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Rh privileged to give a piece of it to you is surely lucky.'

She smiled, none too well pleased. I somehow felt she suspected us of suspecting her.

However, as it turned out, nothing came, after all, of the untoward incident.

Next day Charles burst upon me, triumphant. 'Well, he has shown his hand!' he cried. 'I knew he would. He has come to me to-day with—what do you think?—a fragment of gold, in quartz, from the Long Mountain.'

'No!' I exclaimed.

'Yes,' Charles answered. 'He says there's a vein there with distinct specks of gold in it, which might be worth mining. When a man begins that way you know what he's driving at! And what's more, he's got up the subject beforehand; for he began saying to me there had long been gold in Sutherlandshire—why not therefore in Ross-shire? And then he went at full into the comparative geology of the two regions.'

'This is serious,' I said. 'What will you do?'

'Wait and watch,' Charles answered; 'and the moment he develops a proposal for shares in the syndicate to work the mine, or a sum of money down as the price of his discovery—get in the police, and arrest him.'

For the next few days the Professor was more active and ardent than ever. He went peering about the rocks on every side with his hammer. He kept