He stopped short, listening to a sound that had at first been but a faint murmur, but had increased by slow degrees to a heavy roar, and he realised that which he had for the time forgotten--that they were beneath the sea, and that the crust of rock between them and the mighty waters must be very thin. CHAPTER THIRTY THREE. TOO FAST. It was too late to go up to An Morlock on the night of the discovery; but Geoffrey Trethick was there by breakfast-time, to find Rhoda in the morning-room, and Mr Penwynn not yet down. Rhoda read his face as he entered and threw a heavy bag on the table to catch her hands in his. "Half the distance got over!" he exclaimed enthusiastically. "Wheal Carnac is a success." "Is this keeping your word, Mr Trethick?" said a stern voice; but Geoffrey and Rhoda did not start apart. "I could not keep back my news, Mr Penwynn," cried Geoffrey, going to the table and seizing the bag. "News! What news?" "That you own one of the richest mines in Cornwall, Mr Penwynn," cried Geoffrey. "Look here." The banker looked at him to see if he was sane; then at the piece of ore that had been brought, which he inspected again and again through his glasses. "Very, very rich stuff," he said at last. "But is this from Wheal Carnac?" "Yes, sir, as I had hoped. We have struck an enormously rich lode. The poor fellows must have been within inches of it years ago when they left off; and, yes, of course," he said, as he recalled the noise of the water heard on the previous night, "they must have been afraid to go any farther on account of the sea." "And," said Mr Penwynn, whose customary calmness was swept away by the news, "do you mean to tell me, Trethick, that Wheal Carnac is going to turn out a very valuable property?" "I tell you, Mr Penwynn," said Geoffrey, proudly, "that unless some strange, unforeseen accident occurs to spoil the project, Wheal Carnac _has_ turned out an enormously valuable property." The banker glanced at the rich ore and then at Geoffrey, who had no hesitation in sitting down to breakfast, and drinking in with the mundane coffee the proud and joyous glances of his love. Over the meal he told them of Pengelly's researches, and of his announcement on the previous night; then of his visit and careful examination of the gallery. "There's nothing to fear," he said, "but the water; and I dare say I can guard against that." The banker became very silent, and sat after Geoffrey had ended, glancing from one to the other, reading as plainly as if it were writ in plain English of his daughter's love for the enterprising, manly young fellow at his table. Mr Penwynn was weighing matters of the heart in his own mind, just as he would have weighed any business speculation; and when from time to time his matter-of-fact worldliness bade him treat Geoffrey in a plain business-like manner, a look from Rhoda seemed to master him, and he felt as yielding as so much modelling-clay.