"Steve," said Mr. Robert Maitland, as the other hesitated, not because he intended to refuse but because he was loath to say the word that so far as he was concerned would give his daughter into another man's keeping, "I think you can trust Newbold. There are men here who knew him years ago; there is abundant evidence and testimony as to his qualities; I vouch for him." "Robert," answered his brother, "I need no such testimony; the way in which he saved Enid, the way he comported himself during that period of isolation with her, his present bearing--in short, sir, if a father is ever glad to give away his daughter, I might say that I should be glad to entrust her to you. I believe you to be a man of honor and a gentleman, your family is almost as old as my own, as for the disparity in our fortunes, I can easily remedy that." Newbold smiled at Enid's father, but it was a pleasant smile, albeit with a trace of mockery and a trace of triumph in it. "Mr. Maitland I am more grateful to you than I can say for your consent and approval which I shall do my best to merit. I think I may claim to have won your daughter's heart, to have added to that your sanction completes my happiness. As for the disparity in our fortunes, while your generosity touches me profoundly, I hardly think that you need be under any uneasiness as to our material welfare." "What do you mean?" "I am a mining engineer, sir; I didn't live five years alone in the mountains of Colorado for nothing." "Pray explain yourself, sir." "Did you find gold in the hills?" asked Robert Maitland, quicker to understand. "The richest veins on the continent," answered Newbold. "And nobody knows anything about it?" "Not a soul." "Have you located the claims?" "Only one." "We'll go back as soon as the snow melts," said the younger Maitland, "and take them up. You are sure?" "Absolutely." "But I don't quite understand?" queried Mr. Stephen Maitland. "He means," said his brother, "that he has discovered gold." "And silver too," interposed Newbold. "In unlimited quantities," continued the other Maitland. "Your daughter will have more money than she knows what to do with, sir," smiled Newbold. "God bless me!" exclaimed the Philadelphian. "And that, whether she marries me or not, for the richest claim of all is to be taken out in her name," added her lover. Mr. Stephen Maitland shook the other by the hand vigorously. "I congratulate you," he said, "you have beaten me on all points. I must therefore regard you as the most eligible of suitors. Gold in these mountains, well, well!" "And may I see your daughter and plead my cause in person, sir?" asked Newbold. "Certainly, certainly. Robert, will you oblige me--" In compliance with his brother's gesture, Robert Maitland touched the bell and bade the answering servant ask Miss Maitland to come down to the library.