makes in the course of our daily
thoughts can be felt in a vague and poignant discomfort of mind. It hurt Charles
Gould to feel that never more, by no effort of will, would he be able to think
of his father in the same way he used to think of him when the poor man was
alive. His breathing image was no longer in his power. This consideration,
closely affecting his own identity, filled his breast with a mournful and angry
desire for action. In this his instinct was unerring. Action is consolatory. It
is the enemy of thought and the friend of flattering illusions. Only in the
conduct of our action can we find the sense of mastery over the Fates. For his
action, the mine was obviously the only field. It was imperative sometimes to
know how to disobey the solemn wishes of the dead. He resolved firmly to make
his disobedience as thorough (by way of atonement) as it well could be. The mine
had been the cause of an absurd moral disaster; its working must be made a
serious and moral success. He owed it to the dead man's memory. Such were the -
properly speaking - emotions of Charles Gould. His thoughts ran upon the means
of raising a large amount of capital in San Francisco or elsewhere; and
incidentally there occurred to him also the general reflection that the counsel
of the departed must be an unsound guide. Not one of them could be aware
beforehand what enormous changes the death of any given individual may produce
in the very aspect of the world.
    The latest phase in the history of the mine Mrs. Gould knew from personal
experience. It was in essence the history of her married life. The mantle of the
Goulds' hereditary position in Sulaco had descended amply upon her little
person; but she would not allow the peculiarities of the strange garment to
weigh down the vivacity of her character, which was the sign of no mere
mechanical sprightliness, but of an eager intelligence. It must not be supposed
that Mrs. Gould's mind was masculine. A woman with a masculine mind is not a
being of superior efficiency; she is simply a phenomenon of imperfect
differentiation - interestingly barren and without importance. Doña Emilia's
intelligence being feminine led her to achieve the conquest of Sulaco, simply by
lighting the way for her unselfishness and sympathy. She could converse
charmingly, but she was not talkative. The wisdom of the heart having no concern
with the erection or demolition of theories any more than with the defence of
prejudices, has no random words at its command. The words it pronounces have the