"I know it was, and it was kept too." Elijah turned to his desk and became absorbed in his work. Whether or not Helen grasped the fact that her indirect question of Elijah remained unanswered, she pursued it no farther. Toward noon, Elijah went to the safe which stood in the back of the office. He opened the door, took from his pocket a bunch of keys and unlocked his private box. Helen's back was towards him. Without taking his eyes from her, he drew from his pocket a small package and slipped it beneath a pile of papers. Then he closed and locked the door and returned the keys to his pocket. He reseated himself, swinging his chair from his desk. "Are you busy, Helen?" "Not very." "What do you think this business means?" "What, the run on the Pacific?" "Yes." "It's the beginning of the end, and I'm glad it's come." Helen spoke with decision. "The end of everything?" "No; only a weeding out. It was bound to come, only I didn't think it would be so soon." "I don't feel so sure that anything will be left." "Things that are worth while, will be." Elijah made no immediate reply. He could not get away from the thought of the thing that he had done; the thing that Helen had almost commanded him not to do. He knew what she would think could she know of the packet which he had stealthily slipped into his private box. He raised his eyes, to meet Helen's looking frankly into his own, or--was it his imagination? Was there an anxious questioning, born of a half suspicion? He put the thought from him. "Ysleta was worth while," he ventured. "In itself, it was." Helen's face was firm with conviction. "But these scheming rascals have made it not worth while for a long time. There will be room for Ysleta if Las Cruces is managed right." "It's going to be." Elijah spoke with no less conviction. "Yes, it's going to be just so long as you keep clear of boomers' methods. Not one of the boomers has cared a snap of his fingers for Ysleta's future. Every one has wanted all he could get, now." "Now?" Elijah repeated. "Yes, now; but we have to _wait_ for things that are worth while." "Good Heavens, Helen! Haven't I waited?" "Wait a little longer." Her voice was eager, almost pleading. "About the Pico ranch?" "Just that, Elijah." Helen made no attempt to restrain the sigh of relief that escaped her. "I can't wait, Helen. You saw where that ditch line was going. Others will see it. You saw that only a hill lay between it and Pico's ranch. Others will see it. A tunnel suggested itself to you. It will suggest itself to others. We were the first to see these things, why should we not take advantage of them?" "But Seymour and Ralph, Elijah. It isn't fair to them." "I have given them enough." "Yes, but--" Elijah interrupted her.