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It was from Joan Presby, and Bill, starting to enter the office, saw his partner's face in the light of the lamp, smiled affectionately, and then tiptoed away into the darkness, as if to avoid intrusion at such a time.
Townsend," Miss Presby said as he assisted her to alight, and her voice was sympathetic and grave. "You are unhappy. I don't blame you. I have heard all about it, and well, I have had to fight an hourly impulse to come to you ever since I heard the news. Oh, my friend, believe me, I am so sorry! So sorry!" He could not reply, lest his voice betray the emotions aroused by her kindly sympathy.
"Wells Fargo," the engineer answered. "None of the boys would say anything. He pays top wages and hires good men. Got to hand that to him. He brags there ain't no man so high-priced that he can't make money off'n him Bully Presby does. And they ain't no better miner than him on earth. He can smell pay ore a mile underground Bully Presby can."
Dick, looking up from where he sat with his tired chin resting on his tired hands and elbows, thought of the gruff Bully Presby with some interest. "Oh, so the old Rattler owner has a daughter, eh?" "I don't mean old skinflint Presby!" sharply corrected the engineer. "He ain't the only Presby in this whole United States, is he? He don't own the whole world and the name, even if he thinks he does.
"I wonder," she said, "if you would care for my estimate of you! I wonder if you would care for the estimate of those around you. It does not seem strange that you are called by the fitting sobriquet of 'Bully Presby. You are that! You are one of those shriveled souls that fatten on the toil of others that thrive on others' misfortunes and miseries. My God!
There were not many men who would have faced Bully Presby when he was in that mood; but before him stood his daughter, as brave and uncompromising as he, and fortified by something that he had allowed to run dwarf in his soul a white conscience, burning undimmed, a true knowledge of what was right and what was wrong.
He wondered how obdurate Bully Presby would prove if the time ever came when he dared ask for Joan, and whether, if the father refused, Joan's will would override this opposition.
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