I don't suppose that, even from the first, there was really any possible
way back. And, what's more, we can't even afford to stand still."
"Ah, if one only knew how far you mean to go," said his wife inwardly
trembling, but in an almost playful tone.
"Any distance, any length, of course," was the answer, in a
matter-of-fact tone, which caused Mrs. Gould to make another effort to
repress a shudder.
She stood up, smiling graciously, and her little figure seemed to be
diminished still more by the heavy mass of her hair and the long train
of her gown.
"But always to success," she said, persuasively.
Charles Gould, enveloping her in the steely blue glance of his attentive
eyes, answered without hesitation--
"Oh, there is no alternative."
He put an immense assurance into his tone. As to the words, this was all
that his conscience would allow him to say.
Mrs. Gould's smile remained a shade too long upon her lips. She
murmured--
"I will leave you; I've a slight headache. The heat, the dust, were
indeed--I suppose you are going back to the mine before the morning?"
"At midnight," said Charles Gould.
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