It was too late to go up to An Morlock on the night of the discovery;
but Geoffrey Trethick was there by breakfast-time, to find Rhoda in the
morning-room, and Mr Penwynn not yet down.
Rhoda read his face as he entered and threw a heavy bag on the table to
catch her hands in his.
"Half the distance got over!" he exclaimed enthusiastically. "Wheal
Carnac is a success."
"Is this keeping your word, Mr Trethick?" said a stern voice; but
Geoffrey and Rhoda did not start apart.
"I could not keep back my news, Mr Penwynn," cried Geoffrey, going to
the table and seizing the bag.
"News! What news?"
"That you own one of the richest mines in Cornwall, Mr Penwynn," cried
Geoffrey. "Look here."
The banker looked at him to see if he was sane; then at the piece of ore
that had been brought, which he inspected again and again through his
glasses.
"Very, very rich stuff," he said at last. "But is this from Wheal
Carnac?"
"Yes, sir, as I had hoped. We have struck an enormously rich lode. The
poor fellows must have been within inches of it years ago when they left
off; and, yes, of course," he said, as he recalled the noise of the
water heard on the previous night, "they must have been afraid to go any
farther on account of the sea."
"And," said Mr Penwynn, whose customary calmness was swept away by the
news, "do you mean to tell me, Trethick, that Wheal Carnac is going to
turn out a very valuable property?"
"I tell you, Mr Penwynn," said Geoffrey, proudly, "that unless some
strange, unforeseen accident occurs to spoil the project, Wheal Carnac
_has_ turned out an enormously valuable property."
The banker glanced at the rich ore and then at Geoffrey, who had no
hesitation in sitting down to breakfast, and drinking in with the
mundane coffee the proud and joyous glances of his love.
Over the meal he told them of Pengelly's researches, and of his
announcement on the previous night; then of his visit and careful
examination of the gallery.
"There's nothing to fear," he said, "but the water; and I dare say I can
guard against that."
The banker became very silent, and sat after Geoffrey had ended,
glancing from one to the other, reading as plainly as if it were writ in
plain English of his daughter's love for the enterprising, manly young
fellow at his table.
Mr Penwynn was weighing matters of the heart in his own mind, just as
he would have weighed any business speculation; and when from time to
time his matter-of-fact worldliness bade him treat Geoffrey in a plain
business-like manner, a look from Rhoda seemed to master him, and he
felt as yielding as so much modelling-clay.
"It seems a great folly," he thought. "He is a stranger, an adventurer,
and yet his first venture brings me wealth. There," he said to himself,
at last, "I'm rich enough, and I'm getting old very fast; let me see her
happy if I can."
There was something so frank and friendly in his way of speaking to
Geoffrey afterwards that, without a word, Rhoda came to him, laid her
hands upon his shoulders and her cheek upon his breast.
She let it lie there for a minute or two, and then, with a glance at him
full of affection, she left his side, and, half-timidly, in a way so
very different to her usual self, she crossed to Geoffrey and placed her
hands in his.
"This is going on fast, Trethick," said Mr Penwynn, smiling, and
looking half-perplexed; "but we have only a hint of success yet. I am a
man of the world, recollect, and I want to see a big banking balance to
the credit of the mine."
"Never fear, sir, that shall follow. Only give me time."
"Well, Trethick," said Mr Penwynn, after a struggle with self, in
which, after sordidness and avarice had nearly won the victory, a look
from Rhoda's transformed, happy face turned the scale, "what am I to say
to you about a share in the prosperity?"
"Let's get the big balance in the bank first, sir," said Geoffrey,
laughing. "We will not divide a castle in the air."
"But it would be more business-like and careful if you made your bargain
now."
"So I should have thought a month ago, Mr Penwynn," said Geoffrey,
holding out his hand. "Our interests ran together then. Now--I think--
I hope--they are one, and I cannot strike bargains with the father of
the woman!--"
He stopped and looked at Rhoda, who slowly raised her eyes to his, and
then her hands, which he took softly, reverently, and kissed. Then he
turned to Mr Penwynn and finished his sentence--"most dearly love."
The banker watched them very thoughtfully, for it seemed hardly real to
him. In fact, at times he asked himself if it were not a dream.
He was roused from recollections of his own career, some five-and-twenty
years before, by Geoffrey turning to him abruptly.
"Mr Penwynn," he said, "I leave myself in your hands. I am working in
our mutual interests."
"And suppose I play false?" said Mr Penwynn.
"You can't, sir," cried Geoffrey, "with Rhoda here. If you treated me
hard, you would be behaving ill to your daughter, and that you will not
do. Now, good-morning. When will you come down and see the lode?"
"I'm not fond of going down mines," said Mr Penwynn.
"But in this case you will, I think," said Geoffrey.--"I'll answer for
your safety. Miss Penwynn--Rhoda?"
"Yes," she cried, answering his unspoken question, "I will come down
too. I shall not be afraid, and I want to christen the Rhoda vein."
"To be sure," cried Geoffrey, "the vein that is to bring us all wealth
and happiness."
He hurried away, and Rhoda ran to the window to see him pass; while Mr
Penwynn picked up the piece of tin ore, balanced it in his hands, and,
recalling certain rumours of tricks that had been played upon
mine-owners, he said to himself,--
"Suppose he should play me false?"
And directly after, when he saw Rhoda's hand waved to Trethick, as he
glanced back,--
"Suppose he should play her false?" for certain other rumours came to
his mind. "Poor girl, it would break her heart."
Just then, bright, flushed, and animated, Rhoda turned to him.
"No," he said to himself, "she has too much pride."