Page:Robert Barr - Lord Stranleigh Philanthropist.djvu/306

 "Not strange at all. Perfectly natural!" cried Stranleigh, looking at her with undisguised admiration.

"My father being a most indifferent business man, it was likely that I should be a very inferior business woman. Nevertheless, with great patience, I have perused a mass of documents pertaining to my estates." Here, at a signal, the silent attendant opened a small handbag she carried, and drew from it a number of legal documents, which she placed on the table before the Baroness. The lady glanced up at Stranleigh with a smile.

"I have been told," she said, "that you discovered one of the richest gold mines in the world."

The young man almost blushed, and answered in some confusion.

"I fear that rumour gives us both credit for what we do not possess. I did not discover the mine, but—I made use of it. It contained merely surface gold, very soon exhausted, which was perhaps all to the good, for it was situated in a most unhealthy part of Africa. Yes; I got some gold from it—a shipload or two."

"Perhaps you are aware that Austria, so far as its minerals are concerned, takes first rank among the countries of Europe. Three million