CHAPTER VIII
THE MIDNIGHT CONFERENCE
FOR hours after dinner the family at the Rainbow Lodge sat in their bigliving room talking over matters with Ralph Merrit. Better than he hadbeen able to explain to Jean he now made the present situation clear tohis listeners. And by his frankness in acknowledging that he had not yetbeen able to make up his mind as to what was best to be done for thefuture of Rainbow Mine he restored Jim's and Jack's full confidence.
The discussion was absorbing; only Frieda, after an hour or so of whatseemed to her a repetition of the same conversation, grew sleepy and nowand then dozed for a few moments with her yellow head noddinguncomfortably.
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 theRainbow Mine for a time. Later, if he saw his way clear by spendingtheir capital and buying new machinery, they might become a great dealwealthier. And while naturally the first of this information wasdiscouraging, the second idea had kept Frieda quite wide awake until teno'clock. Earlier in the evening she had felt frightened at the thoughtof the miners striking and the trouble that they might be going to haveon the ranch for the next few days; but Jim and Jack did not appearalarmed, so after a time her nervousness was partly allayed.
They both had declared that Ralph must not for a moment considersurrendering to the men; for apparently they intended not only todismiss him but thereafter to run the Rainbow Mine with no considerationfor its owners. It might take a few days for Ralph to get togetheranother group of capable miners, but the delay was the only annoyance.For no one appeared to believe that the old men would make trouble. Theywere merely trying to bluff and threaten Ralph.
Jean, having seen with her own eyes the bitterness and dissatisfactionamong the workers, was not so completely convinced. Nevertheless shesaid nothing of her own doubt, not regarding her opinion in the matteras of special value. Moreover, she enjoyed seeing Ralph Merrit so sureof himself once more and so determined to swing things to a successfulissue. It recalled the days when he had first been summoned to help themwith his judgment as to whether or not Rainbow Mine contained sufficientgold to make it of importance. And what a change in their lives theirwealth had created for them! At least Jean had previously believed thisto be true, but studying the faces in the little group about her tonightshe was not so sure of the others. Assuredly Ruth and Jim, who weresitting on a sofa with Ruth's hand slipped quietly and quiteunconsciously inside Jim's, were not dependent for their happiness onthe possession of a great deal of money. And there was Jack leaning bothelbows on a small table nearby with her face in her hands, listeningintently to every word Ralph was saying. Had she ever seen her cousinmore animated or more interested? Well, she had always known that themere spending of money had never given Jack the same degree of pleasurethat it had her. It was "making things happen" that Jack cared most for,and now that difficulties were presenting themselves in regard to theRainbow Mine, actually Jack seemed almost to be enjoying the prospect.Frieda was nodding, so that even she could not be very deeply concernedat the prospect of poverty, and Olive could certainly not be accused ofbeing mercenary, since she was calmly turning her back on a largefortune rather than fulfil the conditions of her grandmother's will.
Jean smiled and sighed almost in the same breath. She could not pretendto any such highmindedness, she was afraid that she was the kind of girlwhom 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 couldbuy. And yet, after all, the wealth of Rainbow Mine was not hers: itbelonged to Jack and Frieda, though they had always shared their incomewith 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 deeperdown under the earth it should hold a larger fortune, was it not stillher place to make her own future? With a start Jean came to herself. Theclock had just struck midnight and Ralph had risen.
"As soon as things straighten out, Mr. Colter, I am going to ask you tolet me send for two or three of the big mining experts. For of courseyou would want their opinion as well as mine. I will tell the men yourdecision in the morning. Thank all of you for your faith in me andgood-night."
But Ralph's movement must have awakened Frieda, for she sat up suddenlyand 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 hundredyears old. Why can't you ever ask a young man's advice, RalphMerrit--you are young yourself?"
And then as everybody laughed, Jack pinched her sister's inviting pinkcheek.
"What a foolish baby you are, Frieda Ralston," she declared, "I hardlythink that Ralph's mining experts will be of the slightest interest toyou."
After Jim and Ralph had gone out in the hall together and were talkingquietly Jean slipped out after them.
"Don't you think, Jim," she asked, "that Ralph had better not go down tohis old quarters to sleep tonight? You know his room is in the samehouse with half a dozen of the miners and of course nothing willhappen, 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 onthe divan in the living room tonight, won't you? We haven't a spareroom, 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 girlfor her interest.
"No, Jim," he said, "you and Jean are both awfully kind, but the onething that the fellows I disagreed with today must not think is that Iam in the least afraid of them. Oh, I realize I am up against a prettytough proposition--they are not the kind to back down easily and areaccustomed to getting their own way, but your faith and belief inme----"
Ralph stopped, his voice a little husky. "Good-night, Jean, and thankyou." Then he turned to Jim Colter. "I wonder if you would mind walkinga short distance with me. There is something else I must tell you that Icould not mention in there tonight."
And as the two men disappeared Jean had a sudden feeling ofthankfulness. How curiously things turned out. If she had not chanced tobe on the porch at Rainbow Lodge that afternoon she might never haveheard Ralph Merrit's confession. If the men had not summoned him fortheir talk just when they did, Ralph would have gone away from RainbowMine 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 fondof Ralph for several years and would have been sorry to have him vanishout of their lives. She was glad too that he had recovered from the ideathat he once had of caring for her more than the other girls. Or atleast Jean believed that she was glad, for it is a very rare woman whocan honestly rejoice at the loss of a lover, even though he continues tobe her friend.
Out in the dark together Jim Colter put his great arm across the youngerman's shoulder. "Yes, I know it is more serious, boy, than we pretendedin there, but I'm with you to the uttermost and things will turn out allright. It may not hurt my girls to have less money for a while, thoughof course it would come pretty hard on them now to be poor, after wehave taught them such extravagant tastes. But in any case, old fellow,the fault will not be yours and you must not take the result tooseriously."
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 withyour wife and the girls--somehow I couldn't. For I let you say you wouldstand by me and have faith in me when all the time I knew I wasn't worthit."
Then Ralph made the same confession to his man friend and employer as hehad to Jean earlier in the day. He told him that he had been speculatingsteadily for the past six months. To Jim's question as to why he felt hehad to grow rich in such a hurry, again Ralph made no reply. When theolder man put out his hand to say good-night, Ralph Merrit held it for amoment longer than usual.
"Jim," he asked, "may I make
a promise to you? This has been one of thebiggest days in my life. I came home this afternoon pretty welldown-and-out, intending to give up my work and pretty much everything Iwant to attain in the world. Then--well, wonderful, unexpected thingsbegan to happen. Now I hope I am a man again. So I want to promise, notso much you as myself, that I am going to cut this speculating businessout absolutely and that I am going to keep on being a man if I canmanage it, no matter what happens."
There was something in Ralph's words and in his manner that made Jim'sblue eyes shine and gave the extra warmth and heartiness to the farewellclasp of his hand. Moreover, he had suddenly recalled a confidence thatJack had made to him in regard to Ralph Merrit's feeling for Jean. Andif ever there was a man who knew how to offer sympathy and understandingto a discouraged lover, that man was Jim Colter.
The Ranch Girls at Home Again Page 9
