Harold Edward Bindloss

“ You see in one or two respects I'm like Miss Stirling."
"You like Miss Stirling!"
There was an indignant protest in Weston's voice which brought a twinkle into Grenfell's watery eyes.
"Just so," he said. "When I know what I want the most, I set about getting it. I guess that's sense—sense that's way beyond prudence. What one wants is, in a general way, what one likes, which is a very different thing from what's good for one. It's very seldom that one finds the latter nice. ”

“ She might have painted if she'd been poor; though that's not a sure thing either."
"Why isn't it?" asked Weston, who had, however, no great interest in the matter.
"She has too level a head," Grenfell said. "It's as fatal in art as it is in some professions. You have to concentrate, hang on to the one thing, and give yourself to it. Miss Kinnaird couldn't do that. She must stop and count the cost. To make anything of this life one now and then must shut one's eyes to that. There generally has to be a sacrifice." ”

“ There is nothing the cities can give one to compare with the warmth of the log shack at night when you lie, aching a little, about the stove, telling stories with the boys, while the shingles snap and crackle under the frost. ”

“ They had flung their wagon roads over thundering rivers and grappled with stubborn rock, and among them the soft-handed man who sought advancement through a woman's favor was, as a rule, regarded with quiet scorn. She said nothing, however, and it was a few moments before Weston looked at her again.
"Anyway," he said, "I couldn't do what you suggest. I am going back into the ranges with Grenfell to look for the mine."
"Ah," said Ida, "you haven't given up that notion yet?" ”

“ Grenfell made a little sign of comprehension.
"Well," he said, "we'll go. What's more, I know that one of us is going to locate that quartz some day."
He spoke as with conviction, and then, lighting his pipe, slowly strolled away; but Weston sat beside the sinking fire for another hour or so. It was clear to him that he must find Grenfell's lost mine.
It was two days later when he next had any speech with Ida Stirling, and then, though he did not know that Mrs. Kinnaird had done her utmost to prevent it, they were crossing the lake alone in the sailboat. ”