human
Oh, by the way, I've got something for you, Wilhemina, he said.
gpt
Put down that thing and come over here. I want to shave before I take a try at walking, anyway. See here, lady-mine. How would you like these strung on a gold chain?
human
Those are your Christmas present, Bill-Loo. Like 'em?
gpt
Do I! Billy Louise held up the biggest one and stared at it round-eyed.
human
Gold nuggets! Where in the world--
gpt
That's what I'm going to tell you--now you're through being just pals. Oh, I'd have told you, anyway, I reckon, only the play never came right, after that first little squabble we had over it. He put an arm around her, pulled her down beside him, and rubbed his bristly chin over her hair.
human
That's the wolf joke, William. I did make a lot of money wolfing--on the square. I dug out a den of pups and struck a little pocket of pretty rich gravel. I've been busy panning it out all the time I could spare, till the creek froze up.
gpt
You found a gold mine? Billy Louise gasped.
human
Why, whoever would have thought--
gpt
Oh, I wouldn't call it a gold mine, exactly, he hastened to assure her, before her imagination dazzled her.
human
There isn't enough of it. It's just a pocket. I've cleaned up about eighteen hundred dollars, this summer, besides these nuggets. Maybe more. And there's some left yet. I found both ends of the streak; it lies along a ledge on the side of a gully. I couldn't find anything except in that one streak of gravel; and when that's gone she's done, as near as I can figure. But it isn't all gone yet, lady mine. There's enough left to pay the preacher, anyway. That big fellow I found along toward the last, just before I quit working. He kissed her gravely.
gpt
Poor old girl! She's dead game, all right, and she's kind of had the cards stacked against her from the start. But things are going to come easier from now on, if I'm any prophet. It's too bad--
human
Mommie looked so peaceful, Ward. At the last, I mean. If I could have waked her up, I don't believe I'd have had the heart to do it. She never was very happy; you know that. She couldn't seem to see the happiness in little things. So many are like that. And she looked happier--at the last--than I ever saw her look before. So--I'm happier, too--since yesterday.
gpt
Are you?