Even then they were almost
feverishly loath to leave the subject, as if the Past, at least, was
secure to them still, and they were even doubtful of their own free and
full accord in the Present. Then they slipped rather reluctantly
into their later experiences, but with scarcely the same freedom or
spontaneity; and it was noticeable that these records were elicited from
Barker by Stacy or from Stacy by Barker for the information of Demorest,
often with chaffing and only under good-humored protest. "Tell Demorest
how you broke the 'Copper Ring,'" from the admiring Barker, or, "Tell
Demorest how your d----d foolishness in buying up the right and plant of
the Ditch Company got you control of the railroad," from the mischievous
Stacy, were challenges in point. Presently they left the table, and, to
the astonishment of the waiters who removed the cloth, common brier-wood
pipes, thoughtfully provided by Barker in commemoration of the Past,
were lit, and they ranged themselves in armchairs before the fire quite
unconsciously in their old attitudes. The two windows on either side of
the hearth gave them the same view that the open door of the old cabin
had made familiar to them, the league-long valley below the shadowy bulk
of the Black Spur rising in the distance, and, still more remote, the
pallid snow-line that soared even beyond its crest.
As in the old time, they were for many moments silent; and then, as in
the old time, it was the irrepressible Barker who broke the silence.
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