Page:Hard-pan; a story of bonanza fortunes (IA hardpanbonanza00bonnrich).pdf/125

Rh "Yes, or quarterly—according to the way the stock is drawn."

"But is n't there some that is non-assessable? I 've surely heard that expression."

"In other States, but in California—well, possibly there might be."

"I 'm sure there must be. This of my father's must have been." She came quite close to him in her earnestness, and looked at him with an expression of uneasiness on her face.

"It must have been that kind," she insisted; "probably you never heard of this mine."

"Probably I never did," he answered grimly.

They walked on for a few moments in silence. There was a visible drop in her spirits. Stealing a side glance at her, he could see that she was looking down, evidently in troubled thought. Suddenly she raised her head and said:

"Well, I don't really know anything about it. Only I do hope one thing, and that is that it will go on paying."

"Don't bother about that," he said; "it will."

"What makes you think it will?"

He turned on her roughly and said:

"Don't you think it will?"

"I 'd like to think so," she answered, abashed by his unusual manner; "but I 've learned that it's foolish to hope. I try not to."

He gave a short, disagreeable laugh and said: