The Little Lady of The Big House by Jack London Chapter 15 Page 8

She pressed the button that swung aside a section of filled book- shelves and revealed the tiny spiral of steel steps that led up to Dick’s work room. At the top, a similar pivoting section of shelves swung obediently to her press of button and let her noiselessly into his room. A shade of vexation passed across her face as she recognized Jeremy Braxton’s voice. She paused in indecision, neither seeing nor being seen.

“If we flood we flood,” the mine superintendent was saying. “It will cost a mint — yes, half a dozen mints — to pump out again. And it’s a damned shame to drown the old Harvest that way.”

“But for this last year the books show that we’ve worked at a positive loss,” Paula heard Dick take up.