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any more of your time while we conduct the rest of the interview. Please give my regards to your husband. Both of you have been so kind and thoughtful to us. Shannon and I can’t thank you enough.”
    As he spoke, he eased the woman toward the door until she found herself standing on the front porch and could do nothing except acknowledge his thanks and depart.
    Shannon smiled as she turned toward Sun Jie. “Please. Do sit down so we can talk.”
    The girl complied.
    Until her arrival in Grand Coeur, Shannon had never seen anyone from China before, but she’d learned there were many Orientals in the gold camps. Her first thought had been that the color of their skin and the shape of their eyes were so different from those who’d peopled her world. But now, as she looked at Sun Jie, she forgot the differences and noticed only a delicate beauty.
    “How old are you, Sun Jie?”
    Without looking up she answered, “Twenty-three.”
    “Twenty-three?” Shannon could scarcely believe it. Only two years younger than herself.
    Her father returned and took the seat beside her. “Sun Jie, my daughter and I could ask you many questions, but why don’t you just tell us about yourself. Would that be all right?”
    Sun Jie nodded.
    “Why not begin with how you came to faith in Christ.”

    Breaking for lunch, Matthew left the Wells, Fargo office and strode up the hillside toward the company house. Neither Alice nor Todd had been awake when he left for work that morning, and he was curious to see how the two of them fared.
    Despite her lengthy nap Sunday afternoon, his sister hadn’t seemed any more rested by the time they sat down to supper. She’d tried to convince him that she should do the cooking, but he hadn’t let her. The point of her coming to Idaho, after all, was so she could regain her health. And the sooner that happened, the sooner he could be back to driving a coach.
    When he rounded the corner onto Randolph Street, he saw his nephew playing with the pale-gold puppy in the small yard in front of the company house. This morning he’d asked a number of people in town if they knew where the pup belonged.
    “Plenty of stray dogs hereabouts,” one man had answered. “Not like men’ve got time or place for pets.”
    Looked like the pup had a new home.
    Matthew’d had a dog as a boy. A black-and-white spaniel called Trip. Just like here, most farmers had little use for pets. A dog on a farm was expected to work almost as hard as its master. Run off critters that tried to break into the henhouse or kill a sheep. Help a man when he was hunting. That sort of thing. Trip had been the best.
    When Todd saw his uncle striding up to the gate, he pulled the puppy into his arms, pressing him tight to his chest, clearly afraid Matthew was about to announce the pup’s true owner had been found.
    “It’s okay,” he said, feeling sorry for the kid. “Looks like you can keep him.”
    “I can?” His sudden grin looked a mile wide.
    Funny how good that made Matthew feel. “How’s your ma?”
    “She’s okay. She’s restin’.” Todd stood. “She helped me name the puppy.”
    He cocked an eyebrow.
    “I’m callin’ him Nugget.”
    “Good name.”
    “It’s ’cause of his color. You know. Like gold.”
    “Yeah, I got it.” He motioned toward the front door. “Let’s go fix something to eat. Your ma’s probably hungry.”
    “I’m hungry too.”
    “Makes three of us.”
    Matthew found his sister reclining on the sofa in the parlor, a blanket covering her legs. Sunlight streamed through the large window, illuminating dust motes in the air.
    Alice smiled when she saw him. “Is it that time already?”
    “It is. Are you hungry? Todd is.”
    “I could eat something.”
    “Cold beef with cheese and some bread and butter sound okay?”
    “Whatever’s easy.” She closed her eyes, as if exhausted by the brief conversation.
    He left the parlor and went into the kitchen.
    A doctor consultation was in order, he