing but saving all you can and pulling out again.  You’re like father, and when he took the lone trail the blamed foolishness got such a grip of him that he never broke loose.  Well, you’ll lose your job and the next you get; in fact, you’ll come to hate any work that keeps you from the North.  But a girl can’t let herself down until she turns into a hobo.  It’s frankly unthinkable.  Pull up and cut out the crazy program before it ruins you!”

“It’s too late,” said Agatha.  “I knew what I might have to pay when I resolved to go.”

“I wonder whether you do know.  There’s something George hasn’t mentioned,” Mrs. Farnam remarked.  “I don’t think I’m prudish, but you can’t keep your adventure secret, and school managers are censorious people.  Have you thought what it may mean if they hear about your traveling through the woods with a man who’s not a relative and a band of wild half-breeds?”

“Yes,” said Agatha, coloring, “I have thought of that.”

“But it didn’t count?”

“It counted for much,” said Agatha, in a rather strained voice.

George clenched his fist.  “If you’re turned out, people will talk.  I’ll engage to stop the men, but the women are dangerous and I can’t get after them.  For my sake, drop your fool plan!”

“I can’t.  I know the risks, but I must go on.”

“Well,” said George with a gesture of helpless indignation, “I allow I’m beaten and there’s not much comfort in feeling I’ve done my duty!  I didn’t expect you’d bother about my views when I began.  Looks as if we gave young women a dangerous freedom.”

“Women have won their freedom; you didn’t give it,” Mrs. Farnam rejoined, and then turned to Agatha.  “After all, something depends on the man’s character.  You haven’t told us much about Mr. Thirlwell!”

Agatha did not reply and George said grudgingly:  “In a sense, the fellow’s all right.  I made some inquiries and must admit that I was satisfied with what I learned.”

“You both take it for granted that Agatha will not locate the vein,” Farnam interposed.  “Since Thirlwell manages a mine, he must know something about prospecting, and if he reckons the chances are pretty good—­”

“Mr. Thirlwell does not really believe I will find the ore,” Agatha said with incautious frankness.

George laughed ironically and Farnam looked surprised, while his wife asked:  “Then why is he going?”

Agatha felt embarrassed.  “I don’t know—­He made me promise I would let him come.  I think prospecting has a charm for miners—­”

She stopped as she saw Mrs. Farnam’s smile, but it was some relief to note that George did not seem to remark her hesitation.

“Well,” he said, “your statement’s, so to speak, the climax!  The only person who knows anything about the matter thinks you won’t find the vein!  The blamed proposition’s ridiculous from the beginning.”  He got up and filled his pipe with an unsteady hand.  “I’m too mad to sit still.  Guess I’ll walk round the orchard and take a smoke.”