Then he began to puzzle about a likeness to somebody he knew.  He had remarked this before, but the likeness was faint and eluded him.  Lighting his pipe, he tried to concentrate his thoughts, and by and by made an abrupt movement.  He had it!  When he was in British Columbia, engaged on the construction of a section of the railroad that was being built among the mountains, he met a young Englishman at a mining settlement.  The lad had been ill and was not strong enough to undertake manual labor, which was the only occupation to be found in the neighborhood.  Moreover, he had lost his money, in consequence, Festing gathered, of his trusting dangerous companions.

Festing, finding that he had been well educated and articled to a civil engineer, got him a post on the railroad, where he helped the surveyors.  Dalton did well and showed himself grateful, but when Festing went to the prairie he lost touch with the lad.  The latter wrote to him once or twice, but he was too busy to keep up the correspondence.  Now he knew it was something in Dalton’s face he found familiar in the portrait.  The girl had a steady level glance, and the lad looked at one like that.  Indeed, it was his air of frankness that had persuaded Festing to get him the post.

But this led him nowhere.  He did not know the girl’s name, and if it was the same as the lad’s, it would not prove that they were related.  He pushed back his chair and got up.  It looked as if he was in some danger of becoming a romantic fool, but he put the portrait carefully away, Soon after he had done so a man came in, and sitting down, lighted a cigarette.

“I wanted to see you, Festing, but hadn’t a chance all day,” he said.  “Probably you haven’t heard that I’ve got orders where to send the staff when the bridge is finished, as it will be soon.”

Festing looked up sharply.  Kerr was his superior in the company’s service, but they were on good terms.

“I haven’t heard.  I’m anxious to know.”

Kerr told him, and Festing’s face hardened.

“So Marvin and I go on to the next prairie section!  Since they want the best men on the difficult work in the mountains, it means that we’re passed over.”

“It does, in a sense,” Kerr agreed.

“Then I think I know why you came,” said Festing, who pondered for a few moments.  He had courage and decision, and it was his habit to face a crisis boldly.  “Now,” he resumed, “I’m going to ask your opinion of my prospects if I stay on the road?”

“Your record’s good.  You’re sure of a post, so long as there’s any construction work going on.”

“A post of a kind!  Not the best kind, where a man would have a chance of making his mark?”

“Well,” said Kerr, “I think that’s what I meant.  The headquarters bosses don’t know us personally, and judge by a man’s training and the certificates he’s got.  Of course, in spite of this, talent will find its way, and sometimes one gets there by a stroke of luck.”