“It is too bad that your father isn’t here to see you, Glen,” she remarked.  “I never saw you look prettier.  If we were outside, I might suspect that the color in your cheeks is not due to health and exercise alone.”

“I am afraid you are flattering me, Nannie,” Glen laughingly replied.  “You will make me vain, if you are not careful.”

“I am not in the habit of flattering without good reason, as you well know, dear.  But I have been thinking lately what a great pity it is that you should be wasting your young life in a place like this.”

“Losing my sweetness on the desert air; is that it, Nannie?  But what about you?”

“Oh, I do not signify,” and again the sad expression came into the woman’s eyes.  “I might as well be here as anywhere else.  But with you it is different.  You need companions of your own age, and a more agreeable life than this place can provide.”

“I certainly do,” was the emphatic assent.  “I never realised it until my return from the Seminary.  What is the use of all my education if I am to spend the rest of my days here, with not a girl friend, and not a——­”

Glen floundered and paused, while her cheeks flushed a deep crimson.

“I understand, dear, so do not try to explain.  It is only natural that you should wish to be admired.  I was the same when I was your age.  But you cannot expect to find admirers up here, that is, the right kind, and especially the one above all others.”

Glen looked keenly into her companion’s eyes, as if to divine her meaning.  But she saw nothing there which might lead her to suspect that the secret of her heart was known.

“Do you think that daddy will ever consent to leave this place?” she asked.  “I have not spoken to him about it, for I was quite satisfied with this life until recently.”

“I have mentioned it to him,” was the reply.  “Ever since you were a child I have been urging him to leave the north, for your sake, if for nothing else.  He always said that he expected to do so some day, but here we are the same as ever, and I see no signs of his going.”

“I wonder what in the world daddy ever came here for, anyway?”

“Why, for trading purposes, of course.  He has done wonderfully well, and understands the Indians better than any white man in this country.  You know they will do anything for him, because he is so fair and just in all his dealings.”

“Yes, I know that, Nannie.  But daddy never goes outside, and he will not allow white men to come here.  You know as well as I do that he turns the Indians upon every white stranger who comes across the Golden Crest or by water.  Daddy never mentioned it to me, but both Sconda and Klota have told me how the miners fear this place, and think that daddy is a terrible monster.  When I asked them what became of the white men who ventured here, they wouldn’t tell me, but looked at each other in a queer way.  There is something mysterious about it all, and it has puzzled me ever since I was able to understand anything.”