THE CALIFORNIANS 
 
 ' GERTRVDE ATHERTON
 
 THE CALIFORNIANS
 
 By the Same Author. 
 
 PATIENCE SPARHAWK AND HER TIMES. 
 His FORTUNATE GRACE. 
 THE DOOMSWOMAN. 
 
 (Companion volumes to "The Californians.") 
 
 A WHIRL ASUNDER. 
 
 AMERICAN WIVES AND ENGLISH HUSBANDS. 
 
 A DAUGHTER OF THE VINE (ready shortly).
 
 THE CALIFORNIANS 
 
 GERTRUDE ATHERTON 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 A. WESSELS COMPANY 
 1906
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1898 
 
 BY JOHN LANE 
 All rightt reserved 
 
 FIFTH EDITION 
 
 PRESS OF 
 
 BRAUNWORTH & CO. 
 
 BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTER* 
 
 BROOKLYN, N. Y.
 
 PS 
 
 CI2. 
 \\0lo 
 
 TO N. L.
 
 BOO K I
 
 The Californians 
 
 BOO K I 
 
 i 
 
 " I WON'T study another word to-day ! " Helena 
 tipped the table, spilling the books to the floor. " I 
 want to go out in the sun. Go home, Miss Phelps, 
 that 's a dear. Anyhow, it won't do you a bit of good 
 to stay." 
 
 Miss Phelps, young herself, glanced angrily at her 
 briery charge, longingly at the brilliant blue of sky and 
 bay beyond the long window. 
 
 " I leave it to Miss Yorba." Her voice, fashioned 
 to cut, vibrated a little with the vigour of its roots. 
 "You seem to forget, Miss Belmont, that this is not 
 your house." 
 
 "But you are just as much my teacher as hers. 
 Besides, I always know what Magdale*na wants, and I 
 know that she has had enough United States history 
 for one afternoon. When I go to England I '11 get 
 their version of it. We 're brought up to love their 
 literature and hate them ! Such nonsense "
 
 4 The Californians 
 
 "My dear Miss Belmont, I beg you to remember 
 that you have but recently passed your sixteenth 
 birthday " 
 
 " Oh, of course ! If I 'd been brought up in Boston, 
 I 'd be giving points to Socrates and wondering why 
 there were so many old maids in the world. However, 
 that 's not the question at present. ' Le"na, do tell dear 
 Miss Phelps that she needs an afternoon off, and that if 
 she does n't take it I '11 walk downstairs on my head." 
 
 Helena, even at indeterminate sixteen, showed 
 promise of great beauty, and her eyes sparkled with 
 the insolence of the spoiled child who already knew 
 the power of wealth. The girl she addressed had only 
 a pair of dark intelligent eyes to reclaim an uncomely 
 face. Her skin was swarthy, her nose crude, her 
 mouth wide. The outline of her head was fine, and 
 she wore her black hair parted and banded closely 
 below her ears. Her forehead was large, her expres 
 sion sad and thoughtful. Don Roberto Yorba was 
 many times more a millionaire than "Jack" Belmont, 
 but Magdalena was not a spoiled child. 
 
 "I don't know," she said, with a marked hesitation 
 of speech ; " I 'd like to go out, but it does n't seem 
 right to take advantage of the fact that papa and 
 mamma are away " 
 
 "What they don't know won't hurt them. I 'd like 
 to have Don Roberto under my thumb for just one 
 week. He 'd get some of the tyranny knocked out of 
 him. Jack is a model parent " 
 
 Magdatena flushed a dark ugly red. "I wish you
 
 The Californians 5 
 
 would not speak in that way of papa," she said. "I 
 I well I 'm afraid he would n't let you come here 
 to study with me if he knew it." 
 
 " Well, I won't." Helena flung her arms round her 
 friend and kissed her warmly. " I would n't hurt his 
 Spanish dignity for the world ; only I do wish you hap 
 pened to be my real own cousin, or that would be 
 much nicer my sister." 
 
 Magdalna's troubled inner self echoed the wish; 
 but few wishes, few words, indeed, passed her lips. 
 
 "Well?" demanded Miss Phelps, coldly. "What 
 is it to be? Do you girls intend to study any more 
 to-day, or not? Because " 
 
 " We don't," said Helena, emphatically. And 
 Magdatena, who invariably gave way to her friend's 
 imperious will, nodded deprecatingly. Miss Phelps 
 immediately left the room. 
 
 " She 's glad to get out," said Helena, wisely. " She 
 hates me, and I know she 's got a beau. Come ! 
 Come ! " She pulled Magdatena from her chair, and 
 the two girls ran to the balcony beyond the windows 
 and leaned over the railing. 
 
 " There 's nothing in all the world," announced 
 Helena, "so beautiful as California San Francisco 
 included in spite of whirlwinds of dust, and wooden 
 houses, and cobblestone streets, and wooden sidewalks. 
 One can always live on a hill, and then you don't see 
 the ugly things below. For instance, from here you 
 see nothing but that dark blue bay with the dark blue 
 sky above it, and opposite the pink mountains with the
 
 6 The Californians 
 
 patches of light blue, and on that side the hills of 
 Sausalito covered with willows, and the breakers down 
 below. And the ferry-boats are like great white swans, 
 with long soft throats bending backwards. I don't ex 
 press myself very well; but I shall some day. Just you 
 wait ; I 'm going to be a scholar and a lot of other things 
 too." 
 
 "What, Helena?" Magdatena drew closer. She 
 thought Helena already the most eloquent person 
 alive, and she envied her deeply, although without 
 bitterness, loving her devotedly. The great gifts of 
 expression and of personal magnetism had been denied 
 her. She had no hope, and at that time little wish, 
 that the last paucity could ever be made good by the 
 power of will ; but that articulate inner self had regis 
 tered a vow that hard study and close attention to the 
 methods of Helena and others as or nearly as bril 
 liant should one day invest her brain and tongue with 
 suppleness. 
 
 " What other things are you going to be, Helena ? " 
 she asked. " I know that you can be anything you 
 like." 
 
 " Well, in the first place, I am going to New York to 
 school, now, don't look so sad : I Ve told you twenty 
 times that I know Don Roberto will let you go. Then 
 I 'm going to Europe. I 'm going to study hard but 
 not hard enough to spoil my eyes. I 'm going to finish off 
 in Paris, and then I 'm going to travel. Incidentally, 
 I 'm going to learn how to dress, so that when I come 
 back here I '11 astonish the natives and be the best-
 
 The Californians 7 
 
 dressed woman in San Francisco; which won't be 
 saying much, to be sure. Then, when I do come 
 back, I 'm going to just rule things, and, what is more, 
 make all the old fogies let me. And and I am 
 going to be the greatest belle this State has ever seen ; 
 and that is saying something." 
 
 " Of course you will do all that, Helena. It will be 
 so interesting to watch you. Ila and Tiny will never 
 compare with you. Some people are made like that, 
 some one way and some another, I mean. Shall 
 shall you ever marry, Helena?" 
 
 " Yes. After I have been engaged a dozen times or 
 so I shall marry a great man." 
 
 "A great man?" 
 
 " Yes ; I don't know any, but they are charming in 
 history and memoirs. I 'd have a simply gorgeous 
 time in Washington, and ever after I 'd have my pic 
 ture in ' Famous Women ' books." 
 
 "Shall you marry a president?" asked Magdatena, 
 deferentially. She was convinced that Helena could 
 marry a reigning sovereign if she wished. 
 
 " I have n't made up my mind about that yet. 
 Presidents' wives are usually such dreary-looking 
 frumps I 'd hate to be in the same book with them. 
 Besides, most of the presidents don't amount to much. 
 Truthful George must have been a deadly bore. I 
 prefer Benjamin Franklin although I never could 
 stand that nose or Clay or Calhoun or Patrick 
 Henry or Webster. They 're dead, but there must be 
 lots more. I '11 find one for you, too."
 
 8 The Californians 
 
 Again the dark flush mounted to Magdatena's hair, 
 as with an alertness of motion unusual to her, she 
 shook her head. 
 
 "Aha!" cried the astute Helena, "you've been 
 thinking the matter over, too, have you? Who is he? 
 Tell me." 
 
 Magdalna shook her head again, but slowly this 
 time. Helena embraced and coaxed, but to no effect. 
 Even with her chosen friend, Magdatena was reticent, 
 not from choice, but necessity. But Helena, whose 
 love was great and whose intuitions were diabolical, 
 leaped to the secret. " I know ! " she exclaimed 
 triumphantly. " It 's a caballero ! " 
 
 This time Magdalna's face turned almost purple ; 
 but she had neither her sex's quick instinct of self- 
 protection nor its proneness to dissemble, secretive 
 as she was. She lifted her head haughtily and turned 
 away. For a moment she looked very Spanish, not 
 the unfortunate result of coupled races that she was. 
 Helena, who was in her naughtiest humour, threw back 
 her head and laughed scornfully. "A caballero ! " she 
 cried: "who will serenade you at two o'clock in the 
 morning when you are dying with sleep, and lie in a 
 hammock smoking cigaritos all day ; who will roll out 
 rhetoric by the yard, and look like an idiot when you 
 talk common-sense to him; who is too lazy to walk 
 across the plaza, and too proud to work, and too silly 
 to keep the Americans from grabbing all he 's got. I 
 met a few dilapidated specimens when I was in Los 
 Angeles last year. One beauty with long hair, a som-
 
 The Californians 9 
 
 brero, and a head about as big as my fist, used to 
 serenade me in intervals of gambling until I appealed 
 to Jack, and he threatened to have him put in the 
 calaboose if he did n't let me alone " 
 
 Magdalena turned upon her. Her face was livid. 
 Her eyes stared as if she had seen the dead walking. 
 " Hush ! " she said. " You you cruel you have 
 everything " 
 
 Helena, whose intuitions never failed her, when she 
 chose to exercise them, knew what she had done, 
 caught a flashing glimpse of the shattered dreams of 
 the girl who said so little, whose only happiness was in 
 the ideal world she had built in the jealously guarded 
 depths of her soul. " Oh, Magdalena, I 'm so sorry," 
 she stammered. " I was only joking. And my states 
 men will probably be horrid old boors. I know I '11 
 never find one that comes up to my ideal." She 
 burst into tears and flung her arms about Magdalna's 
 neck : she was always miserable when those she loved 
 were angry with her, much as she delighted to shock 
 the misprized. " Say you forgive me," she sobbed, 
 " or I sha'n't eat or sleep for a week." And Magda- 
 lna, who always took her mercurial friend literally, 
 forgave her immediately and dried her tears. 
 
 II 
 
 DON ROBERTO YORBA had escaped the pecuniary ex 
 tinction that had overtaken his race. Of all the old 
 grandees who, not forty years before, had called the
 
 io The Californians 
 
 Californias their own : living a life of Arcadian mag 
 nificence, troubled by few cares, a life of riding over 
 vast estates clad in silk and lace, botas and sombrero, 
 mounted upon steeds as gorgeously caparisoned as 
 themselves, eating, drinking, serenading at the grat 
 ings of beautiful women, gambling, horse-racing, taking 
 part in splendid religious festivals, with only the lan 
 guid excitement of an occasional war between rival gov 
 ernors to disturb the placid surface of their lives, of 
 them all Don Roberto was a man of wealth and con 
 sequence to-day. But through no original virtue of 
 his. He had been as princely in his hospitality, as 
 reckless with his gold, as meagrely equipped to cope 
 with the enterprising United Statesian who first 
 conquered the Californian, then, nefariously, or right 
 eously, appropriated his acres. When Commodore 
 Sloat ran up the American flag on the Custom House 
 of Monterey on July seventh, 1846, one of the mid 
 shipmen who went on shore to seal the victory with 
 the strength of his lungs was a clever and restless 
 youth named Polk. As his sharpness and fund of 
 dry New England anecdote had made him a distinc 
 tive position on board ship, he was permitted to go to 
 the ball given on the following night by Thomas O. 
 Larkin, United States Consul, in honour of the Com 
 modore and officers of the three warships then in the 
 bay. Having little liking for girls, he quickly fraternised 
 with Don Roberto Yorba, a young hidalgo who had 
 recently lost his wife and had no heart for festivities, 
 although curiosity had brought him to this ball which
 
 The Californians 1 1 
 
 celebrated the downfall of his country. The two men 
 left the ball-room, where the handsome and resent 
 ful senoritas were preparing to avenge California with 
 a battery of glance, a melody of tongue, and a witchery 
 of grace that was to wreak havoc among these gallant 
 officers, and after exchanging amenities over a bowl 
 of punch, went out into the high-walled garden to smoke 
 the cigarito. The perfume of the sweet Castilian roses 
 was about them, the old walls were a riot of pink and 
 green; but the youths had no mind for either. The 
 don was fascinated by the quick terse common-sense 
 and the harsh nasal voice of the American, and the 
 American's mind was full of a scheme which he was not 
 long confiding to his friend. A shrewd Yankee, gifted 
 with insight, and of no small experience, young as he 
 was, Polk felt that the idle pleasure-loving young don 
 was a man to be trusted and magnetic with potential 
 ities of usefulness. He therefore confided his consum 
 ing desire to be a rich man, his hatred of the navy, 
 and, finally, his determination to resign and make his 
 way in the world. 
 
 " I have n't a red cent to bless myself with," he 
 concluded. " But I Ve got what 's more important as 
 a starter, brains. What 's more, I feel the power in 
 me to make money. It 's the only thing on earth I 
 care for ; and when you put all your brains and energies 
 to one thing you get it, unless you get paralysis or an 
 ounce of cold lead first." 
 
 The Californian, who had a true grandee's contempt 
 for gold, was nevertheless charmed with the engag-
 
 12 The Californians 
 
 ing frankness and the unmistakable sincerity of the 
 American. 
 
 " My house is yours," he exclaimed ardently. "You 
 will living with me, no ? until you find the moneys ? I 
 am how you say it ? delighted. Always I like the 
 Americanos we having a few. All I have is yours, 
 senor." 
 
 "Look here," exclaimed Polk. "I won't eat any 
 man's bread for nothing, but I '11 strike a bargain with 
 you. If you'll stand by me, I'll stand by you. I 
 mean to make money, and I don't much care how I 
 do make it ; this is a new place, anyhow. But there 's 
 one thing I never do, and that is to go back on a 
 friend. You '11 need me, and my Yankee sharpness 
 may be the greatest godsend that ever came your way. 
 I 've seen more or less of this country. It 's simply 
 magnificent. Americans will be swarming over the 
 place in less than no time. They've begun already. 
 Then you'll be just nowhere. Is it a bargain?" 
 
 " It is ! " exclaimed Don Roberto, with enthusiasm ; 
 and when Polk had explained his ominations more 
 fully, he wrung the American's hand again. 
 
 Polk, after much difficulty, but through personal 
 influence which he was fortunate enough to possess, 
 obtained his discharge. He immediately became the 
 guest of Don Roberto, who lived with his younger 
 sister on a ranch covering three hundred thousand 
 acres, and, his first intention being to take up land, 
 was initiated into the mysteries of horse-raising, tan 
 ning hides, and making tallow; the two last-named
 
 The Californians 13 
 
 industries being pursued for purposes of barter with 
 the Boston skippers. But farming was not to Folk's 
 taste ; he hated waiting on the slow processes of 
 Nature. He married Magdatena Yorba, and borrowed 
 from Don Roberto enough money to open a store in 
 Monterey stocked with such necessities and luxuries as 
 could be imported from Boston. When the facile Cali 
 fornians had no ready money to pay for their whole 
 sale purchases, he took a mortgage on the next hide 
 yield, or on a small ranch. His rate of interest was 
 twelve per cent; and as the Californians were never 
 prepared to pay when the day of reckoning came, he 
 foreclosed with a promptitude which both horrified 
 Don Roberto and made imperious demands upon his 
 admiration. 
 
 " My dear Don," Polk would say, " if it is n't I, it 
 will be some one else. I 'm not the only one and 
 look at the squatters. I 'm becoming a rich man, and 
 if I were not, I 'd be a fool. You had your day, but 
 you were never made to last. Your boots are a com 
 fortable fit, and I propose to wear them. I don't mean 
 yours, by the way. I 'm going to look after you. 
 Better think it over and come into partnership." 
 
 To this Don Roberto would not hearken ; but when 
 the rush to the gold mines began he was persuaded 
 by Polk to take a trip into the San Joaquin valley to 
 " see the circus," as the Yankee phrased it. There, in 
 community with his brother-in-law, he staked off a 
 claim, and there the lust for gold entered his veins and 
 never left it. He returned to Monterey a rich man in
 
 14 The Califbrnians 
 
 something besides land. After that there was little 
 conversation between himself and Polk on any subject 
 but money and the manner of its multiplication ; and, 
 as the years passed, and Folk's prophecy was fulfilled, 
 he gave the devotion of a fanatic to the retention of 
 his vast inheritance and to the development of his 
 grafted financial faculty. 
 
 Between the mines, his store, and his various enter 
 prises in San Francisco, Polk rapidly became a wealthy 
 man. Even in those days he was accounted an un 
 scrupulous one, but he was powerful enough to hold 
 the opinion of men in contempt and too shrewd to 
 elbow such law as there was. And his gratitude and 
 friendship for Don Roberto never flickered. He ad 
 vised him to invest his gold in city lots, and as him 
 self bought adjoining ones, Don Roberto invested 
 without hesitation. Polk had acquired a taste for 
 Spanish cooking, cigaritos, and life on horseback ; his 
 influences on the Californian were far more subtle and 
 revolutionising. Don Roberto was still hospitable, 
 because it became a grandee so to be ; but he had a 
 Yankee major-domo who kept an account of every 
 cent that was expended. He had no miserly love of 
 gold in the concrete, but he had an abiding sense of 
 its illimitable power, all of his brother-in-law's deter 
 mination to become one of the wealthiest and most 
 influential men in the country, and a ferocious hatred 
 of poverty. He saw his old friends fall about him : 
 advice did them no good, and any permanent alliance 
 with their interests would have meant his own ruin ; so
 
 The Californians 15 
 
 he shrugged his shoulders and forgot them. The 
 American flag always floated above his rooms. In time 
 he and Polk opened a bank, and he sat in its parlour 
 for five hours of the day; it was the passion of his 
 maturity and decline. When Folk's sister, some eleven 
 years after the Occupation of California by the United 
 States, came out to visit the brother who had left 
 her teaching a small school in Boston, he married her 
 promptly, feeling himself blessed in another New Eng 
 land relative. She was thirty-two at the time, and 
 her complexion was dark and sallow: but she carried 
 her tall angular figure with impressive dignity, and her 
 chill manners gave her a certain distinction. Don 
 Roberto was delighted with her, and as she was by 
 nature as economical as his familiar could desire, he 
 dismissed the major-domo and gave her carte blanche 
 at the largest shops in the city ; even if he had wished 
 it, she could not have been induced to buy more than 
 four gowns a year. But she was a very ambitious 
 woman. As the wife of a great Californian grandee, 
 she had seen herself the future leader of San Francisco 
 society. Her ambitions were realised in a degree 
 only. Don Roberto built her a huge wooden palace 
 on Nob Hill, on which was the highest flagstaff and 
 the biggest flag in San Francisco, placed a suitable 
 number of servants at her command, and gave her a 
 carriage. But he only permitted her to give two large 
 dinners and one ball during the season, and would go 
 to other people's entertainments but seldom. As their 
 ideas of duty were equally rigid, she would not go
 
 1 6 The Californians 
 
 without him ; but they had a circle of intimate and 
 aristocratic friends with whom they lunched and dined 
 informally, the Polks, the Belmonts, the Montgom- 
 erys, the Tarltons, the Brannans, the Gearys, and the 
 Folsoms. 
 
 They had been married ten years when Magdatena, 
 their only child, was born. 
 
 Ill 
 
 MRS. YORBA was so ill when her daughter came that 
 the child struggled miserably into existence, and, fail 
 ing to cry, was put away as dead, and forgotten for a 
 time. It was discovered to be breathing by Mrs. Polk, 
 who coaxed it through several months of puny exist 
 ence with all a native Californian woman's resource. 
 During this time it never cried, only whimpered miser 
 ably at rare intervals. It was finally discovered to be 
 tongue-tied, and as soon as it was old enough an opera 
 tion was performed. After that the child's health 
 mended, although she seemed in no hurry to use her 
 tongue. As she progressed in years she still spoke but 
 seldom, only mildly remonstrating when Helena Bel- 
 mont pulled her hair or vented her exuberant vitality 
 upon Magdalna's inferior person. Once only did she 
 lose her temper, when Helena hung up all her dolls 
 in a row and slit them that she might have the pleasure 
 of seeing the sawdust pour out, and then she leaped 
 upon her tormentor with a hoarse growl of rage, and
 
 The Californians 17 
 
 the two pommelled each other black and blue. But as 
 a rule she was gentle and much-enduring, and Helena 
 was very kind and clamoured constantly for her society. 
 As the girls grew older they studied together, and the 
 friendship, born of propinquity, was strengthened by 
 mutual tastes and sympathy. Helena was probably the 
 only person who ever understood the reticent, proud, 
 apparently cold and impassive temperament of the girl 
 who was an unhappy and incongruous mixture of 
 Spanish and New England traits; and Magdatena 
 was Helena's most enthusiastic admirer and attentive 
 audience. 
 
 Magdatena had one other friend, her aunt, Mrs. Polk, 
 for whom she was named. That lady was enormously 
 stout and something of an invalid, but carried the 
 tokens of early beauty in a skin of brilliant fairness and 
 a pair of magnificent dark eyes fringed with lashes so 
 long and thick that Magdale"na, when a child, found it 
 her greatest pleasure to count them. Mrs. Polk knew 
 little of her husband and liked him less. She had 
 obeyed her brother's orders and married him, loving a 
 dazzling caballero who had since gambled away his 
 acres the while. But Polk ministered to the luxury 
 that she loved ; and though his high-pitched voice never 
 ceased to shake her nerves, and his hard cold face to 
 inspire active dislike, as the years went on and she saw 
 how it was with her people, she accepted her lot with 
 philosophy, and finally as youth fled with grati 
 tude. Mrs. Yorba she detested, but she loved the 
 child she had saved to a life of doubtful happiness, and
 
 1 8 The Californians 
 
 she had no children of her own would gladly have 
 adopted her. She lived a life of retirement, and had a 
 scanty though kindly brain : therefore she never under 
 stood Magdal6na as well as Helena did at the age of 
 six ; but she could love warmly, and that meant much 
 to her niece. 
 
 The three large and aristocratically ugly mansions of 
 Don Roberto Yorba, Hiram Polk, and Colonel " Jack " 
 Belmont stood side by side on Nob Hill. Belmont was 
 not as wealthy as the others, but a " palatial residence " 
 does not mean illimitable riches even yet in San Fran 
 cisco. Belmont had married a Boston girl of far greater 
 family pretensions than Mrs. Yorba's, but of no more 
 stately appearance nor correct demeanour. The two 
 women were intimate friends until her husband's notori 
 ous infidelities and erraticisms when under the periodi 
 cal influence of alcohol killed Mrs. Belmont. Neither 
 Don Roberto nor Polk drank to excess, and they kept 
 their mistresses in more decent seclusion than is the 
 habit of the average San Franciscan. It would never 
 occur to Mrs. Yorba to suspect her husband or any 
 other man of infidelity, did she live in California an hun 
 dred years, and Mrs. Polk was too indifferent to give 
 the matter a thought. 
 
 Although she lived in retirement, rarely venturing 
 out into the winds and fogs of San Francisco, Mrs. Polk 
 surrounded herself with all the luxuries of a pampered 
 woman of wealth and fashion. Her house was mag 
 nificent, her private apartments almost stifling in their 
 sumptuousness. Polk squeezed every dollar before he
 
 The Californians 19 
 
 parted with it, but his wife had long since accomplished 
 the judicious exercise of a violent Spanish temper, and 
 her bills were seldom disputed. 
 
 Magdatena and Helena loved these scented gorgeous 
 apartments, and ran through the connecting gardens 
 daily to see her. Their delight was to sit at her feet 
 and listen to the tales of California when the grandee 
 owned the land, when the caballero, in gorgeous attire, 
 sang at the gratings of the beauties of Monterey. Mrs. 
 Polk would sing these old love-songs of Spain to the 
 accompaniment of the guitar which had entranced her 
 caballeros in the sala of her girlhood ; and Helena, who 
 had a charming voice, learned them all to the un 
 doing of her own admirers later on. It was she who 
 asked a thousand questions of that Arcadian time, and 
 Mrs. Polk responded with enthusiasm. Doubtless she 
 exaggerated the splendours, the brilliancy, the unleav 
 ened pleasure ; but it was a time far behind her, and 
 she was happy again in the rememoration. As for 
 Magdale"na, she seldom spoke. She listened with fixed 
 eyes and bated breath to those descriptions of the beau 
 tiful women of her race, seeing for the time her soul's 
 face as beautiful, gazing at her reflected image aghast 
 when she turned suddenly upon one of the long mirrors. 
 Her soul sang in accompaniment to her aunt's rich voice, 
 and her hands moved unconsciously as those listless 
 Spanish fingers swept the guitar. When Helena imperi 
 ously demanded to be taught, and quickly became as 
 proficient as her teacher, Magdalena kept her eyes on 
 the floor "lest the others should see the dismay in them.
 
 ao The Californians 
 
 Had it occurred to Mrs. Polk to ask her niece if she 
 would like to learn these old songs of her race, Magda- 
 lna would have shaken her head shyly, realising even 
 sooner than she did that there was no medium for the 
 music in her soul, as there was none for the thoughts in 
 her mind. * Although her aunt loved her, she did not 
 scruple to tell her that she was not to be either a beau 
 tiful or a brilliant woman; but although Magdale"na 
 made no reply, she had a profound belief that the Virgin 
 would in time grant her passionate nightly prayers for 
 a beautiful face and an agile tongue. Beauty was her 
 right ; no woman of her father's house had ever been 
 plain, and she had convinced herself that if she were a 
 good girl the Virgin would acknowledge her rights by 
 her eighteenth birthday. As her intellect developed, 
 she was haunted by an uneasy scepticism of miracles, 
 particularly after she learned to draw, but she still 
 prayed ; it was a dream she could not relinquish. Nor 
 was this all she prayed for. She had all the Califor- 
 nian's indolence, which was ever at war with the intel 
 lect she had inherited from her New England ancestors. 
 Her most delectable instinct was to lie in the sun or 
 on the rug by the fire all day and dream ; and she was 
 thoroughly convinced that the Virgin aided her in the 
 fight for mental energy, and was the prime factor in the 
 long periods of victory of mind over temperament. 
 
 And only her deathless ambition enabled her to keep 
 pace with Helena. She sat up late into the night por 
 ing over lessons that her brilliant friend danced through 
 while dressing in the morning. Her memory was bad,
 
 The Californians 21 
 
 and she never mastered spelling ; even after her school 
 days were over, she always carried a little dictionary in 
 her pocket. She laboured for years at the piano, not 
 oitfy under her father's orders, but because she passion- 
 at^ly loved music, but she had neither ear nor facility, 
 and to her importunities for both the Virgin gave no heed. 
 'And the bitterness of it all lay in the fact that she 
 was not stupid ; she was fully aware that her intellect 
 was something more than commonplace ; but the ma 
 chinery was heavy, and, so far as she could see, there 
 was not a drop of cleverness with which to oil the 
 wheels. She had read extensively even before she 
 was sixteen, letters, essays, biographies, histories, 
 and a number of novels by classic authors ; and al 
 though she was obliged to read each book three times 
 in order to write it on her memory, she slowly assimi 
 lated it and developed her brain cells. Up to this 
 age she was seldom actively unhappy, for she had the 
 hopes of youth and religion, her aunt, Helena, and, 
 above all, her sweet inner life, which was an almost 
 constant dwelling upon the poetical past, linked to a 
 future of exalted ideals : not only should she be more 
 beautiful than Helena or Tiny Montgomery or Ila 
 Brannan, but she should hold rooms spell- bound with 
 her eloquence, or the music in her finger-tips; and 
 when in solitude her soul would rise to such heights 
 as her fettered mind hinted at vaguely but insistently. 
 Wild imaginings for a plain tongue-tied little hybrid, 
 but what man's inner life is like unto the husk to whose 
 making he gave no hand ?
 
 22 The Californians 
 
 IV 
 
 HELENA remained an hour longer, then ran home to 
 don a white frock and Roman sash. Her father, with 
 all his vagaries, seldom failed to dine at home ; and he 
 expected to find his little daughter, smartly dressed, 
 presiding at his table. His sister, Mrs. Cartright, who 
 had managed his house since his wife's death, made 
 no attempt to manage Helena, and never thought of 
 taking the head of the table. 
 
 Magdale"na stood for some time looking out over 
 the darkening bay, at the white mist riding in to hang 
 before the mountains beyond. She had seen Cali 
 fornia wet under blinding rain-storms, but never ugly. 
 Even the fogs were beautiful, the great waves of sand 
 whirling through the streets of San Francisco pictur 
 esque. California was associated in her mind, how 
 ever, with perpetual blue skies and floods of yellow 
 light. She had wondered occasionally if all 'people 
 were not happy in such a country, where the sun 
 shone for eight months in the year, where flowers grew 
 more thickly than weeds, and fruit was abundant and 
 luscious. She had read of the portion to which man 
 was born, and had decided that if Thackeray and 
 Dickens had lived in California they would have been 
 more cheerful ; but to-day, assailed by a presentiment 
 general rather than specific, she accepted, for the first 
 time, life in something like its true proportions. 
 
 " There are no more caballeros," she thought, put-
 
 The Californians 23 
 
 ting into form such sense of the change as she could 
 grasp. " And Helena is going away, for years ; and 
 papa will not let me go, I know, although I mean to 
 ask him ; and aunt is way down in Santa Barbara, and 
 writes that she may not return for months. And I 
 don't know my music lesson for to-morrow, and papa 
 will be so angry, because he pays five dollars a lesson ; 
 and Mrs. Price is so cross." She paused and shivered 
 as the white fog crept up to the verandah. It was 
 very quiet. She could hear the ocean roaring through 
 the Golden Gate. Again the presentiment assailed 
 her. " None of those things was it," she thought in 
 terror. " Uncle Jack Belmont says, according to 
 Balzac, our presentiments always mean something." 
 She noticed anew how beautiful the night was : the 
 white wreaths floating on the water, the dark blue sky 
 that was bursting into stars, the mysterious outline of 
 the hills, the ravishing perfumes rising from the garden 
 below. " It is like a poem," she thought. " Why 
 does no one write about it? Oh ! " with a hard gasp, 
 "if I could if I could only write ! " A meteor shot 
 down the heavens. For the moment it seemed that 
 the fallen star flashed through her brow and lodged, 
 effulgent, in her brain. "I I think I could," she 
 thought. "I I am sure that I could." And so, 
 the cruel desires of art, and the tree of her crucifix 
 were born. 
 
 She went inside hastily, afraid of her thoughts. She 
 changed her frock for a white one, smoothed her 
 sleek hair, and walked downstairs. She never ran, like
 
 24 The Californians 
 
 Helena unless, to be sure, Helena dragged her; 
 she had all the dignity of her father's race, all its iron 
 sense of convention. 
 
 She went into the big parlours to await her parents' 
 return ; they had been spending a day or two at their 
 country house in Menlo Park, and would return in time 
 for dinner. The gas had been lighted and turned 
 low; Magdalna had never seen any rooms but her 
 own in this house sufficiently lighted by day or by 
 night, except when guests were present. Mrs. Yorba 
 would waste neither gas nor carpets ; in consequence, 
 the house had a somewhat sepulchral air; even its 
 silence was never broken, save when Helena gave a 
 sudden furious war-whoop and slid down the banisters. 
 
 The walls of the parlour were tinted a pale buff, the 
 ceilings frescoed with cherubs and flowers. On the 
 great plate-glass windows were curtains of dark red 
 velvet trimmed with gold fringe. The large square 
 pieces of furniture were upholstered with red velvet. 
 The floor was covered with a red Brussels carpet with 
 a design of squirming devil-fish. Three or four small 
 chairs were covered with Indian embroidery, and there 
 were two Chinese tables of teak-wood and mottled 
 marble. Gas having been an afterthought, the pipes 
 were visible, although painted to match the walls. 
 Magdatena had seen few rooms and had not awakened 
 to the hideousness of these ; her aunt had mingled 
 little taste with her splendour, and the Belmont man 
 sion was furnished throughout its lower part in satin 
 damask with no attempt at art's variousness.
 
 The Californians 25 
 
 Magdale"na opened the piano and felt vaguely for 
 the music in the keys. She forgot the star, remem 
 bered only her passionate love of exultant sound, her 
 longing to find the soul of this most mysterious of all 
 instruments. But her stiff fingers only sprawled help 
 lessly over the keys, and after a few moments she 
 desisted and sat staring with dilating eyes, the pre 
 sentiment again assailing her. Her shattered caballe- 
 ros rose before her, but she shook her head ; they, 
 under what influence she knew not, had faded out into 
 ghost-land. 
 
 A carriage drove up to the door. She went forward 
 and stood in the hall, awaiting her parents. They 
 entered almost immediately. Both kissed her lightly, 
 her mother inquiring absently if she had been a good 
 girl, and remarking that she had neuralgia and should 
 go to bed at once. Her father grunted and asked 
 her if she and Helena Belmont had behaved them 
 selves, and, more particularly, if she had been outside 
 the house without an attendant; he never failed to 
 ask this when he had been away from the house for 
 twenty-four hours. Magdale"na replied in the negative, 
 and did not feel called upon to confess her minor 
 sins. She had a conscience, but she had also a strong 
 distaste for her father's temper. 
 
 Don Roberto had been a handsome caballero in 
 his youth, but his face, like that of most Californians, 
 had coarsened as it receded from its prime. The 
 nose was thick, the outlines of the jaw lost in rolls 
 of flesh. But the full curves of his mouth had been
 
 26 The Californians 
 
 compressed into a straight line, and the consequent 
 elevation of the lower lip had almost obliterated an 
 originally weak chin. He was bald and wore a skull 
 cap, but his black eyes were fiery and restless, his skin 
 fair with the fairness of Castile. He went to his room, 
 and Magdaldna did not see him again until dinner was 
 announced. She saw little of her parents. There is 
 not much fireside life in California. There was none 
 in the Yorba household. Mrs. Yorba was a martyr to 
 neuralgia, and such time as was not passed in the 
 seclusion of her chamber was devoted to the manifold 
 cares of her househo 1 ^ and to her small circle of 
 friends. Don Roberto would not permit her to belong 
 to charitable associations, nor to organisations of any 
 kind, and although she regretted the prestige she 
 might have enjoyed as president of such concerns, 
 she had long since found herself indemnified : Don 
 Roberto's social restrictions had unwittingly given her 
 the position of the most exclusive woman in San Fran 
 cisco. As time went on, it gave people a certain dis 
 tinction to be on her visiting list. When Mrs. Yorba 
 realised this, she looked it over carefully and cut it 
 down to ninety names. After that, hostesses whose 
 position was as secure as her own begged her per 
 sonally to go to their balls. Her own yearly contribu 
 tion to the season's socialities was looked forward 
 to with deep anxiety. It was the stiffest and dullest 
 affair of the year, but not to be there was to be writ 
 ten down as second of the first. So was greatness 
 thrust upon Mrs. Yorba, who never returned to her
 
 The Californians 27 
 
 native Boston, lest she might once more feel the pangs 
 of nothingness. She loved her daughter from a sense 
 of duty rather than from any animal instinct, but never 
 petted nor made a companion of her. Nevertheless 
 she watched over her studies, literary excursions, and 
 associates with a vigilant eye. 
 
 Magdatena's companions were the objects of her 
 severe maternal care. Once a year in town and once 
 during the summer in Menlo Park, Magdale"na had a 
 luncheon party, the guests chosen from the very inner 
 circle of Mrs. Yorba's acquaintance. The youngsters 
 loathed this function, but were forced to attend by 
 their distinguished parents. Magdale"na sat at one 
 end of the table and never uttered a word. The only 
 relief was Helena, who talked bravely, but far less than 
 was her wont ; the big dark dining-room, panelled to 
 the ceiling with redwood, and hung with the progeni 
 tors of the haughty house of Yorba, the gliding Chinese 
 servants, the eight stiff miserable little girls, with their 
 starched white frocks, crimped hair, and vacant glances, 
 oppressed even that indomitable spirit. On one awful 
 occasion when even Helena's courage had failed her, 
 and she was eating rapidly and nervously, the children 
 with one accord burst into wild hysterical laughter. 
 They stopped as abruptly as they had begun, staring 
 at one another with expanded, horrified eyes, then 
 simultaneously burst into tears. Helena went off into 
 shrieks of laughter, and Magdale"na hurriedly left the 
 room, and in the privacy of her own wept bitterly. 
 When she went downstairs again, she found Helena
 
 28 The Californians 
 
 making a brave attempt to entertain the others in the 
 large garden behind the house. They were swinging 
 and playing games, and looked much ashamed of them 
 selves. When they went home each kissed Magdale"na 
 warmly, and she forgave them and wished that she 
 could see them oftener. She was never allowed to go 
 to lunch-parties herself. Occasionally she met them at 
 Helena's, where they romped delightedly, appropri 
 ating the entire house and yelling like demons, but 
 taking little notice of the quiet child who sat by Mrs. 
 Cartright, listening to that voluble dame's tales of 
 the South before the war, too shy and too Spanish to 
 romp. Even at that early age, they respected and rather 
 feared her. As she grew older, it became known that 
 she was " booky," a social crime in San Francisco. 
 As for Helena, she was one of those favoured mortals 
 who are permitted to be anything they please. She, 
 too, devoured books, but she did so many other things 
 besides that people forgot the idiosyncrasy, or were 
 willing to overlook it. 
 
 Don Roberto spent his leisure hours with his friends 
 Hiram Polk and Jack Belmont. There was no resource 
 of the town unknown to these elderly rakes ; and the 
 older they grew the more they enjoyed themselves. 
 On fine evenings they always rode out to the Presidio or 
 to the Cliff House ; and it was one of the sights of the 
 town, these three leading citizens and founders of the 
 city's prosperity : Don Roberto, fat, but riding his big 
 chestnut with all the unalterable grace of the Califor- 
 nian; Polk, stiff and spare, his narrow grey face un-
 
 The Californians 29 
 
 changed from year to year, ambling along on a piebald ; 
 dashing Jack Belmont, a cavalry officer to his death, 
 his long black moustachios flying in the wind, a flap 
 ping hat pulled low over his abundant curls, bestriding 
 a mighty black. All three men were somewhat old- 
 fashioned in their attire ; they went little into society, 
 preferring the more various life beyond its pale. 
 
 V 
 
 HALF of the dinner passed in unbroken silence. 
 Magdatena sat at one end of the table, her father at 
 the other, their wants attended to by three Chinese 
 servants. Magdatena was not eating : she was sum 
 moning up courage to speak on a subject that was fast 
 conquering her reticence. Her thoughts were not in 
 terrupted. Don Roberto was a man of few words. 
 He had been an eloquent caballero in his youth, but 
 had grown to be as careful of words as of investments. 
 He liked to be amused by women ; but, as he rightly 
 judged, no amount of development could make his 
 wife and daughter amusing, so he encouraged them to 
 hold their tongues. He deeply resented Magdatena's 
 lack of beauty ; all the women of his house had been 
 famous throughout the Californias for their beauty. It 
 was the duty of a Yorba to be beautiful while young ; 
 after thirty it mattered nothing. 
 
 Magdatena had completed the structure of her cour-
 
 jo The Californians 
 
 age. She did nothing by halves, and she knew that 
 she should not break down. 
 
 " Papa," she said. 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 "Helena is going to New York and to Paris to 
 school. She is going to live with relatives, but she will 
 attend school." 
 
 "She need." 
 
 " I thought you liked Helena." 
 
 " I like ; but she need the discipline more than all 
 the girls in California." 
 
 " I shall be very lonely without her." 
 
 " Suppose so ; but now is the time to learn plenty, 
 and no think so much by the play." 
 
 " I should like to go with her." 
 
 " Suppose so." 
 
 "May I?" 
 
 " No." 
 
 " But you would not miss me, nor mamma either." 
 
 " I choose you shall be educate at home. I no ap 
 prove of the schools. Si Helena Belmont was my 
 daughter, I take the green hide reata to her every 
 morning ; but Belmont so soffit, the school is better for 
 her. You stay here. No say any more about it." 
 
 "Could I not travel with her after? I want to 
 travel." 
 
 " Si I find time one day go abroad, I take you ; but 
 you no go with Helena Belmont. I no am surprise si 
 she make herself the talk of Europe." 
 
 " Could not mamma go with me ? "
 
 The Californians 31 
 
 mother no leave the husband ! Never she 
 propose such a thing ! " 
 
 " Do you think you will be able to go soon? " 
 
 " Very doubt. The Californian who leave the busi 
 ness for a year working like the dog for five after. Si 
 he find one red cent when he come back, he is lucky. 
 The man no knowing just where he is even when he 
 stand over the spot." 
 
 " Then when Helena goes, can I go to Santa Barbara 
 for awhile and visit aunt? " 
 
 " You no can ! I no wish you ask the reason. You 
 never go to the South ! Never before you talk so 
 much, by Scott ! " 
 
 VI 
 
 MAGDALNA had failed at every point. She had ex 
 pected to fail, but she felt miserable and discouraged, 
 nevertheless. After dinner she went up to her room 
 and prayed to the Virgin. In time she felt comforted, 
 her tears ceased, and she sat thinking for some time at 
 the foot of her little altar. With the sad philosophy 
 of her nature she put the impossible from her, and con 
 sidered the future. It had been arranged long ago 
 that she and Helena, Ila and Tiny, were to come out 
 at the same time; the great function which should 
 introduce to San Francisco three of its most beautiful 
 girls, and its most favoured by lineage and fortune, was 
 to be given by Mrs. Yorba. The other girls would
 
 j 2 The Californians 
 
 come out a year earlier or later. Ila and Tiny were 
 already in Europe. She had three uninterrupted years 
 before her. In those years she could do much. When 
 she was not studying, she would read the best authors 
 and learn their secret. Her father had no library, but 
 Colonel Belmont had, and she was a life member of 
 the Mercantile Library; the membership had been 
 presented to her two birthdays ago by her luncheon 
 guests, who respected what they would not emulate. 
 She pressed her face into her hands, striving to arrange 
 the nebulous thoughts and ambitions which burned in 
 her brain. 
 
 There was a wild ringing of bells. She raised her 
 head and saw a red glare, then rose and walked over 
 to the window. She thought a fire very beautiful ; and 
 as there were many in that city of wood and wind, she 
 had had full opportunity to observe their manifold 
 phases. Her bedroom adjoined the schoolroom, but 
 was on the corner of the house at the back, and over 
 looked not only the business part of the city between 
 the foot of the hill and the bay, but the region known 
 as "South of Market Street." This large valley had 
 its aristocratic quarter, but it was now largely given 
 over to warehouses, depots, and streets of the poor. 
 A month seldom passed without a big blaze in this 
 closely built combustible section. To-night there was 
 a long narrow ribbon of flame twisting in the wind, 
 which in a few moments would leap from block to 
 block, licking up the flimsy dwellings as a cat licks up 
 milk. Above the ribbon flew a million sparks, turning
 
 The Californians 33 
 
 the stars from gold to white. Every moment the wind 
 twisted the ribbon into wonderful fantastic shapes, 
 which beset Magdale"na's brain for words as beautiful. 
 
 She listened intently. Some one was climbing a 
 pillar of the balcony. It was Helena, of course : she 
 often chose that laborious method of entering a house 
 whose doors were always open to her. Magdale"na 
 opened the back window and stepped out onto the 
 balcony. 
 
 " Is that you, Helena ? " she whispered. 
 
 " Is it ? Just you wait till you see me ! " 
 
 A moment later she had clambered over the railing 
 and stood before the astonished Magdaldna. 
 
 " What what " 
 
 " Boys' clothes. Can't you see for yourself? I 'm 
 going to the fire, and you 're going with me." 
 
 " Of course I shall not. What possessed you " 
 
 But the astute Helena detected a lack of decision in 
 her friend's voice. "You're just dying to go," she 
 said coaxingly. " You adore fires, and you 'd love to 
 see one close to. Put a waterproof on and a black 
 shawl over your head. Then if anybody notices you, 
 they '11 think you 're a muchacha from Spanish town. 
 As I am a boy, I can protect you beautifully. We '11 
 go to the livery stable and I '11 make old Duff give me 
 a hack. I Ve a pocket full of boodle ; papa gave me 
 my allowance to-day. Here, come in." She dragged 
 the unresisting Magdale"na into the room, arrayed her 
 in a waterproof, and pinned a black shawl tightly about 
 the small brown face. "There ! " she said triumphantly, 
 3
 
 34 The Californians 
 
 " you look like a poor little greaser, for all the world. 
 Don Roberto would have a fit. Do you think you can 
 slide down the pillar?" 
 
 " I don't know yes, I am sure I can if you can." 
 Her Spanish dignity was aghast, but her newborn 
 creative instinct stung her spirit into a sudden over 
 powering desire for dramatic incident. "Yes, I "11 go," 
 she whispered, closer to excitement than Helena had 
 ever, save once, seen her. " I '11 go." 
 
 " Of course ! I knew you would. I always knew 
 you were a brick ; come ! Quick ! I '11 go first." She 
 slid down the pillar, which she could easily clasp with 
 her long arms and legs ; and Magdale"na, after a gasp, 
 followed, shivering with terror, but too proud to utter 
 a sound. Before she had reached the bottom she had 
 lost all interest in the fire ; she no longer wanted to 
 write poetry ; she wished frantically to be back in the 
 security of her room. But she reached the ground 
 safely; and although she fell in a heap, she quickly 
 pulled herself together and stood up, holding her head 
 higher than ever. And when she was on the sidewalk, 
 in disguise, unattended for the first time in her life, her 
 very nerves sang with exultation, and she was filled 
 with a wild longing for a night replete with adventure. 
 
 "'Le"na!" whispered Helena, ecstatically. "Isn't 
 this gorgeous?" 
 
 Magdatena nodded. Her brain and heart were 
 throbbing too loud for speech. 
 
 " I 'm going to fires for the rest of my life," an 
 nounced Helena, as they turned the corner and walked
 
 The Californians 35 
 
 swiftly down the hill. She was not of the order which 
 is content with one experience, even while that initial 
 experience is yet a matter of delightful anticipation. 
 
 When they reached the livery stable, Helena marched 
 in, holding Magdalena firmly by the hand. " I want 
 a hack," she said peremptorily to the man in charge. 
 " And double quick, too." The man stared, but Hel 
 ena rattled the gold in her pocket, and he called to 
 two men to hitch up. 
 
 "Upon my soul," he whispered to his associates, 
 " it *s those kids of Jack Belmont's and old Yorba's, 
 or I 'm a dead man. But it ain't none of my business, 
 and I ain't one to peach. 1 like spirit." 
 
 " We 're going to the fire, and I wish the hack to 
 wait for us," said Helena, as he signified that all was 
 ready. " I '11 pay you now. How much is it ? " 
 
 "Ten dollars," he replied unblushingly. 
 
 Helena paid the money like a blood, Magdalena 
 horrified at the extravagance. Her own allowance was 
 five dollars a month. " Can you really afford this, 
 Helena ? " she asked remonstrantly, as the hack slid 
 down the steep hill. 
 
 " I got fifty dollars out of Jack to-night. He 's feel 
 ing awfully soft over my going away. ' Poor old Jack, 
 he '11 feel so lonesome without me. But we '11 have 
 a gay old time travelling together in Europe when I 'm 
 through." 
 
 Magdalena did not speak of her conversation with 
 her own parent. She did not want to think of it. 
 This night was to be one of uniform joy. They were
 
 36 The Californians 
 
 a quarter of an hour reaching the fire. As they turned 
 into the great central artery of the city, Market Street, 
 they leaned forward and gazed eagerly at the dense 
 highly coloured mass of men and women, mostly young, 
 who promenaded the north sidewalk under a blaze 
 of gas. 
 
 " What queer-looking girls ! " said Magdatena. "Why 
 do they wear so many frizzes, and sailor hats on one 
 side?" 
 
 " They 're chippies," said Helena, wisely. 
 
 "What's chippies?" 
 
 " Girls that live south of Market Street. They work 
 all day and promenade with their beaux all evening. 
 As I live, 'Le"na, we 're going down Fourth Street. 
 We '11 go right through Chippytovvn." 
 
 They had been south of Market Street before, for 
 Ila and Tiny lived on the aristocratic Rincon Hill ; but 
 their way had always lain down Second Street, which 
 was old, but stately and respectable. Fourth Street, 
 like Market Street by night, would be a new country ; 
 but after a few moments' eager attention Helena 
 sniffed with disappointment. The narrow street and 
 those branching from it were ill-lighted and deserted ; 
 there was nothing to be seen but low-browed shops. 
 But there was always the red glare beyond ; and in a 
 few moments the holocaust burst upon them in all its 
 terrible magnificence. 
 
 They sprang out of the hack and walked rapidly to 
 the edge of the crowd, which filled the street in spite 
 of the warning cries of the firemen and the angry
 
 The Californians 37 
 
 shouts of the policemen. The fire was devouring four 
 large squares and sending leaping branches to isolated 
 dwellings beyond. A great furniture factory and in 
 numerable tenements were vanishing like icicles under 
 a hot sun. 
 
 The girls, careless of the severe jostling they re 
 ceived, stared in fascinated amazement at the red 
 tongues darting among the blackened shells, the crash 
 ing roofs, the black masses of smoke above, cut with 
 narrow swords of flame, the solid pillar of fire above 
 the factory, the futile streams of water, the gallant 
 efforts of the firemen. Magdale"na, hardly knowing 
 why, reflected with deep satisfaction that a fire was 
 even more wonderful at close quarters than when 
 viewed from a distance. Every detail delighted her ; 
 but when a clumsy boy stepped on her toes, she drew 
 Helena into a sand lot opposite, where it was less 
 crowded. It was then that she noticed for the first 
 time the weeping women gathered about their house 
 hold goods. She stared at them for a moment, then 
 shook the rapt Helena by the arm. 
 
 "Look!" she whispered. "What is the matter 
 with those people?" 
 
 "What?" asked Helena, absently. "Oh, don't I 
 wish I were on that house with a hose in my hand ! 
 What a lovely exciting life a fireman's must be ! " 
 Then, yielding to Magdatena's insistence, she turned 
 and directed her gaze to the people in the lot behind 
 her. " Oh, the poor things ! "she said, forgetting the 
 fire. " They 've been burnt out. Let 's talk to them."
 
 38 The Californians 
 
 The two girls approached the unfortunate creatures, 
 who were wailing loudly, as if at a wake. 
 
 " Poor devils ! " exclaimed Helena. " I am so glad 
 I have some silver with me." 
 
 " And I have nothing to give them," thought Mag- 
 dalna, bitterly ; but she was too proud to speak. She 
 stared at them, her brain a medley of new sensations, 
 as Helena went about, questioning, fascinating, sym 
 pathising, giving. It was the first time she had seen 
 poverty ; she had barely heard of its existence ; it had 
 never occurred to hej that great romanticists conde 
 scended to borrow from life. It was not abject poverty 
 that she witnessed, by any means. There were no 
 hollow cheeks here, no pallid faces, no shrunken limbs. 
 It was, save for the passing distress, to which they 
 were not unaccustomed, a very jolly, hearty, contented 
 poverty. Their belongings were certainly mean, but 
 solid and sufficient. Nevertheless, to Magdatena, who 
 had been surrounded by luxury from her birth, and 
 had rarely been in a street of less importance than 
 her own, these commonly clad creatures, weeping over 
 their cheap household goods, seemed the very dregs of 
 the earth. Her keen enjoyment fled. She was sure 
 she could never be happy again with so much misery 
 in the world. If her father would only she recalled 
 his contempt for charities, the prohibition he had laid 
 on her mother. She determined to pray all night to 
 the Virgin to soften his heart. When the Virgin had 
 been allowed a reasonable time, she would beg him to 
 give her a monthly allowance to devote to the poor.
 
 The Californians 39 
 
 The Virgin had failed her many times, but must surely 
 hearken to so worthy a petition as this. She stood 
 apart. No one noticed her. She had nothing to give. 
 They were showering blessings upon Helena, who was 
 walking about with a cocky little stride, well pleased 
 with herself. 
 
 Suddenly Helena wheeled and ran over to Magdalgna. 
 
 " I 've given away my last red," she said. " It 's 
 lucky I paid for that hack in advance. Let 's get out. 
 Those I have n't given any to will be down on me in a 
 minute. Besides, it 's getting late. A-ou-u ! " 
 
 A policeman had tapped her roughly on the shoulder. 
 She gazed at him in speechless terror for a half-moment, 
 then gasped, " W-h-a-t do you want?" 
 
 "I want you two young uns for the lock-up," he 
 said curtly. The struggling crowd had lashed his 
 pugnacity and ensanguined his temper. As an addi 
 tional indignity, the saloon had been burned, and he 
 had not had a drink for an hour. " I '11 run you in 
 for wearing boys' clothes; have you ever heard the 
 penalty for that, miss ? And I '11 run in this little 
 greaser as a vagrant." 
 
 Helena burst into shrieks of terror, clinging to Mag- 
 datena, who comforted her mechanically, too terrified, 
 herself, to speak. Even in that awful moment it was 
 her father she feared, not the law. 
 
 " Shut up ! " exclaimed the officer. " None of that." 
 He paused abruptly and regarded Helena closely. She 
 was searching wildly in her pockets. " Oh, if you 've 
 got a fiver," he said easily, " I '11 call it square."
 
 40 The Californians 
 
 " I have n't so much as a five-cent piece," sobbed 
 Helena, with a fresh burst of tears. " Oh, "Le'na, what 
 shall we do?" 
 
 " You '11 come with me ! that 's what you '11 do." He 
 took them firmly by the hand and dragged them through 
 the crowd, a section of which had transferred its atten 
 tions to the victims of the officer's wrath. But the 
 three were soon hurrying up a dark cross- street toward 
 a car ; and as they went Helena recovered herself, and 
 began to cast about among her plentiful resource. 
 She dared not risk telling this man their names, and 
 bid him take them home in hope of reward, for he 
 would certainly demand that reward of their scandalised 
 parents. No, she decided, she would confide in the 
 dignitary in charge at the station ; and as soon as he 
 knew who she was, he would be sure to let them go at 
 once. 
 
 They went up town on a street-car. Helena had 
 never been in one before, and the experience inter 
 ested her; but Magdatena sat dumb and wretched. 
 She had been a docile child, and her father's anger 
 had never been visited upon her; but she had seen 
 his frightful outbursts at the servants, and once he had 
 horsewhipped a Mexican in his employ until the lad's 
 shrieks had made Magdal6na put her fingers in her 
 ears. He would not whip her, of course ; but what 
 would he do ? And this horrid man, who was of the 
 class of her father's coachman, had called her a 
 " greaser." She had all the pride of her race. The 
 insult stifled her. She felt smirched and degraded.
 
 The Californians 41 
 
 Nor was this all : she had had her first signal expe 
 rience of the pall that lines the golden cloud. 
 
 The officer motioned to the conductor to stop in 
 front of a squat building in front of the Old Plaza. 
 The man, whose gall had been slowly rising for want 
 of drink, hurried them roughly off the car and across 
 the sidewalk into a dark passage. Their feet lagged, 
 and he shoved them before him, flourishing his 
 bludgeon. 
 
 " Git on ! Git on ! " he said. "There 's no gittin' 
 out of this until you 've served your time." 
 
 The words and the dark passage made Helena 
 shiver. What if they would not give her a chance 
 to speak, but should lock her up at once ? She knew 
 nothing of these dark doings of night. Perhaps the 
 policeman would take them directly to a cell. In 
 that case, she must confide in him. 
 
 They entered a room, and her confidence returned. 
 A man sat at a desk, an open ledger before him. He 
 was talking to several tramps who stood in various un 
 easy attitudes in front of the desk. His face was tired, 
 but his eyes had a humourous twinkle. He did not 
 glance at the new-comers. 
 
 " Sit down," commanded the policeman, " and wait 
 your turn." 
 
 The girls sat down uncomfortably on the edge of a 
 bench. In a moment they noticed a young man sitting 
 near the desk and writing on a small pad of paper. 
 He looked up, looked again, regarding them intently, 
 then rose and approached the policeman.
 
 42 The Californians 
 
 " Hello, Tim," he said. "What have you got here? 
 A girl in boys' clothes?" 
 
 " That 's about the size of it." 
 
 Helena pulled her cap over her eyes and reddened 
 to her hair. For the first time she fully realised her 
 position. She was Colonel Jack Belmont's daughter, 
 and she was waiting in the city prison as a common 
 vagrant. Magdatena bent her head, pulling the shawl 
 more closely about her face. 
 
 The young man looked them over sharply. " They 
 are the kids of somebodies," he said audibly. " Look 
 at their hands. There 's a ' story ' here." 
 
 Helena turned cold and set her teeth. She had no 
 idea who the young man might be, but instinct told 
 her that he threatened exposure. 
 
 A few moments later the tramps had gone, and the 
 man at the desk asked the policeman what charge he 
 preferred against his arrests. 
 
 " This one 's a girl in boys' clothes, sir, and both, I 
 take it, are vagrants. The House of Correction is the 
 place for 'em, I 'm thinkin'." 
 
 Magdatena's head sank still lower, and she dug her 
 nails into her palms to keep from gasping. But Helena, 
 in this crucial moment, was game. She walked boldly 
 forward and said authoritatively, 
 
 " I wish to speak alone with you." 
 
 The sergeant recognised the great I AM of the 
 American maiden; he also recognised her social al 
 titude. But he said, with what severity he could 
 muster,
 
 The Californians 43 
 
 " If you have anything private to say, you can whis 
 per it." 
 
 Helena stepped behind the desk and put her lips 
 close to his ear. " I am Colonel Jack Belmont's 
 daughter," she whispered. " Send me home, quick, 
 and he '11 make it all right with you to-morrow." 
 
 "A chip of the old block," muttered the sergeant, 
 with a smile. " I see. And who is your companion? " 
 
 Helena hesitated. " Do do I need to tell you? " 
 she asked. 
 
 " You must," firmly. 
 
 " She 's you '11 never breathe it? " 
 
 " You must leave that to my discretion. I shall do 
 what is best." 
 
 " She is the daughter of Don Roberto Yorba." 
 
 " O Lord ! O Lord 1 " He threw back his head 
 and gave a prolonged chuckle. 
 
 The young man edged up to the desk. 
 
 "Who is that man?" demanded Helena, haughtily. 
 She felt quite mistress of the situation. 
 
 " He 's a reporter." 
 
 "What's that?" 
 
 " Why, a reporter for the newspapers." 
 
 " I know nothing of the newspapers," said Helena, 
 with an annihilating glance at the reporter. "My 
 father does not permit me to read them." 
 
 The sergeant sprang to his feet. " This is no place 
 for you," he muttered. "That's the best thing I 've 
 heard of Jack Belmont for some time. Here, come 
 along, both of you."
 
 44 The Californians 
 
 He motioned to the girls to enter the passage, and 
 turned to the officer. " Don't let anybody leave the 
 room till I come back," he said; and the reporter, 
 who had started eagerly forward, fell back with a scowl. 
 " There 's no ' story ' in this, young man," said the 
 sergeant, severely ; " and you '11 oblige me," with sig 
 nificant emphasis, " by making no reference to it." 
 
 " I think you 're just splendid ! " exclaimed Helena, 
 as they went down the passage. 
 
 "Oh, well, we all like your father. Although it 
 would be a great joke on him, Scott, but it would ! 
 However, it would n't be any joke on you a few years 
 from now, so I 'm going to send you home with a little 
 good advice, don't do it again." 
 
 " But it 's such fun to run to fires ! " replied Helena, 
 who now feared nothing under heaven. " We did have 
 a time ! " 
 
 "Well, if you're set on running to fires, go in your 
 own good clothes, with money enough in your pocket 
 to grease the palm of people like our friend Tim. 
 Here we are." 
 
 He called a hack and handed the girls in. 
 
 "Please tell him to stop a few doors from the 
 house," said Helena; "and," with her most engaging 
 smile, " I 'm afraid I '11 have to ask you to pay him. 
 If you '11 give me your address, I '11 send you the 
 amount first thing to-morrow." 
 
 " Oh, don't mention it. Just ask your father to vote 
 for Tom Shannon when he runs for sheriff. It 's no 
 use asking anything of old Yorba," he added, with
 
 The Californians 45 
 
 some viciousness. " And I 'd advise you, young lady, 
 to keep this night's lark pretty dark." 
 
 The remark was addressed to Magdatena, but she 
 only lifted her head haughtily and turned it away. 
 Helena replied hastily, 
 
 "My father shall vote for you and make all his 
 friends vote, too. I won't tell him about this until 
 next Wednesday, the day before I leave for New York ; 
 then he '11 be feeling so badly he won't say a word, and 
 he '11 be so grateful to you that he '11 do anything. 
 Good-night." 
 
 " Good-night, miss, and I guess you '11 get along in 
 this world." 
 
 As the carriage drove off, Helena threw her arms 
 about Magdatena, who was sitting stiffly in the corner. 
 "Oh, darling, dearest!" she exclaimed. " #%0/have 
 I made you go through? And you're so generous, 
 you'll never tell me what a villain I am. But you 
 will forgive me, won't you?" 
 
 " I am just as much to blame as you are. I was not 
 obliged to go." 
 
 "But it was dreadful, wasn't it? That horrid low 
 policeman ! The idea of his daring to put his hand on 
 my shoulder. But we '11 just forget it, and next week, 
 to-morrow, it will be as if it never had happened." 
 
 Magdalna made no reply. 
 
 " 'Lna ! " exclaimed Helena, sharply. " You 're 
 never going to own up?" 
 
 "I must," said Magdatena, firmly. "I've done a 
 wicked thing. I 've disobeyed my father, who thinks
 
 46 The Californians 
 
 it 's horrible for girls to be on the street even in the 
 daytime alone, and I 've nearly disgraced him. I Ve 
 no right not to tell him. I must ! " 
 
 " That 's your crazy old New England conscience ! 
 If you were all Spanish, you 'd look as innocent as a 
 madonna for a week, and if you were my kind of Cali- 
 fornian you 'd cheek it and make your elders feel that 
 they were impertinent for taking you to task." 
 
 " You are half New England." 
 
 " So I am, but I 'm half Southerner, too, and all 
 Californian. I 'm just beautifully mixed. You 're not 
 mixed at all ; you 're just hooked together. Come now, 
 say you won't tell him. He 's a terror when he gets 
 angry." 
 
 " I must tell him. I 'd never respect myself again 
 if I did n't. I 've done lots of other things and did n't 
 tell, but they didn't matter, that is, not so much. 
 He 's got a right to know." 
 
 "It's a pity you're not more like him, then you 
 would n't tell." 
 
 "What do you mean, Helena? I am sure my 
 father never told a lie." 
 
 Helena was too generous to tell what she knew. She 
 asked instead, " I wonder would your conscience hurt 
 you so hard if everything had turned out all right, and 
 we were coming home in our own hack? " 
 
 Magdatena thought a moment. " It might not to 
 night, but it would to-morrow. I am sure of that," she 
 said. 
 
 Helena groaned. "You are hopeless. Thank
 
 The Californians 47 
 
 Heaven, I was born without a conscience, that kind, 
 anyhow. I intend to be a law all to myself. I'm 
 Californian clear through into my backbone." 
 
 The hack stopped. The girls alighted and walked 
 slowly forward. Mr. Belmont's house was the first of 
 the three. 
 
 "Well," said Helena, "here we are. I'm going to 
 climb up the pillar and walk along the ledge. How 
 are you going in?" 
 
 "Through the front door." 
 
 "Well, if you will, you will, I suppose. Kiss me 
 good-night." 
 
 Magdatena kissed her and walked on. A half- 
 moment later Helena called after her in a loud 
 whisper, 
 
 " Take off that shawl ! " 
 
 Magdatena lifted her hand to her chin, then dropped 
 it. When she reached her own home, she rang the 
 bell firmly. The Chinaman who opened the door 
 stared at her, the dawn of an expression on his face. 
 
 "Where is Don Roberto?" she asked. 
 
 " In loffice, missee." 
 
 Magdale"na crossed the hall and tapped at the door 
 of the small room her father called his office. Don 
 Roberto grunted, and she opened the door and went 
 in. He was writing, and wheeled about sharply. 
 
 "What?" he exclaimed. " What the devil ! Take 
 that shawl off the head." 
 
 Magdale"na removed the shawl and sat down. 
 
 " I went to a fire," she said. " I got taken up by
 
 48 The Californians 
 
 a policeman and went to the station. A man named 
 Tom Shannon said he would n't lock me up, and sent 
 me home. He paid for the carriage." She paused, 
 looking at her father with white lips. 
 
 His face had turned livid, then purple. "Dicsl" he 
 gasped. " Dies / " And then she knew how furious 
 her father was. When his life was in even tenor he 
 never used his native tongue. " Dios /" he repeated. 
 " Tell that again. You go with that little devil, Helena 
 Belmont, I suppose. Madre de Dios! Again ! Again ! " 
 
 "I went to a fire south of Market Street. A 
 policeman arrested me for a vagrant. He called me 
 a greaser " 
 
 Her father sprang to his feet with a yell of rage. 
 He caught his riding-whip from the mantel. 
 
 She stumbled to her feet. " Papa ! " she said. 
 " Papa ! You will not do that ! " 
 
 A few moments later she was in her own room. 
 The stars shone full on her pretty altar. She turned 
 her back on it and sat down on the floor. She had 
 not uttered a word as her father beat her. Even now 
 she barely felt the welts on her back. But her self- 
 respect had been cut through at every blow, and it 
 quivered and writhed within her. She hated her 
 father and she hated life with an intensity which 
 added to her misery, and she decided that she had 
 made her last confession to any one but the priest, 
 who always forgave her. If she did wrong in the 
 future and her father found it out, well and good; 
 but she would not be the one to tell him.
 
 The Californians 49 
 
 VII 
 
 IT was a part of her punishment that she was to be 
 locked in her room until Helena left for New York ; 
 but Helena visited her every night in her time-hon 
 oured fashion. Magdal^na never told of the blows, 
 but confinement was a sufficient excuse to her rest 
 less friend for any amount of depression ; and Helena 
 coaxed twenty dollars out of her father and bought 
 books and bonbons for the prisoner, which she care 
 fully disposed about her person before making the 
 ascent. Magdatena hid her presents in a bureau 
 drawer ; and it is idle to deny that they comforted 
 her. One of the books was " Jane Eyre," and another 
 Mrs. Gaskell's Life of Charlotte Bronte. They fired 
 her with enthusiasm, and although she cried all night 
 after the equally tearful Helena had said good-bye to 
 her, she returned to them next day with undiminished 
 enthusiasm. 
 
 The Sunday after Helena's departure she was per 
 mitted to go to church. She was attended by her 
 mother's maid, a French girl and a fervid Catholic. 
 St. Mary's Cathedral, in which Don Roberto owned 
 a pew that he never occupied, was at that time on 
 the corner of California and Dupont streets. 
 
 Magdatena prayed devoutly, but only for the re- 
 establishment of her self-respect, and the grace of 
 oblivion for the degradation to which her father had 
 subjected her. Later, she intended to pray that he 
 4
 
 50 The Californians 
 
 might be forgiven, both by herself and God, and that 
 his heart should be softened to the poor ; but not yet. 
 She must be herself again first. 
 
 Her head had been aching for two days, the result 
 of long confinement and too many bonbons. It 
 throbbed so during service that she slipped out, whis 
 pering to the maid that she only wanted a breath of 
 fresh air and would be back shortly. 
 
 She stood for a few moments on the steps. Her 
 head felt better, and she noticed how peaceful the city 
 looked ; yet, as ever, with its suggestion of latent fev- 
 erishness. She had heard Colonel Belmont say that 
 there was no other city in the world like it, and as 
 she stood there and regarded the precipitous heights 
 with their odd assortment of flimsy "palaces" and 
 dilapidated structures dating back to the Fifties, she 
 felt the vague restlessness that brooded over every 
 thing, and understood what he had meant; and she 
 also knew that she understood as he had not. Above 
 was the dazzling sky, not a fleck in its blue fire. 
 There was not a breath of wind in the city. She had 
 never known a more peaceful day. And yet, if at 
 any moment the earth had rocked beneath her feet, 
 she would have felt no surprise. 
 
 She felt the necessity for exercise. It was now over 
 a week since she had been out of her room, and dur 
 ing that time she had not only studied as usual, but 
 read and read and read. She did not remember to 
 have ever felt so nervous before. She could not go 
 back into the Cathedral; it was musty in itself and
 
 The Californians 51 
 
 crowded with the Great Unwashed. But it would 
 not be right to disturb Julie. There could be no 
 harm in the least bit of a walk alone, particularly as 
 her father was in Menlo Park. She glanced about her 
 dubiously. Chinatown, which began a block to her 
 right, was out of the question, although she would 
 have liked to see the women and the funny little 
 Chinese babies that she had heard of: the fortu 
 nate Helena had been escorted through Chinatown 
 by her adoring parent and a policeman. She did not 
 care to climb twice the almost perpendicular hill which 
 led to her home, and at the foot of the hill was the 
 business portion of the city. There was only one 
 other way, and it looked quiet and deserted and 
 generally inviting. 
 
 She crossed California Street and walked along 
 Dupont Street. She saw to her surprise that the 
 houses were small and mean ; those the fire had eaten 
 had hardly been worse. They had green outside 
 blinds and appeared to date from the discovery of 
 gold at least. 
 
 "There are poor people so near us," she thought. 
 " Even Helena never guessed it. I am glad the plate 
 had not been handed round; I will give some one 
 my quarter." 
 
 The houses were very quiet. The shutters were 
 closed, but the slats were open. She glanced in, but 
 saw no one. 
 
 " Probably they are all in the Cathedral," she 
 thought. "I am glad it is so close to them."
 
 5 2 The Californians 
 
 She walked on, forgetting the houses for the minute, 
 absorbed in her new appreciation of the strange sug- 
 gestiveness of San Francisco. Again, something was 
 shaping itself in her mind, demanding expression. She 
 felt that it would have the power to make her forget 
 all that she did not wish to remember, and thought 
 that perhaps this was the sponge for the slate the 
 Virgin was sending in answer to her prayers. 
 
 Suddenly, almost in her ear, she heard a low chuckle. 
 She started violently; in all her life she had never 
 heard anything so evil, so appalling, as that chuckle. 
 It had come from the window at her left. She turned 
 mechanically, her spirits sinking with nameless terror. 
 
 Her expanded eyes fastened upon the open shutters. 
 A woman sat behind them ; at least, she was cast in 
 woman's mould. Her sticky black hair was piled high 
 in puffs, an exaggeration of the mode of the day. 
 Her thick lips were painted a violent red. Rouge and 
 whitewash covered the rest of her face. There was 
 black paint beneath her eyes. She wore a dirty pink 
 silk dress cut shamefully low. 
 
 The blood burned into Magdal6na's cheeks. Of 
 sin she had never heard. She had no name for the 
 creature before her, but her woman's instinct whispered 
 that she was vile. 
 
 The woman, who was regarding her malevolently, 
 spoke. Magdatena did not understand the purport 
 of her words, but she turned and fled whence she had 
 come. As she did so, the chuckle, multiplied a dozen- 
 fold, surrounded her. She stopped for a second and
 
 The Californians 53 
 
 cast a swift glance about her, fascinated, with all her 
 protesting horror. 
 
 Behind every shutter which met her gaze was the 
 duplicate of the creature who had startled her first. 
 As they saw her dismay, their chuckle broke into a 
 roar, then split into vocabulary. Magdatena ran faster 
 than she had ever run in her life before. Suddenly she 
 saw Colonel Belmont sauntering down California Street, 
 debonair as ever. His long moustaches swept his 
 shoulders. His soft hat was on the back of his head, 
 framing his bold handsome dissipated face. His frock- 
 coat, but for the lower button, was open, and stood out 
 about the dazzling shirt, well revealed by a low vest. 
 
 " Uncle Jack ! " screamed Magdatena. " Uncle 
 Jack ! " 
 
 Colonel Belmont jumped as if a battery had ripped 
 up the ground in front of him. Then he dashed 
 across the street. " Good God ! " he shouted. " Good 
 God ! " He caught Magdatena in his arms and car 
 ried her back to the shadow of the cross. 
 
 " You two have been possessed by the devil of late," 
 he began wrathfully, but Magdatena interrupted him. 
 
 "No! no!" she exclaimed. "I didn't know 
 there was anything different there from any other 
 street. I did n't mean to." 
 
 " Well, I don't suppose you did. You never know 
 where you are in this infernal town, anyhow. Where 's 
 your maid ? " 
 
 But Magdalna had fainted.
 
 The Californians 
 
 VIII 
 
 AFTER that, Magdatena had brain fever. It was a 
 sharp but brief attack, and when she was convalescent 
 the doctor ordered her to go to the country at once 
 and let her school-books alone. As Mrs. Yorba never 
 left her husband for any consideration, Magdale"na was 
 sent to Menlo Park with Miss Phelps. The time came 
 when Magdalena hated the monotony of Menlo, with 
 its ceaseless calling and driving, its sameness of days 
 and conversation; but at that age she loved the 
 country in any form. 
 
 Menlo Park, originally a large Spanish grant, had 
 long since been cut up into country places for what 
 may be termed the " Old Families of San Francisco." 
 The eight or ten families who owned this haughty pre 
 cinct were as exclusive, as conservative, as any group 
 of ancient county families in Europe. Many of them 
 had been established here for twenty years, none for 
 less than fifteen. That fact set the seal of gentle 
 blood upon them for all time in the annals of Cali 
 fornia, a fact in which there is nothing humourous 
 if you look at it logically ; there is really no reason 
 why a new country should not take itself seriously. 
 
 Don Roberto owned a square mile known as Fair 
 Oaks, in honour of the ancient and magnificent woods 
 upon it. These woods were in three sections, sepa 
 rated by meadows, and there was a broad road through 
 each, but not a twig of the riotous underbrush had
 
 The Californians 55 
 
 been sacrificed to a foot-path. A hundred acres about 
 the house which was a mile from the entrance to 
 the estate had been cleared for extensive lawns, 
 ornamental trees, and a deer park. 
 
 Directly in front of the house, across the driveway 
 and starting from a narrow walk between two great 
 lawns, was a solitary eucalyptus-tree, one of the few in 
 the State at the time of its planting. It was some two 
 hundred feet high and creaked alarmingly in heavy 
 winds ; but Don Roberto, despite Mrs. Yorba's protes 
 tations, would not have it uprooted : he had a particu 
 lar fondness for it because it was so little like the palms 
 and magnolias of his youth. 
 
 To the left of the house at the end of an avenue 
 of cherry-trees was an immense orchard surrounded 
 by an avenue of fig-trees, and English walnut-trees. 
 
 The house was as unlike the adobe mansions of the 
 old grandees as was the eucalyptus the palms. It 
 was large, square, two-storied, and although of wood, 
 of massive appearance. It was, indeed, the most solid- 
 looking structure in California at that time. A deep 
 verandah traversed three sides of the house, its roof 
 making another beneath the bedroom windows. Its 
 pillars were hidden under rose vines and wistaria. 
 The thirty rooms were somewhat superfluous, as Don 
 Roberto would have none of house-parties, but he 
 could not have breathed in a small house. The rooms 
 were very large and lofty, the floors covered with mat 
 ting, the furniture light and plain. Above, as from the 
 town house, floated the American flag.
 
 56 The Californians 
 
 Colonel Belmont's estate adjoined Fair Oaks on one 
 side, the Montgomerys' on the other ; and the Brannans, 
 Kearneys, Gearys, Washingtons, and Folsoms all spent 
 their summers in that sleepy valley between the waters 
 of the San Francisco and the redwood-covered moun 
 tains ; these and others who have nothing to do with 
 this tale. Hiram Polk had no home in Menlo, except 
 ing in his brother-in-law's house. Some of his wife's 
 happiest memories were of the Rancho de los Pulgas, 
 and she refused to witness its possession by the hated 
 American. So Polk had bought her one of the old 
 adobe houses in Santa Barbara, and each year she 
 extended the limit of her sojourn in a town where 
 memories were still sacred. 
 
 IX 
 
 MAGDALNA was languid and content. She put the 
 terrible experiences which had preceded her illness be 
 hind her without effort. Her mind dwelt upon the joy 
 of living in the sunshine, and upon the hopes of the 
 future. She admitted frankly that she was glad to be 
 rid of her parents, and only longed for Helena. That 
 faithful youngster wrote, twice a week, letters which were 
 a succession of fireworks embellished by caricatures of 
 such of her teachers and acquaintance as had incurred 
 her disapproval. Her aunt, Mrs. Edward Forbes, who 
 was one of the leaders of New York society and a 
 beauty, was giving her much petting and would take 
 her abroad later.
 
 The Californians 57 
 
 Magdalna read these letters with delight stabbed 
 with doubt. More than once she had wondered if 
 Helena had been born to realise all her own ambi 
 tions. Even her letters were clever and original. 
 
 In a week Magdalena was strong enough to walk in 
 the woods, and Miss Phelps placed no restraint upon 
 her. She re-read what books she had, then made out 
 a list and sent it to her father to purchase, believing 
 that he would refuse her nothing after her illness. Don 
 Roberto read the note, grunted, and threw it into the 
 waste-paper basket. He abominated erudite women, 
 and had the scorn of the financial mind for the super 
 fluous attributes of the intellectual. Magdalena waited 
 a reasonable time, then after a day's hard fight with 
 the reticence of her nature, wrote and asked Colonel 
 Belmont for the books. He sent them at once, with a 
 penitent note and an order on the principal bookseller 
 of the city for all that she might want in the future. 
 "I will say a prayer to the Virgin for him," thought 
 Magdalena, with a glow at her heart, oblivious that the 
 Virgin had refused to intercede with her father. 
 
 The packet contained the lives of a number of men 
 and women who had distinguished themselves in let 
 ters; but although Magdalena read them twice they 
 told her little, save that she must read the works 
 of the masters and puzzle out their methods if she 
 could. 
 
 Meanwhile, in spite of her studies, she was growing 
 strong, for she spent the day out of doors ; and when 
 her parents came down on the first of June, they found
 
 5 8 The Californians 
 
 her as shy and cold as ever, but with sparkling eyes and 
 a faint glow in her cheeks. 
 
 " But never she is beauty," said Don Roberto, that 
 evening to Polk, as the two men sat on the verandah, 
 smoking. " Before, I resent very much, and say dam 
 nation, damnation, damnation. But now I think I no 
 mind. Si she is beauty I think more often by that time 
 no can help. I wonder si there are the beautiful 
 women in the South now, like before ; but, by Jimminy ! 
 I like forget the place exeest. I am an American. 
 Yes, Great Scott ! " 
 
 He stretched out his little fat legs and rested his 
 third chin on his inflexible shirt-front. He felt an 
 American, every inch of him, and hated anything that 
 reminded him of what he might become did he yield 
 to the natural indolence and extravagance of his nature. 
 He would gladly have drained his veins and packed 
 them with galloping American blood. It grieved him 
 that he could not eliminate his native accent, and he 
 was persuaded that he spoke the American tongue in all 
 its purity, being especially proud of a large assortment 
 of expletives peculiar to the land of his adoption. 
 
 Polk gave a short dry laugh and stretched out his 
 long hard Yankee legs. Even in the dusk his lan 
 tern jaws stood out. There was no doubt about his 
 nationality. Those legs and jaws were the objects of 
 Don Roberto's abiding envy. 
 
 " Pretty women in the family are a nuisance," said 
 Polk. "They want the earth, and don't see why they 
 shouldn't get it. I wouldn't have that Helena for
 
 The Californians 59 
 
 another million. By the way, Jack told me a good 
 story on you yesterday." 
 
 Don Roberto grunted. His Spanish pride had not 
 abated an inch. He resented being discussed. 
 
 Polk continued : " There were seven or eight men 
 talking over old times in the Union Club the other 
 night; that is to say, they were reminiscing over the 
 various enterprises they had been engaged in, and the 
 piles they had made and lost. Our names naturally 
 came up, and Brannan said, slowly, as if he were think 
 ing it over hard, ' I don't think I had 
 any dealings with Yorba ever.' Whereupon 
 Washington replied, quick as a shot, You 'd remem 
 ber it if you had.' " 
 
 Don Roberto scowled heavily. It was one of his 
 fictions that he hoodwinked the world. He never 
 snapped his fingers in its face as Polk did : exteriorly 
 a Yorba must always be a Yorba. 
 
 " Some day when the bank have lend Meester Wash 
 ington one hundred thousand dollars, I turn on the 
 screw when he no is prepare to pay," he said. And 
 he did. 
 
 X 
 
 DURING the following week all Menlo, which had 
 moved down before Mrs. Yorba, called on that august 
 leader. She received every afternoon on the verandah, 
 clad in black or grey lawn, stiff, silent, but sufficiently
 
 60 The Californians 
 
 gracious. On the day after her arrival, as the first visi 
 tor's carriage appeared at the bend of the avenue, its 
 advent heralded by the furious barking of two mastiffs, 
 a bloodhound, and an English carriage dog, Magdatena 
 gathered up her books and prepared to retreat, but her 
 mother turned to her peremptorily. 
 
 " I wish you to stay," she said. " You must begin 
 now to see something of society. Otherwise you will 
 have no ease when you come out. And try to talk. 
 Young people must talk." 
 
 " But I can't talk," faltered Magdatena. 
 
 " You must learn. Say anything, and in time it will 
 be easy." 
 
 Magdatena realised that her mother was right. If 
 she was to overcome her natural lack of facile speech, 
 she could not begin too soon. Although she was terri 
 fied at the prospect of talking to these people who 
 had alighted and were exchanging platitudes with her 
 mother, she resolved anew that the time should come 
 when she should be as ready of tongue and as graceful 
 of speech as her position and her pride demanded. 
 
 She sat down by one of the guests and stammered 
 out something about the violets. The young woman 
 she addressed was of delicate and excessive beauty : 
 her brunette face, under a hat covered with corn- 
 coloured plumes, was almost faultless in its outline. 
 She wore an elaborate and dainty French gown the 
 shade of her feathers, and her small hands and feet 
 were dressed to perfection. Magdatena had heard of 
 the beautiful Mrs. Washington, and felt it a privilege to
 
 The Californians 61 
 
 sun herself in such loveliness. The three elderly ladies 
 she had brought with her Mrs. Cartright, Mrs. 
 Geary, and Mrs. Brannan were dressed with ex 
 treme simplicity. 
 
 " Yes," replied Mrs. Washington, " they are lovely, 
 they are, for a fact. Mine have chilblains or some 
 thing this year, and won't bloom for a cent. Hang the 
 luck ! I 'm as cross as a bear with a sore head about 
 it." 
 
 "Would you like me to pick some of ours for 
 you ? " asked Magdatena, wondering if she had better 
 model her verbal accomplishments on Mrs. Washing 
 ton's. She thought them even more picturesque than 
 Helena's. 
 
 " Do ; that 's a jolly good fellow." 
 
 When Magdale"na returned with the violets, they 
 were received with a bewitching but absent smile ; 
 another carriage-load had arrived, and all were discus 
 sing the advent of a " Bonanza " family, whose huge 
 fortune, made out of the Nevada mines, had recently 
 lifted it from obscurity to social fame. 
 
 "It's just too hateful that I've got to call," said 
 Mrs. Washington, in her refined melodious voice. 
 " Teddy says that I must, because sooner or later we 've 
 all got to know them, old Dillon 's a red Indian chief 
 in the financial world ; and there 's no use kicking 
 against money, anyhow. But I can't cotton to that 
 sort of people, and I just cried last night when Teddy 
 the old darling ! I 'd do anything to please him 
 told me I must call."
 
 62 The Californians 
 
 "It's a great pity we old families can't keep to 
 gether," said Mrs. Brannan, a stout high-nosed dame. 
 " There are plenty of others for them to know. Why 
 can't they let us alone?" 
 
 " That 's just what they won't do," cried Mrs. Wash 
 ington. " We 're what they 're after. What 's the 
 reason they've come to Menlo Park? They'll be 
 landed aristocracy ' in less than no time. Hang the 
 luck ! " 
 
 "Shall you call, Hannah?" asked Mrs. Cartright. 
 " Dear Jack never imposes any restrictions on me, 
 he 's so handsome about everything ; so I shall be 
 guided by you." 
 
 " In time," replied Mrs. Yorba, who also had had a 
 meaning conference with her husband. " But I shall 
 not rush. Toward the end of the summer, perhaps. 
 It would be unwise to take them up too quickly." 
 
 " I 've got to give them a dinner," said Mrs. Wash 
 ington, with gloom. "But I'll put it off till the last 
 gun fires. And you've all got to come. Otherwise 
 you '11 see me on the war-path." 
 
 " Of course we shall all go, Nelly," said Mrs. Yorba. 
 "We will always stand in together." 
 
 The conversation flowed on. Other personalities 
 were discussed, the difficulty of getting servants to stay 
 in the country, where there was such a dearth of " me 
 gentleman frien'," the appearance of the various gar 
 dens, and the atrocious amount of water they con 
 sumed. 
 
 " I wish to goodness the water- works on top would n't
 
 The Californians 63 
 
 shut off for eight months in the year," exclaimed Mrs. 
 Washington. "Whenever I want something in sum 
 mer that costs a pile, Teddy groans and tells me that 
 his water bill is four hundred dollars a month." And 
 Mrs. Washington, whose elderly and doting husband 
 had never refused to grant her most exorbitant whim, 
 sighed profoundly. 
 
 Magdatena did not find the conversation very inter 
 esting, nor was she called upon to contribute to it. 
 Nevertheless, she received every day with her mother 
 and went with her to return the calls. At the end of 
 the summer she loathed the small talk and its art, but 
 felt that she was improving. Her manner was cer 
 tainly easier. She had decided not to emulate Mrs. 
 Washington's vernacular, but she attempted to copy 
 her ease and graciousness of manner. In time she 
 learned to unbend a little, to acquire a certain gentle 
 dignity in place of her natural haughty stiffness, and to 
 utter the phrases that are necessary to keep conversa 
 tion going ; but her reticence never left her for a mo 
 ment, her eyes looked beyond the people in whom she 
 strove to be interested, and few noticed or cared 
 whether or not she was present. But at the end of the 
 summer she was full of hope ; society might not inter 
 est her, but the pride which was her chief characteristic 
 commanded that she should hold a triumphant place 
 among her peers. 
 
 She had told neither of her parents of the books 
 Colonel Belmont had given her, knowing that the re 
 sult would be a violent scene and an interdiction. At
 
 64 The Californians 
 
 this stage of her development she had no defined ideas 
 of right and wrong. Upon such occasions as she had 
 followed the dictates of her conscience, the conse 
 quences had been extremely unpleasant, and in one 
 instance hideous. She was indolent and secretive by 
 nature, and she slipped along comfortably and did not 
 bother her head with problems. 
 
 XI 
 
 THE Yorbas returned to town on the first of November. 
 It was decided that Magdatena should continue her 
 studies, but the rainy days and winter evenings gave 
 her long hours for her books. She found, to her de 
 light, that her brain was losing something of its inflexi 
 bility ; that, by reading slowly, one perusal of an ordinary 
 book was sufficient. Her memory was still incomplete, 
 but it was improving. Her mother had ceased to 
 overlook her choice of books, being satisfied that 
 Magdale"na would never care for trash. 
 
 Magdale"na always found the big dark house oppres 
 sive after the months in Menlo Park, and went out as 
 often as she could. On fine days, attended by Julie, 
 she usually walked down to the Mercantile Library, 
 and prowled among the dusty shelves. The old Mer 
 cantile Library in Bush Street, almost in the heart of 
 the business portion of the city, had the most vener 
 able air of any building in California. There was, 
 indeed, danger of coming out covered with blue mould.
 
 The Californians 65 
 
 And it was very dark and very gloomy. It has always 
 been suspected that it was a favourite resort for sui 
 cides, but this, happily, has never been proved. 
 
 But Magdatena loved it, for it held many thousand 
 volumes, and they were all at her disposal. Her mem 
 bership was worth more to her than all her father's 
 riches. Julie, who hated the library, always carried a 
 chair at once to the register and closed her eyes, that 
 she might not be depressed to tears by the gloom and 
 the walls of books, which were bound as became all 
 that was left of the dead. 
 
 It was during one of these visits that Magdatena 
 approached another crisis of her inner life. She was 
 wandering about aimlessly, hardly knowing what she 
 wanted, when her eye was caught by the title of a book 
 on an upper shelf: "Conflict between Religion and 
 Science." She knew nothing about science, but she 
 wondered in what manner religion could conflict with 
 anything. She took the book down and read the first 
 few lines, then the page, then the chapter, still stand 
 ing. When she had finished she made as if to replace 
 the book, then put it resolutely under her arm, called 
 Julie, and went home. 
 
 She read during the remainder of the afternoon, and 
 as far into the night as she dared. Before she went to 
 bed she said her prayers more fervently than ever, and 
 the next morning considered deeply whether or not 
 she should return the book half read. She finally con 
 cluded to finish it. Her intellect was voracious, and 
 she had no other companion but her religion. More- 
 
 5
 
 66 The Californians 
 
 over, if she was to aspire to a position in the world of 
 letters, she must equip her mind with the best that had 
 gone before. She had every faith in the power of the 
 Catholic religion -to hold its own ; her hesitation had 
 been induced, not by fear of disturbing her faith, but 
 because she doubted, pricked by the bigotry in her 
 veins, if it was loyal to recognise the existence of the 
 enemy. 
 
 However, she finished the book. On the following 
 Saturday morning she went down to the library and 
 asked the librarian, who took some interest in her, 
 what he would advise her to read in the way of sci 
 ence; she had lost all taste for anything else. 
 
 " Well, Darwin is about the best to begin on, I 
 should say," he replied. " He 's easy reading on ac 
 count of his style. And then I should advise you to 
 read Fiske's ' Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy ' before 
 you tackle Herbert Spencer or Huxley or Tyndall." 
 
 Magdale"na took home Darwin's " Origin of Species " 
 and "Descent of Man." They so fascinated her that 
 not until their contents had become a permanent part 
 of her mental furnishing did she realise their warfare 
 on revealed religion. But by this time science had 
 her in its mighty grip. 
 
 She read all that the librarian had recommended, 
 and much more. It was some six months later that 
 she fully realised that her faith was gone. There came 
 a time when her simple appeals to the Virgin stuck in 
 her throat ; when she realised that her beloved masters, 
 if they could have seen her telling a rosary at the foot 
 of her altar, would have thought her a fool.
 
 The Californians 67 
 
 There was no struggle, for the work was done, and 
 finally. But her grief was deep and bitter. Religion 
 had been a strong inherited instinct, and it had been 
 three fourths of her existence for nearly eighteen years. 
 She felt as if the very roots of her spirit had been torn 
 up and lay wilting and shrivelling in the cold light of 
 her reason. She was terrified at her new position. 
 How was she, a mere girl, to think for herself, to make 
 her way through life, which every great writer told her 
 was a complex and crucifying ordeal, with no guide but 
 her own poor reason ? 
 
 For the first time she felt her isolation. She had no 
 one to go to for sympathy, no one to advise her. Of 
 all she knew, her parents were the last she could have 
 approached on any subject involving the surrender of 
 her reticence. 
 
 She lost interest in her books, and brooded, her 
 mind struggling toward will-o'-the-wisps in a fog-bank, 
 until she could endure her solitary position no longer ; 
 she felt that she must speak to some one or her brain 
 would fall to ashes. Her aunt was still in Santa Bar 
 bara, and showed no disposition to return. A priest 
 was out' of the question. There was no one but Colonel 
 Belmont. Magdale'na knew nothing of his private life : 
 not a whisper had reached her secluded ears ; but she 
 doubted if religion were his strong point. But he had 
 always been kind, and she knew him to be clever. It 
 took her a week to make up her mind to speak to him 
 and to decide what to say; but when her decision 
 was finally reached, she walked through the connect-
 
 68 The Californians 
 
 ing gardens one evening with firm tread and set 
 lips. 
 
 She entered the house by a side door and went to 
 the library, where she knew Colonel Belmont smoked 
 his after-dinner cigar when at home. A cordial voice 
 answered her knock. When she entered he rose and 
 came forward with the graceful hospitality which never 
 failed him in the moments of his liveliest possession, 
 and with the acute interest which anything feminine 
 and young never failed to inspire. 
 
 "Well, honey!" he exclaimed, kissing her warmly 
 and handing her to a chair; "you might have done 
 this before. I'm such a lonely childless old widower." 
 
 " Oh ! " said Magdale"na, with contrition ; " I never 
 thought you 'd care to see me." She could not know 
 that he seldom permitted himself to be alone. 
 
 " Well, now you know it, you "11 come oftener, won't 
 you ? Have you heard from my baby lately ? I had 
 a letter a yard long this morning. She can write ! " 
 
 "I had one too." She hesitated a moment, then 
 determined to speak at once. She could not hold this 
 nor any man's attention in ordinary conversation, and 
 she wanted to finish before she wearied him. 
 
 "Uncle Jack," she said, "I've come to see you 
 about something in particular. I know so few people, 
 or I would n't bore you " 
 
 " Don't you talk about boring me, honey, you ! 
 Why, your old Uncle Jack would do anything for 
 you." 
 
 A light sprang into Magdaldna's eyes. Colonel Bel-
 
 The Californians 69 
 
 mont forgot for the moment that she was not beautiful, 
 and warmed to interest at once. Few people had ever 
 withstood Jack Belmont's magnetism, and Magdale"na 
 found it easy to speak. 
 
 " It is this," she said. " I have been reading books 
 lately that have taken my religion from me ; it has 
 gone utterly. I want to ask you what I shall do, if 
 there is anything to take its place. I I feel as 
 if I could not get along without something." 
 
 Colonel Belmont made a faint exclamation and 
 wheeled about, staring at the fire. His first impulse 
 was to laugh, so ludicrous was the idea that anyone 
 should come to him for spiritual advice; his second 
 to get out of the room. He did neither, however, 
 and ordered his intelligence to work. 
 
 He did not speak for some time ; and Magdatena, 
 for the first moment, watched him intently, scarcely 
 breathing. Then her attention wandered from herself, 
 and she studied his profile. She noted for the first 
 time how worn it was, the bags under the injected 
 eyes, the heavy lines about the mouth. She had no 
 name for what she saw written in that face, but she 
 suddenly felt herself in the presence of one of life's 
 mysteries. Of man's life she knew nothing noth 
 ing. What did this man do when he was not at home ? 
 Who were his friends besides her morose father, her 
 cold dry uncle? She felt Belmont's difference from 
 both, and could not know that they had much in com 
 mon. What circumstances had imprinted that face so 
 differently from the few faces familiar to her? For the
 
 70 The Californians 
 
 first time man in the concrete interested her. She sud 
 denly realised how profound was her ignorance, de 
 spite the lore she had gathered from books, realised 
 dimly but surely that there was a vast region called 
 life for her yet to explore, and that what bloomed for 
 a little on its surface was called human nature. She 
 gave an involuntary shiver and sank back in her chair. 
 At the same moment Colonel Belmont looked round. 
 
 "Someone walking over your grave?" he asked, 
 smiling. "What you asked came on me right sud 
 denly, 'Lena. I couldn't answer it all in a minute. 
 You did n't say much you never do ; so I under 
 stand how you 've been taking this thing to heart. 
 I 'm sorry you Ve lost your religion, for it stands a 
 woman in mighty well. They have the worst of it in 
 this life." Perhaps he was thinking of his wife. His 
 face was very sober. " But if you have lost it, that is 
 the end of the chapter as far as you are concerned. 
 All I can think of is this " the words nearly choked 
 him, but he went on heroically : " Do what you think 
 is right in little matters as well as in great. You Ve 
 been properly brought up ; you know the difference 
 between right and wrong ; and all your instincts are 
 naturally good, if I know anything about women. As 
 you grow older, you will see your way more clearly. 
 You won't have the temptations that many women 
 have, so that it will be easier for you than for some 
 of the poor little devils. And you '11 never be poor. 
 You '11 find it easier than most and I 'm glad of it ! " 
 he added with a burst of warm sympathy. Emotional
 
 The Californians 71 
 
 by nature, the unaccustomed experience had brought 
 him fo the verge of tears ; and Magdalna, forlorn and 
 lonely, but thanking him mutely with her eloquent eyes, 
 appealed to the great measure of chivalry in him. 
 
 " I am glad I spoke to you, Uncle Jack," she said 
 after a moment. " You have given me much to think 
 about, and I am sure I shall get along much better. 
 Thanks, ever so much." 
 
 She did not rise to go, but was silent for several 
 moments. Then she asked abruptly, 
 
 " What do you mean by women having temptations ? 
 I know by the way you said it that you don't mean 
 just ordinary every-day temptations." 
 
 Colonel Belmont glanced about helplessly. His elo 
 quence had carried him away ; he had not paused to 
 take feminine curiosity into account. He encountered 
 Magdalena's eyes. They were fixed on him with 
 solemn inquiry, and they were very intelligent eyes. 
 Did he take refuge in verbiage, she would not be 
 deceived. Did he refuse to continue the conversation, 
 she would be hurt. In either case her imagination 
 would have been set at work, and she might go far, and 
 in the wrong direction, to satisfy her curiosity. Once 
 more he stared at the fire. 
 
 To his daughter he could have said nothing on such 
 a subject : he was too old-fashioned, too imbued with 
 the chivalrous idea of the South of his generation that 
 women were of two kinds only, and that those who 
 had been segregated for men to love and worship 
 and marry must never brush the skirts of their thought
 
 72 The Californians 
 
 against the sin of the world. They were ideal creatures 
 who would produce others like themselves, and men 
 like himself. 
 
 But as he considered he realised that he had a duty 
 toward Magdatena, which grew as he thought : she 
 needed help and advice and had come to him, having 
 literally no one else to go to. After all, might she not 
 have temptations which would pass his beautiful, quick 
 witted, triumphant daughter by? Helena, with the 
 world at her feet, would have little time for brooding, 
 little time for anything but the lighter pleasures of life 
 under his watchful eye, until she loved and passed to 
 the keeping of a man who, he hoped, would be far 
 stronger and finer than himself. But Magdalena? 
 Repressed, unloved, intellectual, disappointed at every 
 turn, passionate undoubtedly, there was no knowing 
 to what sudden extremes desperation might drive her. 
 And the woman, no matter how plain, had yet to be 
 born who could not be utterly bad if she put her mind 
 to it. It was not only his duty to warn Magdalena, 
 but to give her such advice as no mortal had ever 
 heard from his lips before, nor ever would hear again. 
 
 He drew a long breath and wheeled about. Mag- 
 dalna was leaning forward, staring at him intently. 
 There was no self-consciousness in her face, and he 
 realised in a flash that he would merely talk into a 
 brain. Her woman's nature would not be awakened 
 by the homily of an elderly man. The task became 
 suddenly light. 
 
 " Well, it 's just this : There 's no moral law govern-
 
 The Californians 73 
 
 , ing the animal kingdom ; but men and women were 
 allowed to develop into speaking, reasoning, generally 
 intelligent beings for one purpose only : to make the 
 world better, not worse. Their reasoning faculty may 
 or may not be a spark of the divine force behind the 
 universe ; but there 's no doubt about the fact, not the 
 least, that every intelligent being knows that he ought 
 to be at least two thirds good, and in his better mo 
 ments which come to the worst he has a desire 
 to be wholly good, or at least better than he has ever 
 been. In other words, the best of men strive more 
 or less constantly toward an ideal (and the second- 
 best strive sometimes) which, if realised, would make 
 this world a very different place. I believe myself 
 that it is this instinct alone which is responsible for 
 religions, a desire for a concrete form of goodness to 
 which man can cling when his own little atom is over 
 whelmed by the great measure of weakness in him. 
 Do you follow me ? " 
 
 Magdale"na nodded, but she did not look satisfied. 
 
 " Well, this is the point : The world might be prosaic 
 without sin, but it is right positive that women would 
 suffer less. And if it could be pounded into every 
 woman's head that she was a fool to think twice about 
 any man she could not marry, and that she threatened 
 the whole social structure every time she brought a 
 fatherless child into the world ; that she made possible 
 such creatures as you saw in Dupont Street, and a long 
 and still more hideous sequelae, every time she delib 
 erately violated her own instinct for good, we 'd all
 
 74 The Californians 
 
 begin to develop into what the Almighty intended us to 
 be when He started us off on our long march. Don't 
 misunderstand me ! Even if I were not such a sinner 
 myself, I 'd be deuced charitable where love was con 
 cerned, marriage or no marriage O Lord ! I 
 did n't mean to say that. Forget it until you 're thirty ; 
 then remember it if you like, for your brain is a good 
 one. Look, promise me something, 'Le"na ; " he leaned 
 forward eagerly and took her hand. " Promise me, 
 swear it, that until you are thirty you '11 never do any 
 thing your instincts and your intelligence don't assure 
 you is right, really right without any sophistry. Of 
 course I mean in regard to men. I don't want you 
 to make yourself into a prig but I am sure you 
 understand." 
 
 " I think I do," said Magdalna. " I promise." 
 " Thank goodness, for you '11 never break your word. 
 You may be tempted more than once to kick the 
 whole stupid game of life to the deuce and go out on 
 a bat like a man, but console yourself with this : you 'd 
 be a long sight worse off when you got through than 
 when you started, and you 'd either go to smash 
 altogether or spend the rest of your life trying to get 
 back where you were before ; and sackcloth hurts. 
 There is n't one bit of joy to be got out of it. If you 
 can't get the very best in this world, take nothing. 
 That 's the only religion for a woman to cling to, and 
 if she does cling to it she can do without any other." 
 
 Magdalena rose. " Good-night," she said. " I '11 
 never forget a word of it, and I 'm very much obliged."
 
 The Californians 75 
 
 She kissed him and had half crossed the room before 
 he sprang to his feet and went hastily forward to open 
 the door. He went to her father's house with her, 
 then returned to his library fire. To the surprise of 
 his servants, he spent the evening quietly at home. 
 
 XII 
 
 A YEAR from the following June, and two days after 
 her arrival in Menlo, Magdatena went into the middle 
 woods. The great oaks were dusty already, their 
 brilliant greens were dimming ; but the depths of the 
 woods were full of the warm shimmer of summer, of 
 the mysterious noises produced by creatures never 
 seen, by the very heat itself, perchance by the riotous 
 sap in the young trees which had sprung to life from 
 the roots of their mighty parents. 
 
 Magdalena left the driveway and pushed in among 
 the brush. Poison oak did not affect her; and she 
 separated the beautiful creeper fearlessly until she 
 reached a spot where she was as sure of being alone 
 and unseen as if she had entered the bowels of the 
 earth. She sat down on the warm dry ground and 
 looked about her for a moment, glad in the sense of 
 absolute freedom- Above the fragrant brush of many 
 greens rose the old twisted oaks, a light breeze rust 
 ling their brittle leaves, their arms lifted eagerly to the 
 warm yellow bath from above. Near her was a high 
 pile of branches and leaves, the home of a wood-rat.
 
 76 The Californians 
 
 No sound came from it, and mortal had nothing to fear 
 from him. A few birds moved among the leaves, but 
 the heat made them lazy, and they did not sing. 
 
 After a few moments, Magdaldna's glance swept the 
 wall of leaves that surrounded her; then she took a 
 pencil and a roll of foolscap from her pocket. She had 
 made up her mind that the time had come for her first 
 essay in fiction. For two years and a half she had 
 studied and thought to this end ; too reverent to criti 
 cise, but taking the creators' structures to pieces as 
 best she could and giving all attention to parts and 
 details. 
 
 She had had a nebulous idea in her mind for some 
 time. It had troubled her that it did not assume 
 definite form, but she trusted to that inspiration of 
 the pen of which she had read much. 
 
 Her hand trembled so that she could not write for a 
 few moments. She put the pencil down, not covering 
 her face with her hands as a more demonstrative girl 
 would have done, but biting her lips. Her heart beat 
 suffocatingly. For the first time she fully realised what 
 the power to write would mean to her. Her religion 
 had gone, that dear companion of many years; she 
 had practised faithfully until six months ago, when she 
 had asked her teacher to tell her father that she could 
 never become even a third-rate musician; and Don 
 Roberto had, after a caustic hour, concluded that he 
 would " throw no more good money after bad ; " she 
 had had long and meaning conferences with her mirror, 
 conjuring up phantasms of the beautiful dead women
 
 The Californians 77 
 
 of her race, and decided sadly that the worship of man 
 was not for her. She had never talked for ten con 
 secutive minutes with a young man ; but she had a 
 woman's instincts, she had read, she had listened to 
 the tales of her aunt, and she knew that what man 
 most valued in woman she did not possess. Her great 
 position and the graces she hoped to cultivate might 
 gratify her ambitions in a measure, but they would not 
 companion her soul. Books were left ; but books are 
 too heterogeneous an interest to furnish a vital one 
 in life, a reason for being alive. She had read of the 
 jealous absorption of art, of the intense exclusive love 
 with which it inspired its votaries. She had read of 
 the joys of creation, and her whole being had re 
 sponded ; she felt that did her brain obey her will and 
 shape itself to achievement, she too would know ecstasy 
 and ask nothing more of life. 
 
 Her nerves settled, and she began to write. Her 
 reading had been confined to the classics of the old 
 world : not only had she not read a modern novel, 
 but of the regnant lights of her own country, Mr. 
 HoweHs and Mr. James, she had never heard. She 
 may have seen their names in the " Literary Bulletin " 
 her bookseller sent her, but had probably gathered that 
 they were biologists. There was no one to tell her that 
 the actors and happenings within her horizon were the 
 proper substance for her creative faculty. California 
 had whispered to her, but she had not understood. 
 Her intention was to write a story of England in the 
 reigns of Oliver Cromwell and Charles the Second.
 
 7 8 The Californians 
 
 The romance of England appealed to her irresistibly. 
 The mass of virgin ore which lay at her hand did not 
 provoke a flash of magnetism from her brain. 
 
 She wrote very slowly. An hour passed, and she had 
 only covered a page. Her head- ached a little from 
 the intense concentration of mind. Her fingers were 
 stiff. Finally, she laid her pencil aside and read what 
 she had written. It was a laboured introduction to the 
 story, an attempt to give a picture of the times. She 
 was only nineteen and a novice, but she knew that what 
 she had written was rubbish. It was a trite synopsis of 
 what she had read, of what everybody knew ; and 
 the English, although correct, was commonplace, the 
 vocabulary cheap. She set her lips, tore it up, and 
 began again. At the end of another hour she 
 destroyed the second result. 
 
 Then she determined to skip the prologue for the 
 present and begin the story. For many long moments 
 she sat staring into the brush, her brain plodding 
 toward an opening scene, an opening sentence. At 
 last she began to write. She described the hero. He 
 was walking down the great staircase of a baronial hall, 
 in which he had lain concealed, and the company 
 below were struck dumb with terror and amazement at 
 the apparition. She got him to the middle of the 
 stair; she described his costume with fidelity; she 
 wrote of the temper of the people in the great hall. 
 Then she dropped the pencil. What was to happen 
 thereafter was a blank. 
 
 She read what she had written. It was lifeless. It
 
 The Californians 79 
 
 was not fiction. The least of Helena's letters was 
 more virile and objective than this. 
 
 Again that mysterious indefinable presentiment as 
 sailed her. It was the first time that it had come since 
 that night she had stood on the balcony and opened 
 her brain to literary desire. Had that presentiment 
 meant anything since compassed ? Her father's cruel 
 treatment? Her terrible experience in the street of 
 painted women? Her illness? The loss of her re 
 ligion? It was none of these things. So far, it had 
 not been fulfilled ; and it had struck its warning note 
 again. She shivered, then discovered that the yellow 
 light was no longer about her, and that her head 
 ached. She rose stiffly and put the torn scraps of 
 paper in her pocket. As she left, she cast a curious 
 glance about her retreat, not knowing what prompted 
 it. The scent of newly upturned earth came to her 
 nostrils; a bird flew down on the rat's nest, starting 
 along the sides a shower of loose earth; the frogs 
 were chanting hoarsely. 
 
 XIII 
 
 THE next morning the natural buoyancy of youth 
 asserted itself; she reasoned that a long hard appren 
 ticeship had been the lot of many authors, and deter 
 mined that she would write a page a day for years, if 
 need be, until her tardy faculty had been coaxed 
 from its hard soil and trained to use.
 
 80 The Californians 
 
 She could not go to the woods that day : her mother 
 expected callers. 
 
 "Your birthday is a week from Wednesday," Mrs. 
 Yorba said as they sat on the verandah. " Your father 
 and I have decided to give a dinner. You will not 
 come out formally, of course, until winter ; but a little 
 society during the summer will take off the stiff 
 ness." 
 
 Magdalna turned cold. " But, mamma ! I cannot 
 talk to young men." 
 
 "You expect to begin sometime, do you not? I 
 shall also take you to any little entertainment that is 
 given in Menlo this summer ; and as the Brannans and 
 Montgomerys are back from Europe, they arrived 
 last Thursday, there may be several. The older girls 
 gave little parties before they married ; but there have 
 not been any grown girls in Menlo for some years now. 
 Rose Geary and Caro Folsom, who spent last summer 
 in the East, will spend this in Menlo, so that there will 
 be five of you, besides Nelly Washington." 
 
 Magdalna knew that the matter was settled. She 
 had given a good deal of imagination to the time when 
 she should be a young lady, but the immediate pros 
 pect filled her with dismay. Then, out of the knowl 
 edge that her lines had been chosen for her, she 
 adapted herself, as mortals do, and experienced some 
 of the pleasures of anticipation. 
 
 " I believe I did not tell you," her mother resumed, 
 " that I wrote to Helena some time ago asking her to 
 bring back four dresses for you, a ball dress for your
 
 The Californians 81 
 
 dbut, an English walking suit, a calling dress, and a 
 dinner dress." 
 
 Magdatena had never given a thought to dress ; but 
 this sudden announcement that she was to have four 
 gowns from Paris and London pricked her with an in 
 timation that the interests of life were more varied than 
 she had suspected. She wondered vividly what they 
 would be like, and recalled several of Nelly Washing 
 ton's notable gowns. 
 
 " You are to have forty dollars a month after your 
 birthday, and your father will permit me to get you 
 three dresses a year ; everything else must come out of 
 your allowance. You will keep an account-book and 
 show it to your father every month, as I do. Oh 
 and there is another thing : a Mr. Trennahan of New 
 York has brought letters to your father. He is a man 
 of some importance, is wealthy and has been Secre 
 tary of Legation twice, and comes of a distinguished 
 family; we must do something for him, and have 
 decided to ask him down to your dinner. That will 
 kill two birds with one stone. He can also stay 
 a day or two, and we will show him the different 
 places." 
 
 "A strange man in the house for two days," gasped 
 Magdale"na, forgetting that she was to have forty dollars 
 a month. 
 
 " He can take care of himself most of the time. 
 Here come Nelly." 
 
 Mrs. Washington's ponies were rounding the deqr 
 park. Magdalena craned her neck. 
 
 6
 
 82 The Californians 
 
 "She has some one with her," she said. And in 
 another half-moment: "Tiny Montgomery and Ila 
 Brannan." 
 
 Magdalna clasped her hands tightly to keep them 
 from trembling. What would they think of her ? She 
 saw that they were smartly dressed. Doubtless they 
 were very grand and clever indeed, and would think 
 her more trying than ever. But although all her shy 
 ness threatened for a moment, it was summarily routed 
 by her Spanish pride. 
 
 She rose as the phaeton drew up, and went to the 
 head of the steps, smiling. They might find her un 
 interesting, but not gaiiche. 
 
 The girls came gracefully forward and kissed her 
 warmly. 
 
 "Dear 'Le'na," said Miss Montgomery. "We 
 would n't wait : we wanted so much to see you again. 
 And besides, you know," with a mischievous smile, 
 " we owe you a great many luncheon calls." 
 
 Miss Brannan exclaimed almost simultaneously, 
 " How you have improved, 'Le'na ! I should never 
 have known you." And if her tone was conventional, 
 it fell upon ears untuned to conventions. 
 
 It was Magdale"na's first compliment, and she thrilled 
 with pleasure. " My face looks very much the same 
 in the glass," she said. " But I am glad to see you 
 back. Let us sit on this side." 
 
 She led the girls a little distance down the verandah ; 
 she was trembling inwardly, but felt that she should get 
 along better if relieved of her mother's ear. Tiny
 
 The Californians 83 
 
 began at once to talk of her delight in being home 
 again, and Magdatena had time to recover herself. 
 
 Tiny Montgomery was an exquisitely pretty little 
 creature, very small but admirably proportioned, al 
 though thin. Her brown eyes were very sweet under 
 well-pencilled brows, her nose aquiline and fine. The 
 mouth was barely rubbed in, but the teeth were beauti 
 ful, the smile as sweet as the eyes. She had the small 
 est feet and hands in California, and to-day they were 
 clad in white suede with no detriment to their fame. 
 She wore a frock of white embroidered nainsook and 
 a leghorn covered with white feathers. She talked 
 rather slowly, in language carefully chosen, although 
 plentifully laden with superlatives. Her voice was 
 very sweet, and highly cultivated. 
 
 Ila Brannan was taller, with a slender full figure, and 
 very smart. She wore a closely fitting frock of tan- 
 coloured cloth, a small toque, and a veil covered with 
 large velvet dots. She was very olive, and her cheeks 
 were deeply coloured. Her black eyes had a slanting 
 expression. Young as she was, there was a vague sug 
 gestion of maturity about her. She smiled pleasantly 
 and echoed Tiny's little enthusiasms, which had an air 
 of elaborate rehearsal, but she seemed to have brought 
 something of Paris with her, and to adapt herself but 
 ill to her old surroundings. Magdatena did not feel at 
 ease with either of them, but concluded that she liked 
 Tiny best. 
 
 "Tell me something of Helena," she s,aid finally, 
 " Of course you saw her in Paris,"
 
 84 The Californians 
 
 "Oh, constantly," replied Tiny. "She's perfectly 
 beautiful, 'Le'na, perfectly. Mamma took her with us one 
 night to the opera, and so many people asked her who 
 the beautiful American was. She has grown quite tall, 
 and is wonderfully stylish. Colonel Belmont has simply 
 showered money on her since he went over, and she 
 will have beautiful clothes, and cut us all out when she 
 comes back." But Tiny did not look in the least dis 
 turbed, and peeped surreptitiously into the polished 
 glass of the window. 
 
 " She '11 have all the men wild about her," announced 
 Ila ; she spoke with a slight French accent, which was 
 not affected, as she had spent the greater part of the 
 last five years in Paris. " And she is going to be a 
 very dashing belle. She informed me that she shall 
 run to fires and do whatever she chooses, and make 
 people like it whether they want to or not. But I 
 doubt if she will ever be fast." 
 
 " Fast ! " echoed Magdale"na, a street of painted 
 women flashing into memory; she knew of no de 
 grees. " Helena ! How can you think of such a 
 thing in connection with her ! " 
 
 Ila laughed softly. " You baby ! " she said. 
 
 Tiny frowned. " You know, Ila," she said coldly, 
 "that I do not like to talk of such things." 
 
 " Well, you need not," said Ila, coolly. 
 
 Tiny lifted her brows. "I think you know you 
 cannot talk to me of what I do not wish to hear," 
 she said with great dignity. 
 
 Magdalena turned to her, the warm light of approval
 
 The Californians 85 
 
 in her eyes ; and Ila, unabashed, rose and said, " I 
 think I '11 go over and talk scandal for awhile," and 
 joined the older women, whose numbers had been 
 reinforced. 
 
 Magdatena longed to ask Tiny if she really had 
 improved, but was too shy. Tiny said almost 
 directly, 
 
 " You look so intellectual, 'Lna. Are you ? I feel 
 quite afraid." 
 
 " Oh, no, no ! " replied Magdalna, hastily, " I really 
 know very little ; I wish I knew more." She hesitated 
 a moment ; it was difficult for her to expand even to 
 the playmate of her childhood, but an alluring pros 
 pect had suddenly opened. " Of course you will have 
 a great deal of leisure this summer," she added. 
 "Shall we read together?" 
 
 Tiny rose with a sweet but rather forced smile. " I 
 am not going to let you see how ignorant I am," she 
 saitl. " But I feel very rude : I should go over and 
 talk to Mrs. Yorba." 
 
 When they had gone, Magdatena sat for a time 
 staring straight before her, unheeding her mother's 
 comments. The snub had been prettily administered, 
 but it had cut deep into her sensitiveness. She real 
 ised that she was quite unlike these other girls of her 
 own age, had never been like them ; it was not Europe 
 that had made the difference. " I would not care," 
 she thought, " if they would keep away from me al 
 together. I have what I care much more for. . But I 
 must see them nearly every day and try to interest
 
 86 The Californians 
 
 them. And I know they will find me as dull as when I 
 gave those dreadful luncheons." 
 
 She was recalled by a direct observation of her 
 mother's. 
 
 " Your washed cross-barred muslin looked very plain 
 beside their French things, but I do not think it worth 
 while to get you any new clothes at present. But do 
 not let it worry you. Remember that what we do 
 seems right to every one. We can afford to dress 
 exactly as we choose." 
 
 " It does not worry me," replied Magdalna. 
 
 XIV 
 
 WHETHER or not to tell her parents of her determina 
 tion to write had been a matter of momentous con 
 sideration to Magdal(na. After the resignation of her 
 faith and her conversation with Colonel Belmont, she 
 had determined to adhere rigidly to the truth and to 
 the right way of living, to conquer the indolence of 
 her moral nature and jealously train her conscience. 
 The result, she felt, would be a religion of her own, 
 from which she could derive strength as well as con 
 solation for what she had lost. She knew, by reading 
 and instinct, that life was full of pitfalls, but her in 
 telligence would dictate what was right, and to its 
 mandates she would conform, if it cost her her life. 
 And she knew that the religion she had formulated
 
 The Californians 87 
 
 for herself in rough outline was far more exacting 
 thart the one she had surrendered. 
 
 She had finally decided that it was not her duty to 
 tell her parents that she was trying to write. When 
 she was ready to publish she would ask their consent. 
 That would be their right ; but so long as they could 
 in no way be affected, the secret might remain her 
 own. And this secret was her most precious pos 
 session; it would have been firing her soul at the 
 stake to reveal it to anyone less sympathetic than 
 Helena ; she was not sure that she could even speak 
 of it to her. 
 
 Her time was her own in the country. Her father 
 and uncle came down three times a week, but rarely 
 before evening ; her mother's mornings were taken up 
 with household matters, her afternoons with siesta, 
 calling, and driving; frequently she lunched infor 
 mally with her friends. How Magdal^na spent her time 
 did not concern her parents, so long as she did not 
 leave the grounds and was within call when visitors 
 came. 
 
 Don. Roberto would not keep a horse in town for 
 Magdatena, but in the country she rode through the 
 woods unattended every morning. The exhilaration 
 of these early rides filled Magdaie"na's soul with con 
 tent. The freshness of the golden morning, the drowsy 
 summer sounds, the deep vistas of the woods, not an 
 outline changed since unhistoried races had possessed 
 them, the glimpses of mountain and redwood forests 
 beyond, the embracing solitude, laid somnolent fingers
 
 88 The Californians 
 
 on the scars of her inner life, letting free the sweet 
 troubled thoughts of a girl, carried her back to the 
 days when she had dreamed of caballeros serenad 
 ing beneath her casement. For two years she had 
 dreamed that dream, and then it had curled up and 
 fallen to dust under Helena's ridicule. Magdale"na 
 was fatally clear of vision, and her reason had accepted 
 the facts at once. 
 
 Sometimes during those rides she dreamed of a 
 lover in the vague fashion of a girl whose acquaint 
 ance of man is confined to a few elderly men and to 
 the creations of masters ; but only then. She rarely 
 deluded herself. She was plain; she could not even 
 interest women. She felt that she was wholly without 
 that magnetism which, she had read, made many plain 
 women irresistible to man. 
 \ 
 
 XV 
 
 DON ROBERTO was to bring his guest with him on the 
 train which arrived a few minutes after five. Magda- 
 lna was told to dress early and be in the parlour 
 when Mr. Trennahan came downstairs. She was 
 cold at the thought of talking alone with a man and 
 a stranger; but Mrs. Yorba had neuralgia, and an 
 nounced her intention to lie down until the last 
 minute. 
 
 Magdalena had received a number of pretty pres 
 ents from her aunt and friends, a cablegram from 
 Colonel Belmont and Helena, and from her father a
 
 The Californians 89 
 
 small gold watch and fob. Her father's gift was very 
 magnificent to her, and her pleasure was as great in 
 the thought of his generosity as in the beauty of the 
 gift itself. His usual gift was ten dollars; and as it 
 had been decided that she was not to be a young 
 lady until she was nineteen, her eighteenth birthday 
 had been passed over. 
 
 Her mother's present was the dress she was to wear 
 to-night, a white organdie of the pearly tint high in 
 favour with blondes of matchless complexion, a white 
 sash, and a white ribbon to be knotted about the 
 throat. The neck of the gown was cut in a small V. 
 
 Magdatena had no natural taste in dress, nor did 
 she know the first principle of the law of colour ; but 
 when she had finished her toilette she stood for many 
 moments before the mirror, regarding herself with dis 
 approval. The radiant whiteness of the frock and of 
 the ribbon about her neck made her look as dark as 
 an Indian. She saw no beauty in the noble head with 
 its parted, closely banded hair, in the fine dark eyes. 
 She saw only the wide mouth and indefinite nose, the 
 complexionless skin, the long thin figure and ugly 
 neck. The only thing about her that possessed any 
 claim to beauty, according to her own standards, was 
 her foot. She thrust it out and strove to find encour 
 agement in its pulchritude. It was thin and small and 
 arched, and altogether perfect. She wore her first 
 pair of slippers and silk stockings, a present from 
 ber aunt. Her mother thought silk stockings a sinful 
 of money.
 
 go The Californians 
 
 Magdatena sighed and turned to the door. "Feet 
 don't talk," she thought. " What am I to say to Mr. 
 Trennahan?" 
 
 She walked slowly down the stair. He was before 
 her, standing on the verandah directly in front of the 
 doors. His back was to her. She saw that he was 
 very tall and thin, not unlike her uncle in build, but 
 with a distinction that gentleman did not possess. 
 Her father was strutting up and down the drive, taking 
 his ante-dinner constitutional. 
 
 She went along the hall as slowly as she could, her 
 hands clenched, her mind in travail for a few words of 
 appropriate greeting. When she had nearly reached 
 the door, Trennahan turned suddenly and saw her. 
 He came forward at once, his hand extended. 
 
 " This is Miss Yorba, of course," he said. " How 
 good of you to come down so soon ! " 
 
 He had a large warm hand. It closed firmly over 
 Magdale"na's, and gave her confidence. She could 
 hardly see his face in the gloom of the hall, but she 
 felt his cordial grace, his magnetism. 
 
 "I am glad you have come down to my birthday 
 dinner," she said, thankful to be able to say anything. 
 
 "I am highly honoured, I am sure. Shall we go 
 outside? I hope you prefer it out there. I never 
 stay in the house if I can help it." 
 
 " Oh, I much prefer to be out." 
 
 They sat facing each other in two of the wicker 
 chairs. He was a man skilled in woman, and he 
 divined her shyness and apprehension. He talked
 
 The Californians 91 
 
 lightly for some time, making her feel that politeness 
 compelled her to be silent and listen. She raised 
 her eyes after a time and looked at him. He was, 
 perhaps, thirty-five, possibly more. He looked older 
 and at the same time younger. His shaven chin and 
 lips were sternly cut. His face was thin, his nose 
 arched and fine, his skin and hair neutral in tint. 
 The only colouring about him was in his eyes. They 
 were very blue and deeply set under rather scraggy 
 brows. Magdale'na noted that they had a peculiarly 
 penetrating regard, and that they did not smile with 
 the lips. The latter, when not smiling, looked grim 
 and forbidding, and there was a deep line on either 
 side of the mouth. Her memory turned to Colonel 
 Belmont, and the night she had studied his profile. 
 There was an indefinable resemblance between the 
 two men. Then she realised how old-fashioned and 
 worn Belmont was beside this trim elegant man, who, 
 with no exaggeration of manner, treated her with a 
 deference and attention which had no doubt been his 
 habitual manner with the greatest ladies in Europe. 
 
 "Shall you be in California long?" she asked 
 suddenly. 
 
 " That is what I am trying to decide. I had heard 
 so much of your California that I came out with a 
 half-formed idea of buying a little place and settling 
 down for the rest of my days." 
 
 "The Mark Smith place is for sale," she answered 
 quickly. " It has only two acres, but they are culti 
 vated, and the house is very pretty."
 
 92 The Californians 
 
 " Your father told me about it ; but although Menlo 
 is very beautiful, it seems to have one drawback. I 
 am very fond of rowing, sailing, and fishing, and there 
 is no water." 
 
 " There is if you go far enough. The bay is not so 
 very far away, and I have heard that there is salmon- 
 fishing back in the mountains. And Mr. Washington 
 and Uncle Jack Belmont often go duck and snipe 
 shooting down on the marsh." She stopped with a 
 shortening of the breath. She had not made such a 
 long speech since Helena left. 
 
 He sat forward eagerly. " You interest me deeply," 
 he said. " I am very much inclined to buy the place. 
 I shall certainly think of it." 
 
 " But you surely you would rather be live 
 in Europe. We are very old-fashioned out here." 
 
 The expression about his mouth deepened. "I 
 should like to think that I might spend the rest of 
 my days with a fishing-rod or a gun." 
 
 " But you have been at courts ! " 
 
 He laughed. "I have, and I hope I may never see 
 another." 
 
 " And and you are young." 
 
 Her interest and curiosity overcame her reserve. 
 She wanted to know all of this man that he would 
 tell her. She had once seen a picture of a death- 
 mask. His face reminded her of it. What lay 
 behind ? 
 
 "I am forty and some months." 
 
 She rose suddenly, her hand seeking her heart.
 
 The Californians 93 
 
 " They are coming," she faltered. " I hear wheels. 
 And mamma is not here to introduce you." 
 
 "Well," he said, smiling down on her. "Cannot 
 you introduce me?" 
 
 "I I cannot. I have never introduced anyone. 
 I must seem very ignorant and gauche to you." 
 
 " You are delightful. And I am sure you are quite 
 equal to anything. Am I to be introduced out here, 
 or in the drawing-room after they have come down 
 stairs?" 
 
 "Oh, I am not sure." 
 
 "Then perhaps you will let me advise you. When 
 they are all here, I will appear in the drawing-room ; 
 and if your mother is not down by that time, we will 
 help each other out. They will all be talking and 
 will hardly notice me. But I must run." 
 
 The Geary phaeton drove up. It held Rose and her 
 brother. After they had gone upstairs Magdatena 
 went into the parlour to wait for them. The large 
 room was very dim the gasoline was misbehaving 
 and silent; she shivered with apprehension. There 
 was no sign of her mother. But Trennahan's words 
 and sympathy had given her courage, and she burned 
 with ambition to acquit herself creditably in his 
 eyes. 
 
 The guests arrived rapidly. In ten minutes they 
 were all in the parlour, sixteen in number, the men 
 in full dress, the women in organdies or foulards show 
 ing little of arm and neck. Mrs. Washington was in 
 pink ; Tiny in white and a seraphic expression ; Rose
 
 94 The Californians 
 
 wore black net and red slippers, a bunch of red gera 
 niums at her belt, her eyes slanting at the men about 
 her. With the exception of Ned Geary and Charley 
 Rollins, a friend of Helena's, with both of whom she 
 had perhaps exchanged three sentences in the course 
 of her life, Magdalena knew none of the young men : 
 they had been brought, at Mrs. Yorba's suggestion, 
 by the other guests. 
 
 She could find nothing to say to them; she was 
 watching the door. Would her mother never come ? 
 Her father was on the front verandah talking to Mr. 
 Washington and her uncle. 
 
 Trennahan entered the room. 
 
 Magdalena drew herself up and went forward. She 
 looked very dignified and very Spanish. No one 
 guessed, with the exception of Trennahan, that it was 
 the ordeal of her life. 
 
 "Mr. Trennahan," she said in a harsh even voice : 
 " Mrs. Washington, Miss Brannan, Miss Montgomery." 
 
 He flashed her a glance of admiration which sent the 
 chill from her veins, and began talking at once to the 
 three women that she might feel excused from further 
 duty. A few moments later Mrs. Yorba entered. She 
 received Trennahan without a smile or a superfluous 
 word. Mrs. Yorba was never deliberately rude ; but 
 were she the wife of an ambassador for forty years, 
 her chill nipped New England nature would never 
 even artificially expand ; the cast-iron traditions of her 
 youth, when neither she nor any of her acquaintance 
 knew aught of socialities beyond church festivals,
 
 The Californians 95 
 
 could never be torn from the sterile but tenacious soil 
 which had received them. 
 
 Dinner was announced almost immediately. Mrs. 
 Yorba signified to Trennahan that he was to have the 
 honour of taking her in ; and as she had not inti 
 mated how the rest were to be coupled, the women 
 arranged the matter to suit themselves. Mrs. Cart- 
 right went in with Don Roberto, Mrs. Washington with 
 Polkj there were no other married women present. 
 As Charley Rollins was standing by Magdal6na, she 
 took the arm he offered her. 
 
 The function was not as melancholy as the Yorba 
 dinners were wont to be. Young people in or ap 
 proaching their first season are not easily affected by 
 atmosphere ; and those present to-night, with the 
 exception of Magdatena and Tiny Montgomery, 
 chattered incessantly. Tiny had a faculty for making 
 her temporary partner do the talking while she enjoyed 
 her dinner; but she listened sweetly and her super 
 latives were happily chosen. 
 
 Mrs. Cartright always talked incessantly whether 
 anyone, listened or not. Mrs. Washington, who sat 
 on Don Roberto's left, amused him with the audacity 
 of her slang. Where she learned the greater number 
 of her discords was an abiding mystery ; the rest of 
 Menlo Park relegated slang to the unknown millions 
 who said " mommer " and " popper," got divorces, and 
 used cosmetics. When remonstrated with, she airily 
 responded that her tongue was "made that way," 
 and rattled off her latest acquisition. As she was an
 
 96 The Californians 
 
 especial pet of Mrs. Yorba's if that august dame 
 could be said to pet anyone and of distinguished 
 Southern connections, the remonstrances jwere not 
 serious. 
 
 Magdalena, although she ordered her brain to 
 action, could think of nothing to say to Rollins ; but 
 he was a budding lawyer and asked no more of 
 providence than a listener. He talked volubly about 
 Helena's childish pranks, the last Bohemian Club 
 Midsummer Jinks, the epigrams of his rivals at the 
 bar. He appeared very raw and uninteresting to 
 Magdalena, and she found herself trying to overhear 
 the remarks of Trennahan, who was doing his labori 
 ous duty by his hostess. After a time Trennahan 
 allowed his attention to be diverted by Ila, who sat 
 on his right. That he was grateful for the change 
 there could be no doubt. His expression up to this 
 point had been one of grim amusement, which at any 
 moment might become careworn. The lines of his face 
 relaxed under Ila's curved smiles and slanting glances. 
 They laughed gaily, but pitched their voices very low. 
 
 Magdalena wondered if all dinners were as weari 
 some as this. Rollins finally followed Trennahan's 
 example and devoted himself to Caro Folsom, a yellow- 
 haired girl with babyish green eyes, a lisp, and an 
 astute brain. On Magdatena's left was a blond and 
 babbling youth named Ellis, who made no secret of 
 the fact that he was afraid of his intellectual neigh 
 bour ; he stammered and blushed every time she spoke 
 to him. He had gone in with Rose Geary, a blonde
 
 The Californians 97 
 
 fairy-like little creature, as light of foot as of wit, and 
 an accomplished flirt; who regarded men with the 
 eye of the philosopher. Tkey occupied each other 
 admirably. 
 
 Opposite, another young lawyer, Eugene Fort, was 
 saying preternaturally bright things to Tiny, who lifted 
 her sweet orbs at intervals and remarked : " How 
 dreadfully clever you are, Mr. Fort ; I am so afraid of 
 you ! " or " How sweet of you to think I am worth all 
 those real epigrams ! You ought to keep them for 
 a great law-book." Once she stifled a yawn, but Mr. 
 Fort did not see it. 
 
 Little notice was taken of Magdalena, and she felt 
 superfluous and miserable. Even Trennahan, who 
 had seemed so sympathetic, had barely glanced at 
 her. She wondered, with a little inner laugh, if she 
 were growing conceited. Why should he, with one 
 of the prettiest girls in California beside him? Ila 
 was very young, but she belonged by instinct to his 
 own world. 
 
 The dinner came to an end. The older men went 
 to the billiard- room, the younger men followed the 
 girls to the parlour. Trennahan talked to Tiny for 
 a time, then again to Ila, who lay back in a chair with 
 her little red slippers on a footstool. She had care 
 fully disposed herself in an alcove beyond the range 
 of Mrs. Yorba's vision. 
 
 Tiny, whose train added to the remarkable dignity 
 of her diminutive person, crossed the room to Mag 
 dalena, who was sitting alone on the window-seat. 
 
 7
 
 9 8 The Californians 
 
 " You have done so well, 'Lena dear," she said, as 
 she sat down beside her discouraged hostess. " I feel 
 I must tell you that immediately. You are not a bit 
 shy and nervous, as I should be if I were giving my 
 first dinner." 
 
 Magdalena smiled gratefully. Tiny had always been 
 the kindest of the girls. " I am glad you think I am 
 not so bad," she said. " But I fear that I have bored 
 everybody." 
 
 " Indeed, you have not. You are so calm and full 
 of natural repose. The rest of us seem dreadfully 
 American by contrast." 
 
 " You are never fussy." 
 
 " I know, but it is quite different. I 've been very 
 carefully brought up. You would be exactly as you are 
 if you had brought yourself up. The Spanish are the 
 most dignified What are they going to do, I 
 wonder? " 
 
 Mr. Fort approached. "We are going to walk 
 about the grounds and step on the frogs," he said. " I 
 don't know a line of poetry, but I can count stars, and 
 I '11 tell you of my aspirations in life. Will you come? " 
 
 " I so want to hear your aspirations, Mr. Fort," said 
 Tiny. " I did not know that California men had aspi 
 rations." 
 
 The girls went with him to the verandah, and all 
 started down the driveway together, then paired. To 
 her surprise, Magdalena found Trennahan beside her. 
 
 "I am so glad to be with you again," he said petu 
 lantly. " I am tired of types."
 
 The Californians 99 
 
 "Types?" 
 
 "Yes; women that a man has been used to for 
 many long weary years, to put it in another way." 
 
 " But surely you find Ila very fascinating? " 
 
 " Oh, yes ; but one understands the fascination so 
 well ; and it gives so much pleasure to twenty-two, 
 that it is almost immoral for an old fogy like myself to 
 monopolise it. I don't understand you in the least, 
 so I am here." 
 
 Magdalna trembled a little. The nineteen years of 
 her life suddenly assumed a glad complexion, lifting 
 her spirit to the level of her mates. She tried to recall 
 the sad and bitter experiences of her brief past, but 
 they scampered down into the roots of memory. 
 
 He did not speak again for a time, beyond asking if 
 he might smoke. He was quite sincere for the mo 
 ment; but he understood the much of her that was 
 salient to his trained eye. Her parents, her timid re 
 serve, so unlike that of other American girls favoured 
 by fortune, her ignorance of certain conventionalities, 
 the very fashion of her hair, the very incompatibility of 
 her costume and colouring, told him two thirds of her 
 short history. Of the history of her inner life he 
 guessed little, but believed that she had both depth 
 of mind and intensity of feeling. To get her confi 
 dence would be next to impossible ; it was therefore 
 well worth the effort. If she proved as interesting as he 
 suspected, he believed that he should feel disposed to 
 marry her did she only have a complexion. He was 
 weary straight down into the depths of his weary soul
 
 loo The Californians 
 
 of the women and the girls of the world ; but he also 
 abhorred a sallow skin. He had worshipped beauty in 
 his day, and was by no means impervious to it yet ; 
 but he felt that he could overlook Magdalna's nose 
 and mouth and elementary figure for the sake of her 
 eyes and originality, did she only possess the primary 
 essential of beauty. A man regards a woman's lack of 
 complexion as a personal grievance. 
 
 If the American habit of monologue had been a part 
 of Trennahan's inheritance, his foreign training had 
 long since lifted it up by the roots ; but he saw that if 
 he was to make progress with this silent girl, he must 
 do the talking. He could be both brilliant and amus 
 ing when he chose, and he exerted himself as he had 
 not done for some time. He was rewarded by a rapt 
 attention, a humble and profound admiration that would 
 have nattered a demi-god. And in truth he was a 
 demi-god to this girl, with her experience of elderly 
 old-fashioned men and an occasional callow youth 
 encountered on a verandah in summer. 
 
 They followed the driveway that curved between one 
 of the two larger lawns and the deer park. The lawn 
 was set thickly along its edge and sparsely on its sweep 
 with fragrant trees and shrubs. Beyond the deer park 
 was the black mass of the woods. The air was sweet 
 with the mingled breath of June roses, orange blossoms, 
 and the pepper-tree. After a time their way lay 
 through a dark avenue of immense oaks, and the per 
 fumes came from the Mariposa lilies in the fields 
 beyond.
 
 The Californians 101 
 
 If Trennahan had been with Ila, he would have con 
 ducted himself as his surroundings and his companion 
 demanded : he would have made love. But he was a 
 man who rarely made a mistake ; he talked to Magda- 
 16na of the difference between California and the many 
 other countries he had visited, and answered her eager 
 questions about life in the great capitals. As they were 
 returning, he said to her, 
 
 " You say you ride before breakfast. Do you think 
 I might join you to-morrow? Your father has been 
 kind enough to place his stable at my disposal." 
 
 "Oh I I don't know. My father is very 
 Spanish, although he doesn't like you to call it 
 that." 
 
 " May I ask him ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes, you could ask him." 
 
 When they reached the house he sought his host in 
 the billiard-room. The game was over, and Don Ro 
 berto, Mr. Polk, and Mr. Washington were seated in 
 front of the mantelpiece with their feet on the shelf. 
 It was Don Roberto's favourite attitude ; he felt that 
 it completed the structure of his Americanism. He 
 could only reach the tip of the shelf with the points of 
 his little elegant feet, but he was just as comfortable as 
 Mr. Polk, whose feet, large and booted, were planted 
 against the wall. Mr. Washington, who was a most 
 correct gentleman, with the illustrious forbears his 
 name suggested, had never lifted his feet to one of his 
 own mantels in his life ; but Don Roberto's guests 
 always humoured this little hobby, among many others.
 
 IO2 The Californians 
 
 "Ay, the Mr. Trennahan," said Don Roberto, gra 
 ciously. " We make room for you." 
 
 The others moved along, and Trennahan, seeing 
 what was expected of him, brought a chair and ele 
 vated his feet among the Chinese bric-a-brac. He 
 accepted a choice cigar there were certain luxuries 
 in which Don Roberto never economised and added 
 his quota to the anecdotes of the hearthstone. As his 
 were fresh and the others as worn as an old wedding- 
 ring, it was not long before he had an audience which 
 would brook no interruption but applause. 
 
 A Chinaman brought a peremptory message from 
 Mrs. Washington, and the feet on the mantel were 
 reduced to six. When these came down, two hours 
 later, Trennahan said to Don Roberto, 
 
 "May I ride with Miss Yorba to-morrow before 
 breakfast?" 
 
 "Yes; I no mind," said the don, beaming with 
 approval of his new friend. " But the boy, he go too. 
 My daughter, no must ride alone with the gentleman. 
 And you no leave the grounds, remember." 
 
 XVI 
 
 WHEN Magdalena went up to her room, she spread all 
 her pretty gifts on the table and asked herself if they 
 were the secret of this novel feeling of content with 
 herself and her world. She studied the mirror and 
 fancied that she was not so plain as usual. Her eyes
 
 The Californians 103 
 
 returned to her presents, and she shook her head. 
 Her mind worked slowly, but it worked logically ; nor 
 was that imagination hers which keeps woman in a 
 fool's paradise long after all but the husk of her 
 Adam has gone. 
 
 "It is Mr. Trennahan," she admitted reluctantly but 
 ruthlessly. " He is so clever and so agreeable no, 
 fascinating that for the first time I forgot myself, 
 and when I remembered was not unhappy because I 
 am not beautiful nor clever. The world must be 
 much nicer than I thought if there are many people 
 like that in it." 
 
 To love she did not give a thought, but she smiled 
 to herself after the light was out, and, still smiling, fell 
 asleep. 
 
 The next morning she was downstairs by six 
 o'clock, but found Trennahan before her. As he 
 approached her, he had been sauntering up and 
 down the drive, she wondered what he thought of 
 her costume. As she was not allowed to leave the 
 grounds, a habit had never been "thought necessary 
 for the heiress of the house of Yorba. She had worn 
 for the past two years one of her mother's discarded 
 black skirts and a cotton blouse. But it is doubtful 
 if an inspired mind-reader could have made anything 
 of such thoughts as Trennahan wished to conceal. 
 
 "You look as fresh as the morning," he said, with a 
 gallantry which was mechanical, but true and delight 
 ful to a girl in her first experience of compliments. 
 
 " Did you sleep well ? " she asked. " I hope the
 
 The Californians 
 
 mosquitoes did not keep you awake. They are very 
 
 bad." 
 
 " I believe they are, but I received a friendly warn 
 ing from Mr. Polk and rubbed the leather which pro 
 tects my skull with vinegar. I think it was superfluous, 
 but at all events I slept undisturbed." 
 
 Magdatena regarded his skin attentively, much to 
 his amusement. " It is thick," she said, feeling that 
 she could not honestly reassure him, but quite posi 
 tive that he expected her to answer. 
 
 He laughed heartily. " Oh ! " he said. " What a 
 pity you must ' come out ' ! I am a convert to the Old- 
 Californian system. But here are the horses." 
 
 The improvised groom, a sulky and intensely self- 
 conscious stable-boy, led up the horses, and Magdatena 
 put her foot in Trennahan's hand. 
 
 " Oh ! " he exclaimed, with a note of real admira 
 tion in his voice ; and Magdatena nearly fell over the 
 other side of her horse. 
 
 They cantered off sharply, the boy following a good 
 thirty yards behind, feeling uncommonly sheepish when 
 he was not thinking angrily of his neglected chores. 
 It was not thought good form in Menlo Park to put 
 on the trappings of Circumstance. Mrs. Washington 
 drove a phaeton and took a boy in the rumble to open 
 the gates; but the coachmen when driving the usual 
 char-a-banc or wagonette performed this office while 
 their mistresses steered the horses through the gates. 
 No one ever thought of wearing a jewel or a decollete" 
 gown to a dinner or a dance. Mrs. Dillon, the
 
 The Californians 105 
 
 Bonanza queen, having heard much of the simplicity 
 of the worshipful Menlo Park folk, had paid her first 
 calls in a blue silk wrapper, but, conceiving that she 
 had done the wrong thing, sheltered her perplexities 
 in black silk thereafter. Her daughter upon the same 
 occasion had worn a voluminous frock of pale blue 
 camel's hair trimmed with flounces of Valenciennes 
 lace, that being the simplest frock in her wardrobe; 
 but she privately thought even Mrs. Washington's 
 apotheosised lawns and organdies very " scrubby," 
 and could never bring herself to anything less expen 
 sive than summer silks, made at the greatest house 
 in Paris. 
 
 "I am going to see the Mark Smith place this 
 afternoon," said Trennahan. "Your mother has very 
 kindly offered to drive me over. T suppose it has no 
 woods on it. These are beautiful." 
 
 " They are the only ones in the San Mateo Valley," 
 replied Magdatena, experiencing the full pride of 
 possession. " Are there such beautiful ones in 
 Europe ? " 
 
 "Those at Fontainbleau are not unlike. But in 
 England you stand in the middle of a wood and admire 
 the landscape on either side." . \ 
 
 " Helena wrote me something like that. She said 
 that she always put on a veil when she went into an 
 English wood for fear she would get freckled." 
 
 "Who is Helena?" 
 
 " She is my great friend. She is Colonel Jack Bel- 
 mont's daughter, and the most beautiful girl in Califor-
 
 io6 The Californians 
 
 nia. At least I think she is, for of course I have not 
 seen them all." 
 
 " Are you always as conscientious as that ? Why 
 have I not seen this peerless creature?" 
 
 " She is in Europe. You will see her in December. 
 Of course I do not know if she is a ' type,' but I don't 
 see how anybody else could be like Helena. Mr. 
 Rollins said last night that she was the concentrated 
 essence of California." 
 
 " Describe her to me." He was delighted at the 
 prospect of drawing her out on any subject. 
 
 Magdatena hesitated, wondering if she should have 
 the courage to continue, did she begin a monologue. 
 She recalled the sustained animation of the girls at her 
 dinner, and moved as if to shake her head, then recol 
 lected her ambition to shine in conversation. To no 
 one had she ever found it so easy to express herself 
 as to this man. Why not take advantage of that fact? 
 And that represented but the half of her present ambi 
 tion. If she could only interest him ! 
 
 He watched her closely, divining some cause of her 
 hesitation, but not all. Her complexion was even less 
 desirable by day than by gas, but her hair was tumbled, 
 her eyes were sparkling softly; and the deep green 
 arbours of the wood were an enchanting aid to youth. 
 
 " She has curly shining hair about the colour of 
 mahogany, and big long dark blue eyes that look 
 as if they were not afraid of anything, and make you 
 afraid sometimes, and regular features, and a whiter 
 skin than Tiny's, with a beautiful pink colour " She
 
 The Californians 107 
 
 stopped short, feeling that her attempt at description 
 was as ineffective as the hours wasted upon her much 
 modelled hero. 
 
 " That sounds very charming, but still never mind 
 her appearance. Tell me what you so much admire 
 in her." 
 
 " She talks so much, and she is n't afraid of anybody. 
 She says she would n't lie because she would n't pay 
 anyone that compliment. She loves to ' cheek ' and 
 shock people. She walks all round the outside of the 
 house upstairs on a narrow ledge, and she runs to 
 fires at least she ran to one and she won't study 
 when she does n't feel like it. And and she even 
 snatched off papa's skull-cap once/' 
 
 Trennahan threw back his head and laughed loud 
 and long. " And you would have me believe that all 
 that is what moves you to admiration. Don't you 
 know, my dear child, that you love your friend in spite 
 of her tomboy eccentricities, not because of them? 
 You wouldn't be or do one of those things if you 
 could." 
 
 Again Magdatena hesitated. The implied approval 
 was delightful ; but she would not hold it on false pre 
 tences. She answered firmly, 
 
 " I went to the fire with her." 
 
 "You? Delightful! Tell me about it. Every 
 detail." 
 
 She told him everything except the terrible sequel. 
 It was lamely presented, but he cared nothing for the 
 episode. His sympathies were immediate if temporary,
 
 io8 The Californians 
 
 and experience had eaten off the very cover of the 
 book of seals. He followed her through every mental 
 phase she unconsciously rehearsed; and when she 
 brought the story to an abrupt close, lacking the art to 
 run it off into generalities, he inferred something of the 
 last development and did not press her to continue. 
 He pitied her grimly. But he was an intensely practi 
 cal man. 
 
 " You must never think of doing that sort of thing 
 again," he said. " Unless a person is naturally eccen 
 tric, the attempt to be so demoralises him, because 
 there is nothing so demoralising as failure except on 
 one's own particular lines. Did you, for instance, jump 
 on a horse and career barebacked through Menlo Park 
 like a wild Indian, a performance which your friend 
 would probably carry off with any amount of dash and 
 chic you would feel a hopeless fool; whereas," he 
 gave her a keen side glance, "if you felt that you 
 possessed a talent for music, say and failed forty 
 times before achieving success, you would feel that 
 your failures partook of the dignity of their cause, and 
 of your own character." 
 
 She turned to him with quickening pulse. " Do you 
 think," she faltered, hunting for phrases that would not 
 commit her, " that if a person loved an art very much, 
 even if he could not be sure that he had genius, that 
 he would be right to go on and on, no matter how often 
 he became discouraged ? " 
 
 Her eyes were staring at her horse's neck ; she did 
 not see him smile. He had felt quite sure that she
 
 The Californians 109 
 
 sought relief for the silences of her life in literary com 
 position. When an unattractive woman has not talent 
 she finds a double revenge in the torture of words, 
 he thought. What; shall I say to her? That she is 
 whittling thorns for her own soul ? Bah ! Did I not 
 find enjoyment once in the very imaginings of all that 
 has scourged me since? Would I have thanked any 
 one for opening my eyes ? And the positive is the one 
 thing that grips the memory. It is as well to have 
 what high lights one can. 
 
 She had raised her head and was looking at him ex 
 pectantly. 
 
 " Certainly," he said. " He should go on, by all 
 means. Love of an art presupposes a certain degree 
 of talent." May Heaven forgive me for that lie, he 
 thought. 
 
 She detected his lack of spontaneity, but attributed 
 it to the fact that he had not guessed her personal 
 interest in the question. " Have you met many literary 
 people?" she asked. " But of course you must. Did 
 you like them very much?" 
 
 " I have inquired carefully, and ascertained that 
 there are none in Menlo. If there were, I should 
 not think twice about the Mark Smith place." 
 
 Magdale"na felt herself burning to her hair. She 
 glanced at him quickly, but he averted his eyes and 
 called her attention to a magnificent oak whose limbs 
 trailed on the ground. Should I tell him? she 
 thought, every nerve quaking. Should I? Then she 
 set her lips in scorn. He spoke of "literary" people,
 
 no The Californians 
 
 she continued. It will be many a day before I am that. 
 Meanwhile, as Helena would say, what he doesn't 
 know won't hurt him. 
 
 He had no intention of letting her make any such 
 confidences. "Tell me," he said. "I have heard 
 something of the old Spanish families of California. 
 You, of course, belong to them. That is what gives 
 you your delightful individuality. I should like to 
 hear something of that old life. Of course it interests 
 you?" 
 
 " Oh, I love it, at least, I loved it once. My aunt, 
 my father's sister, used to talk constantly of that time, 
 but I have no one to talk to of it now ; she has lived 
 in Santa Barbara for the last three years. She told 
 me many stories of that time. It must have been 
 wonderful." 
 
 He drew one leg across the horse's neck and brought 
 him to a stand. They had entered the backwoods and 
 were walking their horses. The groom was nowhere 
 to be seen. He was, in fact, awaiting them at the edge 
 of the woods, his beast tethered, himself prone, the 
 ring-master of a tarantula fight. 
 
 " Tell me those stories," commanded Trennahan. 
 He knew they would bore him, but the girl was very 
 interesting. 
 
 Magdalna began the story of Ysabel Herrara. At 
 first she stumbled, and was obliged to begin no less 
 than three times, but when fairly started she told it 
 very well. Many of her aunt's vivid picturesque 
 phrases sprang from their dusty shelves ; her own early
 
 The Californians in 
 
 enthusiasm revived. When she had finished she passed 
 on to the pathetic little histories of lena Duncan and 
 Benicia Ortega. She had told over those stories many 
 times to herself; to-day they were little more than the 
 recital of a well-studied lesson. The intense earnest 
 ness of Trennahan's gaze magnetised her out of self- 
 consciousness. When she was concluding the third, 
 his horse shied suddenly at a snake, and while he 
 quieted it she tumbled back to the present. She sat 
 with parted lips and thumping heart. Had she talked 
 as well as that ? She, Magdaldna Yorba, the dull, the 
 silent, the terrified? She felt a glad pride in herself, 
 and a profound gratitude to the wizard who had worked 
 the spell. 
 
 "I have never been more interested," he said in a 
 moment. " How delightfully you talk ! What a pity 
 you don't write ! " 
 
 Magdale"na's heart shook her very throat, but she 
 managed to answer, " And then you would n't buy the 
 Mark Smith place?" 
 
 " Well, no, perhaps I would n't," he answered hur 
 riedly, lest she might be moved to confidence. He 
 had a lively vision of Magdalna reading her manu 
 scripts to him, or sending them to him for criticism. 
 " But you must tell me a story every time we I am 
 so fortunate as to have you all to myself like this. I 
 suppose we should be going back now." 
 
 Magdatena took out her watch. The little air of 
 pride in her new possession amused Trennahan, al 
 though he saw the pathos of it.
 
 H2 The Californians 
 
 " Yes," she said ; " it is nearly eight. We must go. 
 Papa does not like us to be late for breakfast." 
 
 As they reached the edge of the woods, Magdal^na 
 gave an exclamation of disgust ; but Trennahan leaned 
 forward with much interest. The two tarantulas, after 
 tearing each other's fur and legs off, were locked in the 
 death embrace, leaping and rolling. 
 
 " Get on your horse at once," said Magdalna, sternly. 
 " You are a cruel boy." 
 
 " But that is very interesting," said Trennahan ; " I 
 never saw it before." 
 
 " They are always doing it here. They pour water " 
 She turned to the boy, who was mounted, and close 
 behind them, now that they were likely to come within 
 the range of the old don's vision at any moment. 
 "Dick," she said sternly, "how did you get those 
 tarantulas up? Have you a whiskey flask about you? " 
 
 She spoke with all her father's harsh pride when 
 addressing an inferior : Don Roberto regarded servants, 
 in spite of the heavy wage they commanded, as he 
 had the Indians of his early manhood. Trennahan 
 watched her closely, remarking upon the variety a man 
 might find in a woman if he chose to look for it. 
 
 The boy assured Magdatena that the tarantulas had 
 been above ground. She shrugged her shoulders and 
 turned her back expressively upon him. 
 
 " You see those little round holes covered with white 
 film?" she said to Trennahan. "They lead down to 
 the tarantulas' houses, real little houses, with doors 
 on hinges. People pour water down, and the old
 
 The Californians 113 
 
 tarantula comes up back first, dragging his legs after 
 him to see what is the matter. Then they set two 
 of them at each other with sticks, and they the 
 tarantulas never stop fighting until they have torn 
 each other to death : they have two curved sharp teeth." 
 Good sport for variety's sake, thought Trennahan. 
 I see myself engaged on warm afternoons. 
 
 XVII 
 
 AFTER breakfast Trennahan lay in a long chair on the 
 verandah and smoked undisturbed. Mrs. Yorba was 
 busy, and Magdale'na sat up in her room, longing to go 
 down, but fearing to weary him. She recalled the 
 early hours with vivid pleasure. For the first time in 
 her life she was almost pleased with herself. She took 
 out her writing materials ; but her beloved art would 
 not hold her. She went to the window and unfastened 
 the shutter softly. Trennahan was not talking to him 
 self nor even walking up and down the hard boards 
 below, but the aroma of his cigar gave evidence that 
 he was there. It mingled with the perfume of the 
 pink and white roses swarming over the roof of the 
 verandah almost to her window. 
 
 She experienced her first impluse to decorate her 
 self, to gather a handful of those roses and place them 
 in her hair. Her aunt had never been without that 
 national adornment, worn with the grace of her slender 
 girlhood. 
 
 8
 
 H4 The Californians 
 
 She stepped over the sill, catching her breath as the 
 tin roof cracked beneath her feet, but gathered the 
 roses and returned to her mirror. With the nimble 
 ringers of her race she arranged the roses at one side 
 of her head, above and behind the ear. Certainly they 
 were becoming. She also discovered that she had her 
 aunt's turn of the head, her graceful way of raising her 
 hand to her ear. 
 
 But it is so little, she thought with a sigh ; if I could 
 only have the rest ! 
 
 Her mind wandered back to the heroines of her 
 aunt's tales. If she but had the beauty of those 
 wondrous girls, Trennahan would have taken fire in 
 the hour that he met her, as their caballeros had done. 
 The thought made her sigh again, not with a woman's 
 bitterness, she had lived too little for that, but with a 
 girl's romantic sadness. Why had she been defrauded 
 of her birthright? She recalled something Colonel 
 Belmont had once said about " cross-breeding being 
 death on beauty in nine cases out of ten." Why 
 could not her father have married another woman of 
 his race? She dismissed these reflections as unfilial 
 and wicked, and returned to her work; but it was 
 only to bite the end of her pen-holder and dream. 
 
 Meanwhile Trennahan fell asleep and dreamed that 
 his Menlo house caught fire one night and that all the 
 maidens of his new acquaintance came in a body to 
 extinguish the flames. Miss Montgomery played a 
 hose considerably larger round than her neck, with 
 indomitable energy and persistence. Miss Brannan,
 
 The Californians 115 
 
 in a dashing red cap and jacket, danced like a bac 
 chante on the roof, albeit manipulating large buckets of 
 water. Mrs. Washington was also there, and, swinging 
 in a hammock, encouraged the workers with her char 
 acteristic optimism expressed in picturesque American. 
 Magdaldna, in a suit of her father's old clothes, was 
 handing his books through the library window to Miss 
 Folsom. Miss Geary was scrambling up the ladder, 
 a hose coiled about her like a python. The leader of 
 the company stood on the roof directly above the front 
 door, giving orders with imperious voice and gesture. 
 But although the flames leaped high about her, starting 
 the leaves of a neighbouring tree into sharp relief, he 
 could not see her face. 
 
 XVIII 
 
 TRENNAHAN did not see MagdaMna until luncheon. 
 She came in late, and her manner was a shade colder 
 and more reserved than usual. After much excogita 
 tion, she had decided to leave the roses in her hair, 
 but it had taken her ten minutes to summon up cour 
 age to go downstairs. 
 
 He understood perfectly, and his soul grinned/ 
 Then he sighed. Youth had been very sweet to him, 
 all manifestations of femininity in a woman very dear. 
 There were four long windows in the dining-room, but 
 the roof of the verandah, the thick vines springing from 
 pillar to pillar, the lilac-trees and willows just beyond,
 
 n6 The Californians 
 
 chastened the light in the room. Magdalena looked 
 almost pretty, with her air of proud reserve, the roses 
 nestling in her dark hair. Ten years ago he might 
 have loved her, perhaps, in spite of her complexion. 
 
 Mrs. Yorba did not notice the roses. Her mind was 
 blind with wrath : the cream sauce of the chicken was 
 curdled. During at least half the meal she did not 
 utter a word ; and Trennahan, wondering if fate were 
 forcing him into the permanent role of the garrulous 
 American, a breed for which he had all the finely bred 
 American's contempt, talked of the weather, the woods, 
 the climate, the beauty of the Californian women, with 
 little or no assistance from Magdalena. The moment 
 he paused, and he was hungry, the catlike tread of the 
 Chinese butlers was the only sound in the large house ; 
 the silence was so oppressive that he reflected with 
 gratitude that his visit would be done with the mor 
 row's morn. 
 
 Finally, Mrs. Yorba left the table and stepping 
 through one of the open casements walkea up and 
 down the verandah. She was very fond of this little 
 promenade between the last solid course of luncheon 
 and the griddle-cakes and fruit. 
 
 " I am glad you wear flowers in your hair," said 
 Trennahan. " Your head was made for them. I am 
 certain your Ysabel What 's-her-name must have worn 
 them just so the night her ardent lover conceived the 
 idea of robbing the Mission of its pearls for her fair 
 sake." 
 
 Magdale"na's face glowed with its rare smile. " But
 
 The Californians 117 
 
 Ysabel was so beautiful," she said wistfully, " the 
 most beautiful woman in California." 
 
 " All women are beautiful, my dear Miss Yorba 
 when they are young. If girls could only be made to 
 understand that youth is always beautiful, they would 
 be even prettier than they are." 
 
 Magdatena's eyes were large and radiant for a 
 moment. She was disposed to believe in him im 
 plicitly. She determined that she would think no 
 more on the beautiful women of her race, but learn 
 to make herself attractive in other ways. Helena 
 would return soon and would teach her. 
 
 " I have read in books that plain women are some 
 times more fascinating than beautiful ones," she said. 
 " How can that be ? Of course you must know." 
 
 " A fascinating ugly woman is one who in the same 
 moment sets the teeth on edge and makes a beauty 
 look like a daub or a statue. Her pitfall is that she 
 is apt to be lacking in pride : she makes too great 
 an effort to please. Your pride is magnificent. I say 
 that in strict truth and without any desire to pay you a 
 compliment. Had fate been so unkind as to make 
 you an ugly woman, you would not have had a jot less ; 
 it is the finest part of you, to my way of thinking. You 
 are worrying now because you have less to say than 
 these girls who have travelled and been educated 
 abroad, and who, moreover, are of lighter make. 
 Don't try to imitate them. The knack of making con 
 versation will come with time ; and you will always be 
 appreciated by the men who are weary past your power
 
 n8 The Californians 
 
 to understand of the women that chatter. If I buy 
 this place, I shall read over some of my favourite old 
 books with you, that is, if you will let me ; and I 
 believe that you will." 
 
 Magdale"na's hands were clasped on the edge of the 
 table ; she was leaning forward, her soul in her eyes. 
 For the moment she was beautiful, and Trennahan 
 looked his admiration and forgot her lack of com 
 plexion. To Magdale"na there had been a sudden 
 blaze of golden light, then a rift, through which she 
 caught a brief flash of heaven. Her vague longings 
 suddenly cohered. She was to be solitary no longer. 
 She was to have a companion, a friend, perhaps a 
 confidante, a person to whom she might speak out her 
 inmost soul. She had never thought that she should 
 wish to open her reserve to anyone, but in this pros 
 pect there was enchantment. 
 
 Mrs. Yorba returned to her seat and helped herself 
 to hot cakes. 
 
 " When Miss Montgomery and Miss Brannan were 
 leaving last night," she said, " they asked me to stop 
 for them this afternoon, as they wished to persuade 
 you that the Mark Smith place was exactly what you 
 wanted, or something to that effect. So we shall stop 
 for them. The char-a-banc will be at the door at 
 a quarter to four." 
 
 That was her last remark, as it had been her first, 
 and some twenty minutes later the repast came to 
 an end.
 
 The Californians 119 
 
 XIX 
 
 TRENNAHAN was again left to his own devices. He 
 amused himself inspecting the stable, a most unpreten 
 tious structure, containing all that was absolutely indis 
 pensable and no more. Attached to the farmhouse 
 in an adjoining field was a barn for the work-horses. 
 The stable-boy did duty as guide, and conducted 
 Trennahan through the dairy, granary, carpenter shop, 
 and various other outbuildings. It was all very plain, 
 but very substantial, the symbol of a fortune that would 
 last ; altogether unlike the accepted idea of California, 
 that State of rockets and sticks. 
 
 But, for the matter of that, thought Trennahan, all 
 things should be stable in this land of dreaming nature. 
 He had been told since his arrival that everything had 
 been in a rut since the great Bonanza plague ; but 
 assuredly this archaic repose must be its natural 
 atmosphere ; its fevers must always be sporadic and 
 artificial. 
 
 Yes, he thought, it is a good place to die in. It 
 would have been intolerable ten years ago, but it 
 seems little short of paradise when a man has dry rot 
 in him. And that girl looked remarkably well with 
 those roses in her hair. Poor thing ! 
 
 Magdale"na came down to the verandah a few 
 moments before the char-a-banc drove up. She wore 
 a buff lawn, simply made by the family seamstress, and 
 a large straw hat trimmed with daisies. She had taken
 
 The Californians 
 
 the flowers out of her hair, but had pinned a large 
 cluster of red roses at her waist. Altogether she 
 looked her best, and felt that she might be able 
 to hold her own against the other girls. 
 
 One secret of Trennahan's charm for women was 
 that he never overlooked their little efforts to please 
 him. He said immediately, 
 
 " Yellow and red were made for you. You should 
 leave white for those who cannot stand the fury of 
 colour." 
 
 She was keenly alive to the pleasures of appreciation, 
 but merely asked if he had managed to amuse himself. 
 
 " Fairly well, considering that you deserted me." 
 
 " But they almost always leave the men alone down 
 here in the daytime, Tiny says. She says that all 
 they come for is to get away from San Francisco, 
 and that they prefer to go to sleep on the verandah 
 or the lawns." 
 
 " I should not have guessed that Miss Montgomery 
 was cynical. I fancy she finds entertaining in the open 
 air rather sleepy work herself. Or perhaps she thinks 
 they are sufficiently honoured in being asked within 
 the sacred precincts of Menlo Park," he added mis 
 chievously. " I have been given to understand that 
 it is an honour." 
 
 " We keep very much to ourselves," said Magdal6na, 
 gravely. " We never care to know new people unless 
 we are sure that we shall like them." 
 
 To flirt with her a little, or rather to flirt at her, was 
 irresistible. He bent over her, smiling and compelling
 
 The Californians 12 1 
 
 her gaze. " And how can I be sure that you will not 
 find me wanting? "he asked; "not like me at all a 
 month hence ? I think I should wait at least that time 
 before buying this place." 
 
 She shook her head seriously. " I am sure we are all 
 going to like you. While you were with papa last night, 
 Tiny and Ila and Mrs. Washington and Rose and Caro 
 all said they hoped you would buy the Mark Smith 
 place. Ila said she had not come back to California 
 to talk to children ; and Tiny who is not really en 
 thusiastic said you were one of the few men she ever 
 wanted to see a second time. Mrs. Washington said, 
 ' A man-of-the-world at this last end of creation, 
 stepping off landing ' " 
 
 " I am more flattered than I can possibly express, 
 but I want to know what you think about it. Shall you 
 tire of me?" 
 
 " Oh, I think not. I am sure I shall not." 
 
 " Do you want me to buy this place? " 
 
 She looked at him helplessly. Instinct whispered 
 that he was unfair, but she had no anger for him. " I 
 I : think I do," she said. "I I think you know 
 I do." And then she did feel a little angry with him. 
 
 He drew back at once. " You are my first friend, 
 you know," he said in his ordinary manner. " I should 
 not think of settling near you unless I were sure of 
 not boring you. But I believe we have tastes in com 
 mon, and I hope you will let me come over often." 
 
 "You will be always welcome," she said formally. 
 Her anger had gone, leaving a chill in its wake.
 
 122 The Californians 
 
 The char-a-banc drove up. Mrs. Yorba descended 
 simultaneously. Her virtues were many, and one of 
 them was punctuality. 
 
 XX 
 
 THE Montgomerys' house was next in age to the 
 Yorbas', but neither so large nor so solid. Even its 
 verandah, however, had a more homelike air ; its car 
 pets and rugs were old but handsome ; and it was full 
 of pretty trifles, and much carved furniture, gathered 
 in Europe. The lawns were small, the grounds care 
 lessly kept, but there were many fine old trees and a 
 wilderness of flowers. 
 
 Coralie Brannan and Lee Tarlton, Mrs. Montgomery's 
 little ward, were romping on the lawn as the Yorbas 
 drove up. Tiny and Ila were sitting on the verandah. 
 The former was in her favourite white, and a hat and 
 sash of azure. Ila wore a superlatively smart frock of 
 yellow silk muslin, and a yellow sun-hat covered with 
 red poppies. 
 
 Trennahan saw the flash of dismay from Magdale"na's 
 eyes before her face settled into its most stolid expres 
 sion. He felt genuinely sorry for her, but his only part 
 was to get out and hand these radiant visions into the 
 char-a-banc. 
 
 " It is so nice to think that you may be a neighbour 
 of ours," said Tiny, sweetly, as Ila was kissing Mrs. 
 Yorba, and asking if she were not a good girl to meet
 
 The Californians 123 
 
 her halfway. " We shall really be glad to have 
 you." 
 
 " We shall make him forget that he has not lived 
 here always," said Ila, with her most brilliant smile. 
 She was much elated at the unexpected foil. " He 
 will become quite one of us." 
 
 " I am sure he would not think of settling elsewhere 
 in California," said Mrs. Yorba. And then she added 
 with what for her was extreme graciousness, " My 
 husband and I shall be very glad to have him for 
 neighbour." 
 
 Trennahan murmured his thanks. He was deeply 
 amused. That he was the representative of one of the 
 proudest families in a State some three hundred years 
 old mattered nothing to these Californians of Menlo 
 Park. Is it catching, I wonder? he thought. If 
 some of my English friends should come out here five 
 years hence, should I patronise them? Doubtless, for 
 it is like living on another planet. Exclusiveness is the 
 very scheme of its nature. It is encouraging to think 
 that I have yet another phase to live through. 
 
 Ila claimed his attention and kept it as they rolled 
 down the dusty road toward the Mark Smith pla^e. 
 Tiny, after a futile attempt to engage Magdatena in 
 conversation, devoted herself prettily to Mrs. Yorba 
 and talked of the plans for the summer. 
 
 Magdatena was acutely miserable. Her exaltation 
 of spirits was a bare memory. She hated her dowdy 
 frock, her glaring 'contrast to the vivid Ila, accentuated 
 by that grotesque similarity of attire. She listened to
 
 124 The Californians 
 
 Ila's brilliant chatter and recalled her own halting 
 phrases, her narrow vocabulary, and wondered angrily 
 at the conceit which had prompted her to hope that 
 she was overcoming her natural deficiencies. 
 
 Then she remembered that she was a Yorba, and 
 drew herself up in lonely pride. It was a privilege for 
 these girls to be intimate with her, to call her 'Le"na, 
 great as might be their social superiority over the many 
 in San Francisco whose names she had never heard. 
 In her inordinate pride of birth, in her intimate knowl 
 edge of the fact that she was the daughter of a Cali- 
 fornian grandee who still possessed the three hundred 
 thousand acres granted his fathers by the Spanish 
 crown, she in all honesty believed no one of these 
 friends of her youth to be her equal, although she 
 never betrayed herself by so much as a lifting of the 
 eyebrow. She had questioned, after her loss of relig 
 ion, if it were not her duty to train down her pride, 
 but had concluded that it was not; it injured no one, 
 and it was a tribute she owed her race. She liked 
 Trennahan the better that he had discovered and 
 approved this pride. 
 
 XXI 
 
 MAGDALNA did not see Trennahan alone again ; he did 
 not ask her to ride with him on the following morning, 
 and left for town immediately after breakfast. But be 
 fore taking his seat in the char-a-banc he held her hand
 
 The Californians 125 
 
 a moment and assured her with such emphasis that he 
 owed the great pleasure of his visit entirely to her, 
 that her spirits, which had been in weeds, flaunted in 
 to colour and song ; and she went at once to her nook 
 in the woods, feeling that the fire in her mind was 
 nothing less than creative. 
 
 But she did not write for some time. The sun was 
 already intensely hot; even in those depths the air 
 was heavy, the heat waves shimmered among the 
 young green of the undergrowth. 
 
 Magdale"na stretched herself out lazily and looked 
 up into the green recesses of the trees. The leaves 
 were rustling in a light hot wind. She fancied that 
 they sang, and strained her ears to catch the tune. 
 It looked so cool and green and dark up there ; surely 
 the birds, the squirrels, the very tree-toads, those 
 polished bits of malachite, must be happy and fond 
 in their storeyed palace. What a poem might be writ 
 ten about them ! but they would not raise their voices 
 above that indefinite murmur, and the straining ears of 
 her soul heard not either. 
 
 She sat up and began to write, endeavouring to 
 shake some life into her heroine, but only succeeding 
 in making her express herself in very affected old 
 English, with the air of a marionette. 
 
 Then mechanically, almost unconsciously, she began 
 the story again. At the end of an hour she discovered 
 that she had dressed up Trennahan in velvet and gold, 
 doublet and hose. She laughed with grim merriment. 
 Ignorant as she was, she was quick to see the incongru-
 
 126 The Californians 
 
 ity between modem man in his quintessence and the 
 romantic garments of a buried century. Also, her 
 hero had addressed his startled friends in this wise : 
 
 " I can't stand that rat-hole any longer. I 'm going 
 to stay down here with the rest of you, whether I 'm 
 hanged for it or not." 
 
 This was undoubtedly what Trennahan would have 
 said ; but not the Cavalier, Lord Hastings of Fairfax. 
 She had a vague prompting that on the whole it was 
 preferable to, 
 
 " Gadsooks, my bold knights, and prithee should a 
 man rot in a rat-ridden cupboard while his friends 
 make merry? Rather let him be drawn and quartered, 
 then fed to ravens, but live while he may." 
 
 But she dismissed the thought as treason to letters, 
 and proceeded on her mistaken way with the Lady 
 Eleanora Templemere. Shakspere and Scott were 
 her favourite writers ; she felt that she must fumble 
 into the sacred lines of literature by such feeble rays 
 as they cast her. She liked and admired the great 
 realists whose bones were hardly dust; but they did 
 not inspire her, taught her nothing. 
 
 XXII 
 
 THE next morning, as she was starting for the woods, 
 rather later than usual, Dick, the stable-boy, who had 
 just returned from the post-office, detached a letter 
 from a packet he was handing the butler and ran after
 
 The Californians 127 
 
 her. As Helena was her only correspondent, she 
 marvelled at the strange handwriting, but opened the 
 letter more promptly than most women do in the 
 circumstances. It was from Trennahan and read : 
 
 DEAR Miss YORBA, I have virtually bought the place. 
 That is to say, I shall buy it as soon as the deeds are made 
 out. Meanwhile, I am looking for servants and hope to 
 move down on Monday next at latest. Mr. Smith has 
 also consented to sell me his stud, which, your father tells 
 me, is exceptionally fine. So, you see, I am really to be 
 your neighbour, and am hoping you are friendly enough 
 not to be displeased. At all events, I shall give myself the 
 pleasure of riding over on Monday evening, and hope that 
 you will join me in another ride on the following morning. 
 Meanwhile, can I do anything for you in town ? Is there 
 anything that you would care to read ? Pray command 
 me. 
 
 Faithfully, 
 
 J. S. TRENNAHAN. 
 
 Never was there a more commonplace or business 
 like note, but it seemed a miracle of easy grace to 
 Magdale"na : it was the first note of any sort that she had 
 received from a man not old enough to be her father. 
 She invested it with all the man's magnetism, and 
 heard it enunciated in his cultivated voice. She 
 imagined it delivered in the nasal tones of her uncle, 
 or in the thick voice of the youth that had sat on her 
 left at the birthday dinner, she had forgotten his 
 name, and shuddered. 
 
 She recalled that her mother had received an en 
 velope directed by the same hand the night before;
 
 128 The Californians 
 
 but that, doubtless, had been a mere note of politeness. 
 He had written this because he wished to do so ! 
 
 She spent the entire morning answering the note, and 
 discovered that it was as easy to write a book. After 
 tearing up some twenty epistles, she concluded that 
 the following, when copied on her best note-paper, 
 and compared with the dictionary, .would do, 
 
 DEAR MR. TRENNAHAN, I am glad that you have 
 bought the Mark Smith place. There is nothing that I 
 want. Many thanks. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 MAGDALNA YORBA. 
 
 XXIII 
 
 ON the following Monday Don Roberto had a cold 
 and did not go to town, but sunned himself on the 
 verandah, alternately sipping whiskey and eating qui 
 nine pills. Magdatena dutifully kept him company, 
 and the whiskey having made him unusually amiable, 
 he talked more than was his wont with the women of 
 his family. In his way he was fond of his daughter, 
 deeply as she had disappointed him ; and, had she 
 known how to manage him, doubtless her girlish wants 
 would have met with few rebuffs. But that would have 
 meant another Magdatena. 
 
 " I like this Trennahan," he announced. " He pre 
 fer talk with me than with the young mens, and he 
 know plenty good stories, by Jimminy ! He have
 
 The Californians 129 
 
 call on me at the bank three times, and I have lunch 
 with him one day. Damn good lunch. He is what 
 Jack call thoroughbred, and have the manners very 
 fine. I like have him much for the neighbour. He 
 ask myself and Eeram and Washeengton to have 
 the dinner with him on Thursday and warm the house. 
 He understand the good wine and the tabac, by Scott ! 
 I feel please si he ask me plenty time, and I have 
 him here often." 
 
 Magdale"na was delighted with these unexpected 
 sentiments. She pressed her lips together twice, then 
 said, 
 
 "He asked me if I could ride again with him 
 to-morrow morning." 
 
 " I have not the objection to you ride all you want 
 it with Mr. Trennahan, si you not go outside the place. 
 Need not take that boy, for he have the work ; and I 
 have trust in Mr. Trennahan." 
 
 He would, indeed, have welcomed Trennahan as a 
 son-in-law. Magdatena must inherit his wealth as well 
 as the immense fortune of her uncle ; neither of these 
 worthy gentlemen had the least ambition to be carica 
 tured in bronze and accumulate green mould as public 
 benefactors. Nor did Don Roberto regret that he had 
 no son, having the most profound contempt for the 
 sons of rich men, as they circled within his horizon. 
 It would be one of the terms of his will that Magda- 
 lna's first son should be named Yorba, and that the 
 name should be perpetuated in this manner until 
 California should shake herself into the sea. 
 
 9
 
 ijo The Californians 
 
 He had long since determined that Magdalna 
 should marry no one of the sons of his moneyed 
 friends, nor yet any of the sprouting lawyers or 
 unfledged business youths who made up the masculine 
 half of the younger fashionable set. Nor would he 
 leave his money in trust for trustees to fatten on. 
 Ever since Magdatena's sixteenth birthday he had 
 been on the look-out for a son-in-law to his pattern. 
 The New Yorker suited him. A wealthy man himself, 
 Trennahan's motives could not be misconstrued. His 
 birth and breeding were all that could be desired, 
 even of a Yorba. He understood the value of money 
 and its management. And he was well past the 
 spendthrift age. 
 
 Don Roberto and Mr. Polk had discussed the mat 
 ter between them; and these two wily old judges of 
 human nature had agreed that Trennahan must become 
 the guardian of their joint millions. Magdale"na was 
 her father's only misgiving. Would a man with an 
 exhaustive experience of beautiful women be attracted 
 into marriage by this ugly duckling? But Trennahan 
 had passed his youth. Perhaps, like himself, he would 
 have come to the conclusion that it was better to have 
 a plain wife and leave beauty to one's mistresses. He 
 had not the slightest objection to Trennahan having 
 a separate establishment; in fact, he thought a man 
 a fool who had not. 
 
 Little escaped his sharp eyes. He had noted 
 Trennahan's interest in Magdatena, the length of the 
 morning ride, his daughter's sparkling eyes at break-
 
 The Californians .131 
 
 fast. Propinquity would do much; and the bait was 
 dazzling, even to a man of fortune. 
 
 He became aware that Magdale"na was speaking. 
 
 " I have no habit ; and Ila says that they intend to 
 have riding parties." 
 
 "You can get one habit. Go up to-morrow and 
 order one." 
 
 Magdatena felt a little dazed, and wondered if 
 everything in her life were changing. 
 
 " I hear wheels," she said after a moment. They 
 were on the verandah on the right of the house. She 
 stood up and watched the bend of the drive. " It is 
 the Montgomery char-a-banc," she said, " and there 
 are Mrs. Cartright and Tiny and Ila and Rose. Shall 
 you stay ? " 
 
 "I stay. Bring them here to me. Tiny and Ila 
 beautiful girls. Great Scott ! they know what they 
 are about. Rose very pretty, too." 
 
 The char-a-banc drew up ; and as its occupants did 
 not alight, Magdalena went down and stood beside 
 it, shading her eyes with her hand. 
 
 "We have come to take you for a drive to the 
 hills, 'Le'na dear," said Tiny. " Do come." 
 
 " Papa has a bad cold. I cannot leave " 
 
 " Poor dear Don Roberto ! " exclaimed Mrs. Cart- 
 right. " I will get out this minute and speak to him. 
 I know so many remedies for a cold, blackberry 
 brandy, or currant wine, or inhaling burnt linen and 
 drinking hot water " But she was halfway down 
 the verandah by this time.
 
 The Californians 
 
 " Do you remember the last time we went to the 
 hills? "asked Ila. "Helena and Rose shrieked with 
 such hilarity that the horses bolted." 
 
 " I can answer for myself," said Rose. " I may say 
 that the memory was burnt in with a slipper." 
 
 " I never was spanked," murmured Tiny. " That 
 is one of the many things I am grateful for. It must 
 be so humiliating to have been spanked." 
 
 "Who can tell what futures may lie in a slipper?" 
 replied Rose, who had a reputation for being clever. 
 " I am sure that my slipperings, for instance, generated 
 a tendency for epigram ; something swift and sharp. 
 It destroyed the tendency to bawl continuously, the 
 equivalent of the great national habit of monologue." 
 
 "Rose, you are quite too frightfully clever," said 
 Tiny, with an assumption of languor. " You will be 
 writing a book next." 
 
 " I will make 'Le'na the heroine," retorted Rose, 
 with a keen glance, " and call it ' The Sphinx of Menlo 
 Park.' " 
 
 " Fancy 'Le'na being called a sphinx," said Ila, who 
 was looking very bored. " Are you coming, 'Lna, or 
 not? I suppose you don't want to be kept standing 
 in the sun." 
 
 " Oh, we 're all used to that," said Rose. " I have 
 three new freckles that I owe to Mrs. Washington and 
 Caro Folsom. They called yesterday and kept me 
 standing in the sun exactly three quarters of an hour 
 before they made up their minds to come in and stay 
 ten minutes."
 
 The Californians 133 
 
 I 'd like to go " 
 
 Mrs. Cartright returned, shaking her head. 
 
 " Don Roberto does not want to be left alone," she 
 said. "I fortunately thought of a most wonderful 
 remedy for colds, and I have also been telling him 
 about a terrible cold General Lee had once when he 
 was staying with us. He did look so funny, dear great 
 man, with his head tied up in one of old Aunt Sally's 
 bandannas " 
 
 " Please excuse me for interrupting you, dear Mrs. 
 Cartright," said Tiny, firmly ; " but I think we had 
 better get out and talk to Don Roberto, and go to 
 the hills another day when 'Le'na can go with us. 
 Don't you think that would be best ? " she murmured 
 to the other girls. " We might help to amuse him a 
 little." 
 
 " It will be vastly to our credit," said Rose, " for 
 he certainly won't amuse us." 
 
 "Has anyone ever been amused here?" asked Ila, 
 looking at Magdatena, who was politely listening to 
 Mrs. Cartright's anecdote. " Fancy having the biggest 
 house in the smartest county in California and making 
 no more of it than if it were a cottage. The rest of 
 the houses are so cut up ; but fancy what dances we 
 could have here." 
 
 " I have been thinking over a plan," said Tiny, 
 " and that is to try to manage Don Roberto. 'Le'na 
 can't, but I think the rest of us could, and Mrs. Yorba 
 likes to give parties." 
 
 " I am told that in early days there was an extra
 
 The Californians 
 
 burst of lawlessness after each of her balls, reac 
 tion," said Rose. 
 
 " I don't think that it is nice for us to be discussing 
 people at their very doorstep," said Tiny. " I just 
 thought I 'd mention my plan. And if it succeeded, 
 and all took charge, as it were, there need be no stiff 
 ness in an informal party in the country. Shall we 
 get out?" 
 
 " By all means, General Tom Thumb," said Rose, 
 with some ire ; " it is very plain who is to be boss in 
 this community, as Mrs. Washington would say." 
 
 " Wait'till Helena comes," whispered Ila. 
 
 XXIV 
 
 DON ROBERTO rose as they approached. He did not 
 take off his skull-cap, but he received them with the 
 courtly grace of the caballero, one of his inheritances 
 which he had not permanently discarded, although 
 he practised what he was pleased to call his Ameri 
 can manners in the sanctity of his home. 
 
 He bowed low, kissed their finger-tips, and handed 
 them in turn to the chairs which he first arranged in a 
 semi-circle about his own. When he resumed his 
 former half-reclining attitude he had the air of an 
 invalid sultan holding audience. 
 
 "We are so sorry that you have such a dreadful 
 cold," said Tiny, with her sweetest smile and em 
 phasis ; " and so glad that we happened to drive up.
 
 The Californians 135 
 
 You couldn't come for a drive with us, could you? 
 We should love to have you." 
 
 Don Roberto rose to the bait at once. He was as 
 susceptible to the blandishments of pretty women as 
 Jack Belmont, although their influence over his purse 
 was an independent matter. 
 
 "Very glad I am that I have the cold," he answered 
 gallantly; "for it give me the company of three so 
 beautiful ladies. I no can go for drive, for it blow, 
 perhaps ; but I no care, so long as you here with me 
 sit." 
 
 " Well, we are going to stay a long time ; and we 
 are so glad we are back in Menlo again, so many of 
 us together. We used to love so to come here; it 
 seems ages ago. And now that we have got 'Le'na 
 again, you must expect us to fairly overrun the 
 house." 
 
 " It is yours," said Don Roberto, in the old ver 
 nacular. " Burn it if you will." 
 
 Tiny, who had never heard even an anecdote of the 
 early Californians, gave a quick glance at the whiskey 
 flask, but replied undauntedly, 
 
 " How gallant you are, Don Roberto ! The young 
 men say such stupid things. But you always were so 
 original ! " 
 
 " Poor old dear, I feel like wiping it off," whispered 
 Rose to Ila. 
 
 But it was evident that Don Roberto's vision was 
 powdered with the golden dust of flattery. He smiled 
 approvingly into Tiny's pretty face. " But I say true,
 
 136 The Californians 
 
 and the young mens do not sometimes. It make me 
 young again to see you here." 
 
 " One would think you were <?/</," said Tiny. " But 
 do you really like to see us here? Should you mind 
 if we came sometimes in the evening? It would be 
 such fun to meet at each other's houses and talk on 
 the verandahs." 
 
 "Come all the evenings," said Don Roberto, 
 promptly, "si you talk to me sometimes." 
 
 " / want to do that. Ila plays, and Rose sings beau- 
 tifully. Some evening we will get up charades to 
 amuse you." 
 
 "On Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday 
 nights I am here." 
 
 " Those will be our evenings to come here." She 
 gave a peremptory glance to Rose, who responded 
 hurriedly, "Are you fond of music, Don Roberto? 
 It will give me great pleasure to sing for you ; and Ila 
 has been learning some of my accompaniments." 
 
 Don Roberto did not answer for a moment. His 
 memory had played him a trick : it had leaped back to 
 the days of guitars and gratings. He rarely sought the 
 society of gentlewomen, not, at least, of those whose 
 names were on visiting lists. There was something 
 unexpectedly sweet and fragrant in the company of 
 these three beautiful girls. Don Roberto's memories 
 were hanging in a dusty cupboard, and his heart had 
 shrunken like the meat of a nut too long neglected ; 
 but there was life at the core, and the memories came 
 forth, wanting only a breath to dust them. Yes, he
 
 The Californians 137 
 
 should like to have these girls about him. And Mag- 
 datena had lived the life of a hermit. It was time for 
 her to enjoy her girlhood. 
 
 "Yes," he said, "alway I like the music. Si the 
 piano need tune, I send one man down. You can 
 dance, too, si you like it. Always I like see the young 
 peoples dance." 
 
 Tiny clapped her hands. Ila leaned forward and 
 patted his hand. 
 
 "What an inspiration ! " she exclaimed. "This will 
 be a simply gorgeous house to dance in. Don Ro 
 berto, you certainly are an angel ! " 
 
 Don Roberto had never been called an angel before, 
 but he smiled approvingly. " Some night this week 
 we have the dance," he said. " My wife write you 
 to-night." 
 
 " I am on the verge of nervous prostration," whis 
 pered Rose, as his attention was claimed by Mrs. 
 Cartright. " The effort of keeping my countenance 
 but the way you handle a trowel, Tiny, is a new chap 
 ter in diplomacy. Butter and molasses for fifty and 
 after; a vaporiser and peau d'espagne for the sharp 
 young things. I was just saying," she added hastily, 
 as Don Roberto reclined suddenly and turned to her, 
 "that young men are a nuisance. I am thinking of 
 writing a book of advice " 
 
 "A book!" cried Don Roberto, his brows rushing 
 together. "You no write the books? " 
 
 " Of course she would never publish," interposed 
 Tiny. " She would just write it for our amusement. I
 
 138 The Californians 
 
 think it would be so horrid to publish the cleverest 
 book," she said, turning to Magdatena, unmistakable 
 sincerity in her voice. " It has always seemed to me 
 so so horrid for women to write things to print 
 for anybody to read." 
 
 Magdalena did not answer her. She was staring at 
 her father, breathless for his next words. 
 
 " The ladies never write," announced that grandson 
 of old Spain. " Nor the gentlemens. Always the 
 common peoples write the books." 
 
 "Oh, it's better now, really," said Rose. "Some 
 people that write are said to be quite nice. Of course, 
 one does n't meet them in society, in San Francisco 
 society, at least, but that may be the fault of society." 
 " Of course," said Tiny. " I do not mean that 
 people who write must be horrid. But I think I 
 could n't know a woman who made her name so public, 
 I mean if I had n't been fond of her before ; but I 
 should really hate to see a friend's name in print. 
 You are not really thinking of writing a book, are you, 
 Rose, dear?" 
 
 " I have not the slightest idea of writing a book 
 for the very good reason that I haven't brains 
 enough. You need n't worry about any of us adding 
 to the glory of California unless, to be sure, 'Lna 
 should be clever enough." 
 
 She spoke at random, and Magdalena's face did not 
 betray her; but she almost hated the girl who was 
 forcing her to another of her mental crises. 
 
 "My daughter write!" shouted Don Roberto. "A
 
 The Californians 139 
 
 Yorba ! She make a fool de my name like the play 
 actor that do the monkey tricks on the stage ? Si she 
 do that " 
 
 "Here comes Mr. Trennahan," said Magdatena, 
 standing up. "Mamma is not here. I must go to 
 meet him." 
 
 Trennahan threw the reins to his groom and sprang 
 out of the cart. " I could not wait till evening, you 
 see," he said, as he came up the steps. "What is the 
 matter? Something has gone wrong with you." 
 
 She shivered. "Yes. Something. I cannot tell 
 you." 
 
 " Can we have our ride to-morrow? " 
 " Yes, I can ride with you. Don't, d-don't " 
 "Yes?" 
 
 " Don't talk to me when you get round there." 
 " I won't ; and I won't let them talk to you." 
 Something has gone wrong, he thought. She looks 
 like a condemned criminal. 
 
 XXV 
 
 THE next morning when Trennahan rode up, Magda- 
 lna was already on her horse, and they cantered off 
 at once. 
 
 " I must teach you to trot," he said. " This is very 
 old-fashioned. You must not be behind your friends, 
 who would scorn to canter." 
 
 " Very well. You can teach me."
 
 140 The Californians 
 
 The next half-hour was given up to the lesson. 
 Magdalena did not like the new method, but perse 
 vered heroically. A half- hour was all she could endure, 
 and they cantered across the meadows to the back 
 woods. 
 
 Magdalena was as pale as a swarthy person can be. 
 Her eyes were heavy and shadowed. 
 
 "You did not sleep last night," said Trennahan, 
 abruptly. "And something had happened yesterday 
 before I came. What was it?" 
 
 " I don't think I can tell you. I don't like to talk 
 about things about myself." 
 
 " Then let roe tell you that no human being can go 
 through life without help. With all your brain and 
 your natural reticence, you are no exception to the rule. 
 I am much older than you are. I know a great deal 
 of the world. You know nothing of it. I can help 
 you if you will let me." 
 
 He was interested, and thought it probable that her 
 trouble came from the depths of her nature. Neverthe 
 less, she was very young, and he prayed that her grief 
 were not the sequence of a rejected manuscript. 
 
 Magdalena flushed, then paled again. She remem 
 bered that she had wanted to speak out to him ; but 
 face to face with the prospect, the levelling of lifelong 
 barriers appalled her. If she could only tell part and 
 conceal the rest ! But she was no artist in words. She 
 drew a deep sigh and opened her lips, but closed them 
 again. 
 
 "It will be easier here in the woods," he said, as
 
 The Californians 141 
 
 they rode into the deep shade. "The world always 
 seems quite different to me in a wood." It did not 
 in the least, but he knew that it did to her. 
 
 "I should have to go back," she said finally. "I 
 cannot begin with yesterday. And I talk so badly." 
 
 "The longer the story, the more interested I shall 
 be. And I like your direct simplicity. Let us walk 
 the horses." 
 
 "When I was a child I was very religious, a 
 Catholic. It was a very great deal to me. When I 
 prayed to the Virgin about my wants and troubles, I 
 felt quite happy and hopeful. I lost it a year or two 
 ago. I had read a great many scientific books ; and 
 my religion fell to pieces like like There was a 
 beautiful old tree on the edge of the woods once. It 
 looked as if it would stand a century longer. One day 
 there was a terrible wind, and it fell down. Its sap and 
 roots were almost gone. I felt dreadfully about the 
 religion, I mean. I felt, somehow, as if my backbone 
 had been taken out. I knew that one must have some 
 sort of moral ideal. I thought a great deal, and finally 
 I determined to make my conscience my religion. I 
 made a resolution that I would never do, and try not 
 even to think, what I believed to be wrong. When I 
 was little, I followed Helena into a great many of her 
 naughty escapades, though nothing so bad as the fire, 
 and I did not tell my parents, as a rule, because I 
 could not see that it did any good. When my New 
 England conscience, as Helena calls it, got the best of 
 me and I confessed about the fire, the consequences
 
 142 The Californians 
 
 were so terrible that I made up my mind that I would 
 do as I chose and say nothing about it. I kept to that 
 until I lost my religion. Then I was careful about 
 every little thing. It was easy enough for a year. 
 Then I don't think I can go on." 
 
 " Then you wrote a book and your conscience hurts 
 you because you have not told your parents." 
 
 Magdalna dropped her reins and stared at him. 
 Had a voice leapt down from heaven, she could not 
 have been more dumfounded. 
 
 " I never told you," she said helplessly. " Can all 
 the others know too?" 
 
 " I am positive that no one suspects but myself. Do 
 go on." 
 
 " You have guessed something, but not all. I have 
 only begun a book ; and I am so ignorant, and my 
 mind is so slow, that I know it will be years before I 
 shall be able to write a book that anybody would read. 
 At first this dismayed me. Now I do not care, so long 
 as I succeed in the end ; and it will be a pleasure to 
 see myself improve. I have not thought it wrong not 
 to tell my parents, so long as what I did could not 
 affect them in any way. Do you not think I was right 
 in that?" 
 
 " Assuredly." 
 
 " I believed that when I had done something excel 
 lent, if that time ever came, they would be proud of it. 
 My mother was a school-teacher, you know ; and I did 
 not see why my father should care. He hates to hear 
 women talk, but writing is different. At least I thought
 
 The Californians 143 
 
 so. Yesterday, just before you came, the subject came 
 up. Rose said she believed I could write a book, and 
 papa was furious at the mere thought. I knew nothing 
 about old-world prejudices, but it seems that a lady 
 would be thought to have disgraced herself in Spain if 
 she wrote a book : and papa is as Spanish as if he had 
 never learned a word of English, although he would 
 be ready to beat anyone that told him so. He did 
 not have a chance to say much yesterday ; but I saw 
 what his ideas were and that nothing could change them. 
 " I did not go to sleep at all last night. I sat up 
 trying to think what I should do. Of course I need 
 not tell him what I had done; but should I give it 
 up ? That was the question. If I continued, I must 
 tell him of my intention to be a writer. He would 
 forbid it. If I refused to obey, which I do not think 
 I have any right to do, he is quite capable of locking 
 me up. But I cannot go on writing in secret. That 
 would be a great wrong; it would be living a lie. 
 I could not make myself believe that I only wrote for 
 the pleasure of writing: I should know that I longed 
 for the time when I should see my book on some 
 body's shelf. It seems to me that I cannot give it 
 up. I have much less in my life than most girls. 
 In spite of the hard work, I have felt almost happy 
 while writing. And I am afraid that I have as much 
 ambition as pride. But he is my father. My first 
 duty is to him I cannot make up my mind. I 
 suppose there should be no struggle ; but there is, and 
 I feel as if it were killing me."
 
 144 The Californians 
 
 Trennahan had been the confidant of many women, 
 had listened to many tragic confessions, had seen 
 women in agonies of remorse ; but nothing had ever 
 touched him as did this bald statement, abrupt with 
 repressed feeling, of a girl's solitary tragedy. Had 
 her hero been a lover instead of an art, he would 
 have met her confidence with platitudes and a sup 
 pressed yawn; but her lonely attitude in the midst 
 of millions and friends, her terrible slavery to an 
 ideal, to a scourging conscience which was at war 
 with all the secretiveness, self-indulgence, and haughty 
 intolerance of restraint which she had inherited 
 with her father's blood, interested him even more 
 profoundly than it appealed to his sympathies. He 
 determined not only to help her, but to watch her 
 development. 
 
 "You have honoured me with your confidence," he 
 said. "Don't doubt for a moment that I do not 
 appreciate the magnitude of that honour. I know 
 just how proud and reticent you are, how much it cost 
 you to speak. I believe that I have enough wisdom 
 to help you a little. Go on with your work. If you 
 have a talent, you get it, one way or another, from 
 your parents, and it is as much entitled to your con 
 sideration as your health or your riches. The birth 
 right of every mortal is happiness. Some philosopher 
 has said that happiness is the free exercise of the 
 higher faculties of a man's nature. If that is your 
 instinct, pursue it. Of course we have no right to 
 claim our happiness at the expense of others. But
 
 The Californians 145 
 
 your father is safe for the present. No matter what 
 your talent, you will not know enough, nor have had 
 sufficient bare practice with your pen, to write even 
 a short story of first-rate merit for ten years to come. 
 You may count it a blessing that various causes are 
 preventing you from rushing into print. At the end 
 of that period your father will be ten years older. He 
 will probably be much softened and will look at things 
 differently; or he may be dead. Or you may be 
 and most likely will be married. You need only 
 concern yourself with the present. It is possible that 
 you have discovered your only chance of happiness. 
 Do not commit the incredible folly of strangling that 
 chance before it is born. This is not my day for 
 lecturing, but I am going to take your conscience in 
 hand. It needs training. Before you know it, you 
 will be morbid. That means brain rot, and no chance 
 of the commonest sort of enjoyment." 
 
 " You are very good ; no one has ever been so 
 good. You ought to know far better than I what is 
 right and what is wrong." 
 
 " I am afraid I do. Promise me this : that you 
 will do nothing decisive until the end of the summer. 
 Take that time to think it over. There will be little 
 time to write in any case. I shall monopolise a good 
 deal of your time, and I fancy they intend to be rather 
 gay here. Six months from now we will talk it over 
 again. Will you agree to that ? " 
 
 "I must think it over. My mind is a slow one. 
 But I think you are right." 
 10
 
 146 The Californians 
 
 And several days later, when he was dining at the 
 house, she told him briefly that she should take his 
 advice and write no more until the summer was 
 over. 
 
 XXVI 
 
 MRS. YORBA, who did not like to have her plans 
 made for her, decided to give the party on the even 
 ing of Saturday week. The floor was to be canvased, 
 and three musicians were engaged. She promised 
 the girls that after this initial party they should dance 
 informally at Fair Oaks as often as they wished. 
 
 It was some time before Magdalna rode alone 
 with Trennahan again. The other girls rode every 
 morning and claimed him. Magdatena joined these 
 parties as soon as her habit was finished, and met him 
 every afternoon at one or other of the new tennis 
 courts, which consisted merely of chalked lines and 
 a net, Ila had introduced tennis to Menlo, but 
 either Ila or Caro possessed him with the tentacles 
 of their kind. Mrs. Yorba had made it understood 
 that her party was to be the first of the season, so the 
 evenings alone were unoccupied. Trennahan dined 
 twice at Fair Oaks, but Don Roberto and Mr. 
 Polk claimed him. Magdal^na wondered if he had 
 forgotten his original programme. But with four 
 handsome girls demanding his attentions, a literary 
 friendship was doubtless a dream of the future. She
 
 The Californians 147 
 
 felt an unaccountable depression, and wondered if 
 she were going to be ill. 
 
 By the time the evening of the party arrived, the 
 nervousness which had assailed her when the subject 
 was broached had been tempered by time and constant 
 association with many who would be present. Tiny 
 and the other girls had promised to make " things go." 
 There were to be no ball gowns, and the whole affair 
 was to be as informal as possible. She even harboured 
 pleasurable anticipation. Parties, she had read and 
 heard, were brilliant exhilarating affairs, and she loved 
 dancing as only a Spanish woman can. In this, at 
 least, she should excel her fellows. She had taken les 
 sons once a week for the last two years from a solemn 
 and automatic person who had rarely opened his lips 
 except to complain of the heavy carpets in the cavern 
 ous Yorba parlours. 
 
 Magdalna dressed immediately after dinner; the 
 guests were expected by nine. She wore her white 
 organdie, but fastened crimson roses in her hair and 
 belt. She was by no means satisfied with her appear 
 ance, she was too ardent an admirer of beauty for 
 that, but she knew that she looked far better than 
 she had on the night of her dinner. She shuddered 
 at the memory of that white ribbon about her swarthy 
 throat. 
 
 She went downstairs, and thought the big rooms 
 looked very inviting with their white floors ; the fold 
 ing-doors had been rolled back, and the parlour and 
 dining-room made an immense sweep. The vases
 
 148 The Californians 
 
 on the mantels were full of flowers. In the distance 
 she heard the tuning of a fiddle. 
 
 The night was hot, and all the windows were open. 
 The dark grounds beyond looked full of mystery, and 
 of infinite depth. She thought at the moment that 
 there was nothing she loved more than the mystery of 
 night in the country. As she stood in the middle of the 
 brilliantly lighted room, the heavy darkness without out 
 lined with trees and great shrubs, the broken spaces 
 above, set with stars, allured her. Almost unconsciously 
 she stepped through one of the windows, crossed the 
 verandah and drive, and entered the long narrow path 
 between the lawns. Here there was more sense of 
 space, for the lawns were very large ; but the trees were 
 close along their edge and massed heavily at the end 
 of the perspective. Above was a long banner of night 
 sky. The monotonous chanting of frogs was the only 
 sound. 
 
 Certainly, California is a land of beauty and peace, 
 she thought. Mr. Trennahan says he has never known 
 anything like it, and he has been everywhere. Every 
 body should be happy in it, and I suppose every 
 one is, mostly. Poets like Tennyson always make 
 weather to suit moods and circumstances. If they are 
 right, one should laugh and be happy for eight months 
 in the year in California, and only sad when it rains. 
 There does not seem much chance for tragedy, although 
 I have heard that there are many murders and suicides ; 
 but perhaps that is because the towns are new and ex 
 citable. There is nothing in the country itself to make
 
 The Californians 149 
 
 one unhappy, as there must be in other countries where 
 Nature has done so little, and they have so many cen 
 turies of tragic past behind them. . . . Oh, dear, I am 
 struggling toward something, as usual. What is it ? 
 
 She touched her fingers to her forehead, then drew 
 them lightly back and forth, as if to clear the mist 
 from her brain, the rust from the wheels. ... I seem to 
 have seeds in my mind. Why don't they sprout? Why 
 are they for ever knocking at the hard earth over their 
 heads? One would think they were in their graves 
 instead of never having been born. 
 
 She sighed and shook her head, but her thoughts 
 ran on. Am I happy? I think so. And all the girls 
 seem happy. Mr. Trennahan says he watched the rest 
 of the world rise into an inverted abyss of smoke when 
 the train slid down the Sierras, and that his memory 
 has been asleep ever since. I have been unhappy here ! 
 she continued abruptly. And one night I suffered 
 suffered horribly and this last week She stopped 
 short, looking at the beauty and peace about her with a 
 feeling of sharp and swift resentment. She had a sense 
 of being betrayed by the country of which she was, far 
 more than her mates, a part. She was of its first 
 blood, the daughter of its Arcadia, the last living repre 
 sentative of all that it had been in the fulness of its 
 power. And she knew California and felt it as no one 
 else did. That sense of betrayal, of personal treachery, 
 passed as swiftly as it had come, but seemed to mur 
 mur back that it would come again, and again ; and 
 that with each visit she would understand it better.
 
 150 The Californians 
 
 I have read somewhere that artists must suffer before 
 they can accomplish anything, she thought. Well, I 
 should not mind, I should not at least, I think I 
 should not. 
 
 Some time since she had come to the end of the 
 path and turned to the right and into a long lane run 
 ning between fields. She sat down on a stump; she 
 had quite forgotten the party. Her brain was full of 
 struggling ideas. But in a few moments she surren 
 dered herself to the spell of the night. There were no 
 trees quite near her, nothing but level fields thick with 
 grain. Far to the left and curving a mile behind her 
 was the black outline of the woods. Far behind them 
 were the towering mountains with their forests of red 
 woods; those on the crest sharp against the stars. 
 California was a new country. It might have been 
 newer, so vast was its silence, so primeval its 
 peace. 
 
 Oh, I am sure I am happy, thought Magdalena, sud 
 denly. Yes, I am sure. But I wish I might never see 
 anyone again. California is faultless ; it is civilisation 
 that has spoilt her. 
 
 She was stumbling close upon great truths ; but it was 
 part of her inheritance that she had no perception of 
 what she was groping for, and passed almost unheeding 
 the little that came to her. 
 
 "Miss Yorba, are you cultivating a reputation for 
 eccentricity ? " 
 
 She sprang to her feet. Trennahan was approach 
 ing her. He was in evening dress, without a hat.
 
 The Californians 151 
 
 His expression was one of extreme amusement, and 
 Magdalena felt the blood in her face. 
 
 "Have they come?" she asked in dismay. 
 
 " They are dancing, or were about to begin as your 
 mother sent me to look for you." 
 
 "I had forgotten " 
 
 ". I was sure you had. Miss Brannan insisted that 
 you were hiding, but I had no doubt that you had 
 wandered off in a reverie." He laughed. "Happy 
 you ! " he said. " Happy you ! " 
 
 "You think I am an idiot." 
 
 " Indeed I do not. I feel sorry to think that in 
 a year from now such a thing will no longer be pos 
 sible. But we must go back, or they will be sending 
 someone to look for us." 
 
 "Is papa angry?" 
 
 " I don't think he noticed. Miss Montgomery and 
 Miss Brannan were using all their blandishments to 
 make him think the party as interesting as themselves ; 
 and I am positive they were succeeding." 
 
 When they reached the house, the quadrille which 
 had opened the party was finishing. Don Roberto 
 was making a sweeping bow to Tiny, whose face wore 
 an inscrutable expression. Magdalena was about to 
 step through the window, but Trennahan guided her 
 to the door, and they entered the room without attract 
 ing attention. There were some forty people present. 
 With the exception of the Yorbas, everybody had 
 house guests. Mrs. Yorba sat in a corner with a small 
 group of elderly ladies. Mr. Polk stood before the
 
 152 The Californians 
 
 fireplace in the parlour, his legs well apart, staring 
 absently at the young people, who looked gay and 
 content. 
 
 "What am I to do?" asked Magdatena, helplessly. 
 
 "Nothing, just now, as there are no wall- flowers. 
 In a moment one of these youths will ask you to 
 dance, and of course you will consent. It is my 
 misfortune that I no longer dance. I think your 
 fate approaches." 
 
 A young man with a rather bright face came toward 
 her. His name was Payne. She had met him at the 
 Montgomerys. 
 
 "May I have the pleasure of the first waltz, Miss 
 Yorba?" he asked. "I am told that it will be a 
 unique pleasure, that you can talk science and waltz 
 in the same breath, as it were." 
 
 He did not speak in sarcasm, merely in facetious- 
 ness. He was a type of the fresh young San Fran 
 ciscan whose ways are not as all ways. Magdalena 
 looked at him in sombre anger and made no reply. 
 He saw that he had made a mistake, and reddened, 
 wondering why on earth she were in society at all, 
 if she could not be like other girls. Magdalena did 
 not appreciate his natural indignation; but she saw 
 that he was miserable, and relented. 
 
 " I will waltz with you if you wish," she said. 
 
 Mr. Psyne bowed stiffly and offered his arm. They 
 walked the length of the two rooms in utter silence ; 
 then the musicians played the opening bars of a waltz. 
 Magdalena remembered that this would be her first
 
 The Californians 153 
 
 waltz with any man, barring the teacher who had 
 solemnly piloted her up and down the parlours in 
 town. She had hoped much from her first dance; 
 and she was to have it with this silly overgrown boy. 
 It was a minor disappointment, but sharp while it 
 lasted. 
 
 "Shall we begin?" he asked formally. He was 
 sulky, and eager to have it over. Two or three of 
 his friends had flashed him glances of ironical sym 
 pathy, and he was too young to bear ridicule with 
 fortitude. 
 
 Ila was floating down the room with Alan Rush, a 
 young South American, as graceful of foot and bearing 
 as herself. Magdalena forgot her partner and gazed 
 at them with genuine delight. She had read of the 
 poetry of motion, and this illustration appealed to 
 the passion for beauty which was strong in her nature. 
 
 She turned to her partner. "Do they not dance 
 beautifully?" she exclaimed. That much-enduring 
 youth replied that they did, and asked her again if 
 she were ready. She laid her hand on his shoulder 
 and they started. Magdalena realised at once that 
 her partner was an excellent dancer, and that she was 
 not. She felt that she was heavy, and marvelled at 
 the lightness of Ila and Rose. They seemed barely 
 to touch the floor, and were laughing and chatting as 
 naturally as if they had no feet to guide. 
 
 " Could you take a little longer step ? " asked Mr. 
 Payne, politely. "I I beg pardon for suggesting 
 it, but it 's the fashion just now. That 's right a little
 
 154 The Californians 
 
 longer. Oh, I I am afraid that your feet are too 
 small. Shall we sit down a moment? " 
 
 They sat down in the recess, and Payne wiped his 
 brow. " It is so warm," he muttered apologetically. 
 
 " Mr. Rush does not look warm," she said cruelly. 
 
 He repressed the obvious reply, but made no other. 
 In a moment he asked her if she cared to finish the waltz. 
 
 " No," she said. " I do not. You may go and 
 finish it with someone else, if you like." 
 
 He moved off with alacrity, and Magdatena sat 
 alone for some moments feeling very miserable. What ' 
 was the matter with her? Could she do nothing well? 
 And she should be a wall-flower for the rest of the 
 evening, of course. That wretched man would tell 
 everybody how badly she danced. 
 
 But she had forgotten that she was hostess. A 
 moment after the waltz ended, three young men came 
 over to her and begged for the honour of her hand. 
 They were Rollins, the sharp-faced Fort, and Alan 
 Rush. She gave the dance to follow to Rush, and 
 the others, having inscribed her name on their cuffs, 
 moved off. Rush sat down beside her. He had a 
 frank kind face, and the beauty of his figure and the 
 grace of his carriage had given him a reputation for 
 good looks which had reached even Magdatena's ears. 
 He was at that time the most popular young man in 
 San Francisco society. Magdatena decided that she 
 liked him better than anyone she had met except 
 Trennahan. His voice was rich and Southern, although 
 he had no Spanish blood in him.
 
 The Californians 
 
 " I watched you dance," said Magdaldna, abruptly. 
 " I don't dance well enough for you." 
 
 " Dancing is all a matter of habit," he said kindly. 
 " This is my third year. You have no idea how awk 
 ward I was when I began. I am sure you will be 
 the best dancer in society next winter with all those 
 Spanish grandmothers." 
 
 "Do you think so?" She liked him almost as 
 well as Trennahan for the moment. 
 
 He did not, for he had noted that she was lacking 
 in natural grace; but he was chivalrous, and he saw 
 that she was discouraged. 
 
 " There 's the music," he said. " Suppose we go 
 out in the hall by ourselves, and I will give you a little 
 lesson. No?" 
 
 Magdalena was delighted, but she merely stood up 
 in her unbending dignity and said that she was glad to 
 take advantage of his kindness. 
 
 He was a man who danced so well that he com 
 pelled some measure of facility in his partner. Magda 
 lena felt inspired at once, and carefully obeyed every 
 instruction. 
 
 "We will have a great many other lessons, no?" 
 he said as the music finished. "By the time that 
 famous coming-out party of yours comes off, you will 
 be in great form." 
 
 " Will you open it with me ? " 
 
 " I shall be delighted, and to help you all I can." 
 They were walking down the hall, and he was bending 
 over her with an air of devotion which she thought
 
 156 The Californians 
 
 very pleasant. His accomplished eyes appealed to 
 the instinct of coquetry, buried deep in the seriousness 
 of her nature, and she smiled upon him and found 
 herself talking with some ease. 
 
 i She danced with all the young men, but they bored 
 her as much as she felt that she bored them. All the 
 girls danced with her father, and he seemed amiable 
 and pleased, especially when Tiny was smiling upon 
 him. Ha, despite her elegance and refinement, sug 
 gested the ladies of his leisure, Rose had too sharp a 
 tongue, and Caro had an exaggerated innocence of 
 manner and eye which experience had led him to 
 distrust. But Tiny, beautiful, cool, and remote, re 
 minded him of the women of his youth, when he was 
 a man of enthusiasms, ideals, and dreams. 
 
 Mr. Polk spent the evening wandering about alone 
 or staring from the hearth-rug. One or two of the 
 girls asked him to dance, but he refused brusquely. 
 It was the first dance he had attended since the one 
 given by Thomas Larkin to celebrate the Occupation 
 of California by the United States. 
 
 The party broke up a little after twelve, and all 
 assured Magdal6na that the party had been a success 
 with such emphasis that she was convinced that it had 
 been ; but when she was in bed and the light out, she 
 cried bitterly. .
 
 The Californians 157 
 
 XXVII 
 
 THERE were no engagements for the following morn 
 ing, and Magdalena was sitting idly on the verandah 
 when she saw Trennahan sauntering up the drive. 
 The blood flew through her veins, lifting the weight 
 from her brain. But she repressed the quick smile, 
 and sat still and erect until he reached the carriage 
 block, when she went to the head of the steps to meet 
 him. 
 
 " Put on your hat," he said, " and let us hide in 
 the woods before somebody comes to take us for a 
 drive or to invite us to luncheon. I have n't forgotten 
 our private plans, if you have." 
 
 " I had not forgotten, but Tiny and Ila manage 
 everything. I don't like to refuse when they are so 
 kind." 
 
 "You must develop a faculty or no, leave it to 
 me. I shall gradually but firmly insist upon having a 
 day or two a week to myself; and Miss Geary informs 
 me that such unprecedented energy can never last in 
 this Vale of Sleep ; that before a month is over we shall 
 all have settled down to a chronic state of somno 
 lence from which we shall awaken from Saturday till 
 Monday only. Then, indeed, will Menlo be the ideal 
 spot of which I dreamed while you left me to myself 
 on that long day of my visit." 
 
 Her hat was in the hall. She put it on hastily back
 
 158 The Californians 
 
 foremost, and they walked toward the woods. Sud 
 denly she turned into a side path. 
 
 "Let us walk through the orchard," she said. 
 "Then we shall not meet anyone." 
 
 The cherries were gone ; but the yellow apricots, the 
 golden pears, the red peaches and nectarines, the 
 purple plums, hung heavy among the abundant green, 
 or rotted on the ground. Several poor children were 
 stealing frankly, filling sacks almost as large as them 
 selves. Don Roberto had never so far unbent as to 
 give the village people permission to remove the 
 superfluity of his orchard, but he winked at their 
 depredations, as they saved him the expense of having 
 it carted away ; his economical graft had never been 
 able to overcome his haughty aversion to selling the 
 produce of his private estate. Magdale"na often came 
 to the orchard to talk to these children : the poor 
 fascinated her, and she liked to feel that she was help 
 ing them with words and dimes; but they were not 
 as the poor of whom she had read, nor yet of the fire. 
 They were tow-headed and soiled of face, but they 
 wore stout boots and well-made calico frocks, and 
 they were not without dimes of their own. 
 
 " Does California seem a little unreal to you? " she 
 asked. " I mean, there are no great contrasts. The 
 poverty of London must be frightful." 
 
 " You ungrateful person, for Heaven's sake reap the 
 advantage of your birthright and forget the countries 
 that are not California." 
 
 They passed out of the back gate and entered the
 
 The Californians 159 
 
 middle woods. Magdalna without hesitation led the 
 way to the retreat hitherto sacred to Art. Trennahan 
 need not have apprehended that she would inflict him 
 with her manuscript, nor with hopes and fears : she 
 was much too shy to mention the subject unless he 
 drew her deliberately ; but she liked the idea of asso 
 ciating him with this leafy and sacred temple. 
 
 He threw himself on his back at once, clasping his 
 hands under his head and gazing up into the rustling 
 storeys above. About his head was a low persistent 
 hum, a vibration of a sound of many parts. Above 
 were only the intense silences of a hot California 
 morning. 
 
 Trennahan forgot Magdale"na for the moment. He 
 felt young again and very content. His restless tem 
 perament, fed with the infinite varieties of Europe, had 
 seldom given way to the pleasures of indolence. Even 
 satiety had not meant rest. But California as dis 
 tinct from San Francisco with her traditions of luxu 
 rious idleness, the low languid murmur of her woods, 
 her soft voluptuous air, her remoteness from the shriek 
 ing nerve centres of the United States, the sublime 
 indifference of her people to the racing hours, drew so 
 many quiet fingers across his tired brain, half obliter 
 ating deep and ugly impressions, giving him back 
 something of the sense of youth and future. Perhaps 
 he dimly appreciated that California is a hell for the 
 ambitious ; he knew that it was the antechamber of a 
 possible heaven to the man who had lived his life. 
 
 He turned suddenly and regarded Magdatena, won-
 
 160 The Californians 
 
 dering how much she had to do with his regeneration, 
 if regeneration it were, and concluded that she was 
 merely a part of California the whole. But she was a 
 part as was no other woman he had met. 
 
 She had clasped her hands about her knees and was 
 staring straight before her. Trennahan, in a rare flash 
 of insight, saw the soul of the girl, its potentialities, 
 its beauty, struggling through the deep mists of 
 reserve. 
 
 " I could love her," he thought ; " and more, and 
 differently, than I have loved any other woman." 
 
 He determined in that moment to marry her. As 
 soon as he had made his decision, he had a sense of 
 buoyancy, almost of happiness, but no rejuvenation 
 could destroy his epicureanism ; he determined that 
 the slow awakening of her nature, of revealing her to 
 herself, should be a part of the happiness he promised 
 himself. He was proud that he could love the soul of a 
 woman, that he had found his way to that soul through 
 an unbeautiful envelope, that so far there was not 
 a flutter of sense. He was to love in a new way, which 
 should, by exquisite stages, blend with the old. There 
 could be no surprises, no enigmatic delights, but 
 vicariously he could be young again. Then he won 
 dered if he were a vampire feeding on the youth of 
 another. For a moment he faced his soul in horrified 
 wonder, then reasoned that he was little past his me 
 ridian in years ; that a man's will, if favoured by Cir 
 cumstance, can do much of razing and rebuilding with 
 the inner life. No, he concluded with healthy disgust,
 
 The Californians 161 
 
 he was not that most sickening tribute to lechery, an 
 old vein yawning for transfusion. He was merely a 
 man ready to begin life again before it was too late. 
 This girl had not the beauty he had demanded as his 
 prerogative in woman, but she had individuality, brains, 
 and all womanliness. Her shyness and pride were her 
 greatest charms to him : he would be the first and the 
 last to get behind the barriers. Such women loved 
 only once. 
 
 She turned her head suddenly and met his eyes. 
 
 " What are you thinking about? " she asked. 
 
 " I have been wondering what that huge pile is 
 behind you." 
 
 " That is a wood-rat's nest." 
 
 " And you are not afraid of him ? Extraordinary 
 woman ! " 
 
 " He is much more afraid of me. I am very afraid 
 of house-rats." 
 
 " And you sit here often ? You are not afraid of 
 snakes?" 
 
 " There are none in these woods. They always re 
 treat before people civilisation. Everyone drives 
 through here, but Scarcely anyone goes through the 
 back woods ; the roads are so bad " 
 
 "Hush!" 
 
 The sound of wheels, faint for a moment, grew more 
 distinct; with it mingled the sound of voices. A 
 heavy char-a-banc rolled by, and the words of Tiny and 
 Ila came distinctly to the two in hiding. 
 
 " They will have a long and fruitless search," said
 
 1 62 The Californians 
 
 Trennahan, contentedly. "We are going to stay here 
 and become acquainted." 
 
 And they did not move for two hours. For a 
 time Trennahan made her talk, learning almost all 
 there was to know. He even drew forth the tattered 
 shreds of the caballero, who had been little more than 
 a matter of garments, and a confession of her long 
 and passionate desire to be beautiful. The story 
 ended with the lonely and terrible surrender of her 
 religion. He was profoundly interested. Once or 
 twice he was appalled. Did he take this woman, he 
 must assume responsibility for every part of her. She 
 was so wholly without egoism that she would give her 
 self up without reservation and expect him to guide 
 her. That would be all very well with the ordinary 
 woman ; but with a nature of high ideals, and possibly 
 of transcendent passions, was he equal to the task ? 
 But in his present mood the prospect fascinated him. 
 One of her slim hands, dark but pretty, lay near his 
 own. He wanted to take it in his, but did not : he 
 wished to keep her unself-conscious as long as possible. 
 
 He tried to talk to her about himself, but found it 
 hard to avoid the claptrap with which a man of the 
 world attempts to awaken interest in woman. He had 
 always done it artistically : the weariness, the satiety, 
 the mental grasp of nothingness, these had been 
 ever revealed in flashing glimpses, in unwilling allusive- 
 ness ; the hope that he had finally stumbled upon the 
 one woman sketched with a brush dipped in mist. 
 But feeling himself sincere for the first time in incal-
 
 The Californians 163 
 
 culable years, he dismissed the tempered weapons of 
 his victories with contempt, and, not knowing what 
 others to substitute, talked of his boyhood and college 
 days. As a result, he felt younger than ever, and 
 closer to the girl who was part of the mystery that 
 had taken him to her hearj. 
 
 XXVIII 
 
 A WOMAN'S heart may be said to resemble a subter 
 ranean cavern to which communication is had by 
 means of a trap-door. How the lover enters this 
 guarded precinct depends upon the lover and the 
 woman. Sometimes the trap-door is jerked open, and 
 he is hurled down with no by your leave, gobbled up, 
 willing or unwilling. Sometimes there is a desperate 
 fight just over the trap-door, in which he does some 
 times, but not always, come off victor. At other times 
 he suddenly finds himself rambling through those laby 
 rinthine passages, to his surprise and that of the 
 woman, who, however, perceives him instantly. There 
 is no such fallacy as that a girl turns in terror or in 
 any other sentiment from the knowledge of this dweller 
 below the trap-door. A woman of experience may, 
 after that first glimpse : she may, in fact, bolt the 
 trap-door yet more tightly and sit herself upon it. 
 But a girl uses it as a frame for her face and watches 
 every movement of the occupant with neither fear nor 
 foreboding until occasion comes, hanging the halls
 
 164 The Californians 
 
 with the tapestry of dreams, fitting the end of each 
 rose-hued scented gallery with the magic mirror of 
 the future. 
 
 Magdale"na, at the end of that morning in the woods, 
 was quite aware that she was in love. She wondered 
 why she had not thought of it before, and concluded 
 that in the prelude she had been merely fascinated by 
 the first enthralling man she had known. The trap 
 door of her heart was not jealously guarded ; never 
 theless, it was not yawning for an occupant. Just how 
 and when Trennahan slipped in, she could not have 
 told, but there he certainly was, and there he would 
 stay so long as life was in her. 
 
 He went home with her to luncheon, and she longed 
 to have him go, that she might be alone with the 
 thought of him. He left early in the afternoon, and 
 she locked herself in her room and sat for hours star 
 ing into the tree-tops swimming in their blue haze. 
 She was not in the least terrified at the beginnings 
 of tumult within her; she rather welcomed them as 
 the birthright of her sex. In this first stage, she hardly 
 cared whether Trennahan were in love with her or not, 
 having none of the instinct of the huntress and her 
 imagination being a slow one. It was enough that 
 she should see him for many hours alone during this 
 dreamy exquisite summer, that she should look con 
 stantly into the cold eyes that had their own power 
 to thrill. That he was not the orthodox lover in 
 appearance, manner, nor age pleased her the better. 
 She wag not like other girls, therefore it was fitting
 
 The Californians 165 
 
 that she should find her mate among the odd ones 
 of earth. That there might be others like him in 
 the great world whence he came, that he might have 
 loved and been loved by women of the world, never 
 occurred to her. She was content, having found her 
 other part, and wove no histories of the past nor 
 future. 
 
 But as the weeks went on and their intimacy grew, 
 she accepted the fact that he loved her before the 
 disposition to speculate had arrived in the wake 
 of love. During the hours that they spent rambling 
 through the woods, or in whatever fashion pleased their 
 mood, although he did not startle her by definite word or 
 act, he managed to convey that their future was assured, 
 that she was his, and that in his own time he should 
 claim her. By the time this dawn broke, her imagina 
 tion was beating at its flood-gates, and shortly broke 
 loose. Thereafter when she was not with Trennahan 
 in the present, she was his in a future built on the 
 foundations of all she had read and all that instinct 
 taught her. She had no wish that the present should 
 change ; it was enough that it suggested the inevitable 
 future. She was happy, and she knew that Trennahan 
 was happy. 
 
 Meanwhile they escaped the others and rode to 
 gether before breakfast, read together after, explored 
 every corner of the woods, and talked of many of the 
 things under heaven. Magdatena, except for an occa 
 sional flutter of eyelid or leap of colour, confessed 
 nothing : her pride was a supple armour that she laced
 
 1 66 The Californians 
 
 tightly above her heart; but Trennahan's very sell 
 lifted the trap-door and looked to him through her 
 eyes, and he had no misgivings. Sometimes he awak 
 ened suddenly in the night and gave a quick, short 
 laugh : he was so new to himself. But he knew that 
 he had found something very like true happiness, and 
 he was loving her very deeply. At first he had been 
 pricked by the apprehension that it could not last ; 
 that nature had constructed him to move upon the 
 lower planes ; that a prolonged tour on the heights 
 would result in disastrous and possibly hideous reac 
 tion : his time-worn habits of loving had been of woof 
 and make so different. But as time passed and the 
 light in his spirit spread until it dazzled his eyes and 
 consumed his memories, as the sense of regeneration 
 grew stronger, as the future beckoned alluringly, as 
 he forgot to remember whether Magdalna were plain 
 or beautiful, as peace and content and happiness pos 
 sessed him, he ceased to question his immutability. 
 He had lived in the world for forty years, and it was 
 like an old bottle of scent long uncorked. The ideals 
 of his youth had not changed ; they had gone. Beau 
 tiful women had turned to gall on his tongue, shrunken 
 to their skeletons in his weary eyes. Fate had steered 
 his bark in the open sea of bachelorhood until he was 
 old enough and wise enough to choose his mate with 
 his soul and his brain, and Fate had steered him to 
 Magdale"na. He was profoundly thankful. 
 
 Their intimacy attracted little attention in Menlo 
 Park, for the reason that it was confined within the
 
 The Californians 167 
 
 wooded limits of Fair Oaks. When they rode and drove 
 with the others and attended dinners and dances, they 
 kept apart. As Rose had predicted, gaieties were 
 sporadic, although the young people met somewhere, 
 usually at the Yorbas', every Saturday evening; what 
 others did during the long hot days when there was no 
 company to entertain, concerned no one. Occasionally 
 one of Don Roberto's huge farm waggons, as deep as a 
 tall man's height, was filled with hay, and young Menlo 
 Park jolted slowly to the hills. They ate their luncheon 
 by cool streams dark with meeting willows, and poked 
 at the tadpoles, gathered wild roses, killed, perhaps, a 
 snake or two. Then, toward evening, they jolted home 
 again, hot, dusty, and weary, but supremely content in 
 having lived up to the traditions of Menlo Park. Tiny 
 alone came out triumphant on these trying occasions. 
 Dressed in cool white, she seated her diminutive self 
 in the very middle of the haystack and talked little. 
 The others, undaunted by the sun, started in high 
 spirits, flirted with energy, and changed their positions 
 many times. Upon the return journey, Tiny, again, sat 
 serene and white ; the rest dangled over the sides as a 
 last relief for aching limbs and backs, and forgot the 
 very alphabet of flirtation. It is true that Magdatena 
 did not flirt ; but she worked hard to keep her guests 
 pleased and comfortable, and usually went to bed with 
 a headache.
 
 1 68 The Californians 
 
 XXIX 
 
 IT was Tiny who discovered that it was leap year, and 
 invited Menlo to dance at her house one Saturday 
 night and take all advantage of its privileges. Mrs. 
 Yorba consented that Magdale"na should have a new 
 frock, the organdie being in a condition for a maid to 
 sniff at. Magdale"na asserted herself, and ordered a 
 scarlet tarlatan. The frock was smartly made at a 
 good house, and Magdalna, on the night of the party, 
 was almost pleased with herself. The vivid colour 
 slanted under her swarthy skin. She wore red slip 
 pers and red roses in her hair. By this time she 
 knew something of dress, it was October, and she 
 had also discovered that red was Trennahan's favourite 
 colour. 
 
 She was happy, but a little nervous. There had 
 been more than one sign of late that the pretty comedy 
 of friendship had run its course. The very words they 
 uttered had lost their clear-cut black and white, 
 seemed to grow more full-blooded. His eyes had 
 made her lose her breath more than once, had even 
 sharpened her wits to hasty subterfuge. 
 
 The Montgomery parlour was a narrow room at 
 right angles with the dining-room. The two rooms 
 had been thrown into one and canvased. 
 
 Tiny invited Don Roberto to open the dance with 
 her, and that platonically enamoured gentleman con 
 sented with a grand flourish. Ila exercised her blan-
 
 The Californians 169 
 
 dishments upon Mr. Polk, but to no purpose. No one 
 could understand his constant attendance at these 
 dances, for he merely stood about with unrelaxing 
 visage, scarcely exchanging a word with even the older 
 men. He wore the suit of evening clothes which had 
 done duty at men's dinners these fifteen years, and 
 had bought a pair of evening shoes and a white 
 necktie. Eugene Fort remarked that he looked like a 
 man whose vital organs had turned to gold and were 
 giving him trouble. Mr. Washington replied that the 
 tight skin which had done* such good service was cer 
 tainly beginning to bag, and that if he did n't knock 
 off and take a vacation in Europe he 'd find himself 
 breaking. 
 
 "To my knowledge," he added, "he hasn't taken a 
 vacation in thirty years ; has n't even been to Yosemite 
 or the Big Trees. He has always said that work was 
 his tonic; but the truth was that he feared to come 
 home and find a dollar unaccounted for, neither 
 more nor less. And there comes a time, my dear 
 young man, there comes a time " 
 
 " It comes early in this State." 
 
 " It does," Mr. Washington replied, with a sigh and 
 a glance at his young wife. " But the fevers have raged 
 themselves out here, or I am much mistaken. We 're 
 in for quiet times. The next generation will live 
 longer, perhaps." 
 
 "How old is Polk?" 
 
 " Nearly sixty. He 's worn better than many, be 
 cause he 's let whiskey alone ; never took a drop more
 
 i jo The Californians 
 
 than was good for him when Con. Virginia was tumbling 
 from seven hundred to nothing. Neither did Yorba, 
 who is several years older ; but he 's got the longevity 
 of his race. Jack Belmont is under fifty, and looks 
 older than either, when you get him in a good light. 
 California is all right, and whiskey is all right, but the 
 two together play the devil and no mistake." 
 
 " It is the last place where I should want whiskey," 
 said Trennahan, who had joined them. 
 
 " You were n't here half a dozen years ago. While 
 the Virginia City mines were booming, your backbone 
 felt like a streak of lightning ; you had n't a comma 
 in your very thoughts ; you woke up every morning 
 in a cold sweat, and your teeth chattered as you opened 
 your newspaper. You believed every man a liar and 
 dreamt that your veins ran liquid gold. The Stock 
 Exchange was Hell let loose. Men went insane. Men 
 committed suicide. No one stopped to remark. Do 
 you wonder that men watered the roots of their nerves 
 with alcohol? I did not, but the fever of that time 
 burnt me out, all the same. I 've never been the same 
 man since. Nor has any other San Franciscan. Even 
 Polk and Yorba, although they sold out at the right 
 moment in nine cases out of ten, felt the strain. As 
 for Jack Belmont, he was on one glorious drunk all the 
 time, and never more of a gentleman. How he 
 pulled through and doubled his pile to boot, the Lord 
 only knows; but he did." 
 
 " Miss Belmont will be a great prize," observed 
 Fort, thoughtfully. " The greatest beauty in the State,
 
 The Californians 171 
 
 if she has fulfilled her promise ; any amount of go, 
 and one or two cold millions, the Californian heiress 
 sublimated." 
 
 " And mistress of herself and her millions in a few 
 years. I hear that Belmont has not drunk a drop 
 since he has been in Europe with her ; he 's been 
 gone a year now. That is fatal at his age, after 
 having been in pickle some thirty years. Poor Jack, 
 the best fellow that ever lived ! I suppose his 
 love for the girl brought him up with a round turn. 
 Doubtless he suddenly realised that she was old 
 enough to understand, and that he must pull himself 
 up if he would keep her respect. There 's a good 
 deal of tragedy in California, Mr. Trennahan, and it 's 
 not of the sentimental young folks' sort, neither." 
 
 " I won't admit it," said Trennahan, who was look 
 ing at Magdatena. " Its very air breathes content 
 now, at any rate. I am glad I did not come earlier." 
 
 " California is the Princess Royal of her country," 
 said Fort ; " and at her birth all the good fairies came 
 and gave her of every gift in the stores of the im 
 mortals. Then a wicked fairy came and turned the 
 skeleton in her beautiful body to gold ; and, lo ! the 
 princess who had been fashioned to bless mankind 
 carried, hidden from sight by her innocent and be 
 neficent charms, a terrible curse. Men came to kiss, 
 and stayed to tear away her flesh with their teeth. 
 When her skeleton has been torn forth, even to the 
 uttermost rib, then the spell of the wicked fairy will 
 be broken, and California be the most gracious mother 
 mankind has ever known."
 
 1 72 The Californians 
 
 i 
 
 " Eugene, you like to hear yourself talk, but it must 
 be admitted that you talk well. Will you come out 
 and have a cigar? and you, Mr. Trennahan? " 
 
 There was no doubt that the party was a success. 
 Between dances the girls stood together in groups 
 and superciliously regarded the ranks of humble wall 
 flowers. Suddenly a half-dozen would dash down 
 upon a young man, beg him simultaneously for an 
 eighth of a waltz, and scribble hieroglyphics on 
 their fans. Alan Rush was the belle, and no girl 
 was allowed to have more than a fourth of him at 
 a time. Once the girls left the room in a body, 
 returning, with mumbled excuses, after the music for 
 the next dance had been playing some three minutes. 
 Sometimes a girl would approach a segregated youth, 
 ask him patronisingly if he was enjoying himself, talk 
 to him until the music began, then sidle off with an 
 inaudible remark. Altogether if the young men had 
 sinned during the summer, and they searched their 
 consciences in vain, they were punished. The New 
 Woman had not arrived in the Eighties, but the in 
 stinct was there, inherited from remotest mother. 
 
 The party was a third over when Trennahan ap 
 proached Magdal^na for the first time. She had 
 taken her partner to his chaperon, Mrs. Geary, and 
 was regarding a group of expectant youths. The spirit 
 of the thing had possessed her and she was enjoying 
 herself. Her shyness had worn off to some extent ; 
 she danced rather well, and had learned to make 
 small talk. Being happy, all things seemed easy of
 
 The Californians 173 
 
 accomplishment. She became aware that Trenuahan 
 was standing beside her, but did not turn her eyes. 
 
 " Will you sit out a dance with me or rather walk 
 it out in the garden? You must be a little tired, and 
 it is delightful out there." 
 
 " I 'd rather I think papa would not like it." 
 
 " I am positive that he would not mind." 
 
 " I am engaged." 
 
 " Let me see your fan." 
 
 She delivered it reluctantly. 
 
 "You have no one down for the next nor the 
 next." 
 
 " I I think I 'd rather not go." 
 
 " Do you mean that ? For if you do, I shall go 
 home. I came for nothing else. I have not seen 
 you alone for three days." 
 
 " I am sorry." 
 
 Come." 
 
 Her jumping fingers closed about her fan, and the 
 sticks creaked; but she followed him. 
 
 As they descended the steps he drew her hand 
 through his arm. The garden looked very wild and 
 dark. The stars were burning overhead. Slanting 
 into the heavy perfume of flowers were the pungent 
 odours of a forest fire. 
 
 " You look like a pomegranate flower." 
 
 " Do you like my frock ? " 
 
 " You know that I do." 
 
 " Should you like to smoke ? " 
 
 I should not."
 
 174 
 
 The Californians 
 
 " It is a beautiful night." 
 
 Very." 
 
 " I had a letter from Helena to-day." 
 
 "Did you?" 
 
 "She described a wonderful experience she had 
 climbing the Alps. Shall I tell you about it?" 
 
 " Good God, no ! I beg pardon, but the American 
 girl in Europe is interesting to no one but herself." 
 
 " She is interesting to me." 
 
 " Because you love her. Her letters really bore you, 
 only you won't admit it even to yourself." 
 
 " But Helena is really more brilliant than most 
 people." 
 
 " Possibly ; but I did not come out here to talk 
 about Helena." 
 
 Magdalena's fan was hanging at the end of a chain. 
 She clutched at it, missed it, and pressed her hand 
 against her heart, which was hammering. 
 
 He saw the motion, and took her hand in his. She 
 glanced about wildly. She was in a whirl of terror of 
 everything under heaven. Too dignified to wrest her 
 self away and run, she gave him a swift glance of 
 appeal, then bent her head. He dropped her hand. 
 
 " I would not frighten nor bother you for the world, 
 but you know what I have wanted to say for days past. 
 That, at least, can be no shock : you have known for a 
 long while." 
 
 " I 'd rather you did n't say it," she gasped. 
 
 " I intend to say it, nevertheless, and you will soon 
 get used to it. Will you marry me?"
 
 The Californians 175 
 
 "Oh I suppose so that is, if you want me to. 
 Let us go back to the house." 
 
 " I have no intention of going back to the house for 
 fully half an hour. Do you love me? " 
 
 She hated him at the moment. 
 
 "Answer me." 
 
 "I I thought I did I don't know." 
 
 " Well, we will drop the subject for a moment. 
 There are some other things I want to talk to you 
 about. Shall we walk on?" 
 
 She drew a long breath at the respite. He resumed 
 in a moment. 
 
 " Of course I am double your age, but I do not 
 think we shall be any less happy on that account. My 
 life, I am going to tell you, has not been an ideal one. 
 After the wildness of youth came the deliberate trans 
 gressions of maturity, then the more flagrant, because 
 purposeless sins which followed satiety. I know noth 
 ing of the middle classes of the United States, I have 
 lived little in this country, but the young men of the 
 upper class are not educated to add to the glory of 
 the American race : they are educated to spend their 
 fathers' millions. It is true that in spite of a rather 
 wild career at college I left it with a half- defined idea 
 of being a scientific explorer, and had taken a special 
 course to that end. But my ambitions crumbled some 
 where between the campus and New York. I am not 
 seeking to exculpate myself, to throw the responsibility 
 on my adolescent country : I had something more than 
 the average intelligence, and I pursued my subsequent
 
 176 The Californians 
 
 life deliberately. Not pursuing an ideal, I had no care 
 to reserve the best that was in me for the woman who 
 should one day be my wife. I entered diplomacy be 
 cause I liked the life, and because I believed that the 
 day would come when women would mean little more 
 than paper dolls to me, and power would mean every 
 thing. I did not reckon on wearying to desperation of 
 the world in general. That time came ; with it a 
 desire to live an outdoor existence for the rest of my 
 life. That at least never palled. I determined to 
 come to California. It was an impulse ; I hardly spec 
 ulated upon whether I should remain or not. As the 
 train slid down the Sierras, I knew that I should. 
 Memories jumbled, and I made no effort to pull them 
 apart. For the first time in my life I wanted a home 
 and a wife. The night we met I felt more attracted 
 to you than to the other charming Californians I had 
 met because you seemed more a part of the country. 
 It is singular that a man should love the country first, 
 and the woman as a logical result, but I did. I think 
 that you know I love you; but not how much, nor 
 what it means to me. I am not good enough for you. 
 My soul is old. I see life exactly as it is. I have not 
 an illusion. I am as prosaic as are all men who have 
 made a business of the pleasures of life. I could not 
 make you a perfervid or romantic speech to save my life, 
 and as the selfishness of a lifetime has made me moody 
 and fitful, there will be intervals when I shall be the 
 reverse of lover-like ; but on the whole I think you will 
 find me a rather ardent lover. It seems very little to
 
 The Californians 177 
 
 offer a girl who has everything to give. But I love you ; 
 never doubt that. What little good was left in me you 
 have coaxed up and trained to something like its origi 
 nal proportions. I want you to understand what my 
 past has been ; but I also want you to understand that 
 I am not the same man I was six months ago, and that 
 you have worked the change. When I crossed the 
 continent, it is no exaggeration to say that I had Hell 
 in me, that ferment of spirit which means mental 
 nausea and the desperate dodging of one's accusing 
 soul. I suppose such a time comes to most men who 
 have persistently violated the original instinct for good. 
 With the lower orders it means crime ; with the higher 
 civilisation a legion of imps shrieking in a man's soul. 
 I will not say that my particular band have been silent 
 since I came here, for that would mean moral obtuse- 
 ness ; but they are placated, and have consented to fix 
 a generous eye on the future. I believe, firmly believe, 
 that my future will atone for my past, morally, I 
 mean ; I want you to understand that I have wronged 
 no man but myself, that I have been guilty of no act 
 unbecoming a gentleman. Now look at me and tell 
 me that you do not hate me." 
 
 Magdaldna lifted her face. Her lips were dry and 
 parted, her eyes expanded, but not with horror. 
 
 " I love you," she said ; " I am glad that I can help 
 you." 
 
 They were near a huge oak whose limbs shut out the 
 stars. Trennahan drew her into its shadows and took 
 her in his arms and kissed her many times. He lifted
 
 178 The Californians 
 
 her arms about him, and she clasped her hands tightly. 
 He might be business-like, without illusions, but he 
 knew how to make love with energy and grace. Mag- 
 dale 1 na from brain to sole was on fire with adoration of 
 him. The words of it surged toward speech, but re 
 serve held her even then. She only clung to him 
 and breathed the passion which his touch had startled. 
 His own pulses were full, and he held her close, glad 
 that the spiritual desires had caught and embraced 
 the human, and that their chances for happiness were 
 all that he could wish and a good deal more than he 
 deserved. 
 
 XXX 
 
 " LOOK ! " whispered Magdaldna. 
 
 They had reached the steps of the verandah, and 
 were about to mount when she laid her hand on his 
 arm. Mr. Polk stood by one of the windows. His 
 head was thrust forward. He was staring into the 
 room with hungry eyes and twitching jaw. The light 
 was full on his white face. In the room Tiny was 
 standing on a chair fanning Alan Rush. Fort was 
 commanding Ila to pick up his handkerchief. The 
 others were laughing and applauding. Lee and Coralie 
 in their obscure corner were wide-eyed with excite 
 ment, and happy. Mr. Folk's chest heaved spasmodi 
 cally. He screwed up his eyes. His face grinned. 
 He looked like a man on the rack. He opened his
 
 The Californians 179 
 
 eyes and glared about ; but he saw nothing, for they 
 were blind with tears. He turned and fled. 
 
 Magdale'na clung to Trennahan, shaking. "Take 
 me home," she said. " I cannot stand any more 
 to-night."
 
 BOOK II
 
 BOOK II 
 
 HELENA was back. 
 
 Magdalna sat amidst iridescent billows of ball 
 gowns, dinner-gowns, tea-gowns, ne'glige's, demi-toilettes, 
 calling- frocks, street-frocks, yachting-frocks, summer- 
 frocks. She had never seen so many clothes outside 
 of a dry-goods shop, and marvelled that any one 
 woman should want so many. They were on the bed, 
 the chairs, the tables, the divan. Two mammoth 
 trunks were but half unpacked. Others, empty, made 
 the hall impassable. 
 
 " I love dress," said Helena, superfluously. " And 
 women forgive your beauty and brains so much more 
 willingly if you divert their attention by the one thing 
 their soul can admire without bitterness." 
 
 "You have not grown cynical, Helena? " asked Mag- 
 datena, anxiously. 
 
 " A little. It 's a phase of extreme youth which must 
 run its course with the down on the peach. I fought 
 against it because I want to be original, but you might 
 as well fight against a desire to sing at the top of your 
 voice when you are happy. But, you darling ! I 'm 
 so glad to see you again."
 
 184 The Californians 
 
 She flung herself on her knees beside Magdatena 
 and demanded to be kissed. MagdaMna, who could 
 hardly realise that she was back, and whose loves were 
 as fixed as the roots of the redwoods, gave her a great 
 hug. 
 
 " Tell me, 'Le"na, am I improved ? Am I beautiful ? 
 Am I a great beauty? " 
 
 "You are the most beautiful person I have ever 
 seen. Of course I have not seen the gr^at beauties of 
 Europe " 
 
 " They are not a patch to ours. When I was pre 
 sented, there were eight professionals standing round, 
 and I walked away from the lot of them. Am I more 
 beautiful than Tiny, or Ila, or Caro, or Mrs. Wash 
 ington?" 
 
 " Oh, yes ! yes ! " 
 
 " How? They are really very beautiful." 
 
 "I know; but you are you know I never could 
 express myself." 
 
 "I am Helena Belmont," replied that young woman, 
 serenely. " Besides, I 've got the will to be beautiful 
 as well as the outside. Tiny has n't. I have real au 
 dacity, and Ila only a make-believe. Caro shows her 
 cards every time she rolls her eyes, and Mrs. Washing 
 ton never had a particle of dash. I 'm going to be the 
 belle. I 'm going to turn the head of every man in 
 San Francisco." 
 
 " I 'm afraid you will, Helena." 
 
 " Afraid ? You know you want me to. It would n't be 
 half such fun if you were n't approving and applauding."
 
 The Californians 185 
 
 " I don't want you to hurt anybody." 
 
 "Hurt?" Helena opened her dark-blue pellucid 
 eyes. " The idea of bothering about a trifle like that. 
 Men expect to get a scratch or two for the privilege 
 of knowing us. It will be something for a man to re 
 member for the rest of his life that I 've ' hurt ' him." 
 
 " I am afraid you 're a spoilt beauty already, 
 Helena." 
 
 " I 've got the world at my feet. That 's a lovely 
 sensation. You can't think it "s a wonderful sen 
 sation." 
 
 " I can imagine it." Magdal^na spoke without 
 bitterness. Helena realised all her old ambitions but 
 one, but she was too happy for envy. 
 
 " Describe Mr. Trennahan all over again." 
 
 " I am such a bad hand at describing." 
 
 " Well, never mind. Fancy your being engaged ! 
 Tell me everything. How did you feel the first mo 
 ment you met him ? When did you find yourself going? 
 It must be such a jolly sensation to be in love for a 
 week or so. Now ! Tell me all." 
 
 " I 'd rather not, Helena. I love you better than 
 anyone besides, but I am not the kind that can talk " 
 
 " Well, perhaps I could n't talk about it, myself, but 
 I think I could. I can't imagine not talking about 
 anything. But of course you are the same old 'Le'na. 
 Will you let me read his letters? " 
 
 " Oh, no ! no ! " 
 
 " I '11 show you every letter I get. I never could 
 be so stingy."
 
 1 86 The Californians 
 
 "I could not do that. I should feel as if I had 
 lost something." 
 
 " You were always so romantic. There never was any 
 romance about me. Poor Mr. Trennahan will have 
 something to do to live up to you. An altitude of 
 eleven thousand feet is trying to most masculine con 
 stitutions. But I suppose he likes the variety of it, 
 after twenty years of society girls. Well, let him 
 rest." 
 
 A door shut heavily in the hall below. Helena 
 sprang to her feet. 
 
 "There's papa. I must go down. I never leave 
 him a minute alone if I can help it. That 's my only 
 crumpled rose-leaf, he is so pale and seems so de 
 pressed at times. You know how jolly and dashing he 
 used to be. He has n't a thing to worry him, and I 
 can't think what is the matter. I beg him to tell me, 
 but he says a man at his age can't expect to be well 
 all the time. I can always amuse him, and I like to 
 be with him all I can. He 's such a darling ! He 'd 
 build me a house of gold if I asked for it." 
 
 II 
 
 WHEN Magdatena returned home she spread her new 
 garments on the bed and regarded them with much 
 satisfaction. Helena had expended no less thought on 
 these than on her own, and none whatever on the 
 meagreness of Don Roberto's check. There was a
 
 The Callfornians 187 
 
 brown tweed with a dash of scarlet, a calling-frock of 
 fawn-coloured camel's hair and silk, a dinner-gown 
 of pale blue with bunches of scarlet poppies, and a 
 miraculous coming-out gown of ivory gauze, the deep 
 est shade that could be called white. And besides 
 two charming hats there was a large box of presents : 
 fans, silk stockings, gloves, handkerchiefs, and soft in 
 describable things for the house toilette. And her 
 trousseau was also to come from Paris ! Don Roberto, 
 in his delight at having secured Trennahan, had in 
 formed his daughter that she should have a trousseau 
 fit for a princess ; or, on second thoughts, for a Yorba. 
 
 Magdale*na opened a drawer and took out another 
 of Helena's presents, a jewelled dagger. While 
 Colonel Belmont and his daughter were in Madrid 
 there was a sale of a spendthrift noble's treasures. 
 They had gone to see the famous collection, and 
 among other things the dagger was shown them. 
 
 " It belonged to a lady of the great house of Yorba," 
 they were told. " She always wore it in her hair, and all 
 men worshipped her. The old women said it was the 
 dagger that made men love her, that it was bewitched ; 
 there were other women as beautiful. But men died 
 for this one and no other. One day she lost the dag 
 ger, and after that men loved her no longer. They ran 
 and threw themselves at the feet of the women that 
 had hated her. She laughed in scorn and said that 
 she wanted no such love, and that when one returned 
 
 he had gone as Ambassador to the Court of France 
 
 he would show the world that his love did not
 
 1 88 The Californians 
 
 skulk in the hilt of a dagger. People marvelled at 
 this because she had flouted her very skirts in his face, 
 had not thrown him so much as the humblest flower 
 of hope. When they heard he was coming, they held 
 their breath to see if the magnet had been in the dag 
 ger for him too. He arrived in the night, and in the 
 morning she was found in her bed with the dagger to 
 the hilt in her heart. They accused him, and he 
 would not say yes or no, but they could prove nothing 
 and let him go. And when he died the dagger was 
 found among his possessions. No one could ever say 
 how he got it. But it has remained in his family until 
 to-day and now it goes where?" 
 
 "ToaYorba!" announced Helena to Magdatena, 
 as she repeated this yarn. " I made up my mind to 
 that, double quick ! It may or may not be true, and 
 she may or may not have been your ancestress ; but it 
 would make a jolly present all the same, so I ordered 
 papa to buy it if all Madrid bid against him. Of 
 course he did what I told him, and I want you to 
 wear it the night of the party." 
 
 Magdatena regarded it with great awe. She was by 
 no means without superstition. Would it bring men 
 to her feet? Not that she wanted them now, but she 
 would like one evening of intoxicating success, just for 
 the sake of her old ambitions : they had been little 
 less than entities at one time ; for old friendship's sake 
 she would like to give them their due. She did wish 
 that she felt a thrill as she touched it, a vibration of 
 the attenuated thread which connected one of her soul's
 
 The Californians 189 
 
 particles with that other soul which, perhaps, had con 
 tributed its quota to her making. But she felt nothing, 
 and replaced the dagger with some chagrin. 
 
 She put away the clothes and sat down before the 
 fire to think of Trennahan. He had gone East at the 
 summons of his mother, who had invested a large sum 
 of money unwisely, a habit she had. He might be 
 detained some weeks. Magdale"na, on the whole, was 
 glad to have him gone for a while. She wanted to 
 think about him undisturbed, and she wanted to get 
 used to Helena and her exactions while his demands 
 were abstract : she loved so hard that she must rub 
 the edge off her delight in having Helena again, or the 
 two would tear her in twain. 
 
 She found the sadness of missing him very pleasur 
 able, feeling sure of his return ; also the painful thrill 
 every morning when the postman knocked. And to 
 sit in retrospect of the summer was delicious. There 
 may have been flaws in its present ; there were none 
 in its past. Her ambition to write was dormant. A 
 woman's brain in love is like a garden planted with 
 one flower. There may be room for a weed or two, 
 but for none other of the floral kingdom. 
 
 Trennahan had given her more than one glimpse of 
 his past, and it had appalled without horrifying or re 
 pulsing her. Her sympathy had been swift and un 
 erring. She realised that Trennahan had come to 
 California at a critical point in his moral life, and that 
 his complete regeneration depended on his future hap 
 piness. He had pointed this out as a weakness, but
 
 The Californians 
 
 the fact was all that concerned her. Whatever mists 
 there might be between her perceptions and the great 
 abstractions of life, love had sharpened all that love 
 demanded and pointed them straight at all in Tren- 
 nahan that he wished her to know. She was awed by 
 the tremendous responsibility, but confident that she 
 was equal to it ; for did she not love him wholly, and 
 had he not chosen her, by the light of his great expe 
 rience, out of all women? She would walk barefooted 
 on Arctic snows or accept any other ordeal that came 
 her way, but she would make him happy. 
 
 Suddenly she remembered that she had received a 
 brief dictated note from her aunt that morning, asking 
 her to pack and send to Santa Barbara a painting of 
 the Virgin which hung in her old apartments : she 
 wished to present it to the Mission. Mr. Polk had 
 closed his house a year before and taken up his 
 permanent abode with the Yorbas, but his Chinese 
 major-domo was in charge. Magdalena reflected that 
 it was not necessary to bother her uncle, who had 
 seemed ill and restless of late ; the Chinaman could 
 attend to the matter. 
 
 She went downstairs and through the gardens to 
 the adjoining house. The weeds grew high behind it ; 
 the windows were dusty ; the side door at which she 
 rang needed painting. The Chinaman answered in 
 his own good time. He looked a little sodden ; doubt 
 less he employed much of his large leisure with the 
 opium pipe. Magdalena bade him follow her to her 
 aunt's apartments. As she ascended the imposing
 
 The Californians 191 
 
 staircase she withdrew her hand hastily from the 
 banister. 
 
 "Why do you not keep things clean?" she asked 
 disgustedly. 
 
 "Whattee difflence? Nobody come," he replied 
 with the philosophy of his kind. 
 
 The very air was musty and dusty. The black walnut 
 doors, closed and locked, looked like the sealed en 
 trances to so many vaults. The sound of a rat gnaw 
 ing echoed through the hollow house. It seemed 
 what it was, this house, the sarcophagus of a beau 
 tiful woman's youth and hopes. 
 
 For a year or two after the house was built Mrs. 
 Polk had given magnificent entertainments, scattering 
 her husband's dollars in a manner that made his thin 
 nostrils twitch, and without the formality of his consent. 
 Magdalna paused at a bend of the stair and tried to 
 conjure up a brilliant throng in the dark hall below, 
 the great doors of the parlours rolled back, the rooms 
 flooded with the soft light of many candles ; her aunt, 
 long, willowy, of matchless grace, her marvellous eyes 
 shooting scorn at the Americans crowding about her, 
 standing against the gold-coloured walls in the blood- 
 red satin she had shown once to her small admirers. 
 But the vision would not rise. There was only a black 
 well below, a rat crunching above. 
 
 She reached the door of her aunt's private apart 
 ments on the second floor and entered. She stepped 
 back amazed. There was no dust here, no musty air, 
 no dimness of window. A fire burned on the hearth.
 
 192 
 
 The Californians 
 
 The gas was lit and softly shaded. The vases on the 
 mantel were full of flowers. On one table was a 
 basket of fruit; on another were the illustrated 
 periodicals. 
 
 " Mrs. Polk is here? " she said to Ah Sin. 
 
 " No, missee." 
 
 " She is expected, then? How odd " 
 
 "Donno, missee. Evey day, plenty days, one, two, 
 thlee weeks, me fixee rooms all same this." 
 
 "But why?" 
 
 " Kin sabbee, missee. Mr. Polk tellee me, and me 
 do allee same whattee he say." 
 
 Magdatena's lips parted, and her breath came short. 
 
 She gave the necessary instructions about the pic 
 ture. The Chinaman followed her down the stairs and 
 opened the door. As she was passing out, she turned 
 suddenly and said to him, 
 
 " It is not necessary to tell Mr. Polk about this, 
 nor that I have been here. He does not like to be 
 bothered about little things." 
 
 " Allight, missee." 
 
 Ill 
 
 THE night of Mrs. Yorba's long-heralded ball had 
 arrived at last. For weeks Society had been keenly 
 expectant, for its greatest heiress and its three most 
 beautiful girls were to come forth from the seclusion 
 in which they were supposed to have been cultivating
 
 The Californians 193 
 
 their minds, into the great world of balls, musicales, and 
 teas, where their success would be in inverse ratio 
 to their erudition. 
 
 Rose and Caro had arrived the winter before, and 
 were no longer "buds;" but Magdale"na, Helena, 
 Tiny, and Ila were hardly known by sight outside the 
 Menlo Park set. Magdale"na had never hung over the 
 banisters at her mother's, parties. The others had 
 been abroad so long that the most exaggerated stories 
 of their charms prevailed. 
 
 The old beaux knotted their white ties with trem 
 bling fingers and thought of the city's wild young days 
 when Nina Randolph, Guadalupe Hathaway, Mrs. 
 Hunt Maclean, two of the " Three Macs," and the 
 sinuous wife of Don Pedro Earle had set their pulses 
 humming. They were lonely old bachelors, many of 
 them, living at the Union or the Pacific Club, and 
 they sighed as the memories rose. That was a day 
 when every other woman in society was a great 
 beauty, and as full of fascination as a fig of seeds. 
 To-day beautiful women in San Francisco's aristocracy 
 were rare. In Kearney Street, on a Saturday after 
 noon, one could hardly walk for the pretty painted 
 shop-girls; and in that second stratum which was 
 led by the wife of a Bonanza king who had been 
 pronounced quite impossible by Mrs. Yorba and other 
 dames of the ancient aristocracy, there were many 
 stunningly handsome girls. They could be met at 
 the fashionable summer resorts ; they were effulgent 
 on first nights ; they were familiar in Kearney Street 
 
 '3
 
 1 94 The Californians 
 
 on other afternoons than Saturday, and their little 
 world was gay in its way ; but Society, that exclusive 
 body which owned its inchoation and later its vitality 
 and coherence to that brilliant and elegant little band 
 of women who came, capable and experienced, to the 
 fevered ragged city of the early Fifties, still struggled 
 in the Eighties to preserve its traditions, and did not 
 admit the existence of these people ; feminine curi 
 osity was not even roused to the point of discussion. 
 One day Mrs. Washington met one of the old beaux, 
 Ben Sansome by name, on the summit of California 
 Street hill, which commands one of the finest views 
 of a city swarming over an hundred hills. 
 
 Mrs. Washington waved her hand at the large 
 region known as South San Francisco. 
 
 " I suppose," she said thoughtfully, " that there are 
 a lot of people in San Francisco whose names we have 
 never heard." 
 
 " I suppose so ! " he exclaimed. 
 
 " I wonder what they are like? How many people 
 are there in San Francisco, anyhow?" 
 
 " About three hundred thousand." 
 
 "Really? really?" and Mrs. Washington shrugged 
 her pretty shoulders and dismissed the subject from 
 her mind. 
 
 Would these new beauties compare with that galaxy 
 of long ago? was the thought that danced between 
 Ben Sansome's faded eyes and his mirror. Three to 
 burst forth in a night ! That was unwonted measure. 
 Of late years one in three seasons had inspired fervent
 
 The Californians 
 
 gratitude. Nelly Washington had been unchallenged 
 for ten years; Caro Folsom was second-rate beside 
 her; and Rose Geary, the favourite of last winter, 
 although piquant and pretty, had not a pretension 
 to beauty. Like the other old beaux, he went only 
 to the balls and dinners of the old-timers, never 
 to the dances and musicales of the youngsters, but 
 he kept a sharp look-out, nevertheless. To-night as 
 sumed the proportions of an event in his life. 
 
 Several of the young men had met two of these 
 beauties during the summer, but Helena was still to be 
 experienced. The young hands did not tremble, but 
 their eyes were very bright as they wondered if they 
 were " in for it," if they would " get it in the neck," if 
 she were really " a little tin goddess on wheels." 
 Even Rollins, who was madly enamoured of Tiny, and 
 Fort, who had carefully calculated his chances with Rose, 
 were big with curiosity. The former, who had known 
 Helena from childhood, had been refused admittance 
 to the Belmont mansion : Helena had a very distinct 
 intention of making a sensation upon her first appear 
 ance in San Francisco ; and as all were fish that came 
 to her net, even Rollins must be dazzled with the rest. 
 
 Magdalena's engagement was a closely guarded 
 secret, and more than one hardy youth had made 
 up his mind to storm straight through her intellect 
 to her millions ; but even these thought only of 
 Helena as they dressed for the ball. 
 
 Meanwhile the girls were thinking more of their 
 toilettes than of the men who would admire them,
 
 196 The Californians 
 
 All were to wear white, but each gown had been made 
 at a different Paris house, that there should be no mo 
 notony of touch and cut, and each was of different 
 shade and material : Magdatena's of ivory gauze, Tiny's 
 of pearl-white silk, Ila's of cream-white embroidered 
 mousseline de soie, Helena's of pure white tulle. 
 
 What little of Magdatena's neck the gown exposed, 
 she concealed with a broad band of cherry-coloured 
 velvet, and a deep necklace of Turkish coins, a gift 
 from Ila. She revolved before the mirror several 
 times in succession after the maid had left the room. 
 She was laced so tightly that she could scarcely 
 breathe, but she rejoiced in her likeness to a French 
 fashion-plate, and vowed never to wear a home-made 
 gown again. In her hair was a string of pearls that 
 Trennahan had given her; and the dagger. Would 
 it work the spell ? 
 
 She gave a final shake to her skirts and went down 
 stairs. 
 
 There was no lack of gas to-night ; the lower part 
 of the house was one merciless glare. No flowers 
 graced the square ugly rooms, no decorations of any 
 sort; but the parlours were canvased, the best band 
 in town was tuning up, and the supper would be 
 irreproachable. The dark-brown paper of the hall 
 looked very old and dingy, the carpet was threadbare 
 in places, the big teakwood tables were in every 
 body's way and looked as if they were meant for 
 the dead to rest on ; but when gay gowns were bil 
 lowing one would not notice these things.
 
 The Californians 197 
 
 Mrs. Yorba was in the green reception-room at the 
 end of the hall. She wore black velvet and a few 
 diamonds, and looked impressively null. Tiny and 
 Ila arrived almost immediately. They looked, the 
 one an angel with a sense of humour, the other 
 Circean with an eye to the conventions, both as 
 smart as Paris could make them. It was nearly ten 
 o'clock, and there was a rush just after. 
 
 Magdalna waited a half-hour for Helena, then 
 opened the ball in a brief waltz with Alan Rush 
 instead of the quadrille in which the four debutantes 
 were to dance. She sent a message to Helena, and 
 Mrs. Cartright scribbled back that the poor dear 
 child had altered the trimming on her bodice at the 
 last moment, and would not be ready for an hour 
 yet. Caro took her place in the quadrille, as she 
 also wore white. 
 
 The ball promised to be a success. There were 
 more young people than was usual at Mrs. Yorba's 
 parties, and more men than girls. They danced and 
 chatted with untiring energy, and between the dances 
 they flirted on the stairs and in every possible nook 
 and corner. Magdalna frolicked little, having her 
 guests to look after; but whenever she rested for a 
 moment there was an obsequious backbone before 
 her. Tiny and Ila were besieged for dances, and 
 divided each. 
 
 The older women sat against the wall, a dado of 
 fat and diamonds, and indulged in much caustic 
 criticism.
 
 198 The Californians 
 
 The old beaux stood in a group and exchanged 
 opinions on the relative pretensions of the old and 
 the new. 
 
 "Take it all in all, not to compare," said Ben 
 Sansome. "Miss Montgomery is excessively pretty, 
 but no figure and no style. Miss Brannan looks like 
 a Parisian cocotte. Miss Folsom has eyes, but nothing 
 else and when you think of 'Lupie Hathaway's eyes ! 
 And not one has the beginnings of the polished charm 
 of manner, the fire of glance, the je ne sais quoi of 
 Mrs. Hunt Maclean. Just look at her in her silver 
 brocade, her white hair a la marquise. She 's hand 
 somer than the whole lot of them " 
 
 At that moment Helena entered the room. 
 
 The white tulle gown, made with a half-dozen 
 skirts, floated about her so lightly that she seemed 
 rising from, suspended above it. Even beside her 
 father she looked tall ; and her neck and arms, the 
 rise of her girlish bust, were more dazzlingly white 
 than the diaphanous substance about her. Her 
 haughty little head was set well back on a full firm 
 throat, not too long. Her cheeks were touched with 
 pink; her lips were full of it. Her long lashes and 
 low straight brows were many shades darker than 
 the unruly mane of glittering coppery hair. And she 
 carried herself with a swing, with an imperious pride, 
 with a nonchalant command of immediate and unmeas 
 ured admiration which sent every maiden's heart down 
 with a drop and every man's pulses jumping. 
 
 " I give in ! " gasped Ben Sansome. " We never
 
 The Californians 199 
 
 had anything like that never ! Gad ! the girl 's got 
 everything. It 's almost unfair." 
 
 Alan Rush turned white, but he did not lose his 
 presence of mind. He asked Don Roberto to present 
 him at once, and secured the next dance. It was 
 a waltz; and as the admirably mated couple floated 
 down the room, many others paused to watch them. 
 Helena's limpid eyes, raised to the eager ones 
 above her, did all the execution of which they were 
 capable. During the next entre-dance she was 
 mobbed. Twenty men pressed about her, introduced 
 by Don Roberto and Rollins, until she finally com 
 manded them to " go away and give her air," then 
 walked off with Eugene Fort, finishing his first epigram 
 and mocking at his second. He had only a fourth of 
 the next dance ; but as Helena had refused to permit 
 her admirers to write their names on her card, and as 
 she was at no pains to remember which fourth was 
 whose, giving her scraps to the first comer, Rush and 
 Fort, who had had the forethought not to pre-engage 
 themselves, and were constantly in her wake, secured 
 more than their share. But the other men had time 
 and energy to fight for their own: Helena was con 
 stantly stopped in the middle of the room with a firm 
 demand that she should keep her word. Between the 
 dances the men crowded about her, eager for a glance, 
 and at supper the small table before her looked like 
 an offering at a Chinese funeral. 
 
 "Well," exclaimed Mrs. Washington, "I always 
 said that no girl could be a belle in this town nowa-
 
 2OO The Californians 
 
 days, that the men did n't have gumption enough ; 
 but I reckon it 's because the rest of us have n't come 
 up to the mark. This looks like the stories they tell 
 of old times." 
 
 " It makes me think of old times," said Mr. San- 
 some. " Makes me feel young again ; or older than 
 ever. I can't decide which." 
 
 Tiny took her eclipse with unruffled philosophy, 
 and divided her smiles between two or three faith 
 ful suppliants. Ila had a very high colour, and 
 her primal fascination was less reserved than usual. 
 Rose admired Helena too extravagantly for jealousy, 
 and what Caro felt no man ever knew. 
 
 Colonel Belmont renewed his acquaintance with 
 many of the women of his youth, long neglected, 
 although he had loved more than one of them in his 
 day. They filled his ears with praises of his beautiful 
 daughter. Helena's beauty was of that rare order 
 which compels the willing admiration of her own sex : 
 it was not only indisputable, but it warmed and irra 
 diated. When Colonel Belmont was not talking, he 
 stood against the wall and followed her with adoring 
 eyes. If she had been a failure admitting the possi 
 bility his disappointment would have been far keener 
 than hers. 
 
 " You 've cause to be proud, as proud as Lucifer," 
 said Mr. Polk to him. " But you ain't looking well, 
 Jack. What 's the matter? " 
 
 "I'm well enough. I shall live long enough to give 
 her to someone who 's good enough for her, and that 's
 
 The Californians 201 
 
 all I care about although I 'm in no hurry for that, 
 either. But I 'm not feeling right smart, Hi ; I don't 
 just know what's the matter." 
 
 " We 're both getting old. I feel like a worked-out 
 old cart-horse. But you Ve got ten years the best of 
 me, and I '11 tell you what 's the matter with you : you 
 can't switch off drink at your age after being two 
 thirds full for twenty-five years. We all need whiskey 
 as we grow older, and the more we Ve had, the more 
 we need. I 'd advise you to take it up again in 
 moderation." 
 
 " Not if it 's the death of me ! It 's nothing or every 
 thing with me. The first cocktail, and I 'd be off on a 
 jamboree. Then she 'd know, and I 'd blow out my 
 brains with the shame of it. She thinks I 'm the finest 
 fellow in the world now, and so she shall if I suffer the 
 tortures of the damned." 
 
 " Well, I guess you 're right. The young fellows talk 
 about dying for the girls, but I guess we "re the ones 
 that would do that for our own if it came to the 
 scratch." 
 
 " It 's too bad you have none," said Colonel Belmont, 
 with the sympathy of his own full measure. And then, 
 although Mr. Folk's iron features did not move, he 
 looked away hastily. 
 
 " I guess I did n't deserve any," Mr. Polk answered 
 harshly. " I don't know that you did, for that matter, 
 but I certainly did n't. Look at Don cavorting round 
 with those girls," he added viciously. " It 's positively 
 sickening."
 
 2O2 The Californians 
 
 " Not a bit of it. He 's making up for what he 's 
 missed. And a little of it would do you good, old 
 fellow. You Ve never had half enough fun, and you 
 ought to take a little before it 's too late. You have n't 
 a pound of flesh on you, and are as spry as any of 
 them. Go and make yourself agreeable to the girls. 
 Even a smile from them goes a long way, I assure 
 you." 
 
 Mr. Polk shook his head. " I could n't think of a 
 thing to say to them. I did n't learn when I was 
 young." 
 
 IV 
 
 WHEN Magdal^na drew the dagger out of her hair 
 that night, she laughed a little and tossed it into her 
 handkerchief box. She had seen men carried off their 
 feet for the first time, not caring whether the world 
 laughed or not. She had also noted the exact order of 
 homage that she was to expect from men. Helena 
 infatuated. The other girls inspired admiration in 
 varying measure. Respect for her father's millions 
 was her portion. She had watched and compared all 
 the evening. It would have distressed and appalled 
 her had she made her de"but last winter. As it was, 
 it mattered little. 
 
 Occasionally there is a lively winter in San Francisco. 
 This promised to be almost brilliant. There were six 
 balls in the next two weeks. At each Helena's tri-
 
 The Californians 203 
 
 umphs were reiterated. The men waited in a solid 
 body between the front door and the staircase, and she 
 had promised, divided, and subdivided every dance 
 before she had set foot on the lowest step. It was 
 almost impossible to begin a party until her arrival. 
 Kettledrums had been inaugurated the previous win 
 ter, and hardly a man been got to them. Now the 
 men would have begged for invitations. They even 
 began to attend church ; and Helena's " evening " was 
 so crowded that she was obliged to ask five or six of her 
 girl friends to help her. Alan Rush, Eugene Fort, Carter 
 Howard, a Southerner of charming manners, infinite 
 tact, and little conversation, and " Dolly " Webster, a 
 fledgeling of enormous length and well-proportioned 
 brain, were her shadows, her serfs, her determined, 
 trembling adorers. They barely hated one another, so 
 devoured were they by the sovereign passion ; and as 
 they were treated with exasperating similitude, there 
 was nothing to set them at one another's throats. 
 
 Helena had all the gifts and arts of the supreme 
 coquette. She allured and mocked, appealed and 
 commanded ; adapted herself with the suppleness of 
 bronze to mould, with enchanting flashes of egotism ; 
 discarded all perception of man's existence in the 
 abstract, when she had surrendered her attention to 
 one, to jerk him out of his heaven by ordering him to 
 go and send her his rival ; possessed a quickness of 
 intuition which finished a man's sentences with her 
 eyes, an exquisite sympathy which made a man feel 
 that here at last he was understood (as he would wish
 
 204 The Californians 
 
 himself understood, rather than as he understood him 
 self) ; an audacity which never failed to surprise, and 
 never shocked ; a fund of talk which never wore itself 
 into platitudes, and a willing ear ; and an absolute 
 confidence in herself and her destiny. In addition she 
 had great beauty, the high light spirits of her mercurial 
 temperament, a charming and equable manner (when 
 not engaged in judiciously tormenting her slaves) , and 
 a shrewd brain. What wonder that her sovereignty was 
 something for the men who worshipped her to remem 
 ber when they too Were old beaux, and that their pres 
 ent condition was abject? The wonder was that the 
 women did not hate her; but so impulsive and un 
 affected a creature disarms her own sex, particularly 
 when her gowns are faultless, and she is not lifeless in 
 their company, to scintillate the moment a man enters 
 the room. 
 
 And they forbore to criticise the dictates of her royal 
 fancy. It is true that she deferred to no one's opinion, 
 but she escaped criticism nevertheless. If she capri 
 ciously refused to dance at a party, but sat the night 
 through with one man, not recognising the existence of 
 her lowering train, people merely smiled and shrugged 
 their shoulders, saving their scowls for those who were 
 not the fashion. Sometimes these flirtations took place 
 in the open ball-room, sometimes in the conservatory ; 
 it was all one to Helena, whose powers of concentration 
 amounted to genius. At one of the Presidio hops she 
 spent the evening it was moonlight in a boat on 
 the bay with an officer who was as accomplished a flirt
 
 The Californians 
 
 205 
 
 as herself. The appearance of Rush, Fort, Howard, 
 and Webster upon this occasion was pitiable. On her 
 evening, if she tired of her admirers before they could 
 reasonably be expected to leave, she walked out of the 
 room without excuse and went to bed. She not only 
 ran to fires when the humour seized her, but she com 
 manded her quartette to rush every time the alarm 
 sounded, that they might be at her beck in the event 
 of officious policemen. As fires are frequent in San 
 Francisco, these enamoured young men were profoundly 
 thankful when they occurred at such times as they hap 
 pened to be in their tyrant's presence : they were willing 
 to bundle into their clothes at two in the morning, or 
 to leave their duties at midday, were they sure of meet 
 ing her , but as she was as capricious about fires as 
 about everything else, their chances were as one in ten. 
 They hinted once that she might advise them of her 
 pleasure by telephone, but were peremptorily snubbed. 
 Helena never made concessions. 
 
 It was at the end of the second month that her father 
 imported a coach from New York. She had driven 
 since her baby days, and could handle four horses as 
 scientifically as one. Thereafter, one of the sights of 
 Golden Gate Park on fine afternoons was Helena on 
 the box of the huge black and yellow structure, tooling 
 a party of her delighted friends, her father beside her, 
 one of her admirers crouched at her indifferent shoul 
 der. It was the only gentleman's coach in California, 
 for in the Eighties the youth of the city had not turned 
 their wits and prowess to sport. Few of them could
 
 206 The Californians 
 
 drive with either grace or assurance, and Helena's 
 accomplishment was the more renowned. Occasionally 
 Colonel Belmont was allowed to drive, a favour which 
 he enjoyed with all the keenness of his dashing youth. 
 
 " I told you how it would be," said Ila to Rose. 
 "She is not only belle, but leader. That's the real 
 reason Caro 's gone to New York. We are nowhere. 
 I 'd turn eccentric, regularly shock people, if I had the 
 good luck to be the fashion. But I 've got to marry 
 well. When I have you '11 see." 
 
 "We can't all be raving belles," said Rose. "If 
 Helena were so much as doubled, the men would be 
 gibbering idiots. I don't care, so long as I have a good 
 time ; and I hold my own. So do you. As for Tiny, 
 she may not be mobbed, but she has one man in 
 love with her after another. As soon as poor Charley 
 Rollins got his conge 1 , Bob Payne took the vacant seat, 
 and I see a third climbing over the horizon with busi 
 ness in his eye. There can be only one sun, but 
 we 're all stars of the first magnitude." 
 
 " But we 'd each like to be the sun, all the same." 
 
 V 
 
 MAGDALNA, although much interested in Helena's 
 performances, felt at times as if dream-walking, half 
 expecting to awaken at the foot of her little altar. In 
 the days when she had prayed, full of faith, for beauty 
 and its triumphs, although ignorance had handled the
 
 The Californians 207 
 
 brush of her imagination, yet the vigorous outline 
 sketch had closely resembled all that was now the 
 portion of her friend. She pondered on the fancy 
 she had had as a child that Helena realised all her 
 own little ambitions. She certainly had realised all 
 her larger, but one. She dreaded to ask Helena if 
 she had ever cared to write, fearing to surprise a 
 confession to the authorship of the novel of the day. 
 This, she concluded, after due reflection, was exaggera 
 tion ; for if Helena had written, even without publica 
 tion, she certainly would have talked about it, reticence 
 being no vice of hers. But the suggestion might prick 
 a latent talent into action. This was just the one thing 
 Magdalna could not endure, and she decided to let 
 the talent sleep. The rest mattered little, aside from 
 the sense of failure which the vicarious accomplishment 
 of ambition must always induce ; for she had her ad 
 vantage of Helena, the greatest one woman can have 
 of another. She was happy, but Helena was only 
 satisfied for the moment ; so restless and passionate a 
 heart would not long remain content with the husks. 
 It was true that Trennahan had not gone mad over her 
 self as other men over Helena ; but what of that ? It 
 was a question of years alone. 
 
 It was now three months since he had left California. 
 He had found his mother's affairs in a serious condition, 
 but had managed to gather up the threads, and the 
 knot would be tied before long. There was no doubt 
 about his desire to return. In fact, as the time waned, 
 his ardour waxed. Sometimes Magdatena was driven
 
 2o8 The Californians 
 
 to wonder if his yearning for California or herself were 
 the greater ; but on the whole she was satisfied, for she 
 liked to accept his fancy that the two Were indissoluble. 
 He wrote delightful letters, witty and graceful, full of 
 interesting gossip, and with many personal and tender 
 pages. But the novelty of his absence had worn off 
 some time since, and she longed impatiently for his 
 return. She was caught in the whirl of social activity, 
 and was the restless Helena's constant companion; 
 nevertheless, there were lonely hours, when the future 
 with its imperious demands routed the past. 
 
 The engagement was still a profound secret ; Mag- 
 dalna had told Helena at once, but it was unguessed 
 by anyone else. Mrs. Yorba had insisted that her 
 daughter should have one brilliant girl season. The 
 truth was that she was delighted at Don Roberto's 
 sudden interest in the world of fashion, and was deter 
 mined to make the most of it. He developed, indeed, 
 into an untiring seeker after the innocent amusements 
 of his wife's exclusive kingdom, and had given a 
 fashionable tailor permission to bring his wardrobe 
 down to date ; he had hitherto worn clothes of the 
 same cut for twenty years. The girls always gave him a 
 square dance ; during the round dances he stood against 
 the wall with Mr. Polk and Colonel Belmont, and fairly 
 beamed with good-will. The Yorbas seldom spent an 
 evening at home unless their own doors were open, 
 and Don Roberto consented to two parties and several 
 large dinners. Mrs. Yorba shuddered sometimes at the 
 weakening of her inborn and long-nurtured economical
 
 The Californians 209 
 
 faculty, but thoroughly enjoyed herself forming an 
 important item of the dado and hoped that her 
 husband's enthusiasm would endure. 
 
 VI 
 
 " I 'M not a bit blase*," remarked Helena, " but I 'd 
 like to be engaged for a change not to last, of course. 
 Only I can't make up my mind which of the four ; and 
 whichever I choose the other three will be so disagree 
 able. If I could only let them know I did n't mean 
 it, at least would n't later, but that would never do, 
 because I should n't enjoy myself unless I really thought 
 I was in earnest. Besides, I have n't been able to fall 
 in love with any of them yet." 
 
 " You don't really mean what you say when you talk 
 that way, do you, Helena?" asked Magdalna, with 
 much concern. "It would be so so unprincipled; 
 and I can't bear to think that of you." 
 
 " But, 'Le'na dearest, I should be in earnest for the 
 time being; I'm just talking from the outside, as it 
 were. At the time I should think I really meant it. 
 Otherwise I 'd be bored to death, and the engagement 
 would n't last five minutes after I was. I 'm simply 
 wild to fall in love, if only to see what it 's like. You 
 won't tell me ; anyhow, I don't think that would satisfy 
 all my curiosity if you did. I wish some new man 
 would come along." 
 
 " Alan Rush is charming." 
 14
 
 aio The Californians 
 
 " He 'j too much in love with me." 
 
 " Mr. Fort keeps your wits on the jump." 
 
 " My wits are in my brain, not my heart." 
 
 "Mr. Howard?" 
 
 " He has so much tact that he has no sincerity." 
 
 " There is still Mr. Webster." 
 
 " Poor Dolly ! " 
 
 " What do you want? " 
 
 Helena was moving restlessly about her boudoir, a 
 bower of pearl-grey embroidered with wild roses, in 
 which she reclined luxuriously when free from social 
 duties, and improved her mind. A volume of Motley 
 lay on the floor. Walter Pater's " Imaginary Portraits " 
 was slipping off the divan, and there was a pile of 
 Reviews on the table. She was biting the corner of 
 a volume of Herrick. 
 
 " I have n't any ideal, if that 's what you mean. I 
 think it would have to be a man of the world, for con 
 versation so soon gives out with the men of this village. 
 Mr. Fort takes refuge in epigrams. If I married 
 became engaged to him I should feel as if I were 
 living on pickles. I think that one reason why Alan 
 Rush and Mr. Howard are so determined to make love 
 to me is because they have nothing left to talk about." 
 
 " You 've told me twice what you don't want, but 
 you don't seem to know what you do. ' A man of the 
 world ' is not very definite." 
 
 " No ; he must be capable of falling violently in love 
 with me, and at the same time not make himself ridic 
 ulous ; to keep his head except when I particularly want
 
 The Californians 21 1 
 
 him to lose it. Of course I want to inspire a grand 
 passion as well as to feel one, but I don't want to be 
 surrounded by it ; and the first time he looked ridicu 
 lous would be the last of him as far as I was concerned. 
 I might be in the highest stages of the divine passion, 
 and that would cure me." 
 
 " Well ! is that all ? Some men could not be ridicu 
 lous if they tried." 
 
 " You are thinking of Mr. Trennahan, of course. If 
 he did, I do believe you would n't see it. But I should ; 
 I have a hideous sense of the ridiculous. Well, lemme 
 see. He must have read and travelled and thought a 
 lot, so that he would know more than I, and I could 
 look up to him ; also that subjects of conversation 
 would not give out. The platitudes of love ! That 
 would be fatal." 
 
 " I don't believe they ever sound like platitudes." 
 
 " Hm ! I won't undertake to discuss that point, 
 knowing my limitations. What next ? He must have 
 suffered. That gives a man weight, as the sculptors 
 say. My quartette will be much more interesting to 
 the next divinity than they are to me. Then of course 
 he must have charming manners and an agreeable 
 voice : I could not stand the brain of a Bismark in the 
 skull of an Apollo if he had a nasal American voice. I 
 believe that 's all. I 'm not so particular about looks, 
 so long as he 's neither small nor fat." 
 
 "And if you found all that would n't you marry 
 it?" 
 
 "N-o-o I don't know- but I'd be engaged a
 
 212 The Californians 
 
 good long time. You see I want to be a belle for 
 years and years." 
 
 " And what is to become of the poor men when you 
 are through with them?" 
 
 " Oh, they '11 get over it. I shall. Why should n't 
 they?" 
 
 "I thought you said once you wanted to marry a 
 statesman." 
 
 " Sometimes I do, and sometimes I don't. I '11 con 
 sider that question ten years hence. I want to be a 
 perfectly famous belle first." 
 
 "You are that already." 
 
 " Oh, I must have a season in New York, and another 
 in Washington, and another in London. The gods 
 have given me all the gifts, and I intend to make the 
 most of them. Now let's read a chapter of Motley 
 out loud, and if I jump off to other things you jerk me 
 back. Let 's finish Pater, though. It 's like lying 
 under a cascade of bubbles on a hot summer's day. 
 My brains are addled between trying to be well read 
 and trying to keep four men from proposing. You read 
 aloud, and I '11 brush my hair. No, I '11 embroider 
 on papa's mouchoir case ; I Ve been at it for thirteen 
 months. Oh, by the bye, I did n't tell you that I had a 
 brilliant idea. It darted into my head just as I was 
 dropping off last night. I forgot to speak about it to 
 papa this morning, but I will to-night. It 's this : I 'm 
 going to give a ball at Del Monte. Take everybody 
 down on a special train. Don't you think it will be a 
 change? The spring has come so early that we can
 
 The Californians 213 
 
 have the grounds lit up with Chinese lanterns; and 
 there may be some Eastern men there. There often 
 are. So much the better for my ball and me. Now 
 read." 
 
 VII 
 
 TRENNAHAN arrived late in the evening, and went 
 directly to the Yorbas* to dinner. He saw Magdale"na 
 alone for a moment before the others came downstairs, 
 and his delight at meeting her again was so boyish 
 that she could hardly have recalled his eventful forty 
 years had she tried. He was one of those men, who, 
 having a great deal of nervous energy, are possessed 
 briefly by the high animal spirits of youth when in 
 unusual mental and physical tenor, with coincident 
 obliteration of the bills of time. Trennahan was in 
 the highest spirits this evening. He was delighted to 
 get back to California, delighted to see Magdalna, 
 whom he thought improved and almost pretty in her 
 smart frock. Moreover, no woman had ever seemed 
 to him half so sincere, half so well worth the loving, 
 as this girl who said so little and breathed so 
 much. 
 
 Don Roberto and Mr. Polk detained him some time 
 after dinner, and Magdatena, who thought them most 
 inconsiderate, awaited him in the green-and-brown 
 reception-room. She knew the ugliness of these rooms 
 now, and wondered, as Trennahan finally entered, if
 
 214 The Californians 
 
 it clashed with his sentiment. But he gave no sign, 
 He pushed a small sofa before the fire, drew her be 
 side him, and demanded the history of the past four 
 months. He held her hand and looked at her with 
 boyish delight. Even the lines had left his face for 
 the moment, the grimness his mouth. He looked 
 twenty-six. 
 
 " Your trip has done you more good than California 
 did. You never looked so well here." 
 
 " I have been funereal since the day I left. This is 
 pure reaction. I never felt so happy in my life. 
 Could n't we have a walk or ride somewhere to-morrow 
 early out to the Presidio? I want to be in the open 
 air with you." 
 
 " I am afraid we could n't. Nobody does such 
 things, you know except Helena. Someone would 
 be sure to see us, and it would be all over town before 
 night. Then we should have to announce I 'd 
 rather not do that until just before I should hate 
 being discussed." 
 
 " Well, but I must have you to myself in my own 
 way. I wonder if your mother would bring you down 
 to my house for a few days. Don Roberto and Mr. 
 Polk could come down every evening." 
 
 " I think they would like it." 
 
 "And you?" 
 
 " Oh, I should like it. The woods must be lovely 
 in winter." 
 
 "Who has been teaching you coquetry? Who has 
 fallen in love with you since I left?"
 
 The Californians 215 
 
 " With me ? No one. No one would ever think of 
 such a thing but you " 
 
 " I love you with an unerring instinct." 
 
 " They are all in love with Helena. I suppose you 
 heard of her in New York." 
 
 " It certainly was not your fault if I did not." 
 
 " But surely you must have heard otherwise. She is 
 a great, great belle." 
 
 " My dearest girl, you do not hear California men 
 tioned in New York once a month. It might be on 
 Mars. The East remembers California's existence 
 about as often as Europe remembers America's. They 
 don't know what they miss. When am I to see your 
 Helena?" 
 
 "A week from to-night; she gives a ball then at 
 Del Monte. She and her father have already gone, 
 because each thought the other needed rest." 
 
 "Monterey, that is the scene of your Ysabel's 
 tragedy. We will explore the old part of the town 
 together." 
 
 She moved closer to him, her eyes glistening. 
 " That has been one of my dreams, to be there with 
 you for the first time. We can guess where they all 
 lived and go to the cemetery on the hill where so 
 many are buried and there is the Custom House on 
 the rocks, where the ball was and where Ysabel jumped 
 off it will be heaven ! " 
 
 He laughed and caught her in his arms, kissing her 
 fondly. "You dear little Spanish maid," he said. 
 "You don't belong to the present at all. No wonder
 
 216 The Californians 
 
 you bewitched me. I am beginning to feel quite out 
 of place in the present, myself. It is a novel and 
 delightful sensation." 
 
 VIII 
 
 MRS. YORBA decided that it would be wiser for them 
 all to go to Fair Oaks ; no one would know whether 
 Trennahan were their guest or not. This was her first 
 really gay winter, and could she have thought of a 
 plausible excuse she would have delayed the marriage 
 for a year or two. But both Don Roberto and Tren 
 nahan were determined that the wedding should not 
 take place later than June. 
 
 They were to spend five days at Fair Oaks. Then 
 Don Roberto, Mrs. Yorba, and Magdalena would go 
 to Monterey, Trennahan to follow on the evening 
 of the ball. 
 
 The winter woods were wet and glistening. Thick 
 in the brush were the vivid red berries and the firm 
 little snowballs. The air was of a wonderful freshness 
 and fragrance, cool on the cheek, but striking no chill 
 to the blood. The grass tips in the meadows were 
 close and green. There was no haze on the distant 
 mountains : the redwoods stood out sharply ; one could 
 almost see the sun baldes crossing in their gloomy 
 aisles. Close to the ground was a low, restless, con 
 tinuous mutter, the voluntary of Spring. 
 
 Trennahan and Magdalena rode or strolled in the
 
 The Californians 217 
 
 woods during most of the hours of light. They could 
 not sit on the damp ground, but they swung hammocks 
 by the path-side to sit in when tired. Trennahan would 
 have slept on the verandah had not his enthusiasm for 
 outdoor delights been controlled by his matter-of-fact 
 brain, but he grudged the hours at table, and persuaded 
 Magdalna to go early to bed that she might rise and 
 go forth at five in the evening of night. After four 
 months of snow and nipping winds and furnace heat, 
 small wonder that he was as happy as a boy out of 
 school, and that he made Magdalena the most wonder- 
 ingly happy of women. He did little love-making ; he 
 treated her more as a comrade upon whose constant 
 companionship he was dependent for happiness, his 
 other part, with which he was far better satisfied than 
 with the original measure. 
 
 " We will camp out up there during all of July and 
 August," he said to her one morning, as they stood on 
 the edge of the woods and watched the rising sun pick 
 out the redwoods one by one from the black mass on 
 the mountain. " I can't imagine a more enchanting 
 place for a honeymoon than a redwood forest. We '11 
 take a servant, and a lot of books ; but I doubt if we 
 shall read much, we '11 shoot and fish all day. If 
 we like it as much as I am sure we shall, we '11 
 build a house there. Do you think you should like 
 it?" 
 
 " Oh, I should ! I should ! " 
 
 " You are so sympathetic in your own particular way ; 
 not temperamentally so, which is pleasant but means
 
 2i 8 The Californlans 
 
 little, but with a slow, sure understanding which goes 
 forth to few people, but is unerring and permanent." 
 " I love no one but you and Helena. I have never 
 cared to understand anyone else." 
 
 "We all have great weaknesses in us. I wonder 
 
 if mine were ever revealed to you which God forbid ! 
 
 if you have sympathy enough to cover those, too." 
 
 " I am sure that I have. I am neither quick nor 
 
 generally affectionate, but I do nothing by halves." 
 
 " I believe you. You are the one person on whose 
 mercy I would throw myself. However, it is a long 
 time since we have spoken of another subject. Do 
 you think no further of writing?" 
 
 " I have n't lately. There has been no time. Some 
 day Oh, yes, I think I should never wholly give it 
 up. Should should you object ? " 
 
 " Not in the least. But I am afraid I sha'n't give 
 you much time, either. What were you writing, 
 your Old-California tales?" 
 
 " No, an an historical novel English." 
 " Of course ! And with fresh and fascinating material 
 begging for its turn. I arrived in the nick of time. 
 When you have transcribed those stories into cor 
 rect and distinguished English, you will have taken 
 your place among the immortals. But style alone will 
 give you a place in letters worth having. Always re 
 member that. The theme determines popular success, 
 the manner rank. Don't misunderstand me ; there is 
 no greater fraud or bore than the writer who has ac 
 quired the art of saying nothing brilliantly. You must
 
 I 
 
 The Californians 219 
 
 have both. And you are too ambitious, too intellectual, 
 as distinguished from clever, too serious and logical, to 
 be contented with anything short of perfection. I 
 shall be your severest critic; but you yourself will 
 work for years before you produce a line with which 
 you are wholly satisfied. Is not this true? " 
 " Yes ; I should always be my severest critic." 
 He drew a long breath of relief. He had no desire 
 for a literary wife ; nor to be known as the husband 
 of one. Magdale"na should be as happy as he could 
 make her, but the sooner she realised that genius was 
 not her portion, the better. 
 
 IX 
 
 " NEVER I think I come to Monterey again," said Don 
 Roberto, as the 'bus which contained his party only 
 drove from the little toy station to the big toy hotel. 
 " Once I hate all the Spanish towns, because so extrava 
 gant I am before that I feel 'fraid, si I return, I am all 
 the same like then ; but now I am old and the habits 
 fixit ; and now I know my moneys go to be safe with 
 Trennahan, I feel more easy in the mind and can enjoy. 
 But I no go to the town, for all is change, I suppose : 
 all the womens grown old and poor, and all the mens 
 dead by the drink, generalmente. Very fortunate I 
 am I no stay there ; meeting Eeram in time. Ay, yi ! 
 What kind de house is this ? Look like paper, and the 
 grounds so artifeecial. No like much."
 
 220 The Californians 
 
 Magdal^na hardly knew her father these last months. 
 From the day that he found a reminiscent pleasure in 
 the mild diversions of Menlo he had visibly softened. 
 From the day he was assured of Trennahan he had 
 become almost expansive, and at times was moved to 
 generosity. Upon one occasion he had doubled Mag- 
 daldna's allowance, and at Christmas he had given her 
 a hundred dollars ; and he had paid the bills of the 
 season without a murmur. The fear which had haunted 
 him during the last thirty years, that he should sud 
 denly relapse into his native extravagance and squan 
 der his patrimony and his accumulated millions, dying as 
 the companions of his youth had died, he dismissed 
 after he met Trennahan. Polk had been the iron mine 
 to the voracious magnet in his character. In the natu 
 ral course of things Polk would outlive him ; but the 
 possibility of Folk's extermination by railroad accident 
 or small-pox had been a second devil of torment, and 
 during the past year he had visibly failed. Now, how 
 ever, there was Trennahan to take his place. Don 
 Roberto would enjoy life once more, a second youth. 
 He was almost happy. If he felt his will rotting, he 
 would transfer all his vast interests to Trennahan in 
 trust for his wife and daughter, retaining a large in 
 come. He did not believe, at this optimistic period, 
 that there was any real danger, after an inflexible resist 
 ance of thirty years ; but he also realised for the first 
 time what the strain of those thirty years had been. 
 
 Helena, dazzlingly fair in a frock of forest green, 
 and surrounded by five new admirers, three Eastern
 
 The Californians 221 
 
 and two English tourists, awaited Magdale"na on the 
 verandah. The strangers gave Magdatena a faint 
 shock : being the only well-dressed men she had ever 
 seen except Trennahan, they assumed a family likeness 
 to him, and seemed to steal something of his pre 
 eminence among men. She commented distantly on 
 this fact as she went up the stair with Helena. 
 
 " Oh, your little tin god on wheels is not the only 
 one," replied Helena, the astute. " There are five 
 here with possibilities besides dress, and more coming 
 to-morrow. They are such a relief! If I feel real 
 wicked to-morrow night well, never mind ! " 
 
 " Helena ! You will not make those four young 
 men any more miserable than they are now?" 
 
 Helena shook her head. She was looking very 
 naughty. " Four months, my dear ! I did n't realise 
 what I had endured until I had this sudden vacation. 
 Two days of blissful rest, and then the variations for 
 which I was born." 
 
 They were in Helena's room, and Magdatena sat 
 down by the open window, where she could smell the 
 cypresses, and regarded her beloved friend more 
 critically than was her habit. 
 
 " I wonder if you will ever mature, get any 
 heart?" she said. 
 
 " 'Lna ! What do you mean ! Heart? Don't I love 
 you and my father ; and the other girls some? " 
 
 "I don't mean that kind. Nor falling in love, 
 either. I never expressed myself very well, but you 
 know what I mean,"
 
 222 The Californians 
 
 "Oh, bother. What were men and women made 
 for but to amuse each other?" 
 
 " Life is n't all play." 
 
 " It is for a time when you 're young. I am 
 sure that that is what Nature intended, and that the 
 people who don't see it are those who make the 
 mistakes with their lives. Otherwise life would be 
 simply outrageous, no balance, no compensation. 
 After a certain age even fools become serious : they 
 can't help it, for life begins to take its revenge for 
 permitting them to be young at all, and to hope, and 
 all that sort of thing. Therefore those that don't 
 make the most of youth and all that goes with it are 
 something more than fools." 
 
 Magdal6na looked at her in dismay. " How do 
 you realise that, at your age? I have lived alone, 
 thought more had more time to think and to 
 read but I never should " 
 
 " I have intuitions. And I 've seen more of the 
 world than you have. I see everything that goes on 
 you can bet your life on that. Talk about my powers 
 of concentration ! They 're nothing to my antennae." 
 
 "But have you no principles of right and wrong? 
 No morality? You would not deliberately sacrifice 
 others to your own pleasure, would you ? " 
 
 " Would n't I ? I don't take the least pleasure in 
 cruelty, like some women. If I could give people 
 oblivion draughts, I'd do it in a minute for my 
 vanity has nothing to do with it, either. But the 
 world is at my feet, and there it shall stay, no matter
 
 The Californians 223 
 
 who pays the piper. I love life. I love everything 
 about it. I Ve never seen anything in the world I 
 thought ugly. I don't think anything is ugly. If it 
 was, I should hate it. I 've never been through a slum, 
 a horrid slum, that is, and I don't want to. The 
 beauty of the earth intoxicates me. When I even think 
 about it, much less look at it, I feel perfectly wild 
 with delight to think that I am alive. And my senses 
 are so keen. I see so far. I can hear miles. I be 
 lieve I can hear the grass grow. I eat and drink little, 
 but that little gives me delight. A glass of cold spring 
 water intoxicates me. And, above all, I enjoy being 
 loved. I never forget how much you and papa love 
 me. I could n't exist without either of you. Papa is 
 looking much better since he came down. Don't you 
 think so ? And I like to se.e love in the eyes of men 
 I don't care a rap about. Their eyes are like imper 
 sonal mirrors for me to read the secrets of the future 
 in. And I don't really hurt them. Most men have a 
 lot of superfluous love in them. I may as well have 
 it as another. It won't interfere with the destination 
 of the reserve in the least." 
 
 " Helena ! " exclaimed Magdatena, with a sinking 
 heart. "I believe you are a genius." 
 
 "I have the genius of personality, but I couldn't 
 do a thing to save my life." 
 
 Magdatena breathed freely again.
 
 224 The Californians 
 
 X 
 
 TRENNAHAN, who was to have arrived in time to 
 dine with the Belmonts and Yorbas, missed his train 
 and took his dinner alone. Afterward, he saw Magda- 
 lna for a few moments in the Yorbas' private parlour, 
 but she had to dress, and he went off to smoke in the 
 grounds with Don Roberto, Mr. Polk, Mr. Washington, 
 and Colonel Belmont. They subsequently had a game 
 of bowls, and excepting Colonel Belmont several 
 cocktails. When they suddenly remembered that a 
 ball was in progress to which they were expected, it 
 was eleven o'clock, and Trennahan was not dressed. 
 
 It was Helena's ball, but she had made every man 
 promise to look after the wall-flowers, that she might 
 be at liberty to enjoy herself. Her aunt, Mrs. Yorba, 
 and Magdalna received with her; and as all the 
 guests had arrived by the same train, and had dressed 
 at about the same time, the arduous duty of receiving 
 was soon over. Helena left the stragglers to her 
 chaperons and prepared to amuse herself. As usual, 
 she had refused to engage herself for any dances, but 
 she gave the first two to her devoted four, then an 
 nounced her intention to dance no more for the 
 present. The truth was that one of her minute high- 
 heeled slippers pinched, but this she had no intention 
 of acknowledging; if men wished to think her an 
 angel, so they should. She was a sensible person, far 
 too practical to reduce the sum of her happiness by
 
 The Californians 225 
 
 physical discomfort; but the slippers, which she had 
 never tried on, matched her gown, and she had no 
 others with her that did. But the one rift in her lute 
 induced a sympathetic rift in her temper. 
 
 The party was very gay and pretty. The rooms 
 had been fantastically decorated with red berries and 
 snowballs, pine, and cedar. The leader of the band 
 was in that stage of intoxication which promised mu 
 sic to make the soles of the dado tingle. All the girls 
 had brought their prettiest frocks, and all the matrons 
 their diamonds. There were no tiaras in the Eighties, 
 but there were a few necklaces, stars, and ear-rings 
 of the vulgar variety known as " solitaires." It is true 
 that certain of the Fungi looked like crystal chande 
 liers upon occasion ; but Helena would have none of 
 them. 
 
 Herself had rarely been more lovely, in floating 
 clouds of pale pink tulle, which looked like a shower 
 of almond blossoms. Her hair was roped up with 
 pearls, hinting the head-dress of Juliet, but stopping 
 short of eccentric effect. She wore nothing to break 
 the lines of her throat and neck, but on her arms were 
 quantities of odd and beautiful " bangles," many made 
 from her own suggestions, others picked up in different 
 parts of the world. 
 
 She was standing opposite the door in the middle 
 of the room as Trennahan entered, leaning lightly 
 upon a little table to rest her mischievous foot. Only 
 one man was beside her at the moment, and Tren- 
 nahan's view of her was uninterrupted. He knew at
 
 226 The Californians 
 
 once who she was. His second impression was that 
 he had seen few girls so beautiful. His third, that 
 she possessed something more potent than beauty, 
 and that he was responding to it with a certain wild 
 flurry of the senses, and a certain glad exultation in 
 youth and danger which had not been his portion for 
 many a long year. The instinct of the hunter leaped 
 from its tomb, shocked into the eager quivering life 
 of its youth. Trennahan was appalled to hear the 
 fine web he had spun between his senses and his 
 spirit rent in a second, then gratified at the youthful 
 singing in his blood. The old joy in recklessness, in 
 surrender to the delirium of the senses, came back 
 to him. He pushed them roughly aside, and looked 
 about for Magdalna. She was listening to the rapid 
 delivery of Mr. Rollins. He thought she looked ill, 
 and was about to go to her when Colonel Belmont 
 took him by the arm. 
 
 "You must meet my daughter," he said. "Oh, 
 bother ! There go half a dozen." 
 
 When Trennahan reached Helena, he was presented 
 in the same breath with two other new arrivals, and her 
 slipper was fairly biting. She did not even hear his 
 name. She was in a mood to make her swains un 
 happy ; and she liked Trennahan's face, and what she 
 saw there. There was eager admiration in his eyes 
 and nostrils, and on his face the record of a man who 
 might possibly be her match. Of man's deeper and 
 more personal life she never thought. She had heard 
 that men sometimes loved married women, and others
 
 The Californians 227 
 
 whose like she had never seen ; but she hated the 
 mere fact of vice as she did all forms of ugliness, and 
 dismissed it from her mind. She read in Trennahan's 
 face that he had had many flirtations, nothing more. 
 
 " I am not going to dance any more to-night," she 
 announced. She placed her hand in Trennahan's 
 arm. "Take me to the conservatory," she said. 
 
 There was really nothing for him to do but take 
 her. But it was three hours before either was seen 
 again. 
 
 XI 
 
 " You are not looking well this morning," said Tren- 
 nahan, solicitously, about twelve hours after he had 
 appeared in the ball-room. He had just entered 
 the Yorbas' private parlour. 
 
 " Neither do you," replied Magdatena. 
 
 " I sat up late with some of the men, and slept ill 
 after." 
 
 Magdalna raised her eyes and looked at him 
 steadily. "You have fallen in love with Helena," 
 she said. 
 
 " What nonsense ! My dear child, what are you 
 talking about? Miss Belmont asked me to take her 
 to the conservatory; and as I do not dance, and as 
 you do, and as she announced her intention of not 
 dancing again, and is a very entertaining young 
 woman, I decided to remain there. If our engage 
 ment had been made known, of course I should 
 have done nothing of the sort. But as it was "
 
 228 The Californians 
 
 "You turned white when you first saw her. Alan 
 Rush looked just like that. Now he is mad about 
 her." 
 
 " I am not Alan Rush, nor any other boy of twenty- 
 five. The man you have elected to marry, and who is 
 not half good enough for you, as I have told you many 
 times, is a seasoned person past middle age, my dear 
 est. I could not go off my head over a pretty face if 
 I tried. My day for that is long past." 
 
 He spoke vehemently. 
 
 " You never looked at me like that.'* 
 
 " Doubtless my pallor was due to some such un- 
 romantic cause as an extremely bad dinner." 
 
 " I have seen that look several times. Alan Rush 
 is not the only one. And Helena is no doll. She 
 has every fascination." 
 
 " Possibly. Shall we go for our walk ? I am most 
 anxious to see those old houses and graves." 
 
 He did not offer to kiss her. She was too proud 
 to take up woman's usual refrain. She put on her hat, 
 and they left the hotel, and walked toward the town. 
 
 " I believe the cemetery comes first," she said. " I 
 have made inquiries. We can see the town from there, 
 and go on afterward if you like." 
 
 " Of course I like. How good of you to wait for 
 me ! I know you have been longing for the town which 
 I am convinced is a part of your very personality." 
 
 "Yes, I have been longing. I don't care much 
 about it this morning." 
 
 " Which of your heroines is buried in the cemetery ? "
 
 The Californians 229 
 
 " Benicia Ortega, La Tulita, and some of aunt's 
 old friends." 
 
 " You must certainly write those old stories. I often 
 think of them." 
 
 " Nothing that you say this morning sounds like the 
 truth." 
 
 " My dear girl ! I am dull and stupid after a sleep 
 less night. And the night after you left I sat up until 
 two in the morning writing important letters." 
 
 " I think it was disloyal of Helena." 
 
 " I must rush to her defence. She did not know 
 until the end of the evening who I was. She took me 
 for one of the several Easterners who arrived to-day. 
 Two of them brought letters to her father from Mr. 
 Forbes. One was the son of an old friend. As her 
 father presented me " 
 
 Magdatena faced about. "And you did not tell 
 her? You did not speak of me?" 
 
 " I am going to be perfectly frank, knowing how 
 sensible you are. I had a desperate flirtation with 
 your friend, as desperate and meaningless as those 
 things always are ; for it is merely an invention to pass 
 the idler hours of society. There was nothing else to 
 do, so we flirted. It added to the zest to keep her in 
 ignorance of my identity. It was a silly pastime, but 
 better than nothing. I should far rather have been 
 in bed. If I could have talked to you, it would have 
 been quite another matter." I 
 
 Magdatena hurried on ahead. He had the tact not 
 to accelerate his own steps. After a time she fell back. 
 She said,
 
 230 The Californians 
 
 "What is this 'flirtation,' anyhow? I have heard 
 nothing but ' flirtation ' all winter, and I heard a good 
 deal of it last summer. But I have not the slightest 
 idea what it means. What do you do?" 
 
 " Do ? Oh I it is impossible to define flirtation. 
 You must have the instinct to understand. Then you 
 would n't ask. Thank Heaven you never will under 
 stand. Flirtation is to love-making what soda-water is 
 to champagne. I can think of no better definition 
 than that." 
 
 "Did you kiss Helena?" 
 
 " Good God, no ! That 's not flirtation. She is not 
 the sort that would let me if I wished." 
 
 " Did you hold her hand? " 
 
 " I have held no woman's hand but yours for an in 
 calculable time." 
 
 " Did you tell her that you loved her? " 
 
 " Certainly not ! " 
 
 " I must say I can't see how a flirtation differs 
 from an ordinary conversation." 
 
 " It only does in that subtle something which cannot 
 be explained." 
 
 Magdalna had an inspiration. " Perhaps you talk 
 with your eyes some." 
 
 " Well, you are not altogether wrong. Did you ever 
 see a fencing match? Imagine two invisible personal 
 ities dodging and doubling, springing and darting. 
 That will give you some idea. And all without a 
 flutter of passion or real interest. It is good exercise 
 for the lighter wits, but stupid at best." He did not
 
 The Californians 231 
 
 add that the very essence of flirtation is its promise 
 of more to come. 
 
 It was some time before MagdaMna spoke again. 
 Then she asked, 
 
 "What did Helena say when you told her your 
 name?" 
 
 " I believe she said, ' Great Heaven ! ' " 
 
 " I think this must be the cemetery." 
 
 They ascended the rough hill, and pushed their way 
 through weeds and thistles and wild oats to the dilapi 
 dated stones under the oaks. Magdale"na had imagined 
 her conflicting emotions when she visited the graves of 
 her youthful heroines ; among other things the delight 
 ful sense of unreality. But the unreality was of another 
 sort to-day. They were a part of an insignificant past. 
 Trennahan elevated one foot to a massive stone and 
 plucked the " stickers " from his trousers. 
 
 "This is all very romantic," he said, " but these con 
 founded things are uncomfortable. Have you found 
 your graves ? " 
 
 " I think this is Benicia's. We can go if you like." 
 
 "By no means." He went and leaned over the 
 sunken grey stone which recorded the legend of Beni- 
 cia Ortega's brief life and tragic death, then insisted 
 upon finding the others. 
 
 " You don't take any interest," said Magdalena. 
 "Why do you pretend?" 
 
 He caught her in his arms and seated her on the 
 highest and driest of the tombs, then sat beside her. 
 He kept his arm about her, but he did not kiss
 
 23 2 The Californians 
 
 her. " Come now," he said, " let us have it out. We 
 must not quarrel. I humble myself to the dust. I 
 vow to be a saint. I will not exchange two consecutive 
 sentences with your friend in the future. Make me 
 promise all sorts of things." 
 
 "If you love her, you can't help yourself." 
 " I have no intention of loving her. Perhaps you 
 will be as sweet and sensible as you always are, and 
 not say anything so absurd again. I am deeply sorry 
 that I have offended you. Will you believe that? 
 And will you forgive me?" 
 
 " Do you mean that you still wish to marry me? " 
 " Great Heaven, 'Lna ! Even if my head were 
 turned, do you think that I have not brains enough 
 to remember that that sort of thing is a matter of 
 the hour only, and that I am a man of honour? I 
 have no less intention of marrying you to-day than 
 I had yesterday. Does that satisfy you? And 
 since you take it so hardly I wish I might never 
 see Miss Belmont again." 
 
 Magdatena raised her eyes ; they were full of tears. 
 Her hat was pushed back, her soft hair ruffled. In 
 the deep shade of the oaks and with the passion in 
 her face she looked prettier than he had ever seen 
 her. A kiss sprang to her lips. He bent his head 
 swiftly and caught it; and then he was delighted at 
 the depth of his penitence. 
 
 " 'Lna, you ought to hate me, but I did n't know ! 
 I swear I did n't ! "
 
 The Californians 233 
 
 "I know you did not. He told me that it was 
 entirely his fault, and I have forgiven him; so don't 
 let us say any more about it." 
 
 " Well, I am glad he admitted that. I 'm pretty 
 selfish, as I 've never denied, but I 'd never be dis 
 loyal. Not to you, anyhow," she added on second 
 thoughts. " I should n't mind Ha so much, nor 
 Caro." 
 
 " You don't mean to say you would take any girl's 
 lover away from her, Helena ? " 
 
 " Yes, I would if I wanted him badly. But I 'd do 
 it right out before her face. I 'd never be under 
 hand about it. I loathe deceit. I was furious for 
 a time with Mr. Trennahan last night, but I really 
 believe I was more furious because he was the most 
 interesting man I had ever met and I couldn't 
 have him, than because he hadn't behaved quite 
 properly." 
 
 Magdalena reached her right hand to a bow on 
 her left shoulder, that Helena should not see the 
 sudden leap of her heart. " Do you mean to say 
 that you had had intended to to add him to 
 the quartette ? " 
 
 " I had had a very definite idea of turning the entire 
 quartette out in his favour. I don't mind telling you 
 that, because wild horses could n't make me so much 
 as flirt an eyelash at him again ; and of course it was 
 only one of my passing fancies. Nothing goes very 
 deep with me. I 'm made on a magnificent plan. 
 So is he. We '11 both have forgotten last evening
 
 234 The Californians 
 
 before the end of the week. I hate the morning 
 after a ball, don't you? One always feels so devita 
 lised. Wasn't Ila's gown disgracefully low? And 
 the way some girls roll their eyes is positively sicken 
 ing. Let 's go out and get a breath of air." 
 
 XII 
 
 Two nights later Tiny had a large dinner. A place 
 had been kept for Trennahan. He had expected to 
 be sent in with Magdatena, somewhat illogically, as 
 no one suspected his engagement. He was sent in 
 with Helena. 
 
 The long low dining-room of the old house on 
 Rincon Hill had never been double-dated with gas 
 fixtures. There was a large candelabra against the 
 dark wainscot at each end of the room, and little 
 clusters of flame on the table. The girls never 
 looked so pretty, so guileless, never planted their 
 arrows so surely, as in this room, in the soft radiance 
 of its wax candles. 
 
 On Helena's other side sat Rollins, whom she hon 
 oured by regarding as a brother. On Trennahan's left 
 Ila was intent upon the subjugation of a younger 
 brother of Mr. Washington, who had recently returned 
 to San Francisco after six years in Europe, and had 
 knelt at her shrine at once. He was wealthy, and she 
 had made up her mind to marry him. Trennahan she 
 had given up during the summer. Had she not, she
 
 The Californians 235 
 
 would have known better than to pit her charms 
 against Helena's. Magdatena was on the same side 
 of the table. 
 
 Helena wore white, in which she looked her best ; 
 the silk softened with much lace on the bust. She 
 raised her eyes defiantly to Trennahan's. Their 
 coquetry had been ordered to the rear. 
 
 "We've got to talk, or look like idiots," she said. 
 " I had made up my mind never to speak to you 
 again. I think you were quite too horrid the other 
 night." 
 
 " I certainly was." 
 
 " Was it your fault or mine ? " 
 
 " Wholly mine despite your fascinations." 
 
 " I would n't have been fascinating if I had known. 
 I am glad you admit that it was all your fault. It 
 makes me believe that it was. What made you keep 
 it up for three hours?" 
 
 "The weakness of man." 
 
 "Is that what you told 'Le'na?" 
 
 " No ; it is not." 
 
 " What did you tell her Oh, how horrid of me 
 to ask ! Let 's talk about something else. Do you 
 like California better than New York?" 
 
 " It will take exactly eight minutes to exhaust that 
 subject ; I am an old hand at it. So while I assure 
 you that I do, and am giving my reasons, please cast 
 about for a subject to follow." 
 
 " My thinker is not good to-night. I expect you to 
 take care of me."
 
 23 6 The Californians 
 
 " What greater delight ! You are paler than you 
 were. Are you not well?" 
 
 Trennahan's voice became tender from long habit. 
 The softness and fire sprang to Helena's eyes. The 
 pink tide poured into her cheeks. A sudden intense 
 light sprang into Trennahan's eyes. It held hers for 
 the fraction of a moment, then both looked away ; and 
 ate their oysters. 
 
 It was Helena who spoke first. " Another moment, 
 and we should have been launched into the second 
 chapter. But we are not to flirt ; we understand that 
 thoroughly. I don't think, on second thoughts, that I 
 should like you at all. You have yourself too well in 
 hand ; you look as if you had been through it all too 
 many times ; there is n't a bit of freshness about you 
 Oh, bother, I hate lying ! I '11 tell you plainly and 
 have done with it, I should be in love with you by 
 this time if it were not for 'Le"na. That 's not the way 
 of older climes, but it 's mine : I 've got to talk out or 
 die. I 've always said everything that occurred to me. 
 Let 's talk this out, and then we 11 never talk for two 
 minutes alone again. If you had not been in love 
 with 'Le'na, should you be in love with me by this 
 time?" 
 
 He put his fork down abruptly and turned to her. 
 She shrank a little. " I think we had better let that 
 subject alone. As a product of older climes, I am 
 competent to judge." 
 
 " I must know. I will know. Tell me." 
 
 " Well, then, I should."
 
 The Californians 237 
 
 "As much as you are with 'Lna? " 
 
 " I should have been madder about you than I have 
 been about any woman for fifteen years." 
 
 " If you know that, how can you help it now ? " 
 
 "There is such a thing as honour in men." 
 
 "That means that there is none in women? Well, 
 I don't believe there is. But honour does not keep a 
 man from loving a woman." 
 
 He made no reply. 
 
 "Does it?" 
 
 " Are you mad about fire ? Or is it your vanity that 
 is insatiable ? " 
 
 Again he met her eyes. And this time her face was 
 as white as her gown. Her bosom was heaving. Her 
 skin was translucent. To Trennahan's suffused vision 
 she seemed bathed in white fire. 
 
 " I love you," he said hoarsely ; " and I would give 
 all the soul I Ve got to have met you a year ago." 
 
 XIII 
 
 TALK about the complex heart of a woman. It is 
 nothing to that of a man. 
 
 Trennahan had loved a good many women in a good 
 many ways. Perhaps he understood women as well as 
 any man of his day : he had been bred by women of 
 the world, and his errant fancy had occasionally sent 
 him into other strata. He also thought that he knew 
 himself. His mind, his heart, his senses, the best and
 
 2j 8 The Californians 
 
 the worst in him, had been engaged so often and so 
 actively that he could have drawn diagrams of each, 
 alone or in combination, with accommodating types of 
 woman. He also, without generalising too freely, 
 knew men, and he had spent ten years of his life in 
 diplomacy. But he now stood before himself as 
 puzzled as he was aghast. 
 
 If his grip upon himself had suddenly relaxed, and 
 he had spent a wild night with the wild young men of 
 San Francisco, he should not have been particularly 
 surprised : he had been living on an exalted plane for 
 the last ten months. But that he loved Magdatena 
 with the love of his life, that he realised in her some 
 vague youthful ideal, that she was the woman created 
 for the better part of him, that his highest happiness 
 was to be found in her, he had never doubted from the 
 minute he had finished his long communion with him 
 self and determined to marry her. And every moment 
 he had spent with her had strengthened the tie. 
 Nothing about her but had pleased him : her intellect, 
 her pride, her reticence, her difference from other 
 women; even, after the first shock to his taste was 
 over, her lack of beauty. It was true that she had no 
 great power over his pulses, but he was tired of his 
 pulses. She appealed to his tenderness and deeper 
 affections as no woman had done. Above all, she had 
 given him peace of mind ; and she held his future in 
 her hands. 
 
 And now? 
 
 Helena Belmont was that most dangerous rival of
 
 The Californians 239 
 
 other women, a girl whom men loved desperately 
 with no attendant loss of self-respect. Whatever their 
 passion, they felt a keen personal delight in the purity 
 of her mind ; and they admired themselves the more 
 that they appreciated her cleverness. She was not 
 only a woman to love but to idolise ; she gave even 
 these prosaic San Francisco youths vague promptings 
 to distinguish themselves by some great and noble ac 
 tion, sending her shafts straight through the American 
 brain to those dumb inherited instincts which had 
 straggled down through the centuries from mediaeval 
 ancestors. Her very selfishness which she was 
 pleased to call Paganism charmed them : it was one 
 of the divine rights of the woman born to rule men 
 and to create a happiness for one unimagined by lesser 
 women. No man but idealised her, unfanciful as he 
 might be, not so much for her beauty or gifts, or for all 
 combined, as because when she gave herself it would 
 be for the last as it was for the first time. As the 
 reader knows, there was nothing ideal about Helena. 
 Even her fastidiousness was natural in view of her up 
 bringing. She was a most practical young flirt, with a 
 very distinct intention of having her own way as long 
 as she lived. The wealth and petting and adulation 
 which had surrounded her from birth had made a 
 thorough- going egoist of her, albeit a most charming 
 one ; for she was warm-hearted, impulsive, generous, 
 and kind in her own way. Naturally the men for 
 whom her lovely eyes beamed welcome, for whom her 
 tantalising mouth pouted into smiles, thought her noth-
 
 240 The Californians 
 
 ing short of a goddess, and were moved to inarticulate 
 rhyme. 
 
 Trennahan had met many more women who were 
 beautiful, seductive, dashing, and withal fastidious, than 
 had these young men of a cosmopolitan and still chaotic 
 State ; nevertheless, he might have been Adam ranging 
 the dreary solitudes of Paradise, facing about for the 
 first time upon the first woman. Helena was the type 
 of woman for whom such men as meet her have the 
 strongest passion of their lives, if for no other reason 
 than because she induces an exaggeration of their best 
 faculties and a consequent exaltation of self- appreciation, 
 as distinguished from mere masculine self-sufficiency. 
 Never is the briefly favoured one so much of a man 
 apart from a type, looking down upon that type with 
 pitying scorn. This is a mere matter of fascination, 
 too subtle, and composed of too many parts for man's 
 analysis, but it is the most telling force in the clashing 
 of the sexes. 
 
 Trennahan was an extremely practical man. He 
 called things by their right names, and scorned to turn 
 his head aside when life or himself was to be looked 
 squarely in the eye. It is true that he cursed himself 
 for a fool. He was neither in his youth nor in his 
 dotage ; he was in that long intermediate period where 
 a man may hope that his will and sound common-sense 
 are in their prime, the interval of the minimum of 
 mistakes. Nevertheless, he was as madly in love with 
 Helena Belmont as was the first man with the first
 
 The Californians 241 
 
 woman, as a boy with his first mistress, an old man 
 with his last. He admitted the fact and ordered his 
 brain to make the best of the situation. 
 
 He was not conscious of any change in his feelings 
 for Magdatena except that he no longer desired to 
 marry her. The sense of rest, of comradeship, the 
 tenderness and affection, had not abated. He was just 
 as sure that she was the woman for him to marry as he 
 had been two weeks ago ; and he knew that he could 
 not make a greater mistake than to marry Helena 
 Belmont. He believed that it would be years before 
 she would be capable of loving any man for any length 
 of time. Such women not only develop slowly, but 
 they have too much to give, men too little. The clever 
 woman is abnormal in any case, being a divergence 
 from the original destiny of her sex. The woman 
 who is beautiful, fascinating, passionate, and clever is a 
 development with which man has not kept pace. 
 
 He spent the greater part of the three days follow 
 ing the dinner, on the cliffs beyond the Golden Gate. 
 There was no great moral battle going on in his mind ; 
 he intended to marry Magdale"na. One of his pet 
 theories was that one secret of the rottenness under 
 lying the social, and in natural sequence, the political 
 structure of the United States was the absence of a 
 convention. Men were on their knees to women so 
 long as their pleasure was materially abetted by the 
 attitude ; but the moment the motive ceased to exist, 
 any display of chivalry toward her would be as useless 
 and wasted as toward the ordinary run of women. It 
 16
 
 242 The Californians 
 
 is. always the woman of the moment, never woman in 
 general. The so-called chivalry of American men does 
 not exist ; the misconception has arisen out of the mul 
 titudinous examples of American subserviency to the 
 individual woman, which is part of a habit of exag 
 geration natural to a youthful nation. There is an utter 
 absence of all responsibility that is not the concomitant 
 of personal desire. 
 
 The new country is full of good impulses with little 
 to bind them together. Children respect their parents 
 if they feel like it, just as they are polite when in a 
 responsive mood, not through any sense of convention. 
 The American press is an exemplification of this absence 
 of noblesse oblige, and more particularly in its treatment 
 of women. Even when not moved by personal jealousy 
 or spite, the total lack of respect with which the Amer 
 ican press treats women who have not in any way chal 
 lenged public opinion society women with whom the 
 public has no concern, women upon whom either the 
 misfortune of circumstances or of a powerful individu 
 ality has fallen is the most significant foreboding of 
 the degeneration of a national character while yet half 
 grown. It is individualism, which is a polite term for 
 rampant selfishness, run mad, a fussy contempt and 
 hatred for the traditions of older nations. 
 
 Fifty years ago, when the United States was still so 
 old-fashioned as to be hardly " American," it was more 
 or less bound together by the conventions it had inher 
 ited from the great civilisations that begat it. These 
 conventions exist to-day only in men of the highest
 
 The Californians 243 
 
 breeding, those with six or eight generations behind 
 them of refinement, consequence, and fastidiousness 
 in association. In these men, the representatives of 
 an aristocracy that is in danger of being crippled and 
 perhaps swamped by plutocracy, exists the convention 
 which forces the most deplorable degenerate of old- 
 world aristocracy to manifest himself a gentleman in 
 every crucial test. So thoroughly did Trennahan com 
 prehend these facts, so profound was .his contempt for 
 the second-rate men of his country, that he was almost 
 self-conscious about his honour. He would no more 
 have asked Magdale'na to release him, nor have adopted 
 the still more contemptible method of forcing her to 
 break the engagement, than he would have been the 
 ruin of an ignorant girl. But he would have sacrificed 
 every green blade in his soul to have met Helena 
 Belmont a year ago, and would have taken the chances 
 with defiance and the consequences without a murmur. 
 
 To marry Magdale'na in June was impossible. That 
 he should ever cease to desire Helena Belmont, to 
 regret the very complete happiness which might have 
 been his for a few years, was a matter of doubt, with 
 even possibilities. But there must be a long inter 
 mission before he could marry another woman. His 
 determination to leave California for a year was fixed, 
 but what excuse to offer Don Roberto and Magdale'na 
 was the question which beset him in all his waking 
 hours and amid all his torments. 
 
 During these three days he avoided seeing Magda- 
 alone. On the afternoon of the fourth day he
 
 244 The Californians 
 
 came face to face with Helena Belmont in the Mercan 
 tile Library. 
 
 She was leaving as he entered. They looked at each 
 other for a moment, then without a word both walked 
 toward a room at the right of the door. 
 
 This was a long narrow apartment leading off the 
 great room, and was darker, dustier, gloomier, grimmer. 
 As the building stood almost against another of equal 
 height, its side windows looked upon blank walls ; but 
 some measure of grey light was coaxed down from the 
 narrow strip above by means of reflectors. The walls 
 were lined with old books bound in calf black with 
 age, and in the centre was a long narrow table which 
 looked as if it should have a coffin on it. This room 
 had depressed many cheerful lovers in its time ; it 
 was enough to drive tormented souls to suicide. 
 
 Trennahan and Helena sat down in an angle where 
 they were least likely to be seen. 
 
 "What are you going to do? " asked Helena. 
 
 " I am going away for a year as soon as I can invent 
 a decent excuse." 
 
 " Then shall you come back and marry 'Lna ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Suppose you still love me? " 
 
 "It will make no difference. And Time works 
 wonders. You will have quite forgotten me." 
 
 " I sincerely hope I shall." Her voice shook. There 
 was agitation in every curve of her figure. But had 
 anyone entered, their faces could not have been dis 
 tinguished two feet away. The sky was grey. There 
 was no light to reflect.
 
 The Californians 245 
 
 " It is the first time I have n't got what I wanted," 
 she said ingenuously. 
 
 " It will make your next triumph the keener. I 
 shall be glad to serve as a shadow for the high lights." 
 
 " I have suffered horribly in the last week." 
 
 " So have I, if that consoles you. But I have had a 
 good deal of suffering in my life, one way and another, 
 and I shall weather it. I wish I could take your 
 share." 
 
 " Should n't you like to marry me ? " 
 
 " Of course I should. Why do you ask such foolish 
 questions ? " 
 
 " I want to talk it all out. I love 'Lna, but I don't 
 love her better than I do myself, and I don't see why 
 I should suffer instead of she. Don't you think that if 
 we told her she would release you? " 
 
 " Undoubtedly ; but I shall not ask her. Nor must 
 you think of such a thing. Why two young and excep 
 tionally fortunate girls should want what is left of me 
 God only knows ; but if they do the prior rights must 
 win the day. If I don't marry 'Lena, I shall marry no 
 woman, not even you." 
 
 She gave him a swift glance. His face was not as 
 stern as his words. "You know that you would," she 
 said with decision. " You are too honourable to break 
 the engagement, but you would marry me if it were 
 broken for you." 
 
 He drew his brows together and bent his face to 
 hers. "Listen to me," he said. " I mean what I say. 
 I love you, how much you have not the vaguest idea ;
 
 246 The Californians 
 
 but I will not have her happiness ruined. If you ask 
 her to break the engagement, I shall never see you 
 again. Will you remember that?" 
 
 " I suppose you are right. I had not really thought 
 of asking her. But I Ve got to tell her that I love you. 
 I feel like a hideous hypocrite. I can hardly look her 
 in the face. I '11 promise not to betray you, but I must 
 tell her that. She has been so sweet to me this last 
 week, ever since that night at Monterey. She 's the 
 very best creature that ever lived. Then I '11 ask papa 
 to take me away. You need not go." 
 
 " I shall go. Can't you go away without saying any 
 thing to her about it? I don't see why her peace of 
 mind should be disturbed." 
 
 " I should feel just as guilty when I came back." 
 " You woxild have forgotten it by that time." 
 " Oh, no ; I should n't ! I should n't ! " 
 There was no mistaking the passion in her voice. 
 Trennahan half rose, but sat down again. " I would 
 rather you wrote it to her after you left," he said. 
 " Then there would be no danger of saying too much. 
 If you want to go to Europe, I will go to the South Sea 
 Islands." 
 
 "Well, I will arrange it that way, if you like." 
 Her head was lowered. She spoke dejectedly. 
 There was little of the old Helena manifest. In truth, 
 she had been making a mighty effort to control herself 
 for the first time in her life. She hardly knew whether 
 she wished to do what was right or not; for the 
 moment she was dominated by a stronger will than her
 
 The Californians 247 
 
 own. She drew a deep sigh. " I wish I could take it 
 as coolly as you do," she said. 
 
 " I take it less coolly. But I am older and used to 
 self-control." 
 
 " I hate self-control." 
 
 "So do I." 
 
 " I feel as if life were quite over. I would a great 
 deal rather die than not. I wish I were older. I 
 don't know what to do. I feel that it cannot be 
 right to throw away the happiness of one's life, but I 
 don't know how to hold you, and, above all, I don't 
 want to hurt 'Lena. I thought that I knew so much ; 
 but I know nothing at all nothing." 
 
 " If you do what is right, you will be very glad a 
 year hence." 
 
 " A year is such a long time." Her head dropped 
 lower. She looked utterly dejected. In a moment 
 she put her handkerchief to her face and cried 
 silently. The undemonstrativeness of the act, so 
 unlike her usual volcanic energy, touched him out 
 of prudence. He put his arm about her and pressed 
 her head against his shoulder. In a moment he laid 
 his fade against hers and closed his eyes to crowd 
 back the tears that sprang from the depths of his 
 soul. When he opened his eyes, it was to meet 
 those of Magdatena.
 
 248 The Californians 
 
 XIV 
 
 SHE had left them without a word, and Trennahan 
 did not see her until the following evening, when she 
 sent for him. 
 
 She received him in the room at the end of the 
 hall, where they were sure not to be interrupted. 
 As he entered he averted his face hastily, and cursed 
 himself for a scoundrel. But he went straight to the 
 point. 
 
 " I have made you suffer," he said, " and as only 
 you can suffer. I have no excuse to offer except my 
 own weakness. Do you remember that I asked you 
 once if you thought you could love me did you come 
 to understand all the weakness of my nature, and that 
 you replied you could? Will you forgive me this dis 
 play of it ? I have no desire no intention of marry 
 ing any other woman." 
 
 " I have not doubted your honour. But I shall not 
 marry you. I do not want you without your love. I 
 see now that I never had it." 
 
 " You did, and you have it still. It is impossible 
 for a man to explain himself to a woman. Will you 
 let me decide for both ? I am going away for a time. 
 When I return I want you to marry me.". 
 
 She shook her head. "There would be three 
 people miserable instead of one. If I had not gone 
 there yesterday, perhaps I should never have known : 
 I simply made up my mind after that night at Mon-
 
 The Californians 249 
 
 terey that I would think no more about it. By and 
 by you might have got over it and we might have 
 been happy in a way I don't know. It is not your 
 fault that I found out. And I went to the Library 
 by the merest chance yesterday. It seems like fate, 
 and I shall recognise it. If Helena did not love you, 
 it would be different ; but I had a terrible scene with 
 her last night. I never thought even she could feel 
 so. For the time I felt much sorrier for her than 
 for myself I felt rather dull, for that matter. After 
 she went I thought all night. It was a terrible night." 
 She stopped and shivered. 
 
 He took her hand, but she withdrew it. " I thought 
 of everything. You know I once told you that my 
 only religion was to do what I . believed to be right. 
 If love means anything, it means that one should 
 make the other person happy, not oneself. I thought 
 and thought. You two were more to me than any 
 people living. I have not ever really loved anyone 
 else, except my aunt, and her not half so much as 
 Helena. Therefore my love would not be worth much 
 if I did not consider you two before myself. If 
 Helena did not love you, it would be different. I 
 would try to forget that she had fascinated you, and 
 I should see no reason why I should not marry you 
 if you still wished me to. But she loves you. I 
 never expected to see such tragedy. But even if I 
 did not believe she would make you happy, I would 
 not give you to her, for I vowed to live for that 
 long before the night at Tiny's in the garden.
 
 250 The Californians 
 
 But Helena could make any man happy. She has 
 everything." 
 
 She paused again. He made no reply for a 
 moment. He was staring at the carpet, at a hideous 
 green-and-yellow dragon. The comedy which cuts 
 every black cloud in thin staccato blades was suggest 
 ing that he had something to be grateful for, inas 
 much as the scene with Helena had been spared 
 himself. 
 
 " You are far more suited to me than she is," he 
 said finally. " I am too old for her. I am not for 
 you. If we have souls, yours and mine were made 
 for each other. Years have nothing to do with us. 
 They would mean everything between Helena and 
 myself." 
 
 She leaned forward and fixed her eyes on his, com 
 pelling his gaze. 
 
 "If you had never met me, would you not be 
 engaged to Helena by this time?" 
 
 " Doubtless, but that proves nothing." 
 
 "Will you give me your word of honour that you 
 do not wish you were free, that you would not gladly 
 marry her now?" 
 
 He drew a long breath. He felt like a prisoner 
 on the witness stand driven to save himself by incrimi- 
 nation of another. But he was in that state of mind 
 when only the truth is possible. 
 
 " I will put it in another way. Do you want any 
 thing in the world as much as Helena?" 
 
 " No," he said ; " I do not."
 
 The Caiifornians 251 
 
 She got up and walked to the window, and drew 
 aside the curtains. The sky was brilliant with moon 
 and stars ; the bay and hills lovely with the mystery 
 of night. California had never been more unsympa- 
 thetically beautiful. She jerked the curtains together 
 and went back to him. As she did not sit down, he 
 rose. 
 
 " That is all," she said, " except that you must let 
 me explain to my father." 
 
 " And let you bear the whole brunt of it. Not if I 
 know myself." 
 
 " You must. I understand him, and you do not. 
 Besides, if he knew that you and Helena had anything 
 to do with the breaking of the engagement he would 
 never let me speak to either of you again, and I have 
 no other friends. I shall tell him that I no longer 
 wish to marry you, and he cannot compel me to give 
 reasons. If he speaks to you about it, you must tell 
 him that you will marry no woman against her will, 
 and let him see that you mean it." 
 
 " Magdalena, you are a grand woman." 
 
 " I am a very dull and stupid person who has made 
 up her mind that the only chance of making life bear 
 able is to do what is right. I am terribly common 
 place. I wonder you stood me as long as you did." 
 
 " You are the reverse of stupid and commonplace ; 
 and I am by no means sure that you are doing right. 
 I, too, have thought over this matter, for nearly as 
 many days as you have hours. I have tried to get 
 outside myself, to view the case quite dispassionately;
 
 The Califbrnians 
 
 and I honestly believe that as you insist upon put 
 ting me before yourself it would be better for me to 
 marry you than Helena." 
 
 " I do not believe it. Nor could I marry you after 
 what you just acknowledged. I have never had much 
 pride with you, but I have that much. Marry you 
 when you said that you wanted nothing so much in 
 the world as to marry Helena Belmont? That was 
 the end of everything." 
 
 He left the room and the house. Magdatena went 
 up the stair slowly, assisting herself with the banister. 
 Her limbs felt as if their muscles had fallen to dust. 
 Her heart seemed to have taken it outside of herself 
 altogether; there was no sensation where sensation 
 was supposed to sit, unless it were that of vacancy. 
 Her brain was not confused ; she did not feel in the 
 least as if she were going to be ill. She knew what 
 she had done, what she had to do in the future ; 
 and she wished that her heavy limbs were as dead 
 as that something within her for which she had no 
 name. 
 
 XV 
 
 THE next morning she received a note from Tren- 
 nahan. 
 
 I am sailing for Honolulu. Do nothing until my 
 return. I shall be gone six weeks. Until your final de 
 cision I shall consider myself bound to you. And, I
 
 The Californians 253 
 
 repeat, I think it best that we should marry. You have 
 acted on impulse, and your mind and judgment were con 
 structed to work slowly. And God knows this is not a 
 matter to be decided in haste. I shall have sailed before 
 even a telegram from you could reach me. Don Roberto 
 knows that I have thought more than once of a trip to the 
 Islands. Tell him when he returns that I suddenly de 
 cided to go. J. T. 
 
 But Magdalna wanted no respite. It was her 
 temper to die once rather than a thousand times. 
 Her father was in Sacramento on business. He 
 would return the following day. She was too dull 
 and listless to feel fear of him, but she wanted it 
 over. 
 
 She wrote at once to Helena, enclosing Trennahan's 
 letter : " I have made up my mind, and that is the 
 end of it. As far as I am concerned, he now belongs to 
 you. I shall speak to papa to-morrow night. Imme 
 diately after I shall write to Mr. Trennahan, and that 
 will put an end to my part in the matter." 
 
 Helena ordered her devoted parent to take her to 
 Southern California at once. To pick up the old 
 routine, to show herself daily and nightly in the 
 studied simulacrum of her former self, was no part 
 of her code. She felt she should tell every man that 
 came near her that she hated him, and the reason why. 
 Nor was hers the temperament for suspense without 
 diversion. She could live through the next six weeks 
 with change of scene, but not otherwise. She made 
 a full confession to her father and received the severest
 
 2 54 The Californians 
 
 reprimand of her life ; but Colonel Belmont took hei 
 to Southern California. 
 
 Magdale'na went to a lunch-party on the day follow 
 ing Trennahan's departure and paid calls during the 
 afternoon. The small details diverted her, and she 
 found herself able to make conversation, despite the 
 sluggish current of misery beneath. She had told her 
 mother of her determination not to marry Trennahan ; 
 and although Mrs. Yorba had paced the room in ap 
 prehension of her husband's wrath, she was secretly 
 pleased. A daughter, particularly one that gave no 
 trouble, was companionable and useful, and she saw 
 no reason why she should be asked to give her to any 
 man for years to come. Although meagre, she was 
 not heartless, and was much relieved, that Magdalena 
 appeared indifferent to the sudden break. She was 
 dimly conscious that she did not understand her 
 daughter, but she had no desire to plumb the depths ; 
 she had a substantial distaste for the Spanish nature 
 when roused. 
 
 Her husband was expected to return in time for 
 dinner. She went to bed with an attack of neuralgia 
 a little after six. 
 
 Magdalena did not see her father until he entered 
 the dining-room with her uncle. He inquired imme 
 diately for Trennahan, who usually dined with him 
 when there were no engagements elsewhere. 
 
 " He decided suddenly to go to the Sandwich 
 Islands and sailed yesterday." 
 
 " Very sorry he no wait until I come back. I think
 
 The Californians 255 
 
 I gone with him. Always I want to see the Islands. 
 I work long enough now : go to travel some and see 
 the world. So queer to think is so much world outside 
 California. When you go to Europe, I go too. And 
 you, too, Eeram. You no can go with us, for both can 
 not leave the bank, but when we coming back you take 
 the vacation, too." 
 
 " I never expect to see the outside of California 
 again," said Mr. Polk, shortly. 
 
 Magdatena's nerves shook for the first time in 
 seventy- two hours. She appreciated the ordeal she had 
 to face within the next. The dull ache in every nerve 
 of her gave place to a certain keenness of apprehen 
 sion. What would that terrible little man do? She 
 had absorbed something of her father's personality as 
 a child. During the last year she had talked much 
 with him and had discovered the strange weaknesses 
 and fears which lurked in that manufactured character. 
 She fully realised what a son-in-law like Trennahan 
 meant to him. He was quite capable of killing her. 
 And during the last three or four weeks he had flown 
 into more than one violent passion, prompted by a 
 liver disordered by too much dining out. 
 
 While the two men were drinking their coffee, she 
 left the room and went to the office. The riding-whip 
 was in its old place ; on a shelf in the cupboard was 
 a brace of pistols. Magdatena threw the whip into 
 the cupboard, locked the door, and slipped the key 
 behind a book on the mantel. Her father came in 
 a moment later. She handed him a cigar and a
 
 256 The Californians 
 
 match. He drew his heavy brows together and puck 
 ered his eyelids. 
 
 "What the matter?" he demanded drily. "So 
 white you are, and the hand tremble." 
 
 Magdalena sat down and took control of herself. 
 
 "I am not going to marry Mr. Trennahan," she said. 
 
 She held her breath for the expected outburst ; but 
 Don Roberto only stared at her, his eyes slowly ex 
 panding. The cigar dropped from his fingers. 
 
 "He no want marry you? " he ejaculated finally. 
 
 " I told him that I did not wish to marry him, I 
 never wish to marry any man, and he is too proud 
 to insist upon marrying a woman who does not want 
 him. We had a long conversation. We quite under- 
 stand each other. He will never ask me again." 
 
 "Dies/" gasped Don Roberto. "Dios/" But 
 there was no anger in his voice. His eyes rolled from 
 Magdalena to the window and back again. Finally 
 he said, 
 
 "He no come back, then? " 
 
 " He is coming back in six weeks." 
 
 Don Roberto drew a long breath and seemed to 
 recover himself. 
 
 " Then si he no break the engagement, he feel glad 
 si it is make again. You marry him the day after he 
 come back. I fixit that." 
 
 " No power on earth can make me marry him." 
 
 Her father searched her countenance. He knew 
 her character. Did it not have that iron of New 
 England in it for which he would have sold his birth-
 
 The Californians 257 
 
 right? He might turn her into the street, and it 
 would avail him nothing. Again his features relaxed, 
 this time not with surprise and consternation, but with 
 abject fear. He shuddered from head to foot ; then 
 his hands shot up to receive his face. He groaned 
 and rocked from side to side. 
 
 Magdalna was aghast. What feeling was alive in 
 her united in filial tenderness. She went to him and 
 put her hands uncertainly about his head, then stroked 
 his hair awkwardly : she was little used to -endear 
 ments. 
 
 "I never thought " she stammered. "I never 
 thought " 
 
 "Thirty years I work like the slave, and now all 
 going ! Eeram, he have the death-tick in him : I 
 hear ! And now I no go to have the son, and I go to 
 die in the streets like the others j with no one cents ! 
 Ay! yi I ay ! yi ! " 
 
 Magdale"na was pricked with a new fear : Was her 
 father insane? She had heard of the "fixed idea." 
 This weevil had been burrowing in his brain for more 
 than a quarter of a century. She went back to her 
 chair and said assertively, 
 
 " You are one of the ablest financiers in California : 
 everybody says so. Nothing can change that, whether 
 uncle dies or not. This is all a fancy of yours. You 
 don't half appreciate yourself. And you are tired out 
 to-night, and have not been well lately " 
 
 "All going! All going! Ay de mi! Ay de mil 
 Why I no dying with the wife and the little boy? 
 17
 
 2 <j 8 The Californians 
 
 Make myself over, and now the screws go to drop 
 out my character, and I am like before." 
 
 Magdalena had an inspiration. " Take me into the 
 bank," she said eagerly. "Teach me everything. I 
 am sure I can learn. Then I will look after every 
 thing when uncle dies. I want to work " 
 
 Don Roberto dropped his hands and gave a low 
 roar. " The women all fools, and you the more big 
 fool I never see. You throw way the clever man like 
 he is old hat, and think you can manage the bank ! 
 Madre de Dios ! Si I no feel like old clothes, no more, 
 I beating you. To-morrow I do it." His eyes kindled 
 at the prospect. "To-morrow si you no say you 
 marry Trennahan, I beating you till you are black like 
 my hat." 
 
 What remained of Magdal^na's apathy left her then. 
 She stood up and faced him, drawing her heavy brows 
 together after his own fashion. " You will never beat 
 me again," she said. " Let us have an understanding 
 on that subject before we go to bed to-night. I am 
 your daughter, and I shall always obey you except 
 where the question of my marrying is concerned. 
 But if you ill-treat me I shall leave your house and 
 not return. I am of age, and I have my aunt to go 
 to. Now, unless you promise me that you will never 
 raise your hand to me again, I will leave for Santa 
 Barbara to-night." 
 
 Again Don Roberto stared at her. But his surprise 
 passed quickly. He was too shrewd a judge of human 
 nature to doubt her. If she had inherited the iron
 
 The Californians 259 
 
 of her mother's ancestors, she had also inherited the 
 pride of the Yorbas : she would not permit her woman, 
 hood to be outraged. But he could have his revenge 
 in other ways; and he would take it. He' gave the 
 promise and ordered her sullenly to send the butler 
 to help him up to bed. 
 
 XVI 
 
 DURING the following week Don Roberto was very 
 ill. The doctor came three times a day. Mrs. Yorba 
 and Magdale*na sat up on alternate nights. Mr. Polk 
 was constantly at the bedside. When he retired to 
 snatch an hour's sleep, Don Roberto's temperature 
 became alarming; of the presence of his wife and 
 daughter he took no notice whatever. 
 
 As the ego must enter into all things, Magdale*na, 
 despite her alarm and pity, was grateful for the diver 
 sion. The interview with her father had roused her 
 abruptly and finally ; and during that night her misery 
 had raged in every part of her. It is true that in the 
 long watches thought fairly stamped in her brain, but 
 it was rudely brushed aside every little while by the 
 imperious wants of the sick man, or the whispered 
 remarks of the professional nurse. At other times she 
 slept heavily or received the numerous friends who 
 came to inquire for the eminent citizen who had 
 dined out too often during the gayest season in many 
 years.
 
 260 The Californians 
 
 Don Roberto recovered, and his convalescence was 
 as memorable as his previous social activity. No 
 nurse would remain more than thirty-six hours at any 
 price ; and even his wife, whose ideas of marital duty 
 were as rigid as her social code, lost her patience 
 upon one occasion and rated him soundly. Mr. Polk 
 was the only person he treated with common decency. 
 As for Magdatena, he might have been a sultan and 
 she his meanest slave. But Magdatena was rather 
 pleased than otherwise. Her conscience had flag 
 ellated her as the immediate cause of his illness, and 
 she strove by every act of devotion to make amends. 
 
 As soon as he was sufficiently recovered, he was 
 taken, in a special car, to Fair Oaks, to absorb the 
 sun on his spacious verandahs. Magdatena had asked 
 the doctor to order Southern California, but the order 
 had been received with such a roar of fury that the 
 subject was not resumed. Magdale"na was forced 
 to return to Menlo Park. 
 
 She spent the night walking the floor of her room, 
 struggling for endurance to face the places eloquent 
 of Trennahan. There were so many of them ! Helena 
 simply would not have returned; no power short of 
 physical force could have compelled her. More than 
 once Magdalna wished that she was cast in her 
 friend's anarchic mould. She felt that did her grip 
 upon herself relax she should scream aloud and grovel 
 on the very boards that had had their share in her 
 brief love-life. But she was Magdal^na Yorba, the 
 proudest woman in California; in the very hour of
 
 The Californians 261 
 
 her discovery, when she had been possessed of a blind 
 terror rather than grief, she had remembered to be 
 thankful that the world could not pity her. Even the 
 genuine sympathy of Tiny would have been gall in 
 a raw wound. She was looking thinner and plainer 
 than ever, but her father's illness would account for 
 that. She must set her features in steel and lock them, 
 keep her emotions for the night. 
 
 The next day she visited every spot associated with 
 Trennahan, not once, but many times. She had 
 made up her mind with the right instinct that the 
 thing to do was to blunt her sensibilities. By the 
 third day she had ordered the earlier associations on 
 duty, and managed to confuse them somewhat with 
 those which had held possession for so brief a time. 
 She was determined to succeed. She had no right 
 to love the husband of another woman, and suffering 
 was something so much more terrible than anything 
 her imagination had ever hinted that she was frantic 
 to get rid of the load as quickly as possible. By and 
 by she would go back to her writing; and that, 
 and her duties, should be every bit of her life 
 henceforth. 
 
 At the end of a week she discovered that she was 
 still receptive to the aesthetic delights. It was early 
 spring. The soft air caressed the senses, perfumed 
 with violet and lilac, Castilian roses, new clover, and 
 the breath of mountain forests, brought on the long 
 sighs of the wind. Never was there such a bouquet 
 since Time began. Over a high bush on the lawn
 
 262 The Californians 
 
 opposite her window the long " bridal wreaths M 
 tumbled. The meadows were full of mustard, the 
 bright green leaves hardly visible, so thick were the 
 yellow blossoms. 
 
 Once she rode to the foot-hills, escorted by Dick. 
 They were covered with yellow and purple lupins, minia 
 ture jungles which harboured nothing more sanguinary 
 than the gopher and the cotton-tail. The tawny pop 
 pies had hills all to themselves, a blaze of colour 
 as fiery as the sun to which they lifted their curved 
 drowsy lips. The Mariposa lilies grew by the creeks, 
 in the dark shade of meeting willows. The gold- 
 green moss was like plush on the trees. From the 
 hills the great valley looked like a dense forest out 
 of which lifted the tower of an enchanted castle. 
 Not another signal of man was to be seen, nothing 
 but the excrescence on the big wedding-cake house of 
 a Bonanza king. Beyond the hills rose the slopes 
 of the mountains, with their mighty redwoods, their 
 dark untrodden aisles, their vast primeval silences. 
 Magdatena was thankful that Nature had not ceased 
 to be beautiful, and pressed her hands against her 
 heart to stifle its demand ; Nature commands union, 
 and has no sympathy for aching solitude. 
 
 Meanwhile Don Roberto was recovering rapidly. 
 From the hour that he could walk briskly about the 
 garden his voluble irascibility left him, and he reverted 
 to something more than his old taciturnity ; he rarely 
 opened his mouth except to put the plainest of food 
 into it, even to speak to Mr. Polk. His brows were
 
 The Californians 263 
 
 lowered constantly over heavy brooding eyes ; his lips 
 seemed set with a spring. When he finally addressed 
 his wife, it was to tell her that she must manage with 
 one butler and one housemaid. Coincidently he dis 
 missed two of the gardeners and commanded the one 
 retained, and Dick, to plant in a part of the lawns that 
 there might be less water used. Himself came from 
 town every evening and worked in the garden for two 
 hours, besides arising at five in the morning and work 
 ing until breakfast. He sold his finest carriage horses 
 to Mr. Geary ; and when one of the two remaining was 
 temporarily disabled, he rode to and from the station in 
 the spring wagon. The monthly allowance of his wife 
 and daughter was suspended for the summer. 
 
 Mrs. Yorba, tall, garbed in black, stalked about the 
 house with the expression of an outraged empress; 
 Magdatena, being the cause of the outrage, was rarely 
 addressed. She ostentatiously made over several of 
 her old frocks and coldly requested her daughter to 
 make her own bed. She kept all the windows in the 
 house, with the exception of one in each room, closed 
 and shuttered, as she was deprived of both service 
 and water. The house seemed perpetually expectant 
 of funeral guests, its silence only broken by Mrs. 
 Yorba's heavy sighs. 
 
 Magdatena had certainly succeeded in making three 
 people miserable ; she could only hope that she had 
 been more fortunate with the other two. She spent 
 most of her time out of doors, riding or walking until 
 her strength was exhausted. She was profoundly
 
 264 The Californians 
 
 grateful that she was to take little part in the sociali 
 ties of the summer. To dance and picnic and ten 
 nis and ride to the hills, exactly as she had done when 
 quite another person ! She infinitely preferred the 
 disapproval of her parents and the freedom they gave 
 her. 
 
 XVII 
 
 TRENNAHAN had written to Magdalna from the Islands, 
 acknowledging the letter she had written him after her 
 interview with her father, and accepting his dismissal. 
 He returned to San Francisco the last of May. Almost 
 immediately she received a letter from Helena an 
 nouncing her engagement to him. 
 
 Helena, while in Southern California, had written to 
 Magdalna with her accustomed regularity. The let 
 ters were bitter with self-reproach alternated with the 
 very joy of being alive in that opulent southern land. 
 When she wrote of the engagement she assured the 
 dearest friend she had on earth that if things had 
 turned out differently she should have gone away and 
 got over it somehow, but as Magdatena's decision was 
 irrevocable she intended to be the happiest girl in the 
 world ; it would n't do anybody a bit of good if she 
 was n't. Magdal6na felt no bitterness toward her. 
 She had lost Trennahan ; the woman mattered nothing. 
 She would rather it were Helena than another; for 
 who else could make him so happy? But she knew
 
 The Californians 265 
 
 that she should see less of Helena in the future, and 
 she hardly knew whether she were glad or sorry. She 
 wished that she had the courage to ask her to keep 
 him away from Menlo Park this summer. 
 
 The other girls moved down, bringing many guests, 
 and she saw them daily; habit is not broken in a 
 moment. They passed through Fair Oaks as usual on 
 their afternoon drives, stopping for a chat; in their 
 char-a-bancs or on the verandah. It was some time 
 before they discovered the changes in the Yorba 
 household, and when they did they merely shrugged 
 their shoulders at the old don's eccentricities. The 
 big parlours were certainly to be regretted ; but there 
 were other parlours that were not half bad, and it was 
 terribly up-hill work entertaining Don Roberto. They 
 were profoundly sorry for Magdale"na, and were so in 
 sistent in their demands that she should spend much of 
 her time with them that she found her solitude far less 
 complete than she had hoped. But Helena and Tren- 
 nahan were not to come down until the first of July ; 
 they had gone with Colonel Belmont to the Yosemite, 
 Geysers and Big Trees. 
 
 XVIII 
 
 TRENNAHAN in that first month thought little of Mag- 
 dale"na. He hardly knew whether he were happy or 
 not; he certainly was intoxicated. Helena was both 
 impassioned and shy, a companion to whom words
 
 266 The Californians 
 
 were hardly a necessary medium for thought, and 
 magnificently uncertain of mood. Moreover, whether 
 riding a donkey up the steep dusty grades of the 
 Yosemite, or half veiled in a mist of steam, reeking of 
 Hell, or standing with wondering eyes and parted lips 
 among the colossal trees of Calaveras, she was always 
 beautiful. And Trennahan worshipped her beauty with 
 the strength of a passion which had sprung from a long 
 and recuperative sleep. That he was twice her age 
 mattered nothing to him now. Nothing mattered but 
 that she was to be wholly his. 
 
 The morning after his return to Menlo he awoke 
 with a confused sense that he should be late for his 
 morning ride with Magdalena. He laughed as his 
 senses rattled into place, but he sighed just after ; and 
 both the laugh and the sigh were Magdalena's, grim as 
 the former may have been. That had been a time of 
 peace and perfect content, and he could never forget 
 it, not though he lived long years of unimaginable 
 bliss with Helena which he probably would not. A 
 part of his life, limited and stunted a part as it was, 
 belonged irrevocably to Magdalena. He concluded, 
 after some hard thinking, that it was his best part. He 
 had given her something of his soul, and he had no 
 wish to take it back. He had given her the reviving 
 aspirations of an originally noble nature ; the sun of 
 her had shone upon the barren soil, and the harvest 
 was hers. He was an unimaginative man, but he was 
 inclined to believe that if there was a future existence, 
 Magdalena would belong to him then and for ever, that
 
 The Californians 267 
 
 something even less definable than the soul of each 
 belonged to the other For there was nothing to be 
 ashamed of in his love for Helena. She appealed as 
 powerfully to his mind and heart as to his passion. 
 But there was something beyond all, and he had no 
 name for it, unless it were that principle of absolute 
 good as distinguished from its grades and variations ; 
 and it belonged to the girl whom he certainly no 
 longer wanted in this life. 
 
 He wished that he had suggested to Helena to spend 
 the summer in San Rafael or Monterey. Menlo Park 
 belonged to Magdatena ; he found himself hating the 
 thought of having a series of very perfect memories 
 disturbed, even by the most passionately loved of 
 women. And so Magdatena had her first revenge. 
 
 He went reluctantly enough to Fair Oaks in the 
 afternoon. The very leaves whispered as they drove 
 through the woods. He had protested, but Helena 
 must see 'Le'na at once ; she could never be entirely 
 happy until she had looked into 'Le'na's eyes and con 
 vinced herself that they were quite unchanged. And 
 Trennahan must go, too, and have it over. Trennahan, 
 who only crossed her whims for the pleasure of making 
 up with her later, admitted that she was right, and went. 
 
 Mrs. Yorba was on the verandah receiving Mrs. 
 Geary and Mrs. Brannan. Magdale"na was upstairs in 
 her room. The monotony of those afternoon recep 
 tions had taken its place among the distasteful things 
 of life, and she was determined not to go down until 
 she was sent for. Each time she heard wheels she
 
 268 Ihe Californians 
 
 went to the window and looked out. The third time 
 she saw Trennahan and Helena. The very bones of 
 her skeleton seemed to fall upon each other ; she sank 
 to the ground with less vigour than a shattered soldier. 
 But in a moment she gave a hard gasp and pressed her 
 hands to her face. Then she heard Helena's voice, 
 that sweet husky voice which was not the least potent 
 of her charms. 
 
 " 'Le"na ! 'Le"na ! Well, I '11 go look for her." 
 
 Magdale"na scrambled to her feet and fled down 
 the hall to her mother's dressing-room. There, in a 
 cupboard, was always a decanter of sherry; for Mrs. 
 Yorba, after her neuralgic attacks, was often faint. 
 Magdale"na filled a glass, drank it, and blessed the 
 swift fire which shook her will free and made a disci 
 plined regiment of her nerves. She was so delighted 
 at her sudden mastery over herself that she ran out 
 into the hall, caught Helena in her arms, and kissed 
 her demonstratively. Helena burst into tears. " You 
 are the best girl on earth," she sobbed. " And I feel 
 so wicked ; but I am so happy." 
 
 Magdale"na dried her tears, a part she had filled 
 many times. " You are the dearest and most honest 
 girl in the world," she said. 
 
 " Oh, I try to be honest, but I get so mixed up. I 
 wish I could have a new set of commandments handed 
 down all for myself, and that I could have made the 
 rough draft of them. Then I 'd be quite happy. But 
 come down and see Jack, I could n't stand John. 
 He 's awfully brown and looks splendid."
 
 The Californians 269 
 
 Trennahan gave Magdalna's hand a friendly shake 
 and asked her what the plans for the summer were. 
 
 " Papa has a frightfully economical fit and says we 
 are not to entertain any more. He does n't even allow 
 us enough water to wash the windows; and if this 
 supply of gasoline gives out before the end of the 
 summer, we 've got to burn oil." 
 
 " Magdatena ! " gasped Mrs. Yorba. She wondered 
 if her contribution to the Yorbas had suddenly gone 
 mad. But the sherry was in Magdal^na's head. She 
 was quite conscious of it, but recklessly decided to let 
 it have its way so long as it helped her to convey to 
 Trennahan the information that he was no more to her 
 than the browning tuberoses on the lawn. 
 
 " It 's only what everybody knows," she replied. " I 
 am sure everybody in Menlo has discussed him thread 
 bare. Mr. Trennahan, you happened upon him in the 
 oasis of his life ; you never could stand it to dine here 
 now. We can scarcely see to eat, and he never opens 
 his mouth except to swear at the servants." 
 
 Mrs. Yorba was speeding her guests. When she 
 returned, she gave her daughter an annihilating glance 
 and went into the house. Trennahan stared at Mag- 
 dalna. He saw her object, but could not guess the 
 motive-power behind. A sudden, sickening fear as 
 sailed him : Was Magdatena deteriorating? And he 
 the cause? But Magdale"na was rattling on. The 
 sherry seemed to have a marvellous power over one's 
 wits and tongue. Why had she not known of it. in the 
 days when she had longed to shine? But her mother
 
 270 The Californians 
 
 did not approve of girls drinking wine, and she had 
 rarely tasted it, although until recently it had always 
 been on the table. 
 
 "You both look so well," she said. "You don't 
 look so tired as most engaged people do. I suppose 
 you don't sit up every night until twelve talking about 
 yourselves, as they generally do, I am told. That must 
 be so fatiguing. Mr. Trennahan, you are actually 
 stouter. You don't look as if you had been climbing 
 perpendicular mountains. Is it true that a man 
 stepped over the Bridal Veil backward ? Do tell me 
 all about it ! " 
 
 Helena was staring at Magdalena with her mouth 
 half open. She was the least obtuse of mortals ; but 
 although she knew that pride was at the root of Mag- 
 dalena's extraordinary behaviour, she concluded that 
 love had fled, and marvelled, for she had believed 
 Magdalena to be the deepest and most tenacious of 
 women. But she was very glad. 
 
 " Well ! " she exclaimed. " Something has improved 
 you ! You will be fairly brilliant by next winter. And 
 do for goodness' sake, 'L6na, give Don Roberto to un 
 derstand that he's not to have his own way. He's 
 like all bullies : he 'd soon give in if you bullied him. 
 I adore papa, and would do anything on earth for him ; 
 but if he had been born a different sort, and gave me 
 trouble, I 'd find more than one way of bringing him to 
 terms. Just flash your eyes at Don Roberto as you 're 
 flashing them at us, and you '11 see the difference it wil] 
 make."
 
 The Californians 271 
 
 Has she ceased to love me? thought Trennahan. 
 Thank God ! at least I ought to. 
 
 When they had gone, the sherry had run its course, 
 and Magdatena felt very much ashamed of herself. 
 I overdid it, she thought in terror, as she recalled 
 her scintillating remarks and elaborate manner. He 
 must have suspected ! I '11 drink no more, and next 
 time I '11 be just what I would have been if I had never 
 laid eyes on him if I die in the attempt. And how 
 I talked ! What things I said ! Great Heaven, I made 
 a complete fool of myself ! 
 
 And the knowledge that for once in her life she had 
 thrown her dignity and pride to the winds put her 
 other pain to flight, and she had at least one night 
 unracked by the record within her. 
 
 XIX 
 
 Two days later she met Trennahan on the Mont- 
 gomerys' verandah. She was her old sedate self, to his 
 unspeakable relief. That Magdatena should change, 
 be less than the admirable creature he had loved when 
 he was something more than himself, would have 
 seemed no less a calamity than had the stars turned 
 black. She sat up very straight in her prim little way 
 and talked of Helena's new project ; which was to 
 build bath-houses down by the lagoon at Ravens- 
 wood and bathe when the tide was in. He told 
 her that he too had a project : to persuade the men
 
 The Californians 
 
 of Menlo to build a Club House, and thus have some 
 sort of informal social centre. She told him that she 
 thought that would be nice, and added that she 
 wished she had a project too, but she was hope 
 lessly unoriginal. Trennahan assured her that she did 
 herself injustice ; and in these admirable platitudes 
 they pushed along a half-hour like a wheel-barrow, 
 while both thought of the great oak staring at them 
 from the foot of the garden. 
 
 It will come easier with time, she thought that 
 night, as she pulled her clothes off with heavy fingers. 
 I can almost look him in the eyes without wanting to 
 fling myself at him. His voice does not matter so much, 
 for I always hear it anyway. They say that when you 
 no longer hear a person's voice in your memory the 
 love has gone too. They will be away for a year after 
 they marry. Perhaps I shall forget then. My memory 
 is not very good. 
 
 She opened the upper drawer of her bureau and 
 lifted out her large handkerchief box. In its lower 
 part, carefully hidden away, were Trennahan's letters, 
 several of his faded boutonnieres, and one of his gloves. 
 She had made up her mind the day she heard of his 
 engagement to Helena that these things must be 
 burnt, but had dreaded their sight and touch. Now, 
 however, they must go. She was always conscious of 
 their presence ; something of her weakness might pass 
 with their destruction. As she lifted out the handker 
 chiefs she came upon the dagger. It was a beautiful 
 toy, but she pushed it aside resentfully. Its magic was
 
 The Californians 273 
 
 not for her. She gathered up her tokens with trem 
 bling fingers, resisted the impulse to sit down and weep 
 over them, laid them in the grate, and flung a bunch of 
 lighted matches into the pyre. 
 
 Helena immediately gave a party. The Belmont 
 house, like most of the others of Menlo, had been 
 designed for comfort rather than for entertaining ; but 
 the dining-room was large, and when stripped of the 
 many massive pieces of furniture which Colonel Bel 
 mont had brought from his Southern home, would have 
 accommodated more dancing folk than the neighbours 
 and their guests. The famous Four were not present ; 
 nor were they seen in Menlo that summer. Imme 
 diately after the announcement of Helena's engage 
 ment some cruel wag had sent each a miniature tub 
 with " For Tears " inscribed with black paint upon the 
 bottom. It was generally supposed that the afflicted 
 quartette were spending their leisure over these tubs, 
 for they had retired into as complete an obscurity as 
 their various callings would permit. Helena told Mag- 
 daMna that she lived in terror of their poisoned or 
 perforated bodies being found in the dark byways of 
 Golden Gate Park; but the youth of the modern 
 civilisation, while amenable to suffering, thinks highly 
 of himself as a factor in current history. 
 
 Trennahan was not allowed to spend the evening in 
 the smoking-room with the older men ; he must keep 
 himself in sight even while his Helena was dancing 
 with another. He wandered about with a grim smile 
 
 18
 
 274 The Californians 
 
 on his mouth, talking occasionally to the older ladiea 
 who sat in a corner; wall-flowers there were none. 
 He wished that Magdale'na would take pity on him, for 
 he was unmercifully bored; but she danced with ex 
 asperating regularity. Occasionally Helena slipped 
 her hand through his arm and took him out in the 
 garden, purring upon his shoulder and begging him 
 not to be bored ; but she must look at him ! If he 
 insisted upon it, she would not dance. He refused to 
 countenance such a sacrifice, and protested that he was 
 just beginning to understand the pleasure of evening 
 parties. Once he did slip away, and was lying, with 
 his coat off, a cigar between his lips, crosswise on a 
 bed upstairs with Colonel Belmont and Mr. Washing 
 ton, when he received a peremptory message to go 
 downstairs at once. He threw his cigar away, jerked 
 himself into his coat, and left the room with jeering 
 condolences in his wake. He felt cross for the mo 
 ment ; but when he reached the hall below he smiled 
 humorously as he met the protesting eyes of his lady. 
 
 " I can't bear to have you out of my sight ! " she 
 exclaimed. " It 's horribly selfish, but I feel as if 
 everything were a blank when you are out of the 
 room." 
 
 What could a man do in the face of so much beauty 
 and so much affection, but to vow to hold up the 
 wall for the rest of the evening? 
 
 As he was taking Magdalena to her carriage a little 
 after midnight, she said to him shyly, - 
 
 " I hope you are quite happy."
 
 The Californians 275 
 
 And he answered with unmistakable fervour, " I am 
 indeed." 
 
 Mrs. Yorba was detained by Mrs. Cartright, who 
 was delivering herself of many words. 
 
 " Do you believe that love is everything in life ? " 
 Magdatena asked him. 
 
 " By no means. Not even to woman, in spite of the 
 poets. It induces intense concentration for the time, 
 consequently looms larger in the affairs of life than the 
 million other scraps that go to make up the vast patch 
 work. But it is as well to remember that it is but an 
 occasional patch in the quilt, even if it be of the most 
 vivid hue. And there is a lot to be got out of the 
 other patches ! " 
 
 " If you lost Helena, could you feel like that ? " 
 
 " In time ; beyond a doubt. Memory simply can 
 not hold water beyond a certain strain ; there comes a 
 rift at last, and the flood pours through." 
 
 " Then if you lost Helena, should you feel as as 
 you did when you came here first ? You were tired 
 of everything you remember. You told me you 
 don't mind my speaking of it?" She was aghast at 
 her inconsistency, but the magnet in the man was as 
 irresistible as ever. 
 
 "Mind? From you? I have never talked to a 
 human being about myself as I have talked to you. I 
 don't know what would happen to me in such an event. 
 I am neither a fool nor a drunkard, remember. I 
 think I should seek entirely new, barely comprehended, 
 lands, the South Sea Islands, for instance, I have
 
 276 The Californians 
 
 wasted my life. I have neither the energies nor the 
 ambitions to pull up now. I should simply seek new 
 oranges and squeeze them dry. There are always the 
 intellectual pleasures, you know. I should not be 
 proud of myself, but I should get through the remain 
 ing years somehow." 
 
 " There was something else I should not speak 
 of it " 
 
 They were standing in the shadow of the char-a- 
 banc. Trennahan raised her hand to his lips. " I was 
 in a state of moral chaos when I met you, that is 
 what you mean. I do not think I ever shall be again. 
 Even Helena could never do for me what you did. 
 You and I made a great mistake, but we generated one 
 of those singular friendships which no circumstances 
 nor time can annihilate. Some day we shall take up 
 the threads where they broke off. I always look for 
 ward to that. A man may be contented with one 
 woman's love, but not with one woman's friendship. I 
 am glad that you are as dear to Helena as you are to 
 me. In time, perhaps we may all three live more or 
 less together." 
 
 He was a man of humour, but he said that. She was 
 a woman of little humour, but she laughed. 
 
 XX 
 
 THE breathless state of Helena's affections did not 
 interfere with her desire to lead in all things those fa 
 voured of her acquaintance. Although, in deference to
 
 The Californians 277 
 
 Trennahan's emphatic wish, she forswore eccentrici 
 ties, she taxed her fertile brain to keep Menlo Park in 
 a whirl of excitement. 
 
 " It can't be done," said Rose. " The climate has 
 poppy dust in it instead of oxygen, but she may 
 wake us up for a while." 
 
 She did. The bath-houses were built, and the big 
 char-a-bancs rolled down the dusty road to Ravens- 
 wood every morning. The salt water and the sun 
 brought out the red in the girls' hair, so the pastime 
 promised to weather one season, at least. She gave 
 dances and picnics on alternate weeks, and her hospi 
 tality in the matter of luncheons and dinners was un 
 bounded. The Colonel built a bowling-alley and a 
 proper tennis-court; in short, there was no doubt 
 about " The Belmonts' " being the nucleus of Menlo 
 Park. Several times Helena persuaded the owner of 
 the stage line between Redwood City and La Honda 
 to let her drive ; and she took a select few of her friends 
 on the top of the lumbering coach, relegating the un 
 easy passengers to the stuffy interior. The road is one 
 of the most picturesque in California, but the grades 
 are steep, the turnings abrupt, dangerous in many 
 places. Nevertheless, Helena, balancing on her nar 
 row perch high above the wheelers' heels, managed her 
 rapid mustangs so admirably that Trennahan, balanc 
 ing beside her, wondered if he should be able to manage 
 her one half so well. 
 
 " What Helena Belmont needs," said Mrs. Mont 
 gomery, with some asperity, " is six babies ; and I hope
 
 ay 8 The Californians 
 
 for Mr. Trennahan's sake she '11 have them. Other 
 wise, I should like to know where the poor man is to 
 get any rest; she's a human cyclone." 
 
 " I never thought she 'd marry so soon," replied 
 Mrs. Brannan. " It looked as if she were going to be 
 a regular old-time belle ; and it took them years to get 
 through." 
 
 "She 's not married yet," remarked Mrs. Montgomery. 
 
 But these enormous energies, as Rose had predicted, 
 reached their meridian in something under two months, 
 after which, much to Trennahan's relief, Helena suc 
 cumbed to Menlo Park, and manifested an increasing 
 desire for long hours alone with him under the trees on 
 the lawn, although she by no means allowed her neigh 
 bours to rest for more than seventy-two hours at a 
 time. 
 
 XXI 
 
 DON ROBERTO and Mr. Polk took no part in these fes 
 tivities ; Mrs. Yorba and MagdaMna took less and less ; 
 the picture made by Don Roberto in his shirt-sleeves, 
 manipulating a hose as the char-a-banc drove off, finally 
 forbade his wife to riot while her husband toiled. She 
 was angry and resentful ; but she was a woman of stern 
 principles, and she had a certain measure of that sort 
 of love for her husband which duty prompts in those 
 who are without passion. 
 
 "I don't pretend to understand your father," she
 
 The Californians 279 
 
 said to Magdaldna. " The bees he gets in his bonnet 
 are quite beyond me, but if he feels that way, he does, 
 and that 's the end of it ; and he makes me feel un 
 comfortable all the time I am anywhere. I sha'n't go 
 out again until he gets over this. You can go with 
 somebody else." 
 
 " I would a great deal rather stay home. I don't 
 enjoy myself. People work so hard to be amused. 
 I 'd much rather just sit still and do nothing." 
 
 " You 're lazy, like all the Spanish. Well, you '11 
 have to do a good deal of sitting still, I expect ; and in 
 a sick room, I 'm afraid. Poor Hiram looks thinner 
 and greyer every day. Almost all our relations died 
 of consumption." 
 
 "I wrote to aunt how badly he was looking, but 
 she has not answered." 
 
 "She won't, the heartless thing. She never loved 
 him. But if he takes to his bed with slow consump 
 tion, she '11 have to come up and do her share of the 
 nursing. She ought to like it. Fat women always 
 make good nurses." 
 
 Magdatena was more than glad to fall out of the 
 gaieties. She was beginning to feel that most demor 
 alising of all sensations, the disintegration of will. 
 Pride, a certain excitement, and novelty had kept her 
 armour locked for a time ; but each time she met 
 Trennahan, the ordeal of facing him with platitudes, 
 or, what was worse still, in occasional friendly talks, 
 and of witnessing Helena's little airs of possession, 
 suggested a future and signal failure. She came to
 
 280 The Californians 
 
 have a morbid terror that she should betray herself, 
 and when in company with him kept out of the very 
 reach of his voice. She never went to the woods, lest 
 she meet him, with or without Helena. In those rust 
 ling arbours of many memories, she knew that she 
 should let fly the passion within her. She was appalled 
 that neither time nor will nor principle had authority 
 over her love. She had made up her mind that she 
 would, if not tear it up by the roots, at least level it to 
 the soil from which it had sprung, and she was quite 
 ready to believe that love was not all ; that with her 
 youth, intellect, and wealth there was much in life for 
 her. But the plant flourished and was heavy with 
 bloom. Even while she avoided him, she longed for 
 the moment when he must of necessity speak to her. 
 She welcomed the excuse to secede from the ranks 
 of pleasurers, but even then she started up at every 
 sound of wheels that might herald his approach. She 
 longed for the wedding to be over ; but Helena would 
 not marry before December, that being her birth 
 month and eminently suitable, in her logical fancy, for 
 her second launching. Colonel Belmont, having sat 
 isfied himself that everyone in the little drama had 
 acted with honour, was well pleased with his son-in- 
 law; but he was much distressed at the attitude of 
 the old friend who had hoped to fill a similar relation 
 to Trennahan. Don Roberto, taciturn with every 
 body, refused to speak to Colonel Belmont, to return 
 his courtly salutation. 
 
 " I suppose it is natural/' said Colonel Belmont to
 
 The Californians 281 
 
 Helena. "Don is not only eccentric, but he would 
 almost rather lose a hundred thousand dollars than his 
 own way. But I hope he '11 come round in time, for 
 it makes me feel right lonesome in my old age. He 
 and Hi were the only real intimates I have had in 
 California, and now Hi is going, poor old fellow ! 
 and of course I can do little to cheer him up until 
 Don thaws out." 
 
 "Do you feel quite well yourself? " asked Helena, 
 anxiously. " You often look so terribly pale." 
 
 " I never was better, honey, I assure you. But 
 remember that you must expect to lose your old father 
 some day. But I Ve been pretty good to you, have n't 
 I ? You '11 have nothing but pleasant things to re 
 member?" 
 
 "You're the very best angel on earth. I don't 
 even love Jack so much. I thought I did, but I 
 don't." 
 
 " Don't you love him ? " asked her father, anxiously. 
 He was eager for her to marry; he knew that his 
 blood was white. 
 
 " Of course 1 What a question 1 " 
 
 XXII 
 
 IT was an intensely hot September night. Magdale"na, 
 knowing that sleep was impossible, had not gone to 
 bed. She wandered restlessly about her large room, 
 striving to force a current of air. Not a vibration
 
 282 The Californlans 
 
 came through the open windows, nor a sound. The 
 very trees seemed to lean forward with limp hanging 
 arms. Across the stars was a dark veil, riven at long 
 intervals with the copper of sheet lightning. Her room, 
 too, was dark. A light would bring a pest of mos 
 quitoes. The high- remote falsetto of several, as it was, 
 proclaimed an impatient waiting for their ally, sleep. 
 
 Last night, Tiny had given a party, and wrung from 
 Magdaldna a promise that she would go to it. Rose 
 had called for her. At the last moment Magdalna's 
 courage had shrunk to a final shuddering heap, and 
 as she heard the wheels of the Geary waggonette, she 
 had run upstairs, and flung herself between the bed 
 clothes, sending down word that she had a raging 
 toothache. It was her first lie in many years, but it 
 was better than to dance with despair and agony 
 written on her relaxed face behind the windows of 
 the garden in which Trennahan had asked her to 
 marry him. 
 
 To-night she was seriously considering the propo 
 sition of going to her aunt in Santa Barbara, with or 
 without her father's consent. Her sense of duty had 
 not tumbled into the ruins of her will, but she argued 
 that in this most crucial period of her life, her 
 duty was to herself. Helena had not even asked her 
 to be bridesmaid; she took her acquiescence for 
 granted. Magdatena laughed aloud at the thought; 
 but she could not leave Helena in the lurch at the 
 last moment. When she got to Santa Barbara, she 
 could plead her aunt's ill health as excuse for not
 
 The Californians 283 
 
 returning in time for the ceremony. She was in a 
 mood to tell twenty lies if necessary, but she would 
 not stand at the altar with Trennahan and Helena. 
 Her passionate desire for change of associations was 
 rising rapidly to the dignity of a fixed idea. To-mor 
 row there must be a change of some sort, or her brain 
 would be babbling its secrets. Already her memory 
 would not connect at times. She felt sure that the 
 prolonged strain had produced a certain congestion 
 in her brain. And she was beginning to wonder if 
 she hated Helena. The fires in Magdale"na burned 
 slowly, but they burned exceeding hot. 
 
 She paused and thrust her head forward. For some 
 seconds past her sub-consciousness had grasped the 
 sound of galloping hoofs. They were on the estate, 
 by the deer park ; a horse was galloping furiously 
 toward the house. 
 
 She ran to the window and looked out. She could 
 see nothing. Could it be a runaway horse? Was 
 somebody ill? The flying feet turned abruptly and 
 made for the rear of the house, then paused suddenly. 
 There was a furious knocking. 
 
 Magdatena's knees shook with a swift presentiment. 
 Something had happened was going to happen 
 to her. She stood holding her breath. Someone 
 ran softly but swiftly up the stair, and down the hall, 
 to her room. She knew then who it was, and ran 
 forward and opened the door. 
 
 " Helena ! " she exclaimed. "What is the matter? 
 Something has Mr. Trennahan "
 
 284 The Californians 
 
 Helena flung herself upon Magdalena and burst into 
 a passion of weeping. Magdalena stood rigid, ice in 
 her veins. " Is he dead ? " she managed to ask. 
 
 " No ! He is n't. I wish he were No, I don't 
 mean that I '11 tell you in a minute Let me get 
 through first ! " 
 
 Magdalena dragged her shaking limbs across the 
 room and felt for a chair. Helena began pacing 
 rapidly up and down, pushing the chairs out of her way. 
 
 "Would you like a light? " asked Magdalena. 
 
 " No, thanks ; I don't want to be eaten alive with 
 mosquitoes. Oh, how shall I begin? I suppose you 
 think we 've had a commonplace quarrel. I wish we 
 had. I swear to you, 'Lna, that up to to-night I loved 
 him yes, I know that I did ! I was rather sorry I 'd 
 promised to marry so soon, for I like being a girl, not 
 really belonging to anyone but myself, and I love 
 being a great belle, and I think that I should have 
 begged for another year but I loved him better 
 than anyone, and I really intended to marry him " 
 
 " Are n't you going to marry him ? " 
 
 " Don't be so stern, 'Lena ! You don't know all 
 yet. Lately I 've been alone with him a great deal, 
 and you know how you talk about yourselves in those 
 circumstances. I had told him everything I had ever 
 done and thought most; had turned myself in 
 side out. Then I made him talk. Up to a certain 
 point he was fluent enough; then he shut up like a 
 clam. I never was very curious about men; but 
 because he was all mine, or perhaps because I did n't
 
 The Californians 285 
 
 have anything else to think about, I made up my mind 
 he should come to confession. He fought me off, 
 but you know I have a way of getting what I want 
 if I don't there 's trouble ; and to-night I pulled his 
 past life out of him bit by bit. 'Le'na ! he 's had 
 liaisons with married women ; he 's kept house with 
 women ; he 's seen the worst life of every city ! For a 
 few years he confessed it in so many words he 
 was one of the maddest men in Europe. The actual 
 things he told me only in part ; but you know I have 
 the instincts of the devil. 'L6na, he 's a human slum, 
 and I hate him ! I hate him ! I hate him ! " 
 
 "But that all belongs to his past. He loves you, 
 and you can make him better make him forget " 
 
 " I don't want to make any man better. I love 
 everything to be clean and new and bright, not 
 mildewed with a thousand vices that I would never 
 even discuss. Oh, he 's a brute to ask me to marry 
 him. I hate myself that I 've been engaged to him ! 
 I feel as if I 'd tumbled off a pedestal ! " 
 
 "Are you so much better and purer than I? I knew 
 much of this ; but it did not horrify me. I knew too, 
 what you may not know, that he came here in a criti 
 cal time in his his inner life, and I was glad to 
 think that California had helped him to become 
 quite another man." Her voice was hoarse, almost 
 inarticulate. 
 
 Helena flung herself at Magdatena's feet. She was 
 trembling with excitement; but her feverish appeal 
 for sympathy met with no response.
 
 286 The Californians 
 
 " That is another thing that nearly drove me wild, 
 that I had taken him away from you for nothing. I 
 know you don't care now ; but you did perhaps you 
 do now sometimes I 've suspected, only I would n't 
 face it and to think that in my wretched selfishness 
 I 've separated you for ever ! For your pride would n't 
 let you take him back now, and he 's as wild about me 
 as ever : I never thought he could lose control over 
 himself as he did when I told him what I thought of 
 him and beat him on the shoulders with both my 
 fists. He turned as white as a corpse and shook like 
 a leaf. Then he braced up and told me I was a little 
 wild cat, and that he should leave me and come back 
 when I had come to my senses, that he had no inten 
 tion of giving me up. But he need not come back. 
 I '11 never lay eyes on him again. While he was let 
 ting me get at those things, I felt as if my love for him 
 burst into a thousand pieces, and that when they flew 
 together again they made hate. He told me he was 
 used to girls of the world, who understood things ; and 
 that the girls of California were so crude they either 
 knew all there was to know by experience, or else they 
 were prudes " 
 
 Helena paused abruptly and caught her breath. 
 She had felt Magdale'na extend her arm and stealthily 
 open a drawer in the bureau beside her chair. There 
 was nothing remarkable in the fact, for in that 
 drawer Magdale'na kept her handkerchiefs. Neverthe 
 less, Helena shook with the palsy of terror; the cold 
 sweat burst from her body. In the intense darkness
 
 The Californians 287 
 
 she could see nothing, only a vague patch where the 
 face of Magdatena was. The silence was so strained 
 that surely a shriek must come tearing across it. The 
 shriek came from her own throat. She leaped to her 
 feet like a panther, reached the door in a bound, fled 
 down the hall and the stair, her eyes glancing wildly 
 over her shoulder, and so out to her horse. It is 
 many years since that night, but there are silent 
 moments when that ride through the woods flashes 
 down her memory and chills her skin, that mad flight 
 from an unimaginable horror, through the black woods 
 on a terrified horse, the shadow of her fear racing just 
 behind with outstretched arms and clutching fingers. 
 
 Helena's sudden flight left Magdale"na staring through 
 the dark at the Spanish dagger in her hand. Her 
 arm was raised, her wrist curved ; the dagger pointed 
 toward the space which Helena had filled a moment 
 ago. 
 
 " I intended to kill her," she said aloud. " I in 
 tended to kill her." 
 
 The mental admission of the design and its frustra 
 tion were almost simultaneous. Her brain was still in a 
 hideous tumult. Weakened by suffering, the shock of 
 Helena's fickleness and injustice, the sudden percep 
 tion that her sacrifice had been useless, if not absurd, 
 had disturbed her mental balance for a few seconds, 
 and left her at the mercy of passions hitherto inex- 
 istent to her consciousness. Her love for her old 
 friend, long trembling in the balance, had flashed into 
 hate. Upon hate had followed the murderous impulse
 
 288 The Californians 
 
 for vengeance ; not for her own sake, but for that of 
 the man whose weakness had ruined her life and his 
 own. In the very height of her sudden madness she 
 was still capable of a curious misdirected feminine 
 unselfishness. 
 
 When she came to herself, chagrin that she had 
 failed to accomplish her purpose possessed her mind 
 for the moment, although she had made no attempt 
 to follow Helena, beyond springing to her feet. Then 
 her conscience asserted itself, and reminded her that 
 she should be appalled, overcome with horror, at the 
 awful possibilities of her nature. The picture of Helena 
 in the death struggle, bleeding and gasping, rose be 
 fore her. Her knees gave way with horror and fright, 
 and she fell upon her chair, dropping the dagger from 
 her wet ringers, staring at the grim spectre of her 
 friend. Then once more the sound of galloping hoofs 
 came to her ears. Both Helena and herself were safe. 
 
 In a few moments her thoughts grouped themselves 
 into a regret deeper and bitterer still. She was capable 
 of the highest passion, and Circumstance had diverted 
 it from its natural climax and impelled it toward mur 
 der. She sat there and thought until morning on the 
 part to which she had been born ; the ego dully at 
 tempting to understand, to realise that its imperious 
 demands receive little consideration from the great 
 Law of Circumstance, and are usually ignored.
 
 The Californians 289 
 
 XXIII 
 
 THE next morning Magdatena did as wise a thing as 
 if inspired by reason instead of blind instinct : she got 
 on her horse and rode for six hours. When she re 
 turned home she was exhausted of body and inert of 
 brain. She found a note from Helena awaiting her. 
 
 DEAREST 'LNA, What a tornado and an idiot you 
 must think me ! I cannot explain my extraordinary depar 
 ture. I suppose I was in such a nervous state that I was ob 
 sessed in some mysterious manner and went off like a 
 rocket. I can assure you I feel like a stick this morning. 
 You will forgive me, won't you? for you know that al 
 though my affections do fluctuate for some people, they 
 never do for you. 
 
 Well ! this morning I had a scene with papa. He was 
 very angry, talked about honour and all that sort of thing, 
 said that I was an unprincipled flirt, and that I expected 
 too much of a man. But when I said I could not under 
 stand how so perfect a man as himself could wish his 
 daughter to marry a rake, he never said another word, but 
 went off and wound up with Mr. Trennahan. I don't know 
 what they said to each other ; I don't care. It 's all too 
 dreadful to think about, and I never want to hear the sub 
 ject mentioned again. 
 
 We 're going to Monterey this afternoon to remain till 
 the end of the season, and then we '11 go to the Blue Lakes 
 for a little before settling down for the winter. I 'm tired 
 of Menlo. Can't you come to Monterey for a week or 
 two? Do think about it. I haven't a minute to go over 
 to Fair Oaks to say good-bye, but perhaps you '11 come to 
 the train. HELENA. 
 
 19
 
 290 The Californians 
 
 Magdalena got some luncheon from the pantry, then 
 went to bed and slept until six o'clock. At dinner 
 Mr. Polk said to her, 
 
 " I saw Trennahan this afternoon in a hack with a 
 lot of luggage on behind, and I stopped the driver and 
 got in, and went to the ferry with him. His engage 
 ment with Helena Belmont is broken, it seems, and he 
 is off for Samoa. Looked like the devil, but was as 
 polite as ever, and asked me to say good-bye to all 
 of you." 
 
 Don Roberto looked up. " When he coming back ? " 
 he asked. 
 
 " You know as much about that as I do ; or as he 
 does, I guess. He told me that he was going to ex 
 plore the South Seas thoroughly, and that ought to 
 take as many years as he 's got left, and more too." 
 
 It was two or three days before Magdalena realised 
 what a relief it was to have Trennahan out of the 
 country. It moved him back among the memories, 
 and struck from her imagination agitating possibilities. 
 And he belonged to no woman ! He could never be 
 hers, but at least she could love him. Already she 
 had begun to do so with a measure of calm. She 
 could hide him in her soul and count him wholly hers ; 
 and the prospect seemed far sweeter and more satis 
 factory than she should have imagined of such im 
 material union. And some day, she believed, he 
 would write to her. He had spoken authoritatively 
 of the permanence of their friendship, and of its ne 
 cessity to him. He had not loved her, as men count
 
 The Californians 291 
 
 love, but for a little she had been to him something 
 more than other women had been. The spiritual 
 sympathy which had been rudely interrupted, but had 
 surely existed, taught her this. In time he would be 
 come conscious again of the bond, and his letters 
 alone would be something to live for. 
 
 And she had much else. In the evenings when her 
 father was weeding on the lawn, she devoted herself to 
 her uncle ; and he seemed grateful for her attentions, 
 slight as was his response. He was visibly shrinking 
 to his skeleton, although he neither coughed nor com 
 plained, and went to town every morning with the 
 regularity of his youth. But his gaunt face was less 
 savagely determined, his eyes had lost the hard surface 
 of metal; and one evening when Magdalena slipped 
 her hand into his, he clasped and held it until Don 
 Roberto, gloomy and perspiring, came panting across 
 the drive. 
 
 And almost immediately Magdalena began to write. 
 She did not go to her nook in the woods, but after her 
 morning ride she wrote in her room until luncheon. 
 She told her mother of her literary plans and asked 
 her advice about making a similar announcement to 
 her father. Between astonishment and consternation 
 Mrs. Yorba gasped audibly, and her impassive counte 
 nance looked as if the hinges had fallen out of its muscles. 
 
 " For God's sake don't tell your father ! " she ex 
 claimed ; and she was not given to strong language. 
 " I don't believe you can write, anyhow, and we should 
 only have a terrible scene for nothing."
 
 292 The Californians 
 
 Magdatena accepted the advice. Her father showed 
 so little sense of his duty as a parent that her own was 
 growing adaptable to circumstances, although she was 
 still determined not to publish without his knowledge. 
 She had not returned to her English romance : that 
 had been consigned to the flames, and was now medi 
 tating in that limbo which receives the wraiths of the 
 lame, the halt, and the blind of abortive talent. She 
 was at work upon the simplest of the Old-Californian 
 tales. 
 
 On the Saturday afternoon after Helena's departure 
 for Monterey Rose called and invited Magdalna to 
 drive with her to the train to meet Mr. Geary. Tiny 
 and Ila, who were with her, added their insistence, and 
 Magdale"na, having no reasonable excuse, joined them. 
 As they drove through the woods Ila confided her en 
 gagement to young Washington, and was kissed and 
 congratulated in due form. 
 
 " I 'm going to live in Paris," she announced. " No 
 more California for me. You might as well be on 
 Mars, in the first place, and everybody cackles over 
 your private affairs, in the second. For the matter of 
 that, you have n't any." 
 
 " I think it 's disloyal of you to desert California," 
 said Tiny. " I have a feeling that we should all keep 
 together, and to the country." 
 
 " That 's a very fine sentiment, but though I love 
 you none the less, I want to live. I intend to be the 
 best-dressed American in Paris. That 's a reputation 
 worth having."
 
 The Californians 293 
 
 " I 'm going East to find a husband," said Rose, 
 shamelessly. " There 's no one to marry here. Alan 
 Rush would not have been half bad, but he might 
 as well be in an urn on Helena's mantelpiece. I like 
 Eastern men best, anyhow." 
 
 " Why not go to Southern California? " asked Tiny. 
 " It 's not so far as New York ; and there are always 
 plenty of them there." 
 
 " I should feel like a ghoul, man-hunting in One- 
 lungdom, as Mr. Bierce calls it. Besides, I 'd rather 
 die an old maid than have a sick man on my hands 
 for five minutes. I 'm not heartless, but well, we 've 
 all had our experiences with fathers and brothers. A 
 sick man 's an anomaly, somehow : he does n't fit into a 
 woman's imagination." 
 
 " I 'm not going to marry at all," said Tiny. " Fancy 
 what a lot of bother. It's so comfortable just to 
 drift along like this." 
 
 " Tiny," said Rose, "you 're a Menlo Park poppy." 
 
 They had arrived at the station, the pretty station 
 under its great oak, and flanked by its beds of bloom. 
 Eight or ten other equipages were there, waiting for 
 the " Daisy train," the fast train from town which on 
 Saturday afternoons carried many San Franciscans to 
 Monterey. 
 
 The women were in their bright summer attire and full 
 of chatter ; as the train was not due for some moments, 
 several got out of their carriages and went to other 
 carriages to gossip. It was a very lively and agreeable 
 scene: there being no outsiders, they were like one
 
 294 The Californians 
 
 large family. In the middle of the large open space 
 beside the platform stood several of the phaetons and 
 waggonettes, whose horses stepped high at sight of the 
 engine. On the far side was a row of Chinese wash- 
 houses, in whose doors stood the Mongolians, no less 
 picturesque than the civilisation across the way. Be 
 hind them was the tiny village of Menlo Park. On 
 the opposite side of the track was a row of high 
 closely knit trees which shut the Folsom place from 
 the passing eye. Caro, under a big pink sunshade, 
 had walked over to chat with her friends and escort 
 her visitors home. 
 
 The train rolled in and discharged its favoured few. 
 The wait was short, and Mr. Geary was still mounting 
 the steps of his char-a-banc when Magdatena sat for 
 ward with a faint exclamation. The smoking-car was 
 slowly passing. Four hats at four consecutive win 
 dows were raised as they drifted past. They were the 
 hats of Alan Rush, Eugene Fort, Carter Howard, and 
 " Dolly " Webster. 
 
 XXIV 
 
 THE Yorba house on Nob Hill was the gloomiest 
 house in San Francisco in any circumstances ; upon 
 the return of the family to town this year it suggested 
 a convent of perpetual silence. Mrs. Yorba, bereft of 
 her full corps of servants, herself shook the curtains 
 free of their loops and pinned them together. " Ah
 
 The Californians 295 
 
 Kee can play the hose on the windows from the out 
 side once a month," she remarked to her daughter; 
 " but Heaven only knows when they will be washed 
 inside again, or how often poor Ah Kee will have time 
 to sweep the rooms. I shall make an attempt to keep 
 the reception-room in some sort of order; and as it is 
 comparatively small and I can dust it myself, I may 
 succeed, but I don't suppose anyone will ever enter 
 the parlours again. There seems no hope of your 
 father coming to his senses." 
 
 Magdatena flung her own curtains wide, determined 
 to have light if she had to wash the windows herself. 
 But the rest of the house chilled and oppressed her. 
 Even her mother's bedroom was half-lighted, and the 
 halls and rooms downstairs were echoing vaults. One 
 was almost afraid to break the silence ; even the soft- 
 footed Chinaman walked on his toes. Magdalena con 
 ceived the whimsical idea that her father's house had 
 been closed to receive all the family skeletons of San 
 Francisco, of which many whispers had come to her. 
 Sometimes she fancied that she heard their bones 
 rattling .at night, as they crowded together, muttering 
 their terrible secrets. But the idea only amused her ; 
 it did not make her morbid, although there was little but 
 her own will to keep her spirits on a plane where there 
 was more light than bog. It was a very grey and rainy 
 winter. She was forced to spend the afternoons after four 
 o'clock in idleness : Don Roberto himself turned off 
 the gas every morning before he went down town, and 
 on again at seven in the evening. The meals in the
 
 296 The Californians 
 
 dining-room, naturally the darkest room in the house, 
 were eaten in absolute silence. In fact, it was seldom 
 that anyone spoke except on Mrs. Yorba's reception 
 day. Herself wore the air of a stoic. Don Roberto's 
 keen eyes searched his wife and daughter now and 
 again for any sign of extravagance in attire, but he 
 rarely addressed them except on the first of the month, 
 when he demanded their accounts. He peremptorily 
 forbade them to go out after dusk, as the night air was 
 bad for the horses. The evenings he spent in his study 
 with his brother-in-law. Mrs. Yorba and Magdatena 
 sat in their respective rooms until nearly half-past ten ; 
 when Don Roberto went the rounds to see that the 
 lights were out. Were it not for his fear of earth 
 quakes, he would have turned off the gas at that hour, 
 but he permitted a tiny spark to burn in the halls all 
 night. Occasionally Mr. Polk came home early and 
 went to Magdalna's little sitting-room, the old school 
 room, and sat with her for an hour or two. He said 
 little and never talked of himself. She longed to bring 
 her aunt back to this lonely old man, but did not know 
 in the least how to go about it, and the subject never 
 was mentioned between them ; he might have been a 
 bachelor or a widower. But as he sat staring into the 
 fire, Magdalena was convinced that he was thinking of 
 his wife. She had never entered his house since the 
 day of her strange discovery ; delicacy kept her away, 
 but her feminine curiosity often tempted her to go 
 in and see if the fires were burning, the flowers and 
 magazines on the table. Sometimes at night she heard
 
 The Californians 297 
 
 footsteps in the connecting gardens behind the houses, 
 and fancied they were those of her uncle, gone on 
 what pilgrimage she dared not imagine. 
 
 She and Helena met again early in November. 
 They greeted each other with all their old cordiality, 
 but there was a barrier, and both felt it. Still, they 
 exchanged frequent visits, and Magdal^na was always 
 interested in Helena's new conquests and dazzling 
 regalities. Helena was enjoying herself mightily. 
 She had all her old admirers exhausting and coining 
 adjectives at her feet, and a number of distinguished 
 foreigners, who were spending the winter in San 
 Francisco. She could not drive, nor yacht, nor run to 
 fires on account of the weather, but she unloosed her 
 energies upon indoor society, and started a cotillon 
 club, and an amateur opera company. She gave a 
 fancy dress ball, to which all her guests were obliged to 
 come in the costumes of Old California, and laughed for 
 a week at the ridiculous figure which most of them cut. 
 She also gave many dinners and breakfasts, kettle-drums 
 and theatre parties, and, altogether, managed to amuse 
 herself and others. She never mentioned Trennahan 
 to Magdatena. Nor did he write. The Pacific might 
 have been climbing over him, for any sign he gave. 
 
 XXV 
 
 IT was midnight, and Magdatena was still awake; 
 a storm raged, prohibitive of sleep. The wind 
 screamed over the hills, tearing the long ribbons of
 
 298 The Californians 
 
 rain to bits and flinging them in great handfuls against 
 the windows ; from which they rebounded to the porch 
 to skurry down the pipes and gurgle into the pools of 
 the soaked ground below. The roar of the ocean 
 bore aloft another sound, a long heavy groan, the 
 fog-horn of the Farallones. Magdatena imagined the 
 wild scene beyond the Golden Gate : the ships driven 
 out of their course, bewildered by the fog, the loud 
 unceasing rattle of the rigging, the hungry boom of 
 the breakers, the mountains and caverns of the raging 
 Pacific. Her mind, open to impressions once more, 
 stirred as it had not during its period of subservience 
 to the heart, and toward expression. Suffering had 
 not worked those wonders with her literary faculty of 
 which she had read; but she certainly wrote with 
 something more of fluency, something less of atten 
 uated commonplace. She had finished her first story ; 
 and although it by no means satisfied her, she had 
 passed on to the next, determined to write them all ; 
 then, with the education accruing from long practice, 
 to go back to the beginnings and make them literature. 
 To-night she forgot her stories and lay wondering at 
 the ghostly images rolling through her brain, breaking 
 upon the wall which stood between themselves and 
 speech, hurled back to rise and form again. What 
 did it mean? Was some dumb dead poet trying to 
 speak through her brain, inextricably caught in the 
 folds of her ravening intelligence before recognising 
 its fatal limitations ? Or was that intelligence but the 
 half of another, divided out there in eternity before
 
 The Californians 299 
 
 being sucked earthwards? It was seldom that such 
 fancies came to her nowadays, but to-night the storm 
 shrieked with a thousand voices, no one of which was 
 unfamiliar to these ghosts in her mind. She had 
 heard the expression " hell let loose " variously ap 
 plied. Were those the souls of old and wicked mates 
 tossed into the wild playground of the storm, helpleqs 
 and furious shuttle-cocks, yelling their protests with 
 furious energy? The idea that she too might have 
 been wicked once thrilled Magdale"na unexpectedly : 
 she had had a few sudden brief lapses into primal 
 impulse, accompanied by a certain exaltation of mind. 
 As she recalled them the rest of her life seemed flat 
 by comparison, and unburdened with meaning ; some 
 thing buried, unsuspected, left over from another 
 existence, shook itself and made as if to leap to those 
 doomed wretches, heavy with memories, buffeting each 
 other on the tides of the storm. 
 
 A crash brought her upright. It had been preceded 
 by a curious bumping along the front of the house. 
 She realised in a moment what it meant : the flag-pole 
 had snapped and been hurled to the ground. She 
 thought of her father's dismay, and shuddered slightly ; 
 she was in a mood to greet omens hospitably. 
 
 Suddenly her eyes fixed themselves expandingly 
 upon the door. She was cast in a heroic mould ; but 
 the storm and the vagaries of her imagination had 
 unnerved her, and she shook violently as the knob 
 was softly turned and the door moved forward with 
 significant care. Had her father gone suddenly mad?
 
 300 The Californians 
 
 The possibility had crossed her mind more than once. 
 She would lock her door hereafter. 
 
 "What is it?" she faltered. 
 
 The door was pushed open abruptly. Her uncle 
 stood there. For a moment she thought it was his 
 ghost. The dim light of the hall shone on a ghastly 
 face, and he wore a long gown of grey flannel. He 
 held one hand pressed against his chest. In another 
 second she heard the rattling of his breath. She 
 sprang out of bed and ran to him. 
 
 " I am going to die," Mr. Polk said. " Telegraph 
 and ask her to come." 
 
 She led him to his room, roused her father and 
 mother, telephoned for the doctor and a messenger 
 boy, then went to her room, dressed, and wrote the 
 telegram. She had little time to think, but the ap 
 proach of death made her hands shake a little, and 
 lent an added significance to the horrid sounds with 
 out. Death had been a mere name before these last 
 few moments ; he suddenly became an actual presence 
 stalking the storm. 
 
 The bell rang. She went down to the door herself. 
 It was the messenger boy. She gave him the telegram 
 to despatch, and told him to return and to remain on 
 duty all night. Then she went to her uncle's room. 
 Her mother and a dishevelled maid were compound 
 ing mustard plasters and heating water. Her father 
 was huddled in an armchair, staring at 'the gasping 
 form on the bed. Magdale"na shuddered. His face 
 was .more terrible to look on than the sick man's.
 
 The Californians 301 
 
 " It 's pneumonia, of course," said Mrs. Yorba, in 
 the hushed whisper of the sick room, although her 
 hard voice was little more sympathetic in its lower 
 register. " He was wet through when he came home 
 this afternoon. I should think it had rained enough 
 for one year." 
 
 The doctor came and eased the sufferer with 
 morphine ; but he gave the watchers no hope. 
 
 " He has no lungs, anyhow," he said. " This 
 abrupt climax is rather a mercy than otherwise." 
 
 Magdale"na remained by the bedside during all of 
 the next day. Early in the morning a telegram came 
 from Mrs. Polk, saying that she was about to start on 
 a special train. The message was read to her husband, 
 and he whispered to Magdale"na, " I should live until 
 she came, if she took a week." That was the only 
 remark he made until late in the day, when he 
 motioned to Magdale"na to bend her ear to his lips. 
 " Don't waste your youth," he whispered ; and then 
 he coloured slightly, as if ashamed of having broken 
 the reticence of a lifetime. 
 
 Don Roberto barely moved from the chair which 
 commanded a view of the dying man's face. His 
 own shrank visibly. He neither ate nor drank. His 
 sunken terror-struck eyes seemed staring through the 
 passing face on the high pillows into an inferno 
 beyond. 
 
 " I declare, he gives me the horrors, and I 'm not a 
 nervous woman," said Mrs. Yorba to her daughter. 
 " I never could understand your father's queer ways.
 
 302 The Californians 
 
 Who would ever have thought that he could care for 
 anyone like that ? Poor Hiram ! No one can feel 
 worse than I do ; but he has to go, and as the doctor 
 says, this is a mercy ; there 's no use acting as if you 
 had lost your last friend on earth." 
 
 " Perhaps that 's the way papa feels ; and as you 
 say, he 's not like other people." 
 
 The only other person in the sick-room was Colonel 
 Belmont. He came over as soon as he heard of the 
 attack, and sat on the other side of the bed all day, 
 when he was not attempting to make himself useful. 
 His old comrade smiled when he entered ; but Mr. 
 Polk took little notice of anyone. Occasionally his 
 eyes rested with an expression of profound pity on the 
 face of his brother-in-law : once or twice he pressed 
 Magdalena's hand ; but his attention chiefly centred 
 on the door, although he knew that his wife could not 
 arrive until after midnight. 
 
 Magdatena went to the train to meet her aunt. It 
 was still raining, but calmly. There was no gay and 
 chattering crowd in Market Street, not even the light 
 of a cable car flashing through the grey drizzle. Mag- 
 dalna recalled the night of the fire. Her inner life 
 had undergone many upheavals since that night ; even 
 her feeling for Helena was changed. And her aunt 
 was a mere memory. 
 
 At the station she left the carriage and walked 
 along the platform as the train drew in. Mrs. Polk, 
 assisted by a Mexican maid, descended from the car. 
 She was very stout, but as she approached Magdalena,
 
 The Californians 303 
 
 it was evident that her carriage had lost nothing of 
 majesty or grace. She kissed her niece warmly. 
 
 "So good you are to come for me, mijita. And 
 when rain, too so horriblee San Francisco. Never 
 I want to see again. And the uncle? how he is?" 
 
 " He says he will live until you come ; but he won't 
 live long after." 
 
 " Poor man ! I am sorry he go so soon. But all 
 the mens die early in California now : work so hard. 
 Live very old before the Americanos coming." 
 
 They could talk without restraint in the carriage, for 
 the maid did not speak English ; but Mrs. Polk merely 
 asked how her husband had caught cold. Her fair 
 placid face and sleepy eyes showed no print of the 
 years. She seemed glad to see Magdatena again. 
 
 " Often I wish have you with me in Santa Barbara," 
 she said. " But Roberto is what the Americanos call 
 ' crank.' No is use asking him. Santa Barbara no is 
 like in the old time, but is nice sleep place, where no 
 have the neuralgia, and nothing to bother. Then 
 always I have the few old families that are left, and 
 we are so friends, see each other every day, and eat 
 the Spanish dishes. I no know any Americanos; 
 always I hating them. So thin you are, mijita ; I wish 
 I can take you back." 
 
 But Magdal^na felt no desire to go with her; her 
 aunt seemed to belong to another life. 
 
 When they reached home, Mrs. Polk went to Mrs. 
 Yorba's room to remove her wraps and drink a cup of 
 chocolate. She smoothed her beautiful dusky hair and
 
 304 The Californians 
 
 arranged the old-fashioned lace about her throat, then 
 sailed in all her languid majesty across the hall. 
 
 " Aunt," said Magdal6na, with her hand on the door 
 of the sick room, "will will you kiss uncle ? " 
 
 Mrs. Polk raised her eyebrows. " Why, yes, si he 
 wanting; but I never kiss him in my life. Why now?" 
 
 "He is dying, and he has wanted you more than 
 anything." 
 
 " So queer fancies the seeck people have. But I kiss 
 him, of course." 
 
 As she entered the room, Mr. Polk raised himself 
 slightly and stared at her with an expression she had 
 never seen in his young eyes. It thrilled her nerves 
 within their mausoleum of flesh. She bent over and 
 kissed him. " Poor Eeram ! " she said. " So sorry 
 I am. But you no suffer, no?" 
 
 He made no reply. He sank back to his pillows ; 
 and after greeting her brother, she took a chair beside 
 the bed and sat there until her husband died, in the 
 ebb of the night. He held her hand, his eyes never 
 leaving her beautiful face, never losing their hunger 
 until the film covered them. What thoughts, what 
 bitter regrets, what futile desires for another beginning 
 may have moved sluggishly in that disintegrating brain, 
 he carried with him into the magnificent vault which 
 his widow erected on Lone Mountain. 
 
 His will was read on the day following the funeral, 
 in the parlour where his coffin had rested, and by the 
 light of a solitary gas-jet. Magdale"na had never heard 
 a will read before : she hoped she might never hear
 
 The Californians 
 
 305 
 
 another. The three women in their black gowns, the 
 four executors and trustees in their crow-black funeral 
 clothes, her father, Colonel Belmont, Mr. Washington, 
 and Mr. Geary, the big rustling document with its 
 wearisome formalities, made a more lugubrious pic 
 ture than the lonely coffin of the day before. The 
 terms of the will were simple enough : the interest of 
 the vast fortune was left to Mrs. Polk ; upon her death 
 it was to be divided between his sister and niece, the 
 principal to go to Magdalna upon Mrs. Yorba's death. 
 When Mr. Washington finished reading the document, 
 Don Roberto spoke for the first time in four days. 
 
 " I go to resign. I no will be executor or trustee. 
 No need me, anyhow." And he would listen to no 
 argument. 
 
 The next day he called a meeting of the bank's 
 board of directors and resigned the presidency, re 
 questing that Mr. Geary, a cautious and solid man, 
 should succeed him. His wish was gratified, and he 
 walked out of the bank, never to enter it again. His 
 many other interests were in the hands of trustworthy 
 agents : neither he nor his brother-in-law had ever 
 made a mistake in their choice of servants. When 
 he reached home, he wrote to each of these agents 
 demanding monthly instead of quarterly accounts. He 
 had a bed brought down to a small room adjoining 
 the " office," and in these two rooms he announced 
 his intention to live henceforth. At the same time 
 he informed his wife and daughter that their allowance 
 hereafter would be one hundred dollars a year each,
 
 306 The Californians 
 
 and that he would pay no bills. Ah Kee, who had 
 lived with him for twenty years, would attend to the 
 domestic supplies. Then he ordered his meals brought 
 to the office, and shut himself up. 
 
 On the third day Mrs. Polk said to Magdalena, 
 
 " Si I stay in this house one day more, I go mad, 
 no less. Is like the dungeons in the Mission. Madre 
 di Dios I and you living like this for years, perhaps ; 
 for Roberto grow more crank all the time. Come 
 with me. I no think he know." 
 
 " You may be sure that he knows everything. And 
 I cannot leave them. Shall you go back to Santa 
 Barbara? Don't you want to travel?" 
 
 " Dios de mi alma ; no ! I think I go to die on 
 that treep from Santa Barbara so jolt. I am too 
 old to travel. Once I think I like see Spain; but 
 now I only want be comfortable. Well, si you change 
 the mind and come sometime, I am delight. But I 
 go now : feel like I am old flower wither up, without 
 the sun." 
 
 XXVI 
 
 MRS. FOLK'S large white face and throat had seemed 
 to shed a measure of light in the dark house ; when 
 she left, the gloom seemed to get down and sit on one. 
 Helena refused to enter by the front door, and lament 
 ing that she was too big to climb the pillar, paid her 
 visits by way of the kitchen and back stairs.
 
 The Californians 307 
 
 After the calls of condolence visitors came more 
 and more rarely to the Yorba house. They said it de 
 pressed them for days after, and that while there they 
 sat in mortal terror of hearing Don Roberto burst 
 out of his den with the yell of a maniac. And as 
 for dear Mrs. Yorba and Magdatena, they never had 
 had much to say, but now they had nothing. They 
 would not drop off altogether, for the old don was 
 bound to follow his brother-in-law in course of time, 
 and then his widow would once more be a useful 
 member of society. Mrs. Montgomery, Mrs. Geary, 
 and Mrs. Cartright were more faithful than the others, 
 but the affections Mrs. Yorba had inspired during her 
 long and distinguished sojourn in San Francisco were 
 not very deep and warm. 
 
 The girls were sorry for Magdatena, and called fre 
 quently, conquering their horror of the gloomy echoing 
 house ; but they had less to endure than their elders, 
 for they were received in Magdalna's own sitting- 
 room, which, although sparsely and tastelessly fur 
 nished, was always as cheerful as the weather would 
 permit. They brought her all the gossip of the out 
 side world, discussed the new novels with her, and 
 occasionally induced her to spend a day with them. 
 
 At the end of the winter Ila was married; very 
 grandly, in Grace Church. All her friends but Mag- 
 dalena were bridesmaids. The omission was a serious 
 one, and all felt that it robbed the function of a last 
 fine finish : each of the girls had counted upon having 
 the last of the Yorbas for chief bridesmaid. Magdatena
 
 308 The Californians 
 
 went and sat in a corner of the church and saw the first 
 of her friends break the circle of their girlhood. Her 
 present had been very meagre : it had come out of 
 her monthly allowance. Mrs. Polk was much too 
 indolent to consider whether her niece was allowed 
 an income suitable for her position or not, and Mag- 
 da!6na was much too proud to ask favours. She 
 slipped out of the church just before the end of the 
 ceremony, feeling like a poor relation. 
 
 She rarely saw her father. Occasionally she met 
 him in the hall ; he drifted past her like a ghost. Mr. 
 Polk died in February. On the first of June Don 
 Roberto had not been out of the house for three 
 months, nor had he exchanged a word with his wife 
 or daughter. 
 
 " He '11 blink like an owl when he does go out," said 
 Mrs. Yorba. " I wonder if he remembers that it is 
 time to go to the country ? " 
 
 " He never forgets anything. I '11 pack his things if 
 you like." 
 
 But the day passed and the next, and Don Roberto 
 gave no sign of remembering that it was time to move. 
 Then Mrs. Yorba drew several long breaths, went down 
 stairs, and knocked at his door. There was no re 
 sponse, but she turned the knob and went in. Don 
 Roberto's face was between the large pages of a ledger. 
 He looked round with a scowl. 
 
 " Everything is ready to move down. Are you not 
 coming? " 
 
 " No ; and you no going either. Letting the place."
 
 The Californians 309 
 
 If the President of the United States had let the 
 White House, Mrs. Yorba could not have been more 
 astounded. 
 
 " Let Fair Oaks ! Fair Oaks ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " And where are we to go this summer?" 
 
 "We stay here." 
 
 " Robert ! You cannot mean that. No one stays 
 here in summer. The city is impossible those trade- 
 winds those fogs " 
 
 " Need not go out. Can stay in the house." And 
 Don Roberto returned to his ledger. 
 
 Mrs. Yorba went straight to Magdal6na's room, and 
 for the first time in her daughter's experience of her, 
 wept. 
 
 " To think of spending a summer in San Francisco ! 
 How I have looked forward to the summer! Things 
 are always bright and cheerful in Menlo even with the 
 house shut up, for one can sit on the verandah. But 
 here ! And not a soul in town ! And the house like 
 a prison ! What in Heaven's name ails your father? 
 He 's not crazy. He 's reading his ledgers, and what 
 he says is to the point, goodness knows ! But I shall 
 follow Hiram if this keeps up. You 're a real comfort 
 to me, 'Lena. I don't know what I should do without 
 you." 
 
 Magdalna said what she could to console her 
 mother. The two had drawn together during these 
 trying months. She was bitterly disappointed that she 
 could not go to Menlo Park. She was tired of its
 
 310 The Callfornians 
 
 efforts to amuse itself, but she could live in its woods, 
 its soft gracious air, find companionship in the distant 
 redwoods swimming in their dark-blue mists. 
 
 The girls all invited her to visit them, but she would 
 not leave her mother, even could her father's con 
 sent be obtained. Mrs. Yorba was genuinely unhappy. 
 Without mental resources, and deprived of even an 
 occasional hour with her friends, she was further har 
 assed by the fear that her husband would die and 
 leave her with a pittance : he certainly appeared to 
 hate the sight of his family. It consoled her somewhat 
 to reflect that wills were easily broken in California. 
 Why had her brother left her nothing? With a full 
 purse she could at least have the distractions of phi 
 lanthropy. She took to novel-reading with a voracious 
 appetite, and her taste grew so exacting that she would 
 have nothing that was not magnificently sensational. 
 She thought on Boston with a shudder, but concluded 
 that it was enough to have been intellectual when 
 young. 
 
 Magdatena plodded on with her work. She de 
 scribed the customs and manners of the old times with 
 much accuracy, and felt that her beloved creations 
 were rather more than puppets ; and it was as much 
 for their sake as for her own that she wanted these little 
 histories to be triumphs of art, that they might arrest 
 the attention of the world. Alvarado and Castro were 
 great heroes to her : it was unjust and cruel that the 
 big world outside of California should know nothing 
 of them; to the present Californian, for that matter,
 
 The Californians 
 
 they were not even names. And forty years before the 
 Californias had bent to their nod ! They had lived 
 with the state of princes, and the wisdom with which 
 the one had ruled and the other had managed his 
 armies would have given them lasting fame had not 
 their country then been as remote from Earth's greater 
 civilisations as had it been on Jupiter. If she could 
 only immortalise them ! That would be a sufficient 
 reason for living, compensate her for the wreck of her 
 personal life. It might take a lifetime, but what of 
 that if she succeeded in the end? 
 
 She took long walks daily ; alone, for the French 
 maid had been dismissed long since. The walks were 
 not pleasant, for when the sand from the outlying dunes 
 was not swept through the city by the bitter trades, 
 the fog was crawling into one's very marrow. And the 
 hills were steep. Sometimes she took the cable car 
 to the end of the line, then walked to the Presidio ; 
 but that brought the sand-hills nearer, and she went 
 home with smarting eyes. Protected by her window, 
 she found beauty even in the summer mood of San 
 Francisco ; and sometimes she went up into the tower 
 of the Belmont house and watched the long clouds of 
 dust roll symmetrically down the streets of the city's 
 valleys; or the delicate white mist ride through the 
 Golden Gate to wreathe itself about the cross on Cal 
 vary, then creep down the bare brown cone to press 
 close about the tombs on Lone Mountain ; then onward 
 until all the city was gone under a white swinging 
 ocean ; except the points of the hills disfigured with the
 
 312 The Californians 
 
 excrescences of the rich. Into the canons and rifts of 
 the hills beyond the blue bay the fog crept daintily at 
 first, hanging in festoons so light that the very trades 
 held aloof, then advancing with a rush, a phantom 
 of the booming ocean whence it came. 
 
 And Trennahan? He made no sign. Whether he 
 were dead or alive, the victim or the captor of his old 
 familiars, careless, or nursing an open wound, Mag- 
 dal6na was miserably ignorant. The time had come 
 when she waited tensely as mails were due, feeling that 
 an empty envelope covered with his handwriting would 
 give her solace. She cherished no hope that he would 
 ever return to her, but he had promised her his lasting 
 friendship. Sometimes she wondered at the cruelty of 
 men. Why should he not help her ? Even if he really 
 believed in the extinction of her love, he might guess 
 that she needed his friendship. She had yet to learn 
 that the one thing that man never gives to woman is 
 spiritual help. 
 
 Helena wrote that her father was so anxious for her 
 to marry Alan Rush that she was officially engaged to 
 that much-enduring youth and really liked him. Menlo 
 Park was the same as ever ; not so gay as last year, 
 but the same in quality. No one had called on the 
 lessees of Fair Oaks. They were new people whom 
 nobody knew, and it would be horrid to go there, any 
 how. Giro was engaged to marry an Englishman who 
 had bought a grape-ranch some twenty miles from 
 Menlo. Tiny was prettier and more bored than usual. 
 Rose wrote that she certainly could not stand another
 
 The Californians 313 
 
 summer of Menlo and should go East in the autumn. 
 Ila wrote from Paris, London, and Homburg that life 
 was quite perfect. It was so interesting to be named 
 Washington, everybody stared so ; as the English had 
 never read a line of United States history, they thought 
 her George was a lineal descendant of the immortal 
 head of his house ; and she had thirty-two trunks of 
 Paris clothes and ever so many men in love with her. 
 And Magdatena lived this life for three years. Its 
 monotony was broken by one event only. 
 
 XXVII 
 
 DURING the winter following Mr. Folk's death, Colonel 
 Belmont was driving his coach along the beach beyond 
 the Park one afternoon when Helena, who sat beside 
 him, saw him give a long shudder, then huddle. She 
 grasped the reins of the four swiftly trotting horses and 
 spoke over her shoulder to Alan Rush. 
 
 " Pull my father up to the top," she said. 
 
 Rush did as he was bid, and the body of Colonel 
 Belmont was laid out between the two rows of young 
 people, whose gaiety had frozen to horror. 
 
 " Now take the reins," said Helena. 
 
 Rush took the reins. Helena followed her father 
 swiftly and stooped to take his head in her arms. But 
 she dropped her ear to his lips instead, then to his 
 heart. For a moment longer she stared at him, while 
 the others waited for the outburst. But she returned
 
 314 The Californians 
 
 to the front seat, and caught the reins from Rush's 
 hands. 
 
 " I must do something," she said ; and he knew 
 better than to answer her, or even to look at her. 
 
 It was some time before she could turn the horses, 
 and then she was several miles from home. She drove 
 with steady hands ; but when they had reached the 
 house and Rush lifted her down, she was trembling 
 violently. She pushed him aside. 
 
 " Go and get Magdatena," she said. 
 
 Magdalna remained with her a week. This was 
 Helena's first real grief, and there was nothing cyclonic 
 about it. " I '11 never get over it," she said. " Never ! 
 And I '11 never be quite the same again. Of course 
 I don't mean that I '11 have this awful sense of be 
 reavement and keep on crying all my life : I know 
 better than that; but I could never forget him, nor 
 forget to wish I still had him, if I lived to be a hun 
 dred. If I had anything to reproach myself for 
 anything serious I believe I 'd go off my head ; but 
 I was good to him ; and I am sure mamma never could 
 have taken better care of him than I did. When he 
 was under doctor's orders I gave him every drop of the 
 medicine myself, and I never would let him eat a thing 
 I thought would n't agree with him. He used to say 
 his life was a burden, poor darling, but I know he liked 
 it. And who knows? if I hadn't watched him so, 
 he might not have lived as long as he did. That is my 
 one consolation. . . . This terrible grief makes every 
 thing else seem so paltry ; I could not even think of
 
 The Californians 
 
 being engaged to Alan Rush any longer. Poor fellow ! 
 I feel sorry for him, but I can't play for a long time to 
 come. As for papa's wishes in the matter, Mr. Geary 
 and Mr. Washington will take care of my money, and 
 I am quite able to take care of myself. If papa is 
 near me now, he will understand how I feel, and agree 
 with me. I wish I had some heroic destiny. Why 
 has the United States ceased to make history ? I 'd 
 like to play some great part. Papa used to say there 
 was bound to be another upheaval some day, but I 'm 
 afraid it won't be in my time." 
 
 " It may," replied Magdalna. " There 's a good 
 deal of history-making, quiet and noisy, going on all 
 the time. I 've been reading the newspapers this last 
 year. They 're horrid sensational things, but I manage 
 to get a few ideas from them. No one can tell what 
 may happen ten years hence. You may have a chance 
 to be the heroine of a revolution yet." 
 
 " I 'm afraid I '11 never be anything but a belle, and 
 I 'm tired of that already, although I never could 
 stand being shelved. But if there is a revolution dur 
 ing my life I '11 be a factor in it. Just you remember 
 that." 
 
 " I really do believe that you were intended for some 
 thing extraordinary." 
 
 " I believe I was. That 's the reason I 'm so restless 
 and dramatic. I don't feel as if I ever could be so 
 again, though, not for ages, anyhow." 
 
 The old close and affectionate intimacy between the 
 two girls was restored during that week. At its end
 
 3 1 6 The Californians 
 
 Helena went East to visit her aunt, Mrs. Forbes. She 
 was the untrammelled mistress of something under a mil 
 lion dollars ; and as her private car, filled with flowers, 
 bonbons, and books, pulled away from a sorrowing 
 crowd of friends on the Oakland side of the ferry, 
 it must be confessed she reflected that the future would 
 appear several shades darker if she were arranging her 
 belongings in a half-section, a small quarterly allow 
 ance in her pocket. Nevertheless Colonel Belmont 
 had his reward. His daughter's grief was deep and 
 lasting ; and perhaps he knew. 
 
 XXVIII 
 
 CARO married her Englishman, and on a thriving grape- 
 farm entertained other Englishmen. Rose went East 
 and triumphantly captured a Baltimorean of distin 
 guished lineage and depleted exchequer. Tiny went 
 to Europe again. Magdatena was practically alone. 
 Her father still lived in his two rooms downstairs and 
 never spoke to anyone but Ah Kee. Once he forgot 
 to close his study door, and Magdalna, who happened 
 to be passing, paused and looked at him. His face 
 had shrunken and was crossed with a thousand fine 
 and eccentric lines ; like the palm of a man singled 
 out for a career of trouble. He had let his hair and 
 beard grow, and he looked uncouth and dirty. 
 
 Mrs. Yorba still read novels. She no longer paid 
 calls, for her allowance, now reduced to fifty dollars a
 
 The Californians 317 
 
 year, was quite inadequate to meet the requirements of 
 a dignified member of society. She received her few 
 intimate and faithful friends in her bedroom ; the first 
 floor was never dusted nor aired. The house smelt 
 musty and deserted ; the lower rooms were as cold and 
 damp as underground caverns; the spiders spun un 
 heeded ; when the front door was opened, the festoons 
 in the hall swung like hammocks. Even the gloom of 
 the house seemed to accentuate with the years. Mag- 
 dale"na wondered if the inside of the old Polk house 
 looked any more haunted than this ; and even the Bel- 
 mont house was acquiring an expression of pathos, 
 peculiar to desertion in old age. Magdatena fancied 
 that the three houses must be pointed out to visitors as 
 the sarcophagi of the futile ambitions of three Califor- 
 nian millionaires. 
 
 In her own rooms she toiled on, absorbed in her 
 work, loving it with the beggared passion of her nature, 
 experiencing two or three moments of creative ecstasy 
 and many hours of dull discouragement. She wrote her 
 stories and rewrote them ; then again, and again. Her 
 critical faculty took long strides ahead of her creative 
 power, and she rarely ceased to be uneasy at the dis 
 parity between her work and her ideals. But Trennahan 
 had said that it would be ten years before she could 
 attain excellence, and she was willing to serve a harder 
 apprenticeship than this. Had it not been for her 
 work and the books of those who had climbed the 
 heights and slept beneath the stars, she might have 
 become morbid and melancholy in her unnatural sur-
 
 318 The Californians 
 
 roundings. But although the monotony of her life was 
 never broken by a day in the country, she had always 
 the beauty of bay and hill and sky beyond her window ; 
 and there are certain months in the spring and autumn 
 when San Francisco is as lovely and brilliant as the 
 southern shores of California. The trades are hiber 
 nating in the caves of the Pacific, and the fogs exist 
 only in the spray of the ponderous waves. On such 
 days and evenings Magdalna sat for hours on her little 
 balcony, forgetting her work, dreaming idly. It was 
 inevitable, in her purely mental and imaginative life, 
 that she should apprehend in Trennahan the lover 
 again. She wove her own romance as ardently and 
 consecutively as that of any of her heroines. In time 
 he would forget Helena ; his love for her had been one 
 of those sudden insane passions of which she had read, 
 which she tried to depict in her Southland tales, 
 and in time it would fall from him, and he would hear 
 the tinkle of the chain forged in long hours of perfect 
 sympathy. They would both be older and wiser and 
 more sad : the better, perhaps. Loneliness and the 
 peculiar circumstances of her life inclined her to border 
 land sympathies ; she believed that if he died suddenly 
 she should become immediately aware of the fact. 
 
 Her love for Trennahan by no means interfered with 
 her literary ambitions. All others had failed her ; she 
 knew now that with the best of opportunities she should 
 never have cut a brilliant figure in society. But she did 
 not care ; letters were a far more glorious goal. Helena 
 adored great military heroes, great imperialists like Clive
 
 The Californians 319 
 
 and Hastings, even great tyrants like Napoleon. Her 
 self reverenced the great names in literature, and could 
 think of no destiny so exalted as to be enrolled among 
 them. And if she succeeded, what would have mat 
 tered these long years of dull loneliness, of denial of 
 all that is dear to the heart of a girl? Sometimes she 
 even thought the tarrying of Trennahan mattered little ; 
 for there is no tyrant so jealous as Art. 
 
 Once she read her stories aloud to her mother ; and 
 Mrs. Yorba was pleased to observe that they were much 
 better than she could have expected, but that on the 
 whole she preferred "The Duchess." She had grown 
 quite fond of her daughter, and often sat in her room 
 while she wrote. The intimacy and isolation of the two 
 women had made it easy and natural for Magdatena to 
 confide in her mother, but she was forced to confess 
 that she had not inherited her critical faculty from her 
 maternal parent. Nevertheless, she was glad of the 
 meagre encouragement and plodded on. 
 
 XXIX 
 
 IT was early in the fourth year that Henry James 
 swooped down upon San Francisco. He arrived in 
 the train of Helena's triumphant return, under her 
 especial patronage. Not that a few choice spirits in 
 California had not discovered James for themselves 
 long since ; but James as a definite entity, known and 
 approved by Society, awaited the second advent of
 
 320 The Californians 
 
 Helena. He immediately became the fad; rather, 
 Society split into two factions and was threatened with 
 disruption. One young woman of the disapproving 
 camp even went so far as to call an ardent advocate a 
 " Henry James fool." All of which was doubtless due 
 to the fact that the traditions of action still lingered in 
 California. Strangely enough, Tiny, who returned almost 
 immediately after Helena, was one of the first to take 
 Mr. James under her small but determined wing. She 
 regarded well-read people as an unnecessary bore, and 
 ambition of any sort as unsuited to the Land of the 
 Poppy, but she had a feminine faith in exceptions, and 
 joined the cult with something like enthusiasm. It 
 was she who introduced him to Magdale"na. 
 
 Magdatena cared nothing for American latter-day 
 authors, and gave no heed to Helena's emphatic ap 
 proval of Mr. James. In fact, she and Helena had so 
 much else to talk about that they found little leisure 
 for books. Helena had been abroad again, and the 
 belle of a winter in Washington. She was more beauti 
 ful than ever, and, although somewhat subdued, was full 
 of plans for the future. Her first ball she arrived at 
 the end of the winter season determined that her 
 supremacy, socially and sentimentally, was unshaken. 
 Immediately after, she bought an old Spanish house in 
 the northern redwoods and provided new surprises for 
 her little world. But there is no more room for Helena 
 in this chronicle. Perhaps, if history shapes itself around 
 her, she may one day have a chronicle to herself. 
 
 Tiny called on Magdale"na one afternoon with two
 
 The Californians 321 
 
 volumes of Henry James under her arm. She took 
 to her toes as the front door closed, and ran down the 
 long hall and up the stair to Magdalena's room. 
 
 " I feel like a book agent," she said, trying not to 
 pant, and hoping Magdatena would go down to the 
 door with her when she left. " But you really must 
 read him, 'Lna. He 's so fascinating : I think it 's 
 because nothing ever happens, and that 's so like life. 
 I think I must always have felt Henry Jamesish, and 
 it seems to me that he is singularly like Menlo, 
 when Helena is not there, just jogging along in 
 aristocratic seclusion punctuated by the epigrams of 
 Rose and Eugene Fort. I 'm sure Mr. James could 
 write a novel of Menlo Park ; he just revels in irradi 
 ating nothing with genius. There ! I feel so guilty, 
 for I really do love Menlo, with intervals of Europe, 
 but I Ve been visiting Rose, and I 'm afraid I 'm 
 plagiarising a little ; you know I 'm not one bit clever. 
 Only I really feel so when I read Mr. James. And 
 he '11 be such company in Menlo this summer. Just 
 think, I shall be all alone there, when I 'm not visiting 
 Helena or Caro. Is is " she glanced about fear 
 fully " is there no hope of dear Don Roberto 
 relenting ? " 
 
 " I am afraid not. But it is such a comfort to have 
 you back. I heard you were engaged to an Eng 
 lishman, or something?" 
 
 Tiny blushed. She was on her way to a tea, and 
 looked exquisitely pretty in a fawn-coloured cripe de 
 chine embroidered with wild roses, and a bonnet of
 
 322 The Californians 
 
 pink tulle crushed about her face. Magdalena won 
 dered why some man had not married her out of 
 hand, then reflected that Tiny was likely to dispose 
 of her own future. 
 
 " I 'm not quite sure," said Miss Montgomery, look 
 ing innocently at a lithograph of the Virgin which 
 still decorated the wall. "You see, he has a title, 
 and it's so commonplace to marry a title. But if I 
 decide to, I '11 let you know the very first." 
 
 Shortly after she went away and left Magdaldna 
 alone with Henry James. 
 
 She took up one of the volumes. As she did so, 
 something stirred in the cellars of her mind beat 
 its stiff wings against the narrow walls struggled for 
 ward and upward. 
 
 She stood on the porch in the late evening : alone 
 in a fog. Her young mind opened to literary desire 
 preceding it was a swift disturbing presentiment ; it 
 had recurred once, and again but not for several 
 years. What did it mean, here again ? And what had 
 Henry James to do with it? She dropped into a chair. 
 Her hands trembled as they opened the book. 
 
 XXX 
 
 IT was a week before she squarely faced the rela 
 tion of Henry James to her own ambitions. Then she 
 admitted it in so many words : she could not write, 
 she never could write. The writers who were dust
 
 The Californians 323 
 
 had inspired her to emulation; it took a great con- 
 temporary to bring her despair. It is only the living 
 enemies we fear ; the dead and their past are beautiful 
 unrealities to the smarting ego. 
 
 Magdatena realised for the first time the exact value 
 she had placed upon the art of expression, a value 
 that was in inverse ratio to her limitations. Literature 
 to her was, above all else, the art of words. Stories 
 were to be picked up anywhere : had she not found 
 a number ready to her hand? The creative faculty 
 might, in its unique development, be something 
 supremer still, although crippled without the perfected 
 medium of this writer, who seemed above all writers 
 to be the master and not the servant of words. She 
 re-read her own efforts. They represented the hard 
 thought and work of six years ; not a great span, 
 perhaps, but long enough to determine the promise 
 of a faculty. The stories were wooden. Her work 
 would always be wooden. There was not a phrase 
 to delight the cultivated reader, not a line that any 
 moderately clever person, given the same material, 
 might not have written. After as many more years 
 of labour she might become a praiseworthy writer of 
 the third rank. She put her manuscripts in the fire. 
 
 After that, life turned grey indeed. Her imagination 
 might have gone into the flames with the stories, for 
 her illusions about Trennahan fell to ashes coincidently. 
 She no longer believed that he would return, that he 
 would even write demanding her friendship. She 
 could hardly recall his face ; the sound of his voice
 
 324 The Californians 
 
 was gone from her. Indubitably he had forgotten her 
 long since. Why not? She had ascended above the 
 rosy stratum of youth, where delusions were possible. 
 
 Then began a long struggle against despair and its 
 terrible consequences. It was a summer of raging 
 trades which seemed to lift the sand dunes from their 
 foundations and hurl them through the choking city. 
 She could take little exercise. The Library was her 
 only resource, but one can read only so many hours a 
 day. If she could but travel, as Helena did, when 
 anything went wrong ! Or if her uncle had only left 
 her an income that she could expend in charity ! 
 Her sympathy for the poor had never ebbed, and she 
 would have gladly spent her life in their service, 
 although she doubted if they were more miserable 
 than herself. It was true that she had enough to eat, 
 a roof to her head, and clothes to wear, extremely 
 plain clothes ; but that was all. A nun or a prisoner 
 had as much. 
 
 There were times when she was threatened with a 
 consuming hatred of life, and then she fled out into 
 the dust and battled with the storms within and with 
 out ; for her ideals were all that were left her. She 
 knew the ugly potentialities in the depths of her ill- 
 compounded nature : the day she ceased to be true 
 to herself there would be a tragedy in that dark house 
 on the hill. Sometimes she wondered toward what 
 end she was persevering, striving to perfect the better 
 part of her. A quarter of a century or more of mean 
 ingless earthly existence ? A controvertible hereafter?
 
 The Californians 
 
 325 
 
 But she ceased to analyse, knowing that it could lead 
 nowhere until the human mind ceased to be human. 
 
 And one day, in the end of the summer, she lost her 
 grip on herself. 
 
 For three days the trade-winds had raged ; she had 
 not been able to leave the house. Twice she had set 
 forth, desperate with the nervous monotony of her 
 hours, and been driven back by the blinding dust. 
 It was on the third day that she happened to catch 
 sight of herself in the glass. She saw her face plainer 
 than ever, but her attention passed suddenly to her 
 shoulders and rested there. They were bent. Her 
 carriage was dejected, apathetic. The sluggish tide 
 mounted slowly to her face as she realised that this 
 physical manner must have fallen upon her gradually, 
 and been worn for some time ; and its significance. 
 She made an effort to reassume her old erect haughty 
 poise, which had been partly the manifest of inherent 
 pride, partly of half-acknowledged defiance of the 
 beauty-worship of the world. Her shoulders sank 
 before the spine had risen to its perpendicular. What 
 did it matter? Again she experienced that disinte 
 gration of will which once had left her at the mercy 
 of that instinct for destruction which is one of the 
 essential particles of the ego. 
 
 Her brain was almost torpid. The want of exhila 
 rating exercise, the long dearth of companionship, the 
 terrible monotony of her life, the restless nights, the 
 dank gloomy atmosphere in which she had her per 
 petual being, were, she told herself dully, doing their
 
 326 The Californians 
 
 work. And she did not care. But if her brain was 
 sodden, her nerves felt as if on the verge of explosion. 
 She noticed that her hands were not steady, and sat 
 for hours, wondering what was coming upon her. She 
 cared less and less. 
 
 Ah Kee tapped at her door. She replied that she 
 did not want any dinner, loathing the unvarying bill- 
 of-fare. 
 
 The hours dragged on, and darkness came ; but 
 she did not light the gas, whose jet was but a feeble 
 point in these times, hardly worth the waste of a match. 
 She strained her ears, fancied she heard whisperings in 
 the hall below. If San Francisco's skeletons really were 
 down there, she wished they would go in and throttle 
 her father. He was the author of all her misery; 
 and was any woman on earth so miserable as she? 
 Why should he live, exist down there like a beast in 
 his cave, when his death would give her liberty ? a 
 poignant happiness in itself. She wondered did she 
 kill him should she be hanged? They rarely hanged 
 anybody in California, never when there was gold to 
 rattle contemptuously in the face of the law; why 
 should she not deliver her mother and herself? They 
 would both be in an asylum for the mad, or dead 
 before their time, unless he went soon ; and their lives 
 were of several times more value than his. They, at 
 least, had ruined the lives of no one, and with his 
 hoarded unsavoury millions they would gladly do good 
 to hundreds. 
 
 She tiptoed out into the hall, and leaned over the
 
 The Californians 327 
 
 circular railing, and peered down into the space below. 
 Only an old-fashioned waxen taper burned in a cup 
 of oil; it emitted a feeble and ghostly light. The 
 large webs of the spiders quivered in a draught. They 
 assumed strange distorted shapes and seemed to point 
 long fingers at her father's door. 
 
 They are the ghosts that once animated the skele 
 tons, she thought; and they think it time he joined 
 them. 
 
 She stood there for a long while, her eyes narrowed 
 in a hard searching regard ; the trembling gloom with 
 the tiny sallow flame in its middle suggested the pur 
 gatory of imaginative artists. Should she go down and 
 thrust the dagger into his neck? 
 
 Her thoughts were torn apart by the abrupt loud 
 shouts of the wind. She wondered if there were such 
 winds anywhere else on earth, or if this were the voice 
 of some fiend prisoned in the Pacific, the spouse 
 whom California had taken to her arms when the fires 
 in her body were hewing and shattering and renewing 
 her, and divorced in an after-desire for beauty and 
 peace. 
 
 Magdatena went back to her room and turned the 
 key in the drawer which contained the dagger. 
 
 " I must get out of this house," she said aloud, with 
 the sensation of dragging her will from the depths of 
 her brain and shaking it back to life. " If I don't, 
 I'll be in an asylum to-morrow. Something is cer 
 tainly wrong in my head." 
 
 She put on her jacket and hat with trembling fingers.
 
 328 The Californians 
 
 Her nerves seemed fighting their way through her skin. 
 Her ears were humming. Something had begun to 
 pound in her brain. 
 
 She ran downstairs and let herself out, averting 
 her eyes from her father's door. Her fingers were 
 rigid, and curved. 
 
 As she reached the sidewalk, a squall caught and 
 nearly carried her off her feet. It bellied her skirts 
 and loosened her hair. She lost her breath and re 
 gained it with difficulty; she could hardly steer her 
 self. But the wind filled her with a sudden wild 
 exaltation, not of the soul, but of the worst of her 
 passions, those tangled, fighting, sternly governed 
 passions of the cross-breed. 
 
 She cursed aloud. She let fly all the maledictions, 
 English and Spanish, of which she had knowledge. 
 The street was deserted. She raised her voice and 
 pierced the gale, the furious energy of her words hiss 
 ing like escaping steam. She raised her voice still 
 higher and shrieked her profane arraignment of all 
 things mundane in a final ecstasy of nervous abandon 
 ment. 
 
 When the passion and its voice were exhausted, her 
 obsession had passed. Her head felt lighter, the 
 danger of congestion was over ; but her protest was 
 the keener and bitterer. Her father's life was safe 
 in her hands, but she had no desire to return to his 
 house. She determined to walk until morning, and to 
 drift, rudderless, in the great sea of the night. 
 
 She caught her skirts close to her body and walked
 
 The Californians 329 
 
 rapidly to the brow of the hill. The twinkling lights 
 were all below. The wrack of cloud torn by the wind 
 into a thousand flapping sails skurried across a sky 
 which the hidden moon patched with a hard angry 
 silver. Far away and high in the storm the great 
 cross on Calvary seemed dancing an inebriated jig 
 above the ghostly tombs of Lone Mountain. 
 
 Magdatena walked rapidly down the hill. Once or 
 twice she paused before a house and stared at it. 
 'What secrets did it hold? What skeletons? Were 
 any within so desperate as she ? Why did they not 
 come out and shriek with the storm? She pictured 
 a sudden obsession of San Francisco : every door si 
 multaneously flung open, every wretched inmate rushing 
 forth to scream his protest against the injustice of life 
 into the ecstatic fury of the elements. 
 
 High on a terrace, or rather an unlevelled angle of 
 the hill, and reached by a long rickety flight of steps, 
 was an old ugly wooden house. It was unpainted ; the 
 shutters were shaking on their rusty hinges ; the chim 
 neys had been blown off long since ; but it had cost much 
 gold in its time. It had been the home of a " Forty- 
 niner," and he was dead and forgotten, his dust as 
 easily accounted for as his winged gold. Doubtless 
 every room had its patient skeleton, grinning eternally 
 at the yellow lust of man. 
 
 As she passed Dupont Street, she paused again and 
 regarded it steadily. Sheltered in the steep hillside, it 
 took no note of the storm; its sidewalks were not 
 empty, and its windows were broken bars of light.
 
 330 The Californians 
 
 Magdatena wondered if the painted creatures talking 
 volubly behind the shutters were not happier and more 
 normal than she. They were the rejected of their 
 native boulevards, beyond a doubt, but they were free 
 in their way, and they certainly were alive. 
 
 I am nothing, she thought; neither to myself, nor 
 to any one else. I wonder will the wind blow me in 
 there some night? What if it does? 
 
 But when a man started toward her with manifest 
 intent to speak, she fled down the hill. 
 
 When she reached Kearney Street she turned with 
 out hesitation to the left, and walked toward those 
 regions which are associated in the minds of every San 
 Franciscan with lawlessness and crime. She had given 
 a swift glance to the right before turning ; the region 
 of respectable shops and fashionable promenade was as 
 black as a tunnel ; the eccentric economy of the city 
 forbade the light of street lamps when the moon was 
 out, whether clouds accompanied her or not. 
 
 Ahead was a line of lights twisting and leaping in the 
 wind, the vagrant gas-jets before the row of cheap 
 shops on the east side of the Plaza. Magdatena 
 hardly glanced at the medley of curious wares and 
 faces as she hurried past ; the wind was roaring about 
 the open square, interfering with sight and hearing and 
 headway. And beyond her blood leaped to that 
 mysterious disreputable region. 
 
 She left the Plaza and passing under the shelter of 
 the heights upon which stood her home slackened her 
 steps. There was a discordant crash of music in the
 
 The Californians 
 
 crowded streets. Light was streaming from music- 
 halls, above and below stairs, and from restaurants and 
 saloons. But everybody seemed to be on the side 
 walks. It was a strange crowd, and Magdale"na forgot 
 herself for the moment : she had entered a new world, 
 and her tortured soul lagged behind. 
 
 The riff-raff of the world was moving there, and when 
 not apathetic they took their pleasures with drawn 
 brows and eyes alert for a fight; but the only types 
 Magdaldna recognised were the drunken sailors and the 
 occasional blank-faced Chinaman who had strayed 
 down from his quarter on the hill. There were dark- 
 faced men who were doubtless French and Italian; 
 what their calling was, no outsider could guess, but 
 that it was evil no man could doubt; and there 
 were many whose nationality had long since become 
 as inarticulate as such soul they may have been born 
 with. Many looked anaemic and consumptive, but the 
 majority were highly coloured and frankly drunk. And 
 if the men were forbidding, the women were appalling. 
 There was no attempt at smart -less in their attire; 
 they were dowdy and frowsy, and even the young faces 
 were old. 
 
 The din of voices, the medley of tongues and faces, 
 the crash of music, the poisoned atmosphere, con 
 fused Magdale"na, and she turned precipitately into a 
 restaurant. It was almost empty ; she sat down before 
 a dirty table and ordered a cup of coffee. The only 
 waiter in attendance the rest were probably in the 
 street was old and bleared of eye, but he stared hard 
 at the new customer.
 
 332 The Californians 
 
 "You'd better git out of this," he said, as Magda- 
 lena finished her unpleasant draught. "You ain't 
 pretty, but you 're a lady, and they don't understand 
 that sort here. Have you got much money with 
 you?" 
 
 " About a dollar, and I certainly do not give the im 
 pression of wealth. Most nursery maids are better 
 dressed." 
 
 " You 'd better git out, all the same." 
 
 But the strong coffee had gone to Magdal^na's head, 
 and she cared little what became of her. Nevertheless, 
 a moment later she was shrieking and struggling in the 
 arms of a big golden-bearded Russian. She barely 
 grasped the sense of what followed. There was a vol 
 ley of screams and laughter ; the man was cursing and 
 gripping her with the arms of a grizzly. Then there 
 was a flash of knives, and she was stumbling headlong 
 through the crowd, hooted at and buffeted. But no one 
 attempted to stop her, for a fight with bowie-knives 
 was more interesting than a sallow-faced girl who had 
 happened upon foreign territory. She ran up a dark 
 side-street, and then, as her breath gave out and forced 
 her to moderate her pace, she glanced repeatedly over 
 her shoulder. No one was in pursuit, but it was some 
 moments before she realised that it was not relief she 
 experienced, but something akin to disappointment. 
 She was in the ugliest mood of which her nature was 
 capable, and that was saying much. With one excep 
 tion, better forgotten, this blond ruffian who had in 
 sulted her was the only man who had ever desired her ;
 
 The Californians 
 
 doubtless, she reflected bitterly, even Trennahan might 
 be excepted. And when an unprepossessing woman 
 of starved affections and implacably controlled passions 
 sees desire in the eyes of a man for the first time, her 
 vanity of sex responds, if her passions do not. 
 
 She half turned back and stood looking down the 
 hill to the brilliant noisy street. 
 
 Why should I not go back and live with him, and 
 disappear from a world which takes no interest in 
 me, and in which I am no earthly use ? she thought. 
 And no life could be worse than mine, nor more 
 immoral, for that matter. I have never fulfilled a single 
 one of the conditions for which woman was born, and 
 I 'd be more normal as that man's mistress, and less un 
 happy even if he beat me, which he probably would, 
 than living the life of a blind mole underground. 
 
 Then she wondered who her deliverer was, and 
 wondered if he too had wanted her. Some portion 
 of the blackness in her soul receded suddenly, and she 
 smiled and trembled slightly. Involuntarily her back 
 straightened, and she lifted her head. But with the 
 sudden rush of sexual pride the magnetism of its 
 creators receded, and she turned her back on the flare 
 below and continued to mount the hill. In a moment 
 she turned into a badly lighted alley thinly peopled. 
 Here there was but a tinkle of music, and it came 
 from the guitar. Fat old women with black shawls 
 pinned about their heads sat on the doorsteps of 
 ramshackle houses talking to men whose flannel shirts 
 revealed hairy chests. The women looked stupid, the
 
 334 The Californians 
 
 men weather-beaten, but the prevailing expression was 
 good-natured. In the middle of the street was a 
 tamale stand surrounded by patrons. The aroma of 
 highly seasoned cooking came from a restaurant at the 
 foot of a rickety flight of steps. Every dilapidated 
 window had its flower-box. 
 
 This, then, was Spanish town. Magdatena had 
 dreamed of it often, picturing it a blaze of colour, 
 a moving picture-book, crowded with beautiful girls 
 and handsome gaily attired men. There was not a 
 young person to be seen. Nothing could be less 
 picturesque, more sordid. 
 
 An old crone with a face like a withered apple 
 followed her, whining for a nickel. The others stared 
 at her with the stolid dignity of their race. She gave 
 the woman the nickel and interrupted the invocation. 
 
 " Are there no girls here? " 
 
 " Girl come from other place sometimes, then have 
 the baby and is old queeck. Si the senorita stay here, 
 she have the baby and grow old too." 
 
 Magdalna hastened on. She neither knew nor 
 cared where she went, but after a time struck down 
 the slope again, judging that she was beyond the 
 centre of social activity. Once, at the corner of 
 two sharply converging streets, she passed a house 
 whose lighted windows were open, for the wind had 
 gone and the night was hot. But she only stood for a 
 moment. Fat Mexican women half dressed were 
 lolling about, and the front door was open to many 
 men. The women were not as evil appearing as the
 
 The Californians 335 
 
 French dregs of Dupont Street, possibly because they 
 wore flowers in their hair and looked more frankly 
 sensual and less commercial. Again Magdatena felt 
 an almost irresistible attraction, but hastened on. 
 Once, in a dark street, she was flung against a wall 
 and her pockets turned inside out, but she made 
 no protest and was allowed to go without further 
 indignity. It was a woman who had robbed her, and 
 Magdatena, having come off with the mere loss of 
 seventy cents, indulged in a pleasurable thrill of 
 adventure. 
 
 After a time she found herself climbing a steep hill 
 and felt a sudden desire to reach the top, and that 
 the climb should be a long one. Here and there 
 she passed a tumble-down house, but the rest of the 
 hill under the brilliant moon showed bare and brown. 
 From the other side came the sound of lapping waves, 
 and she knew herself to be on Telegraph Hill. 
 
 She reached the top and sat down on the ground. 
 The clouds had flown with the wind, and the moon 
 revealed the quiet bay and the black masses of cliff 
 and hill and mountain beyond. An occasional gust 
 made a loud clatter in the rigging of the many crafts 
 below, or an angry shout arose from the water-front ; 
 but otherwise the night from the summit of Telegraph 
 Hill was peaceful and most beautiful. 
 
 Magdatena, who loved Nature and had yielded to 
 its influence many times in her life, made a deliber 
 ate attempt to absorb the peace and beauty of the 
 night into her own scarred and troubled soul. But
 
 336 The Californians 
 
 she gave up the attempt in a few moments. The 
 fierceness of her mood had passed, and some of its 
 blackness, but she was still bitter and hopeless. There 
 was nothing to do but to face the problem of her life, 
 and thinking was easier on these altitudes, where the 
 air was fresh and salt, and the stars seemed close, 
 than in the ill-ventilated prison which she called her 
 home. She determined to remain until morning and to 
 restore her brain to its normal condition, if possible. 
 
 She looked back upon the mental and moral inertia 
 into which she had sunken during the past month, 
 and its sequence of morbid and criminal instinct, with 
 terror and horror. Before an hour had passed, she 
 had herself in hand once more, for she had deliber 
 ately forced herself to face her own soul, and she 
 believed that she could put her character together 
 again and accept the future without further luxation or 
 debility of will. But she made no attempt to close her 
 eyes to the ugly fact that in that future of intermin 
 able years there were only two small stars of hope ; and 
 it required an effort of imagination to drag them above 
 the horizon, her father's death and the return of 
 Trennahan. Her father belonged to a long-lived race, 
 and Trennahan during an absence of three years and 
 some months had given no indication that he remem 
 bered her existence ; moreover, he had gone into exile 
 for love of another woman. But without the faint 
 white twinkle of those stars the future would be not a 
 blank, but an infernal abyss, which Magdatena, without 
 the society of her kind, without talent, without occu-
 
 The Californians 337 
 
 pation, without religion, refused to contemplate. And 
 she had all a woman's capacity for fooling herself with 
 the will-o'-the-wisps of the imagination. 
 
 Her eyes had been clear and her logic relentless so 
 long as the man had been within sight and touch, but 
 his absence, combined with his abrupt and final evic 
 tion from the toils of the other woman, had lifted him 
 from practical life into the realms of the imagination ; 
 in other words, he was no longer so much a man as an 
 ideal, a soul whom her own soul was free to await or 
 pursue in that inner world where realities are bodiless 
 and forgotten. 
 
 She longed for the old comfortable irresponsible 
 sensuous embrace of the Church of Rome. Its light 
 est touch was hypnotic, its very breath a balm. Why, 
 she wondered bitterly, could she not have been given 
 less brains, or more ? If her talents had been genu 
 ine, she would have had that magnificent independence 
 of religion and worldly conditions which only art 
 and love can create in the human mind. And if 
 her logic had been a trifle less relentless, she would 
 have had hours of ecstatic forgetfulness these last long 
 years. Of course there was always the Almighty 
 Power to whom one could pray, and who certainly 
 could grant prayer if He chose. But it seemed to 
 her an impertinence for ordinary insignificant beings to 
 importune this remote and absolute God, so forbidding 
 in His monotonous mystery. She had all the arrogance 
 of intellect despite her remorseless limitations. Had 
 she been granted the gift of creation, in other words, 
 
 22
 
 338 The Californians 
 
 a spark from the great creative force commanding the 
 Universe, she felt that she should have no hesitation 
 in begging for further favours; a certain sense of 
 kinship, of being in higher favour than the great con 
 gested mass, would have given her assurance and faith. 
 She sighed for a new religion, for that prophet who 
 must one day arise and rid the world of the abomina 
 tion of dogma and sect, giving to the groping millions 
 a simple belief, in which the fussiness, sentimental 
 ity, and cruelty of present religions would have no 
 place. 
 
 She sat there until the dawn came, grey and ap 
 palling at first, then touching the bay and the dark 
 heights with delicate colour, as the sun struggled out 
 of the embrace of the ocean. She was obliged to 
 walk home, as she had no money, and the long toil 
 some tramp in the wake of the eventful night gave 
 her appetite and many hours of rest. When she 
 awoke she felt that, whatever came, the most formid 
 able crisis of her life had been safely passed. 
 
 XXXI 
 
 IN the autumn she found an occupation which gave 
 her a temporary place in the scheme of things. Mrs. 
 Yorba fell ill. The sudden and complete change from 
 a personage to a nobody, the long confinement, she 
 rarely put her foot outside the house lest her shabby 
 clothes be remarked upon, and a four years' course
 
 The Califormans 339 
 
 of sensational novels induced a nervous distemper. 
 Magdatena, hearing the sound of pacing footsteps in 
 the hall one night, arose and opened her door. Mrs. 
 Yorba, arrayed in a red flannel nightgown and a 
 frilled nightcap, was walking rapidly up and down, 
 talking to herself. Magdatena persuaded her to go 
 to bed, and the next morning sent for the doctor. 
 He prescribed an immediate change of scene, travel, 
 if possible ; if not, the country. Magdaldna under 
 took to carry the message to her father. 
 
 Knowing that a knock would evoke no response, 
 she opened the door of the study and went in. Don 
 Roberto, dirty, unshaven, looked like a wild man in 
 a mountain cave ; but his eyes were steady enough. 
 His table and the floor about his chair were piled 
 high with ledgers. On everything else the dust was 
 inches thick, and the spiders had spun a shimmering 
 web across one side of the room. It hung ^from the 
 gas-rod like a piece of fairy tapestry, woven with red 
 and gold here and there, where the sun's rays, scatter 
 ing through the slats of the inside blinds, caressed it. 
 On the mantel- piece, supported on its broken staff, 
 was the big American flag which had floated above 
 the house of Don Roberto Yorba for thirty years. 
 It had been carefully washed, and although broken 
 bits of spiders' weavings hung to its edges, there 
 were none on its surface. 
 
 Magdatena felt no desire to kiss her parent, although 
 it was the first time for several years that she had stood 
 in his presence. She disliked and despised him, and
 
 34 The Californians 
 
 thought no less of herself for her repudiation. If she, 
 a young, inexperienced, and lonely woman, could fight 
 and conquer morbid fancies, why not he, who had 
 been counted one of the keenest financial brains of 
 the country? She felt thoroughly ashamed of her 
 progenitor as she stood looking down upon the little 
 dirty shrunken shambling figure. 
 
 "Well?" growled Don Roberto, "what you want? " 
 
 "My mother is very ill. This life is killing her. 
 The doctor says she must have a change." 
 
 " All go to die sometime. What difference now or 
 bimeby?" 
 
 "Will you let us go to Santa Barbara to visit 
 aunt?" 
 
 " Si she send you the moneys, I no care what you 
 do with it. I no give you one cents." 
 
 " Very well ; I shall ask my aunt." 
 
 But Mrs. Yorba declared that she would not go to 
 Santa Barbara : she detested her sister-in-law, and 
 would accept no favours from her, nor be forced 
 into her society. There was nothing for Magdale"na 
 to do but to nurse her, and a most exasperating invalid 
 she proved. Nevertheless, Magdalna, although a 
 part of her duties was to read her mother's favourite 
 literature aloud by the hour, was almost grateful for 
 the change. She seldom found time for her daily 
 walk, but at least she had little time to think. 
 
 When Mrs. Montgomery, Mrs. Geary, and Mrs. 
 Brannan returned to town, they came frequently to sit 
 with the invalid, and cheered her somewhat with talk
 
 The Californians 341 
 
 of the coming summer, when they should take her 
 down to their own houses in Menlo. 
 
 " And I shall go," said Mrs. Yorba to her daughter, 
 " if I have n't a decent rag to my back. They think 
 nothing of that ; I was a fool not to go before. And 
 I 'm going to get well against the time when that old 
 fiend dies. There ! I never thought I 'd say that, 
 for I was brought up in the fear of the Lord, but say 
 ing it is little different from thinking it, after all. I Ve 
 been thinking it for two solid years. California 's not 
 New England, anyhow. When I do get the money, 
 won't I scatter it ! I Ve been economical all my life, 
 for I had it in my blood, and it was my duty, as your 
 father wished it ; as long as he did his duty by me, I 
 was more than willing to do mine by him : he can't 
 deny it. But we all know what reaction means, and it 
 has set in in me. When I am my own mistress, I '11 
 give three balls and two dinners a week. I '11 have the 
 finest carriages and horses ever seen in California. I '11 
 have four trousseaux a year from Paris, and I '11 go 
 to New York myself and buy the most magnificent 
 diamonds Tiffany 's got. I '11 refurnish this house and 
 Fair Oaks. The walls shall be frescoed, and every 
 stick in them will come from New York " 
 
 She paused abruptly, springing to her elbow. The 
 door was ajar. Through the aperture came a long 
 low chuckle. Magdatena jumped to her feet, flung the 
 door to, and locked it. 
 
 "Do you think he's gone mad at last?" gasped 
 Mrs. Yorba.
 
 342. The Californians 
 
 " It sounded like it." 
 
 " For Heaven's sake, don't leave me for a minute. 
 You must sleep here at night. There 's a cot some 
 where, in the attic, I think, if the rats have n't eaten 
 it. What a life to live ! " She fell to weeping, as she 
 frequently did in these days. Suddenly her face 
 brightened. " If he should make a will disinheriting 
 us, we could easily enough prove him insane after the 
 way he 's been acting these four years. Thank Heaven, 
 this is California ! General William could break any 
 will that ever was made." 
 
 Mrs. Yorba took an opiate and fell asleep. Mag- 
 datena went out, locking the door behind her. She 
 determined to ascertain at once if her father was in 
 sane. If he was, he should be confined in two of the 
 upper rooms with a keeper. The world should know 
 nothing of his misfortune ; but it would be absurd for 
 herself and her mother to live in a constant state of 
 physical terror. 
 
 As she descended the stair, the door of her father's 
 study opened abruptly and a man shot out as if 
 violently propelled from behind. The door was 
 slammed to immediately. 
 
 Magdalna ran downstairs and toward the stranger. 
 He was a tall man greatly bowed, and as she approached 
 him she saw that he was old and wore a long white 
 beard. His head was large and suggested nobility and 
 intellect ; but the eyes were bleared, the flesh of the 
 face loose and discoloured, and he was shabby and 
 dirty. He looked like a fallen king.
 
 The Californians 34? 
 
 " Was was my father rude ? " asked Magda- 
 lna. " He is not very well. Perhaps I can do some 
 thing." The man appealed to her strangely, and she 
 had a dollar in her purse. 
 
 " We were great friends in our boyhood and youth," 
 replied the stranger. He spoke with an accent, but his 
 English was unbroken. " And he has been my guest 
 many times. There was a time when he thought it an 
 honour to know me. When the Americans came, every 
 thing changed. My career closed, for I would have 
 nothing to do with them. I had held the highest 
 offices under the Mexican government. I could not 
 stoop to hold office under the usurpers many of 
 whom I would not have employed as servants. Then 
 they took my lands, everything. But I am detain 
 ing you, senorita." 
 
 " Oh, no, no, indeed ! How could they take your 
 lands? Who are you? Tell me everything." 
 
 " They ' squatted,' many of them, almost up to my 
 door. The only law we could appeal to was American 
 law, and California was a hell of sharpers at that time. 
 It is bad enough now, but it was worse then. And 
 then came the great drought of '64, in which we lost 
 all our cattle. We never recovered from that, for we 
 mortgaged our lands to the Americans to get money to 
 live on with, everything was three prices then ; and 
 when the time came they foreclosed, for we never had 
 the money to pay. And we were great gamblers, 
 senorita, and so were the Americans and far better 
 ones than we were. We were only made for pleasure
 
 344 The Californians 
 
 and plenty, to live the life of grandees who had little 
 use for money, and scorned it. When the time came 
 for us to pit ourselves against sordid people, we crum 
 bled like old bones. Your father has been very fortu 
 nate : he had a clever man to teach him to circumvent 
 other clever men. Years ago, when I was prouder 
 than I am now, I put my pride in my pocket and 
 wrote, asking him for help. I wanted a small sum to 
 pay off the mortgage on a ranchita, upon which I 
 might have ended my days in peace, for it was very 
 productive. He never answered. To-day I came to 
 ask him for money to buy bread. He roared at me 
 like a bull, and vowed he 'd blow my brains out if I 
 ever entered his house again. He looks like " He 
 paused abruptly. There was much of the old-time 
 courtliness in his manner. 
 
 "I I am so sorry. And I have little money to 
 spend. If you will leave me your name and address, I 
 will send you something on the first of each month ; 
 and if if ever I have more I will take care of you 
 of all of you. I suppose there are many others." 
 
 " There are indeed, senorita." 
 
 "Some day I will ask you for all of their names. 
 And yours?" 
 
 He gave it. It was a name famous in the brief 
 history of old California, a name which had stood 
 for splendid hospitality, for state and magnificence, for 
 power and glory. It was the name of one of her be 
 loved heroes. She had written his youthful romance j 
 she had described the picturesque fervour of his woo-
 
 The Californians 
 
 ing, the pomp of his wedding ; of all those heroes he 
 had been the best beloved, the most splendid. And 
 she met him, a broken-down old drunkard, in the 
 dusty gloom of an old maniac's wooden " palace," in 
 the fashionable quarter of a city which had never heard 
 his name. 
 
 " O God ! " she said. " O God ! " and she was 
 glad that she had burned her manuscripts. She took 
 the dollar from her pocket and gave it to him. 
 
 He accepted it eagerly. "God bless you, senorita ! " 
 he said. "And you can always hear of me at the 
 Yosemite Saloon, Castroville." 
 
 He passed out, neglecting to shut the door behind 
 him, but Magdatena did not notice the unaccustomed 
 rift of light. She sank into a chair against the wall 
 and wept heavily. They were the last tears she shed 
 over her fallen idols. When the wave had broken, she 
 reflected that she was glad to know of the distress of her 
 people ; it should be her lifework to help them. When 
 she came to her own she would buy them each a little 
 ranch and see that they passed the rest of their lives 
 in comfort. 
 
 She leaned forward and listened intently. Loud 
 mutterings proceeded from her father's room. She 
 wondered if there was a policeman in the street. She 
 and her mother were very unprotected. The only 
 man in the house besides her father was the Chinaman, 
 and Chinamen are as indifferent to the lives of others 
 as to their own. Don Roberto had ordered the tele 
 phone and messenger call removed years ago. The
 
 346 The Californians 
 
 sounds rose to a higher register. Magdaldna, straining 
 her ears, heard, delivered in rapid defiant tones, the 
 familiar national cry, " Hip-hip-hooray ! " 
 
 She went over softly, and put her ear to the thick 
 door. The tones of the old man's voice were broken, 
 as if by muscular exertion, and accompanied by a curi 
 ous bumping. Magdaldna understood in a moment. 
 He was striding up and down the room, waving the 
 American flag, and shouting, " Hip-hip-hooray ! Hip- 
 hip- hooray ! hooray! hooray/ hooray f" 
 
 She ran down the hall to summon Ah Kee and send 
 him for a doctor, but before she reached the bell she 
 heard the front door close, and turned swiftly. A man 
 had entered. 
 
 She went forward in some indignation. So deep 
 was the gloom of the hall that she could distinguish 
 nothing beyond the facts that the intruder was tall and 
 slight, and that he wore a light suit of clothes. When 
 she had approached within a few feet of him, she saw 
 that he was Trennahan. 
 
 For the moment she thought it was the soul of the 
 man, so ghostly he looked in that dim light, in that 
 large silence. 
 
 His first remark was reassuring : " I rang twice ; but 
 as no one came, and the door was open, I walked in, 
 as you see." 
 
 " We have so few servants now. Won't you come 
 and sit down?" 
 
 He followed her down to the reception-room. She 
 jerked aside the curtains, careless of the bad house-
 
 The Californians 347 
 
 keeping the light would reveal. It streamed in upon 
 him. He was deeply tanned and indescribably 
 improved. 
 
 They sat down opposite each other. Magdatena, 
 recalling her tears, placed her chair against the light. 
 "When did you get back? " she asked. 
 
 " The ship docked an hour ago." 
 
 "You look very well. Have you been enjoying 
 yourself? " 
 
 " I have been occupied, and useful I hope. At 
 least, 1 have collected some data and made some ob 
 servations which may be new to the world of Science. 
 I found the old love very absorbing. And, you will 
 hardly credit it, I have lived quite an impersonal life." 
 
 " Have you come back to California again because 
 you think it a good place to die in?" 
 
 " I came back to California, because it is a good 
 place to write my book in, and because you are here." 
 
 "Ah!" 
 
 " Don't misunderstand me. I am not so conceited 
 as to imagine that I can have you for the asking. But 
 listen to me : I had a brief but very genuine mad 
 ness. When I recovered I knew what I had th lost. 
 I argued even during my convalescence that I 
 had been wholly right in believing that you were the 
 one woman for me to marry, and, that fact established, 
 you must believe it no less than I. But for a long 
 time I was ashamed to come back, or to write. Later, 
 I went where it was impossible. Moreover, in solitude 
 a man comes into very close knowledge of himself.
 
 348 The Californians 
 
 After a few months of it I knew that I should nevei 
 be contented with mere existence again. I determined 
 to take advantage of what might be the last chance 
 granted me to make anything of my life ; I had thrown 
 away a good many chances. I also argued that if you 
 loved me, you would wait for me ; that you were not 
 the sort to marry for any reason but one. At least, 
 perhaps you will give me another trial." 
 
 " I shall marry you, I suppose ; I have wanted to 
 so long, and I never had any pride where you were 
 concerned. A few months ago I should have flown 
 into your arms; and I had felt sure that you would 
 return. But lately I have not been able to care about 
 anything. I am not the least bit excited that you are 
 here. It merely seems quite natural and rather 
 pleasant." 
 
 " Is anything the matter? " he asked anxiously. " You 
 look very thin and worn, and the house it was like 
 entering the receiving vault on Lone Mountain. I 
 thought when I came in that you were having a funeral, 
 at least." 
 
 " It has been like that for four years. Uncle died, 
 and papa was afraid to trust himself in the world for 
 fear he would relapse into his natural instincts. So he 
 shut himself up, makes us live on next to nothing, and 
 of course we go nowhere, for we have no clothes. 
 Mamma has been ill with nervous prostration for 
 months, and now I feel sure that papa has gone insane. 
 I have only spoken to him once in four years; but 
 I have been certain that he would lose his mind
 
 The Californians 349 
 
 finally, and I have just discovered that he is quite 
 mad." 
 
 " Good God ! We '11 be married to-morrow. I 
 never imagined your father would hit upon any new 
 eccentricities. You poor little hermit ! I fancied you 
 going to parties and plodding at your stories. I never 
 dreamed that you were shut up in a dungeon. I shall 
 see that you are happy hereafter." 
 
 " I feel sad and worn out. I don't think I can ever 
 feel much of anything again." 
 
 "Oh, you'll get over that," he replied cheerfully 
 he was as practical as ever. " What you want is plenty 
 of sun and fresh air and a rest from your family. If 
 your father is insane, he '11 go into an asylum ; and a 
 rest cure is the place for your mother. That will dis 
 pose of her while we are taking our honeymoon in the 
 redwoods. Do you think you could stand camping 
 out?" 
 
 " I could stand anything so long as it was the country 
 once more," she said, with her first flash of enthusiasm. 
 "But there is something I should tell you. Perhaps 
 after you hear it you won't want to marry me. I tried 
 to kill Helena once." 
 
 "You did what? " he said, staring at her. 
 
 "She came to me just after leaving you, on the 
 night of your last interview. I was very much worked 
 up before she came, had been for a long while ; and 
 when she told me that she had treated you badly and 
 had thrown you over, after taking you away from me, 
 I suddenly wanted to kill her, and I took my dagger
 
 350 The Californians 
 
 out of the drawer beside me. It was very dark, but 
 she had an instinct, and she jumped up and ran away. 
 I never knew I could feel so ; but every bit of blood in 
 my body seemed shrieking in my head, and if she had 
 not gone I should have jumped on her and hacked her 
 to bits. I must go up to my mother now. You can 
 think it over and come back again." 
 
 "I don't need to think it over," he said, smiling. 
 " That was all you needed to make you quite perfect. 
 You are a wonderful example of misdirected energies. 
 Where is your father? I will go and look after him at 
 once." 
 
 He took her suddenly in his arms and compelled her 
 to kiss him ; and then Magdale"na knew how glad she 
 was that he had come. 
 
 She went with him to the door of the study. 
 
 " He is quiet," she whispered. " Perhaps he is 
 asleep." 
 
 She left him and went down the hall, turning to 
 wave her hand to him. Trennahan knocked. There 
 was no answer. He opened the door softly, then 
 gave a swift glance over his shoulder, entered hurriedly, 
 and closed the door behind him. 
 
 Suspended from the gas pipe, which was bent and 
 leaking, was Don Roberto. The light was dim. The 
 purple face on the languidly revolving body was barely 
 visible ; but as it turned slowly to the door, it occu 
 pied a definite place among the shadows. Trennahan 
 flung back the curtains and opened the window, clos 
 ing the lower inside blinds. A cloud hurried across the
 
 The Californians 351 
 
 face of the sun, as if light had no place in that ghastly 
 room. About the limp body and sprawling hands clung 
 the delicate prismatic tapestry of the spiders. It was 
 rent in twain, and it quivered, and threatened to drop 
 and trail upon the floor. The little weavers were rac 
 ing about, full of anger and consternation, bent on re 
 pair. A number had already gathered up the broken 
 strands and were fastening them across the body. 
 Had Don Roberto remained undiscovered for twenty- 
 four hours, he might have been wrought into the tissue 
 of that beautiful delicate web, a grotesque intruder over 
 whom the spiders would doubtless have held long and 
 puzzled counsel. 
 
 The cloud passed. The sun caught a brilliant line 
 of colour. Trennahan went forward hastily, and ex 
 amined the long knotted strip between the body and 
 the ceiling. 
 
 Don Roberto had hanged himself with the American 
 
 THE END
 
 001372753