"then i’ll tell our story right away," said the lady. "frank here and i met in ’84, in mcquire’s camp, near the rockies, where pa was working a claim. we were engaged to each other, frank and i; but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, while poor frank here had a claim that petered out and came to nothing. the richer pa grew the poorer was frank; so at last pa wouldn’t hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took me away to ’frisco. frank wouldn’t throw up his hand, though; so he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything about it. it would only have made him mad to know, so we just fixed it all up for ourselves. frank said that he would go and make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had as much as pa.