“Listen to me, Jim,” with desperate urgence. “Let me have this money till after Rosamund’s marriage. Let me have fifteen thousand dollars of it. So help me God, I’ll invest the rest in your name in any securities you mention. Don’t you see I’ve got to have money till after that? I can’t let Harrower know we’re bust. _You_ think he doesn’t care. But I tell you he does. What’s going to happen to Rosamund if he throws her over at the last moment?” The Colonel was silent, looking at the ash tray from beneath down-drawn, bushy brows. Allen close at his elbow continued with fevered intensity: “Rosamund’s wrapped up, body and soul, in that man. What’s she going to do if he backs out? And you know him; you’ve seen the kind he is, daft about his family and his ancient, honorable name. Even if he doesn’t want money with her do you think he, with his ancestors’ portraits hanging on the walls, wants to marry a girl whose father’s a busted mining speculator--in debt all round, who hasn’t got the means to buy his daughter a decent dress to get married in? Look at June! Are the futures of both my daughters going to be ruined because I’m broke? Good God, Parrish, you care for them! You can’t now, when you see what June’s been brought to, stand in the way of Rosamund’s happiness.” The Colonel sat looking at the ash tray for a frowning moment, then he said: “What have you done with the spring? If there had been no mineral on the land the spring would have brought you an income for years.” “I sold the land with the spring on it, after the Crown Point collapse. Blake, the hotel man in San José, bought it, and is building a hotel up there now. That’s the past. I’m not defending it, nor my life between then and now. I’m talking of my children. Put me, and what I am, out of the question. It’s my two girls that count just now.” The Colonel rose, and walking to the fireplace, stood there with his elbow on the mantel-piece, looking down at the small fire that glowed in the grate. Allen by the table watched him with anxious, waiting eyes. “I’ve got chances in Virginia,” he said. “Living on the spot there’s a different proposition from running back and forth like this. The Maybough properties that I’m interested in are looking pretty promising. Inside of a year, if they turn out as we expect, I may be able to pay you the whole sum back.” The Colonel gave a suppressed sound, short and scornful, but did not raise his head. The other went on.