"No. You've been giving me figures, now I'll give you some. This city, two miles wide, is laid out in streets three miles long. Sixty blocks long and forty wide; two thousand four hundred blocks. At one hundred dollars a front foot (that was the price, a few minutes ago), Ysleta is selling at the rate of two hundred and fifty-three million, four hundred and forty thousand dollars, unimproved." Elijah looked at her in surprise. She too had been thinking in figures for herself. "Who gave you these figures?" Helen laughed. She had noted Elijah's surprise and had divined its cause. "Wait. That isn't all. Before there can be any solid returns in this investment, it will have to be trebled at least, for sewers, pavements, sidewalks, and buildings. We will leave out odd hundred thousands, only millions count now." She smiled. "Seven hundred and fifty million dollars at least. Let's see about the population. At five hundred and twenty to the block, Ysleta should have a population of one million, two hundred and forty thousand. Quite a neat little town for a new country!" Elijah's surprise grew. Helen was not even consulting notes. "The total population of California isn't a million today. Most of these are miners, the next greater part live in towns. Hardly half are engaged in agriculture. How would Ysleta be fed, where would it get money to pay?" Elijah's face showed still greater surprise. "What put these figures into your head?" Helen laughed sarcastically. "I was advised to invest in building lots, so I looked the matter up. I am giving you these figures so you can see that I know how to appreciate what your work means." Her face sobered. She screwed paper and carbons into her machine and opened her note-book. She did not raise her eyes from her work. "Don't wait, Mr. Berl. I'll have the work done in three hours." Elijah left the office half dazed. Every word of Helen Lonsdale smote hard and deep. Not alone because of their surprising nature, but because his own work had never before appeared so worth while. Heretofore it had only appeared great in itself. Now it stood out gigantic by contrast. He was pleasantly conscious of another element that was entering his life for the first time; the sympathetic interest of an intelligent woman. Punctually at the appointed time, Elijah returned. Helen was still busily at work. "Am I too soon?" he asked. She handed him a neatly enclosed package. "That's all right, I think. Do you want to open an account, or will this be all?" Elijah spoke very deliberately. "I will open an account. I shall have more work." "Very well. I send out monthly statements to my regular customers." Her eyes were again following her note-book, her fingers working at the rattling keys. CHAPTER FOUR