THE MIDNIGHT CONFERENCE
FOR hours after dinner the family at the Rainbow Lodge sat in their big
living room talking over matters with Ralph Merrit. Better than he had
been able to explain to Jean he now made the present situation clear to
his listeners. And by his frankness in acknowledging that he had not yet
been able to make up his mind as to what was best to be done for the
future of Rainbow Mine he restored Jim's and Jack's full confidence.
The discussion was absorbing; only Frieda, after an hour or so of what
seemed to her a repetition of the same conversation, grew sleepy and now
and then dozed for a few moments with her yellow head nodding
uncomfortably.
Why stay awake longer when she understood the state of things perfectly?
Ralph had said that they would probably have much less money out of the
Rainbow Mine for a time. Later, if he saw his way clear by spending
their capital and buying new machinery, they might become a great deal
wealthier. And while naturally the first of this information was
discouraging, the second idea had kept Frieda quite wide awake until ten
o'clock. Earlier in the evening she had felt frightened at the thought
of the miners striking and the trouble that they might be going to have
on the ranch for the next few days; but Jim and Jack did not appear
alarmed, so after a time her nervousness was partly allayed.
They both had declared that Ralph must not for a moment consider
surrendering to the men; for apparently they intended not only to
dismiss him but thereafter to run the Rainbow Mine with no consideration
for its owners. It might take a few days for Ralph to get together
another group of capable miners, but the delay was the only annoyance.
For no one appeared to believe that the old men would make trouble. They
were merely trying to bluff and threaten Ralph.
Jean, having seen with her own eyes the bitterness and dissatisfaction
among the workers, was not so completely convinced. Nevertheless she
said nothing of her own doubt, not regarding her opinion in the matter
as of special value. Moreover, she enjoyed seeing Ralph Merrit so sure
of himself once more and so determined to swing things to a successful
issue. It recalled the days when he had first been summoned to help them
with his judgment as to whether or not Rainbow Mine contained sufficient
gold to make it of importance. And what a change in their lives their
wealth had created for them! At least Jean had previously believed this
to be true, but studying the faces in the little group about her tonight
she was not so sure of the others. Assuredly Ruth and Jim, who were
sitting on a sofa with Ruth's hand slipped quietly and quite
unconsciously inside Jim's, were not dependent for their happiness on
the possession of a great deal of money. And there was Jack leaning both
elbows on a small table nearby with her face in her hands, listening
intently to every word Ralph was saying. Had she ever seen her cousin
more animated or more interested? Well, she had always known that the
mere spending of money had never given Jack the same degree of pleasure
that it had her. It was "making things happen" that Jack cared most for,
and now that difficulties were presenting themselves in regard to the
Rainbow Mine, actually Jack seemed almost to be enjoying the prospect.
Frieda was nodding, so that even she could not be very deeply concerned
at the prospect of poverty, and Olive could certainly not be accused of
being mercenary, since she was calmly turning her back on a large
fortune rather than fulfil the conditions of her grandmother's will.
Jean smiled and sighed almost in the same breath. She could not pretend
to any such highmindedness, she was afraid that she was the kind of girl
whom she had heard people describe as "loving luxury like a cat."
Certainly she did care more than she should for beautiful clothes,
handsome houses, travel, society and everything that money alone could
buy. And yet, after all, the wealth of Rainbow Mine was not hers: it
belonged to Jack and Frieda, though they had always shared their income
with her as though she had been their sister instead of their cousin.
Whether their gold mine had now ceased to be of value or whether deeper
down under the earth it should hold a larger fortune, was it not still
her place to make her own future? With a start Jean came to herself. The
clock had just struck midnight and Ralph had risen.
"As soon as things straighten out, Mr. Colter, I am going to ask you to
let me send for two or three of the big mining experts. For of course
you would want their opinion as well as mine. I will tell the men your
decision in the morning. Thank all of you for your faith in me and
good-night."
But Ralph's movement must have awakened Frieda, for she sat up suddenly
and yawned. "Who is it you are going to send for to come to the ranch?"
she demanded unexpectedly. "Oh, I do hope some one who isn't a hundred
years old. Why can't you ever ask a young man's advice, Ralph
Merrit--you are young yourself?"
And then as everybody laughed, Jack pinched her sister's inviting pink
cheek.
"What a foolish baby you are, Frieda Ralston," she declared, "I hardly
think that Ralph's mining experts will be of the slightest interest to
you."
After Jim and Ralph had gone out in the hall together and were talking
quietly Jean slipped out after them.
"Don't you think, Jim," she asked, "that Ralph had better not go down to
his old quarters to sleep tonight? You know his room is in the same
house with half a dozen of the miners and of course nothing will
happen, but I don't believe the men are exactly devoted to him and--"
Jean put her hand coaxingly on the young man's coat sleeve. "Sleep on
the divan in the living room tonight, won't you? We haven't a spare
room, but I assure you it is most comfortable."
Jim nodded. "That isn't a bad idea, Ralph."
But the younger man shook his head, although his eyes thanked the girl
for her interest.
"No, Jim," he said, "you and Jean are both awfully kind, but the one
thing that the fellows I disagreed with today must not think is that I
am in the least afraid of them. Oh, I realize I am up against a pretty
tough proposition--they are not the kind to back down easily and are
accustomed to getting their own way, but your faith and belief in
me----"
Ralph stopped, his voice a little husky. "Good-night, Jean, and thank
you." Then he turned to Jim Colter. "I wonder if you would mind walking
a short distance with me. There is something else I must tell you that I
could not mention in there tonight."
And as the two men disappeared Jean had a sudden feeling of
thankfulness. How curiously things turned out. If she had not chanced to
be on the porch at Rainbow Lodge that afternoon she might never have
heard Ralph Merrit's confession. If the men had not summoned him for
their talk just when they did, Ralph would have gone away from Rainbow
Mine feeling that he had made a failure of his life and of his work.
And Jean's pretty brown eyes filled with tears. They had all been fond
of Ralph for several years and would have been sorry to have him vanish
out of their lives. She was glad too that he had recovered from the idea
that he once had of caring for her more than the other girls. Or at
least Jean believed that she was glad, for it is a very rare woman who
can honestly rejoice at the loss of a lover, even though he continues to
be her friend.
Out in the dark together Jim Colter put his great arm across the younger
man's shoulder. "Yes, I know it is more serious, boy, than we pretended
in there, but I'm with you to the uttermost and things will turn out all
right. It may not hurt my girls to have less money for a while, though
of course it would come pretty hard on them now to be poor, after we
have taught them such extravagant tastes. But in any case, old fellow,
the fault will not be yours and you must not take the result too
seriously."
Ralph had not spoken, but he now braced himself and drew a slow breath.
"Look here, Jim, I didn't say all I ought to have said in there with
your wife and the girls--somehow I couldn't. For I let you say you would
stand by me and have faith in me when all the time I knew I wasn't worth
it."
Then Ralph made the same confession to his man friend and employer as he
had to Jean earlier in the day. He told him that he had been speculating
steadily for the past six months. To Jim's question as to why he felt he
had to grow rich in such a hurry, again Ralph made no reply. When the
older man put out his hand to say good-night, Ralph Merrit held it for a
moment longer than usual.
"Jim," he asked, "may I make a promise to you? This has been one of the
biggest days in my life. I came home this afternoon pretty well
down-and-out, intending to give up my work and pretty much everything I
want to attain in the world. Then--well, wonderful, unexpected things
began to happen. Now I hope I am a man again. So I want to promise, not
so much you as myself, that I am going to cut this speculating business
out absolutely and that I am going to keep on being a man if I can
manage it, no matter what happens."
There was something in Ralph's words and in his manner that made Jim's
blue eyes shine and gave the extra warmth and heartiness to the farewell
clasp of his hand. Moreover, he had suddenly recalled a confidence that
Jack had made to him in regard to Ralph Merrit's feeling for Jean. And
if ever there was a man who knew how to offer sympathy and understanding
to a discouraged lover, that man was Jim Colter.