"This has been an eventful day," said Geoffrey, as, after softly letting himself in with the key that he had taken, he quietly took off his heavy boots, and, slippers in hand, stole up-stairs to his bedroom. As he reached the door, however, a faint sob reached his ear, and as he stood listening it was very evident that some one was in grievous trouble, sobbing and crying as if her heart would break. "That must be Miss Madge!" said Geoffrey to himself. "Poor wench! the course of her true love does not seem to run very smooth. Well, I can't comfort her, and they say that a good cry always does a woman good. So, my dear, you must have your good cry and get better. I'm afraid that women are very silly things if they are not sisters or mothers." He said the words rather cynically, but, after undressing, he lay there thinking a good deal about Madge Mullion and her love affairs; then about Bess Prawle and her witchcrafts, laughing so heartily at the people's folly that the bed rattled; then, lastly, Wheal Carnac filled his mind, and, sleeping or waking, he could think of nothing but pumping machinery, the emptying of the shaft, and the coming of the hour when he should be the first to go down to inspect the place, and then was it to be fortune or disappointment, success or failure? In this instance it was to be sleep, for at length his regular, low breathing told of a weary man's rest; while, just at the end of the passage, Madge Mullion's flushed face was full of pain, her soft auburn hair was tangled, and the pillow soaked with tears. CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN. TWO VISITORS AT AN MORLOCK. They were busy days which followed for Geoffrey Trethick, and his interviews with Mr Penwynn, in consequence of the latter's desire to keep his name out of the project, were of an evening at An Morlock, where he more than once encountered Rhoda, who pleased him by the way in which she entered into the spirit of his plans. The first time he met her was when, after a couple of visits to the mine where the Wheal Carnac machinery had been taken, and some long discussions with Pengelly, he had gone up to An Morlock to ask Mr Penwynn whether he would buy it back from the trustees of the bankrupt estate. "But that will take quite a heavy sum, Trethick," said Mr Penwynn. "What I want to do is to have the mine emptied and thoroughly tested without further expense." "Exactly so, sir," replied Geoffrey; "but, working in your interests, I felt it my duty to lay this before you. Here, to pump out, a certain amount of money must be spent in fixing hired machinery. If the mine proves good all that money is wasted. On the other hand, if you are willing to buy back this original machinery, which is, I guarantee, to be had for a fourth of its value, it will do the work better, and you have it ready to carry on future proceedings, when a vast amount would be saved." "And suppose the venture--I mean the testing--proves a failure?"