diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 2495-0.txt | 5637 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 2495-0.zip | bin | 0 -> 121947 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 2495-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 127513 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 2495-h/2495-h.htm | 6424 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 2495.txt | 5636 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 2495.zip | bin | 0 -> 121506 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/susy10.txt | 5782 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/susy10.zip | bin | 0 -> 120085 bytes |
11 files changed, 23495 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/2495-0.txt b/2495-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a7a8904 --- /dev/null +++ b/2495-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5637 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Susy, A Story of the Plains, by Bret Harte + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Susy, A Story of the Plains + +Author: Bret Harte + +Release Date: May 16, 2006 [EBook #2495] +Last Updated: March 4, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SUSY, A STORY OF THE PLAINS *** + + + + +Produced by Donald Lainson + + + + + +SUSY, A STORY OF THE PLAINS + + +By Bret Harte + + +From: “ARGONAUT EDITION” OF THE WORKS OF BRET HARTE, VOL. 7 + +P. F. COLLIER & SON + +NEW YORK + + + + +SUSY, A STORY OF THE PLAINS + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +Where the San Leandro turnpike stretches its dusty, hot, and +interminable length along the valley, at a point where the heat and dust +have become intolerable, the monotonous expanse of wild oats on either +side illimitable, and the distant horizon apparently remoter than ever, +it suddenly slips between a stunted thicket or hedge of “scrub oaks,” + which until that moment had been undistinguishable above the long, +misty, quivering level of the grain. The thicket rising gradually in +height, but with a regular slope whose gradient had been determined +by centuries of western trade winds, presently becomes a fair wood of +live-oak, and a few hundred yards further at last assumes the aspect of +a primeval forest. A delicious coolness fills the air; the long, shadowy +aisles greet the aching eye with a soothing twilight; the murmur +of unseen brooks is heard, and, by a strange irony, the enormous, +widely-spaced stacks of wild oats are replaced by a carpet of +tiny-leaved mosses and chickweed at the roots of trees, and the minutest +clover in more open spaces. The baked and cracked adobe soil of the now +vanished plains is exchanged for a heavy red mineral dust and gravel, +rocks and boulders make their appearance, and at times the road is +crossed by the white veins of quartz. It is still the San Leandro +turnpike,--a few miles later to rise from this canada into the upper +plains again,--but it is also the actual gateway and avenue to the +Robles Rancho. When the departing visitors of Judge Peyton, now owner +of the rancho, reach the outer plains again, after twenty minutes' +drive from the house, the canada, rancho, and avenue have as completely +disappeared from view as if they had been swallowed up in the plain. + +A cross road from the turnpike is the usual approach to the casa or +mansion,--a long, low quadrangle of brown adobe wall in a bare but +gently sloping eminence. And here a second surprise meets the stranger. +He seems to have emerged from the forest upon another illimitable plain, +but one utterly trackless, wild, and desolate. It is, however, only +a lower terrace of the same valley, and, in fact, comprises the three +square leagues of the Robles Rancho. Uncultivated and savage as it +appears, given over to wild cattle and horses that sometimes sweep in +frightened bands around the very casa itself, the long south wall of the +corral embraces an orchard of gnarled pear-trees, an old vineyard, and +a venerable garden of olives and oranges. A manor, formerly granted by +Charles V. to Don Vincente Robles, of Andalusia, of pious and ascetic +memory, it had commended itself to Judge Peyton, of Kentucky, a modern +heretic pioneer of bookish tastes and secluded habits, who had bought it +of Don Vincente's descendants. Here Judge Peyton seemed to have +realized his idea of a perfect climate, and a retirement, half-studious, +half-active, with something of the seignioralty of the old slaveholder +that he had been. Here, too, he had seen the hope of restoring his +wife's health--for which he had undertaken the overland emigration--more +than fulfilled in Mrs. Peyton's improved physical condition, albeit +at the expense, perhaps, of some of the languorous graces of ailing +American wifehood. + +It was with a curious recognition of this latter fact that Judge Peyton +watched his wife crossing the patio or courtyard with her arm around the +neck of her adopted daughter “Suzette.” A sudden memory crossed his mind +of the first day that he had seen them together,--the day that he had +brought the child and her boy-companion--two estrays from an emigrant +train on the plains--to his wife in camp. Certainly Mrs. Peyton was +stouter and stronger fibred; the wonderful Californian climate had +materialized her figure, as it had their Eastern fruits and flowers, but +it was stranger that “Susy”--the child of homelier frontier blood and +parentage, whose wholesome peasant plumpness had at first attracted +them--should have grown thinner and more graceful, and even seemed to +have gained the delicacy his wife had lost. Six years had imperceptibly +wrought this change; it had never struck him before so forcibly as on +this day of Susy's return from the convent school at Santa Clara for the +holidays. + +The woman and child had reached the broad veranda which, on one side of +the patio, replaced the old Spanish corridor. It was the single modern +innovation that Peyton had allowed himself when he had broken the +quadrangular symmetry of the old house with a wooden “annexe” or +addition beyond the walls. It made a pleasant lounging-place, shadowed +from the hot midday sun by sloping roofs and awnings, and sheltered from +the boisterous afternoon trade winds by the opposite side of the court. +But Susy did not seem inclined to linger there long that morning, in +spite of Mrs. Peyton's evident desire for a maternal tete-a-tete. The +nervous preoccupation and capricious ennui of an indulged child showed +in her pretty but discontented face, and knit her curved eyebrows, and +Peyton saw a look of pain pass over his wife's face as the young girl +suddenly and half-laughingly broke away and fluttered off towards the +old garden. + +Mrs. Peyton looked up and caught her husband's eye. + +“I am afraid Susy finds it more dull here every time she returns,” she +said, with an apologetic smile. “I am glad she has invited one of her +school friends to come for a visit to-morrow. You know, yourself, John,” + she added, with a slight partisan attitude, “that the lonely old house +and wild plain are not particularly lively for young people, however +much they may suit YOUR ways.” + +“It certainly must be dull if she can't stand it for three weeks in +the year,” said her husband dryly. “But we really cannot open the San +Francisco house for her summer vacation, nor can we move from the rancho +to a more fashionable locality. Besides, it will do her good to run +wild here. I can remember when she wasn't so fastidious. In fact, I was +thinking just now how changed she was from the day when we picked her +up”-- + +“How often am I to remind you, John,” interrupted the lady, with some +impatience, “that we agreed never to speak of her past, or even to think +of her as anything but our own child. You know how it pains me! And the +poor dear herself has forgotten it, and thinks of us only as her own +parents. I really believe that if that wretched father and mother of +hers had not been killed by the Indians, or were to come to life again, +she would neither know them nor care for them. I mean, of course, +John,” she said, averting her eyes from a slightly cynical smile on +her husband's face, “that it's only natural for young children to be +forgetful, and ready to take new impressions.” + +“And as long, dear, as WE are not the subjects of this youthful +forgetfulness, and she isn't really finding US as stupid as the rancho,” + replied her husband cheerfully, “I suppose we mustn't complain.” + +“John, how can you talk such nonsense?” said Mrs. Peyton impatiently. +“But I have no fear of that,” she added, with a slightly ostentatious +confidence. “I only wish I was as sure”-- + +“Of what?” + +“Of nothing happening that could take her from us. I do not mean death, +John,--like our first little one. That does not happen to one twice; but +I sometimes dread”-- + +“What? She's only fifteen, and it's rather early to think about the only +other inevitable separation,--marriage. Come, Ally, this is mere fancy. +She has been given up to us by her family,--at least, by all that we +know are left of them. I have legally adopted her. If I have not made +her my heiress, it is because I prefer to leave everything to YOU, and +I would rather she should know that she was dependent upon you for the +future than upon me.” + +“And I can make a will in her favor if I want to?” said Mrs. Peyton +quickly. + +“Always,” responded her husband smilingly; “but you have ample time to +think of that, I trust. Meanwhile I have some news for you which may +make Susy's visit to the rancho this time less dull to her. You remember +Clarence Brant, the boy who was with her when we picked her up, and who +really saved her life?” + +“No, I don't,” said Mrs. Peyton pettishly, “nor do I want to! You know, +John, how distasteful and unpleasant it is for me to have those dreary, +petty, and vulgar details of the poor child's past life recalled, and, +thank Heaven, I have forgotten them except when you choose to drag +them before me. You agreed, long ago, that we were never to talk of the +Indian massacre of her parents, so that we could also ignore it before +her; then why do you talk of her vulgar friends, who are just as +unpleasant? Please let us drop the past.” + +“Willingly, my dear; but, unfortunately, we cannot make others do it. +And this is a case in point. It appears that this boy, whom we brought +to Sacramento to deliver to a relative”-- + +“And who was a wicked little impostor,--you remember that yourself, +John, for he said that he was the son of Colonel Brant, and that he was +dead; and you know, and my brother Harry knew, that Colonel Brant was +alive all the time, and that he was lying, and Colonel Brant was not his +father,” broke in Mrs. Peyton impatiently. + +“As it seems you do remember that much,” said Peyton dryly, “it is only +just to him that I should tell you that it appears that he was not an +impostor. His story was TRUE. I have just learned that Colonel Brant WAS +actually his father, but had concealed his lawless life here, as well +as his identity, from the boy. He was really that vague relative to whom +Clarence was confided, and under that disguise he afterwards protected +the boy, had him carefully educated at the Jesuit College of San Jose, +and, dying two years ago in that filibuster raid in Mexico, left him a +considerable fortune.” + +“And what has he to do with Susy's holidays?” said Mrs. Peyton, with +uneasy quickness. “John, you surely cannot expect her ever to meet this +common creature again, with his vulgar ways. His wretched associates +like that Jim Hooker, and, as you yourself admit, the blood of an +assassin, duelist, and--Heaven knows what kind of a pirate his father +wasn't at the last--in his veins! You don't believe that a lad of this +type, however much of his father's ill-gotten money he may have, can be +fit company for your daughter? You never could have thought of inviting +him here?” + +“I'm afraid that's exactly what I have done, Ally,” said the smiling but +unmoved Peyton; “but I'm still more afraid that your conception of his +present condition is an unfair one, like your remembrance of his past. +Father Sobriente, whom I met at San Jose yesterday, says he is very +intelligent, and thoroughly educated, with charming manners and refined +tastes. His father's money, which they say was an investment for him in +Carson's Bank five years ago, is as good as any one's, and his father's +blood won't hurt him in California or the Southwest. At least, he is +received everywhere, and Don Juan Robinson was his guardian. Indeed, as +far as social status goes, it might be a serious question if the actual +daughter of the late John Silsbee, of Pike County, and the adopted +child of John Peyton was in the least his superior. As Father Sobriente +evidently knew Clarence's former companionship with Susy and her +parents, it would be hardly politic for us to ignore it or seem to be +ashamed of it. So I intrusted Sobriente with an invitation to young +Brant on the spot.” + +Mrs. Peyton's impatience, indignation, and opposition, which had +successively given way before her husband's quiet, masterful good humor, +here took the form of a neurotic fatalism. She shook her head with +superstitious resignation. + +“Didn't I tell you, John, that I always had a dread of something +coming”-- + +“But if it comes in the shape of a shy young lad, I see nothing +singularly portentous in it. They have not met since they were quite +small; their tastes have changed; if they don't quarrel and fight they +may be equally bored with each other. Yet until then, in one way or +another, Clarence will occupy the young lady's vacant caprice, and +her school friend, Mary Rogers, will be here, you know, to divide +his attentions, and,” added Peyton, with mock solemnity, “preserve the +interest of strict propriety. Shall I break it to her,--or will you?” + +“No,--yes,” hesitated Mrs. Peyton; “perhaps I had better.” + +“Very well, I leave his character in your hands; only don't prejudice +her into a romantic fancy for him.” And Judge Peyton lounged smilingly +away. + +Then two little tears forced themselves from Mrs. Peyton's eyes. Again +she saw that prospect of uninterrupted companionship with Susy, upon +which each successive year she had built so many maternal hopes and +confidences, fade away before her. She dreaded the coming of Susy's +school friend, who shared her daughter's present thoughts and intimacy, +although she had herself invited her in a more desperate dread of the +child's abstracted, discontented eyes; she dreaded the advent of the boy +who had shared Susy's early life before she knew her; she dreaded the +ordeal of breaking the news and perhaps seeing that pretty animation +spring into her eyes, which she had begun to believe no solicitude or +tenderness of her own ever again awakened,--and yet she dreaded still +more that her husband should see it too. For the love of this recreated +woman, although not entirely materialized with her changed fibre, had +nevertheless become a coarser selfishness fostered by her loneliness and +limited experience. The maternal yearning left unsatisfied by the loss +of her first-born had never been filled by Susy's thoughtless acceptance +of it; she had been led astray by the child's easy transference of +dependence and the forgetfulness of youth, and was only now dimly +conscious of finding herself face to face with an alien nature. + +She started to her feet and followed the direction that Susy had taken. +For a moment she had to front the afternoon trade wind which chilled her +as it swept the plain beyond the gateway, but was stopped by the +adobe wall, above whose shelter the stunted treetops--through years of +exposure--slanted as if trimmed by gigantic shears. At first, looking +down the venerable alley of fantastic, knotted shapes, she saw no trace +of Susy. But half way down the gleam of a white skirt against a thicket +of dark olives showed her the young girl sitting on a bench in a +neglected arbor. In the midst of this formal and faded pageantry she +looked charmingly fresh, youthful, and pretty; and yet the unfortunate +woman thought that her attitude and expression at that moment suggested +more than her fifteen years of girlhood. Her golden hair still hung +unfettered over her straight, boy-like back and shoulders; her short +skirt still showed her childish feet and ankles; yet there seemed to be +some undefined maturity or a vague womanliness about her that stung Mrs. +Peyton's heart. The child was growing away from her, too! + +“Susy!” + +The young girl raised her head quickly; her deep violet eyes seemed also +to leap with a sudden suspicion, and with a half-mechanical, secretive +movement, that might have been only a schoolgirl's instinct, her right +hand had slipped a paper on which she was scribbling between the leaves +of her book. Yet the next moment, even while looking interrogatively +at her mother, she withdrew the paper quietly, tore it up into small +pieces, and threw them on the ground. + +But Mrs. Peyton was too preoccupied with her news to notice the +circumstance, and too nervous in her haste to be tactful. “Susy, your +father has invited that boy, Clarence Brant,--you know that creature +we picked up and assisted on the plains, when you were a mere baby,--to +come down here and make us a visit.” + +Her heart seemed to stop beating as she gazed breathlessly at the girl. +But Susy's face, unchanged except for the alert, questioning eyes, +remained fixed for a moment; then a childish smile of wonder opened her +small red mouth, expanded it slightly as she said simply:-- + +“Lor, mar! He hasn't, really!” + +Inexpressibly, yet unreasonably reassured, Mrs. Peyton hurriedly +recounted her husband's story of Clarence's fortune, and was even +joyfully surprised into some fairness of statement. + +“But you don't remember him much, do you, dear? It was so long ago, +and--you are quite a young lady now,” she added eagerly. + +The open mouth was still fixed; the wondering smile would have been +idiotic in any face less dimpled, rosy, and piquant than Susy's. After +a slight gasp, as if in still incredulous and partly reminiscent +preoccupation, she said without replying:-- + +“How funny! When is he coming?” + +“Day after to-morrow,” returned Mrs. Peyton, with a contented smile. + +“And Mary Rogers will be here, too. It will be real fun for her.” + +Mrs. Peyton was more than reassured. Half ashamed of her jealous fears, +she drew Susy's golden head towards her and kissed it. And the young +girl, still reminiscent, with smilingly abstracted toleration, returned +the caress. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +It was not thought inconsistent with Susy's capriciousness that she +should declare her intention the next morning of driving her pony buggy +to Santa Inez to anticipate the stage-coach and fetch Mary Rogers from +the station. Mrs. Peyton, as usual, supported the young lady's whim and +opposed her husband's objections. + +“Because the stage-coach happens to pass our gate, John, it is no reason +why Susy shouldn't drive her friend from Santa Inez if she prefers it. +It's only seven miles, and you can send Pedro to follow her on horseback +to see that she comes to no harm.” + +“But that isn't Pedro's business,” said Peyton. + +“He ought to be proud of the privilege,” returned the lady, with a toss +of her head. + +Peyton smiled grimly, but yielded; and when the stage-coach drew up the +next afternoon at the Santa Inez Hotel, Susy was already waiting in her +pony carriage before it. Although the susceptible driver, expressman, +and passengers generally, charmed with this golden-haired vision, +would have gladly protracted the meeting of the two young friends, the +transfer of Mary Rogers from the coach to the carriage was effected with +considerable hauteur and youthful dignity by Susy. Even Mary Rogers, +two years Susy's senior, a serious brunette, whose good-humor did not, +however, impair her capacity for sentiment, was impressed and even +embarrassed by her demeanor; but only for a moment. When they had driven +from the hotel and were fairly hidden again in the dust of the outlying +plain, with the discreet Pedro hovering in the distance, Susy dropped +the reins, and, grasping her companion's arm, gasped, in tones of +dramatic intensity:-- + +“He's been heard from, and is coming HERE!” + +“Who?” + +A sickening sense that her old confidante had already lost touch with +her--they had been separated for nearly two weeks--might have passed +through Susy's mind. + +“Who?” she repeated, with a vicious shake of Mary's arm, “why, Clarence +Brant, of course.” + +“No!” said Mary, vaguely. + +Nevertheless, Susy went on rapidly, as if to neutralize the effect of +her comrade's vacuity. + +“You never could have imagined it! Never! Even I, when mother told me, I +thought I should have fainted, and ALL would have been revealed!” + +“But,” hesitated the still wondering confidante, “I thought that was all +over long ago. You haven't seen him nor heard from him since that day +you met accidentally at Santa Clara, two years ago, have you?” + +Susy's eyes shot a blue ray of dark but unutterable significance into +Mary's, and then were carefully averted. Mary Rogers, although perfectly +satisfied that Susy had never seen Clarence since, nevertheless +instantly accepted and was even thrilled with this artful suggestion +of a clandestine correspondence. Such was the simple faith of youthful +friendship. + +“Mother knows nothing of it, of course, and a word from you or him would +ruin everything,” continued the breathless Susy. “That's why I came +to fetch you and warn you. You must see him first, and warn him at any +cost. If I hadn't run every risk to come here to-day, Heaven knows what +might have happened! What do you think of the ponies, dear? They're +my own, and the sweetest! This one's Susy, that one Clarence,--but +privately, you know. Before the world and in the stables he's only +Birdie.” + +“But I thought you wrote to me that you called them 'Paul and +Virginie,'” said Mary doubtfully. + +“I do, sometimes,” said Susy calmly. “But one has to learn to suppress +one's feelings, dear!” Then quickly, “I do so hate deceit, don't you? +Tell me, don't you think deceit perfectly hateful?” + +Without waiting for her friend's loyal assent, she continued rapidly: +“And he's just rolling in wealth! and educated, papa says, to the +highest degree!” + +“Then,” began Mary, “if he's coming with your mother's consent, and if +you haven't quarreled, and it is not broken off, I should think you'd be +just delighted.” + +But another quick flash from Susy's eyes dispersed these beatific +visions of the future. “Hush!” she said, with suppressed dramatic +intensity. “You know not what you say! There's an awful mystery hangs +over him. Mary Rogers,” continued the young girl, approaching her small +mouth to her confidante's ear in an appalling whisper. “His father +was--a PIRATE! Yes--lived a pirate and was killed a pirate!” + +The statement, however, seemed to be partly ineffective. Mary Rogers was +startled but not alarmed, and even protested feebly. “But,” she said, +“if the father's dead, what's that to do with Clarence? He was always +with your papa--so you told me, dear--or other people, and couldn't +catch anything from his own father. And I'm sure, dearest, he always +seemed nice and quiet.” + +“Yes, SEEMED,” returned Susy darkly, “but that's all you know! It was in +his BLOOD. You know it always is,--you read it in the books,--you +could see it in his eye. There were times, my dear, when he was +thwarted,--when the slightest attention from another person to me +revealed it! I have kept it to myself,--but think, dearest, of the +effects of jealousy on that passionate nature! Sometimes I tremble to +look back upon it.” + +Nevertheless, she raised her hands and threw back her lovely golden mane +from her childish shoulders with an easy, untroubled gesture. It was +singular that Mary Rogers, leaning back comfortably in the buggy, also +accepted these heart-rending revelations with comfortably knitted +brows and luxuriously contented concern. If she found it difficult to +recognize in the picture just drawn by Susy the quiet, gentle, and sadly +reserved youth she had known, she said nothing. After a silence, lazily +watching the distant wheeling vacquero, she said:-- + +“And your father always sends an outrider like that with you? How nice! +So picturesque--and like the old Spanish days.” + +“Hush!” said Susy, with another unutterable glance. + +But this time Mary was in full sympathetic communion with her friend, +and equal to any incoherent hiatus of revelation. + +“No!” she said promptly, “you don't mean it!” + +“Don't ask me, I daren't say anything to papa, for he'd be simply +furious. But there are times when we're alone, and Pedro wheels down so +near with SUCH a look in his black eyes, that I'm all in a tremble. It's +dreadful! They say he's a real Briones,--and he sometimes says something +in Spanish, ending with 'senorita,' but I pretend I don't understand.” + +“And I suppose that if anything should happen to the ponies, he'd just +risk his life to save you.” + +“Yes,--and it would be so awful,--for I just hate him!” + +“But if I was with you, dear, he couldn't expect you to be as grateful +as if you were alone. Susy!” she continued after a pause, “if you just +stirred up the ponies a little so as to make 'em go fast, perhaps he +might think they'd got away from you, and come dashing down here. It +would be so funny to see him,--wouldn't it?” + +The two girls looked at each other; their eyes sparkled already with +a fearful joy,--they drew a long breath of guilty anticipation. For a +moment Susy even believed in her imaginary sketch of Pedro's devotion. + +“Papa said I wasn't to use the whip except in a case of necessity,” + she said, reaching for the slender silver-handled toy, and setting +her pretty lips together with the added determination of disobedience. +“G'long!”--and she laid the lash smartly on the shining backs of the +animals. + +They were wiry, slender brutes of Mojave Indian blood, only lately +broken to harness, and still undisciplined in temper. The lash sent +them rearing into the air, where, forgetting themselves in the slackened +traces and loose reins, they came down with a succession of bounds that +brought the light buggy leaping after them with its wheels scarcely +touching the ground. That unlucky lash had knocked away the bonds of +a few months' servitude and sent the half-broken brutes instinctively +careering with arched backs and kicking heels into the field towards the +nearest cover. + +Mary Rogers cast a hurried glance over her shoulder. Alas, they had +not calculated on the insidious levels of the terraced plain, and the +faithful Pedro had suddenly disappeared; the intervention of six inches +of rising wild oats had wiped him out of the prospect and their possible +salvation as completely as if he had been miles away. Nevertheless, +the girls were not frightened; perhaps they had not time. There was, +however, the briefest interval for the most dominant of feminine +emotions, and it was taken advantage of by Susy. + +“It was all YOUR fault, dear!” she gasped, as the forewheels of the +buggy, dropping into a gopher rut, suddenly tilted up the back of the +vehicle and shot its fair occupants into the yielding palisades of dusty +grain. The shock detached the whiffletree from the splinter-bar, snapped +the light pole, and, turning the now thoroughly frightened animals again +from their course, sent them, goaded by the clattering fragments, flying +down the turnpike. Half a mile farther on they overtook the gleaming +white canvas hood of a slowly moving wagon drawn by two oxen, and, +swerving again, the nearer pony stepped upon a trailing trace and +ingloriously ended their career by rolling himself and his companion in +the dust at the very feet of the peacefully plodding team. + +Equally harmless and inglorious was the catastrophe of Susy and her +friend. The strong, elastic stalks of the tall grain broke their fall +and enabled them to scramble to their feet, dusty, disheveled, but +unhurt, and even unstunned by the shock. Their first instinctive cries +over a damaged hat or ripped skirt were followed by the quick reaction +of childish laughter. They were alone; the very defection of Pedro +consoled them, in its absence of any witness to their disaster; even +their previous slight attitude to each other was forgotten. They groped +their way, pushing and panting, to the road again, where, beholding +the overset buggy with its wheels ludicrously in the air, they suddenly +seized and shook each other, and in an outburst of hilarious ecstasy, +fairly laughed until the tears came into their eyes. + +Then there was a breathless silence. + +“The stage will be coming by in a moment,” composedly said Susy. “Fix +me, dear.” + +Mary Rogers calmly walked around her friend, bestowing a practical +shake there, a pluck here, completely retying one bow and restoring an +engaging fullness to another, yet critically examining, with her head on +one side, the fascinating result. Then Susy performed the same function +for Mary with equal deliberation and deftness. Suddenly Mary started and +looked up. + +“It's coming,” she said quickly, “and they've SEEN US.” + +The expression of the faces of the two girls instantly changed. A +pained dignity and resignation, apparently born of the most harrowing +experiences and controlled only by perfect good breeding, was distinctly +suggested in their features and attitude as they stood patiently by the +wreck of their overturned buggy awaiting the oncoming coach. In sharp +contrast was the evident excitement among the passengers. A few rose +from their seats in their eagerness; as the stage pulled up in the road +beside the buggy four or five of the younger men leaped to the ground. + +“Are you hurt, miss?” they gasped sympathetically. + +Susy did not immediately reply, but ominously knitted her pretty +eyebrows as if repressing a spasm of pain. Then she said, “Not at all,” + coldly, with the suggestion of stoically concealing some lasting or +perhaps fatal injury, and took the arm of Mary Rogers, who had, in the +mean time, established a touching yet graceful limp. + +Declining the proffered assistance of the passengers, they helped each +other into the coach, and freezingly requesting the driver to stop at +Mr. Peyton's gate, maintained a statuesque and impressive silence. At +the gates they got down, followed by the sympathetic glances of the +others. + +To all appearance their escapade, albeit fraught with dangerous +possibilities, had happily ended. But in the economy of human affairs, +as in nature, forces are not suddenly let loose without more or less +sympathetic disturbance which is apt to linger after the impelling +cause is harmlessly spent. The fright which the girls had unsuccessfully +attempted to produce in the heart of their escort had passed him to +become a panic elsewhere. Judge Peyton, riding near the gateway of his +rancho, was suddenly confronted by the spectacle of one of his vacqueros +driving on before him the two lassoed and dusty ponies, with a face that +broke into violent gesticulating at his master's quick interrogation. + +“Ah! Mother of God! It was an evil day! For the bronchos had run away, +upset the buggy, and had only been stopped by a brave Americano of an +ox-team, whose lasso was even now around their necks, to prove it, and +who had been dragged a matter of a hundred varas, like a calf, at their +heels. The senoritas,--ah! had he not already said they were safe, by +the mercy of Jesus!--picked up by the coach, and would be here at this +moment.” + +“But where was Pedro all the time? What was he doing?” demanded Peyton, +with a darkened face and gathering anger. + +The vacquero looked at his master, and shrugged his shoulders +significantly. At any other time Peyton would have remembered that +Pedro, as the reputed scion of a decayed Spanish family, and claiming +superiority, was not a favorite with his fellow-retainers. But the +gesture, half of suggestion, half of depreciation, irritated Peyton +still more. + +“Well, where is this American who DID something when there wasn't a +man among you all able to stop a child's runaway ponies?” he said +sarcastically. “Let me see him.” + +The vacquero became still more deprecatory. + +“Ah! He had driven on with his team towards San Antonio. He would not +stop to be thanked. But that was the whole truth. He, Incarnacion, could +swear to it as to the Creed. There was nothing more.” + +“Take those beasts around the back way to the corral,” said Peyton, +thoroughly enraged, “and not a word of this to any one at the casa, do +you hear? Not a word to Mrs. Peyton or the servants, or, by Heaven, I'll +clear the rancho of the whole lazy crew of you at once. Out of the way +there, and be off!” + +He spurred his horse past the frightened menial, and dashed down the +narrow lane that led to the gate. But, as Incarnacion had truly said, +“It was an evil day,” for at the bottom of the lane, ambling slowly +along as he lazily puffed a yellow cigarette, appeared the figure of +the erring Pedro. Utterly unconscious of the accident, attributing the +disappearance of his charges to the inequalities of the plain, and, +in truth, little interested in what he firmly believed was his purely +artificial function, he had even made a larger circuit to stop at a +wayside fonda for refreshments. + +Unfortunately, there is no more illogical sequence of human emotion than +the exasperation produced by the bland manner of the unfortunate object +who has excited it, although that very unconcern may be the convincing +proof of innocence of intention. Judge Peyton, already influenced, was +furious at the comfortable obliviousness of his careless henchman, and +rode angrily towards him. Only a quick turn of Pedro's wrist kept the +two men from coming into collision. + +“Is this the way you attend to your duty?” demanded Peyton, in a thick, +suppressed voice, “Where is the buggy? Where is my daughter?” + +There was no mistaking Judge Peyton's manner, even if the reason of +it was not so clear to Pedro's mind, and his hot Latin blood flew +instinctively to his face. But for that, he might have shown some +concern or asked an explanation. As it was, he at once retorted with the +national shrug and the national half-scornful, half-lazy “Quien sabe?” + +“Who knows?” repeated Peyton, hotly. “I do! She was thrown out of her +buggy through your negligence and infernal laziness! The ponies ran +away, and were stopped by a stranger who wasn't afraid of risking +his bones, while you were limping around somewhere like a slouching, +cowardly coyote.” + +The vacquero struggled a moment between blank astonishment and +inarticulate rage. At last he burst out:-- + +“I am no coyote! I was there! I saw no runaway!” + +“Don't lie to me, sir!” roared Peyton. “I tell you the buggy was +smashed, the girls were thrown out and nearly killed”--He stopped +suddenly. The sound of youthful laughter had come from the bottom of the +lane, where Susy Peyton and Mary Rogers, just alighted from the coach, +in the reaction of their previous constrained attitude, were flying +hilariously into view. A slight embarrassment crossed Peyton's face; a +still deeper flush of anger overspread Pedro's sullen cheek. + +Then Pedro found tongue again, his native one, rapidly, violently, +half incoherently. “Ah, yes! It had come to this. It seems he was not +a vacquero, a companion of the padrone on lands that had been his own +before the Americanos robbed him of it, but a servant, a lackey of +muchachas, an attendant on children to amuse them, or--why not?--an +appendage to his daughter's state! Ah, Jesus Maria! such a state! such a +muchacha! A picked-up foundling--a swineherd's daughter--to be +ennobled by his, Pedro's, attendance, and for whose vulgar, clownish +tricks,--tricks of a swineherd's daughter,--he, Pedro, was to be brought +to book and insulted as if she were of Hidalgo blood! Ah, Caramba! Don +Juan Peyton would find he could no more make a servant of him than he +could make a lady of her!” + +The two young girls were rapidly approaching. Judge Peyton spurred his +horse beside the vacquero's, and, swinging the long thong of his bridle +ominously in his clenched fingers, said, with a white face:-- + +“Vamos!” + +Pedro's hand slid towards his sash. Peyton only looked at him with a +rigid smile of scorn. + +“Or I'll lash you here before them both,” he added in a lower voice. + +The vacquero met Peyton's relentless eyes with a yellow flash of hate, +drew his reins sharply, until his mustang, galled by the cruel bit, +reared suddenly as if to strike at the immovable American, then, +apparently with the same action, he swung it around on its hind legs, as +on a pivot, and dashed towards the corral at a furious gallop. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Meantime the heroic proprietor of the peaceful ox-team, whose valor +Incarnacion had so infelicitously celebrated, was walking listlessly in +the dust beside his wagon. At a first glance his slouching figure, taken +in connection with his bucolic conveyance, did not immediately suggest +a hero. As he emerged from the dusty cloud it could be seen that he was +wearing a belt from which a large dragoon revolver and hunting knife +were slung, and placed somewhat ostentatiously across the wagon seat +was a rifle. Yet the other contents of the wagon were of a singularly +inoffensive character, and even suggested articles of homely barter. +Culinary utensils of all sizes, tubs, scullery brushes, and clocks, with +several rolls of cheap carpeting and calico, might have been the wares +of some traveling vender. Yet, as they were only visible through a flap +of the drawn curtains of the canvas hood, they did not mitigate the +general aggressive effect of their owner's appearance. A red bandanna +handkerchief knotted and thrown loosely over his shoulders, a slouched +hat pulled darkly over a head of long tangled hair, which, however, +shadowed a round, comfortable face, scantily and youthfully bearded, +were part of these confusing inconsistencies. + +The shadows of the team wagon were already lengthening grotesquely over +the flat, cultivated fields, which for some time had taken the place of +the plains of wild oats in the branch road into which they had turned. +The gigantic shadow of the proprietor, occasionally projected before it, +was in characteristic exaggeration, and was often obliterated by a puff +of dust, stirred by the plodding hoofs of the peaceful oxen, and swept +across the field by the strong afternoon trades. The sun sank lower, +although a still potent presence above the horizon line; the creaking +wagon lumbered still heavily along. Yet at intervals its belligerent +proprietor would start up from his slouching, silent march, break out +into violent, disproportionate, but utterly ineffective objurgation +of his cattle, jump into the air and kick his heels together in some +paroxysm of indignation against them,--an act, however, which was +received always with heavy bovine indifference, the dogged scorn of +swaying, repudiating heads, or the dull contempt of lazily flicking +tails. + +Towards sunset one or two straggling barns and cottages indicated their +approach to the outskirts of a country town or settlement. Here the team +halted, as if the belligerent-looking teamster had felt his appearance +was inconsistent with an effeminate civilization, and the oxen were +turned into an open waste opposite a nondescript wooden tenement, half +farmhouse and half cabin, evidently of the rudest Western origin. He may +have recognized the fact that these “shanties” were not, as the ordinary +traveler might infer, the first rude shelter of the original pioneers +or settlers, but the later makeshifts of some recent Western immigrants +who, like himself, probably found themselves unequal to the settled +habits of the village, and who still retained their nomadic instincts. +It chanced, however, that the cabin at present was occupied by a New +England mechanic and his family, who had emigrated by ship around Cape +Horn, and who had no experience of the West, the plains, or its people. +It was therefore with some curiosity and a certain amount of fascinated +awe that the mechanic's only daughter regarded from the open door of her +dwelling the arrival of this wild and lawless-looking stranger. + +Meantime he had opened the curtains of the wagon and taken from its +interior a number of pots, pans, and culinary utensils, which he +proceeded to hang upon certain hooks that were placed on the outer ribs +of the board and the sides of the vehicle. To this he added a roll of +rag carpet, the end of which hung from the tailboard, and a roll of pink +calico temptingly displayed on the seat. The mystification and curiosity +of the young girl grew more intense at these proceedings. It looked +like the ordinary exhibition of a traveling peddler, but the gloomy +and embattled appearance of the man himself scouted so peaceful and +commonplace a suggestion. Under the pretense of chasing away a marauding +hen, she sallied out upon the waste near the wagon. It then became +evident that the traveler had seen her, and was not averse to her +interest in his movements, although he had not changed his attitude of +savage retrospection. An occasional ejaculation of suppressed passion, +as if the memory of some past conflict was too much for him, escaped him +even in this peaceful occupation. As this possibly caused the young girl +to still hover timidly in the distance, he suddenly entered the +wagon and reappeared carrying a tin bucket, with which he somewhat +ostentatiously crossed her path, his eyes darkly wandering as if seeking +something. + +“If you're lookin' for the spring, it's a spell furder on--by the +willows.” + +It was a pleasant voice, the teamster thought, albeit with a dry, crisp, +New England accent unfamiliar to his ears. He looked into the depths +of an unlovely blue-check sunbonnet, and saw certain small, irregular +features and a sallow check, lit up by a pair of perfectly innocent, +trustful, and wondering brown eyes. Their timid possessor seemed to be a +girl of seventeen, whose figure, although apparently clad in one of her +mother's gowns, was still undeveloped and repressed by rustic hardship +and innutrition. As her eyes met his she saw that the face of this +gloomy stranger was still youthful, by no means implacable, and, even at +that moment, was actually suffused by a brick-colored blush! In matters +of mere intuition, the sex, even in its most rustic phase, is still our +superior; and this unsophisticated girl, as the trespasser stammered, +“Thank ye, miss,” was instinctively emboldened to greater freedom. + +“Dad ain't tu hum, but ye kin have a drink o' milk if ye keer for it.” + +She motioned shyly towards the cabin, and then led the way. The +stranger, with an inarticulate murmur, afterwards disguised as a cough, +followed her meekly. Nevertheless, by the time they had reached the +cabin he had shaken his long hair over his eyes again, and a dark +abstraction gathered chiefly in his eyebrows. But it did not efface from +the girl's mind the previous concession of a blush, and, although it +added to her curiosity, did not alarm her. He drank the milk awkwardly. +But by the laws of courtesy, even among the most savage tribes, she +felt he was, at that moment at least, harmless. A timid smile fluttered +around her mouth as she said:-- + +“When ye hung up them things I thought ye might be havin' suthing to +swap or sell. That is,”--with tactful politeness,--“mother was wantin' +a new skillet, and it would have been handy if you'd had one. But”--with +an apologetic glance at his equipments--“if it ain't your business, it's +all right, and no offense.” + +“I've got a lot o' skillets,” said the strange teamster, with marked +condescension, “and she can have one. They're all that's left outer a +heap o' trader's stuff captured by Injuns t'other side of Laramie. We +had a big fight to get 'em back. Lost two of our best men,--scalped at +Bloody Creek,--and had to drop a dozen redskins in their tracks,--me and +another man,--lyin' flat in er wagon and firin' under the flaps o' +the canvas. I don't know ez they waz wuth it,” he added in gloomy +retrospect; “but I've got to get rid of 'em, I reckon, somehow, afore I +work over to Deadman's Gulch again.” + +The young girl's eyes brightened timidly with a feminine mingling of +imaginative awe and personal, pitying interest. He was, after all, so +young and amiable looking for such hardships and adventures. And with +all this, he--this Indian fighter--was a little afraid of HER! + +“Then that's why you carry that knife and six-shooter?” she said. “But +you won't want 'em now, here in the settlement.” + +“That's ez mebbe,” said the stranger darkly. He paused, and then +suddenly, as if recklessly accepting a dangerous risk, unbuckled his +revolver and handed it abstractedly to the young girl. But the sheath +of the bowie-knife was a fixture in his body-belt, and he was obliged +to withdraw the glittering blade by itself, and to hand it to her in all +its naked terrors. The young girl received the weapons with a smiling +complacency. Upon such altars as these the skeptical reader will +remember that Mars had once hung his “battered shield,” his lance, and +“uncontrolled crest.” + +Nevertheless, the warlike teamster was not without embarrassment. +Muttering something about the necessity of “looking after his stock,” + he achieved a hesitating bow, backed awkwardly out of the door, and +receiving from the conquering hands of the young girl his weapons again, +was obliged to carry them somewhat ingloriously in his hands across +the road, and put them on the wagon seat, where, in company with the +culinary articles, they seemed to lose their distinctively aggressive +character. Here, although his cheek was still flushed from his peaceful +encounter, his voice regained some of its hoarse severity as he drove +the oxen from the muddy pool into which they had luxuriantly wandered, +and brought their fodder from the wagon. Later, as the sun was setting, +he lit a corn-cob pipe, and somewhat ostentatiously strolled down the +road, with a furtive eye lingering upon the still open door of the +farmhouse. Presently two angular figures appeared from it, the farmer +and his wife, intent on barter. + +These he received with his previous gloomy preoccupation, and a slight +variation of the story he had told their daughter. It is possible +that his suggestive indifference piqued and heightened the bargaining +instincts of the woman, for she not only bought the skillet, but +purchased a clock and a roll of carpeting. Still more, in some effusion +of rustic courtesy, she extended an invitation to him to sup with them, +which he declined and accepted in the same embarrassed breath, returning +the proffered hospitality by confidentially showing them a couple of +dried scalps, presumably of Indian origin. It was in the same moment +of human weakness that he answered their polite query as to “what they +might call him,” by intimating that his name was “Red Jim,”--a title of +achievement by which he was generally known, which for the present must +suffice them. But during the repast that followed this was shortened to +“Mister Jim,” and even familiarly by the elders to plain “Jim.” Only +the young girl habitually used the formal prefix in return for the “Miss +Phoebe” that he called her. + +With three such sympathetic and unexperienced auditors the gloomy +embarrassment of Red Jim was soon dissipated, although it could hardly +be said that he was generally communicative. Dark tales of Indian +warfare, of night attacks and wild stampedes, in which he had always +taken a prominent part, flowed freely from his lips, but little else +of his past history or present prospects. And even his narratives of +adventure were more or less fragmentary and imperfect in detail. + +“You woz saying,” said the farmer, with slow, matter of fact, New +England deliberation, “ez how you guessed you woz beguiled amongst the +Injins by your Mexican partner, a pow'ful influential man, and yet you +woz the only one escaped the gen'ral slarterin'. How came the Injins to +kill HIM,--their friend?” + +“They didn't,” returned Jim, with ominously averted eyes. + +“What became of him?” continued the farmer. + +Red Jim shadowed his eyes with his hand, and cast a dark glance of +scrutiny out of the doors and windows. The young girl perceived it with +timid, fascinated concern, and said hurriedly:-- + +“Don't ask him, father! Don't you see he mustn't tell?” + +“Not when spies may be hangin' round, and doggin' me at every step,” + said Red Jim, as if reflecting, with another furtive glance towards +the already fading prospect without. “They've sworn to revenge him,” he +added moodily. + +A momentary silence followed. The farmer coughed slightly, and looked +dubiously at his wife. But the two women had already exchanged feminine +glances of sympathy for this evident slayer of traitors, and were +apparently inclined to stop any adverse criticism. + +In the midst of which a shout was heard from the road. The farmer and +his family instinctively started. Red Jim alone remained unmoved,--a +fact which did not lessen the admiration of his feminine audience. The +host rose quickly, and went out. The figure of a horseman had halted +in the road, but after a few moments' conversation with the farmer they +both moved towards the house and disappeared. When the farmer returned, +it was to say that “one of them 'Frisco dandies, who didn't keer +about stoppin' at the hotel in the settlement,” had halted to give his +“critter” a feed and drink that he might continue his journey. He had +asked him to come in while the horse was feeding, but the stranger had +“guessed he'd stretch his legs outside and smoke his cigar;” he might +have thought the company “not fine enough for him,” but he was “civil +spoken enough, and had an all-fired smart hoss, and seemed to know how +to run him.” To the anxious inquiries of his wife and daughter he added +that the stranger didn't seem like a spy or a Mexican; was “as young +as HIM,” pointing to the moody Red Jim, “and a darned sight more +peaceful-like in style.” + +Perhaps owing to the criticism of the farmer, perhaps from some still +lurking suspicion of being overheard by eavesdroppers, or possibly from +a humane desire to relieve the strained apprehension of the women, Red +Jim, as the farmer disappeared to rejoin the stranger, again dropped +into a lighter and gentler vein of reminiscence. He told them how, when +a mere boy, he had been lost from an emigrant train in company with a +little girl some years his junior. How, when they found themselves alone +on the desolate plain, with the vanished train beyond their reach, he +endeavored to keep the child from a knowledge of the real danger of +their position, and to soothe and comfort her. How he carried her on +his back, until, exhausted, he sank in a heap of sage-brush. How he was +surrounded by Indians, who, however, never suspected his hiding-place; +and how he remained motionless and breathless with the sleeping child +for three hours, until they departed. How, at the last moment, he had +perceived a train in the distance, and had staggered with her thither, +although shot at and wounded by the trainmen in the belief that he +was an Indian. How it was afterwards discovered that the child was the +long-lost daughter of a millionaire; how he had resolutely refused +any gratuity for saving her, and she was now a peerless young heiress, +famous in California. Whether this lighter tone of narrative suited him +better, or whether the active feminine sympathy of his auditors +helped him along, certain it was that his story was more coherent and +intelligible and his voice less hoarse and constrained than in his +previous belligerent reminiscences; his expression changed, and even his +features worked into something like gentler emotion. The bright eyes +of Phoebe, fastened upon him, turned dim with a faint moisture, and +her pale cheek took upon itself a little color. The mother, after +interjecting “Du tell,” and “I wanter know,” remained open-mouthed, +staring at her visitor. And in the silence that followed, a pleasant, +but somewhat melancholy voice came from the open door. + +“I beg your pardon, but I thought I couldn't be mistaken. It IS my old +friend, Jim Hooker!” + +Everybody started. Red Jim stumbled to his feet with an inarticulate and +hysteric exclamation. Yet the apparition that now stood in the doorway +was far from being terrifying or discomposing. It was evidently the +stranger,--a slender, elegantly-knit figure, whose upper lip was faintly +shadowed by a soft, dark mustache indicating early manhood, and whose +unstudied ease in his well-fitting garments bespoke the dweller of +cities. Good-looking and well-dressed, without the consciousness of +being either; self-possessed through easy circumstances, yet without +self-assertion; courteous by nature and instinct as well as from an +experience of granting favors, he might have been a welcome addition +to even a more critical company. But Red Jim, hurriedly seizing his +outstretched hand, instantly dragged him away from the doorway into the +road and out of hearing of his audience. + +“Did you hear what I was saying?” he asked hoarsely. + +“Well, yes,--I think so,” returned the stranger, with a quiet smile. + +“Ye ain't goin' back on me, Clarence, are ye,--ain't goin' to gimme away +afore them, old pard, are ye?” said Jim, with a sudden change to almost +pathetic pleading. + +“No,” returned the stranger, smiling. “And certainly not before that +interested young lady, Jim. But stop. Let me look at you.” + +He held out both hands, took Jim's, spread them apart for a moment with +a boyish gesture, and, looking in his face, said half mischievously, +half sadly, “Yes, it's the same old Jim Hooker,--unchanged.” + +“But YOU'RE changed,--reg'lar war paint, Big Injin style!” said Hooker, +looking up at him with an awkward mingling of admiration and envy. +“Heard you struck it rich with the old man, and was Mister Brant now!” + +“Yes,” said Clarence gently, yet with a smile that had not only a tinge +of weariness but even of sadness in it. + +Unfortunately, the act, which was quite natural to Clarence's +sensitiveness, and indeed partly sprang from some concern in his old +companion's fortunes, translated itself by a very human process to +Hooker's consciousness as a piece of rank affectation. HE would have +been exalted and exultant in Clarence's place, consequently any other +exhibition was only “airs.” Nevertheless, at the present moment Clarence +was to be placated. + +“You didn't mind my telling that story about your savin' Susy as my own, +did ye?” he said, with a hasty glance over his shoulder. “I only did it +to fool the old man and women-folks, and make talk. You won't blow on +me? Ye ain't mad about it?” + +It had crossed Clarence's memory that when they were both younger +Jim Hooker had once not only borrowed his story, but his name and +personality as well. Yet in his loyalty to old memories there was +mingled no resentment for past injury. “Of course not,” he said, with a +smile that was, however, still thoughtful. “Why should I? Only I ought +to tell you that Susy Peyton is living with her adopted parents not ten +miles from here, and it might reach their ears. She's quite a young lady +now, and if I wouldn't tell her story to strangers, I don't think YOU +ought to, Jim.” + +He said this so pleasantly that even the skeptical Jim forgot what he +believed were the “airs and graces” of self-abnegation, and said, +“Let's go inside, and I'll introduce you,” and turned to the house. But +Clarence Brant drew back. “I'm going on as soon as my horse is fed, +for I'm on a visit to Peyton, and I intend to push as far as Santa Inez +still to-night. I want to talk with you about yourself, Jim,” he +added gently; “your prospects and your future. I heard,” he went on +hesitatingly, “that you were--at work--in a restaurant in San Francisco. +I'm glad to see that you are at least your own master here,”--he glanced +at the wagon. “You are selling things, I suppose? For yourself, or +another? Is that team yours? Come,” he added, still pleasantly, but in +an older and graver voice, with perhaps the least touch of experienced +authority, “be frank, Jim. Which is it? Never mind what things you've +told IN THERE, tell ME the truth about yourself. Can I help you in any +way? Believe me, I should like to. We have been old friends, whatever +difference in our luck, I am yours still.” + +Thus adjured, the redoubtable Jim, in a hoarse whisper, with a furtive +eye on the house, admitted that he was traveling for an itinerant +peddler, whom he expected to join later in the settlement; that he +had his own methods of disposing of his wares, and (darkly) that his +proprietor and the world generally had better not interfere with him; +that (with a return to more confidential lightness) he had already +“worked the Wild West Injin” business so successfully as to dispose of +his wares, particularly in yonder house, and might do even more if not +prematurely and wantonly “blown upon,” “gone back on,” or “given away.” + +“But wouldn't you like to settle down on some bit of land like this, and +improve it for yourself?” said Clarence. “All these valley terraces are +bound to rise in value, and meantime you would be independent. It could +be managed, Jim. I think I could arrange it for you,” he went on, with a +slight glow of youthful enthusiasm. “Write to me at Peyton's ranch, +and I'll see you when I come back, and we'll hunt up something for +you together.” As Jim received the proposition with a kind of gloomy +embarrassment, he added lightly, with a glance at the farmhouse, “It +might be near HERE, you know; and you'd have pleasant neighbors, and +even eager listeners to your old adventures.” + +“You'd better come in a minit before you go,” said Jim, clumsily evading +a direct reply. Clarence hesitated a moment, and then yielded. For an +equal moment Jim Hooker was torn between secret jealousy of his old +comrade's graces and a desire to present them as familiar associations +of his own. But his vanity was quickly appeased. + +Need it be said that the two women received this fleck and foam of +a super-civilization they knew little of as almost an impertinence +compared to the rugged, gloomy, pathetic, and equally youthful hero of +an adventurous wilderness of which they knew still less? What availed +the courtesy and gentle melancholy of Clarence Brant beside the +mysterious gloom and dark savagery of Red Jim? Yet they received him +patronizingly, as one who was, like themselves, an admirer of manly +grace and power, and the recipient of Jim's friendship. The farmer alone +seemed to prefer Clarence, and yet the latter's tacit indorsement of Red +Jim, through his evident previous intimacy with him, impressed the man +in Jim's favor. All of which Clarence saw with that sensitive perception +which had given him an early insight into human weakness, yet still had +never shaken his youthful optimism. He smiled a little thoughtfully, but +was openly fraternal to Jim, courteous to his host and family, and, +as he rode away in the faint moonlight, magnificently opulent in his +largess to the farmer,--his first and only assertion of his position. + +The farmhouse, straggling barn, and fringe of dusty willows, the white +dome of the motionless wagon, with the hanging frying pans and kettles +showing in the moonlight like black silhouettes against the staring +canvas, all presently sank behind Clarence like the details of a dream, +and he was alone with the moon, the hazy mystery of the level, grassy +plain, and the monotony of the unending road. As he rode slowly along he +thought of that other dreary plain, white with alkali patches and brown +with rings of deserted camp-fires, known to his boyhood of deprivation, +dependency, danger, and adventure, oddly enough, with a strange delight; +and his later years of study, monastic seclusion, and final ease +and independence, with an easy sense of wasted existence and useless +waiting. He remembered his homeless childhood in the South, where +servants and slaves took the place of the father he had never known, +and the mother that he rarely saw; he remembered his abandonment to a +mysterious female relation, where his natural guardians seemed to +have overlooked and forgotten him, until he was sent, an all too young +adventurer, to work his passage on an overland emigrant train across the +plains; he remembered, as yesterday, the fears, the hopes, the dreams +and dangers of that momentous journey. He recalled his little playmate, +Susy, and their strange adventures--the whole incident that the +imaginative Jim Hooker had translated and rehearsed as his own--rose +vividly before him. He thought of the cruel end of that pilgrimage, +which again left him homeless and forgotten by even the relative he was +seeking in a strange land. He remembered his solitary journey to the +gold mines, taken with a boy's trust and a boy's fearlessness, and +the strange protector he had found there, who had news of his missing +kinsman; he remembered how this protector--whom he had at once +instinctively loved--transferred him to the house of this new-found +relation, who treated him kindly and sent him to the Jesuit school, but +who never awakened in him a feeling of kinship. He dreamed again of his +life at school, his accidental meeting with Susy at Santa Clara, the +keen revival of his boyish love for his old playmate, now a pretty +schoolgirl, the petted adopted child of wealthy parents. He recalled +the terrible shock that interrupted this boyish episode: the news of the +death of his protector, and the revelation that this hard, silent, and +mysterious man was his own father, whose reckless life and desperate +reputation had impelled him to assume a disguise. + +He remembered how his sudden accession to wealth and independence had +half frightened him, and had always left a lurking sensitiveness that +he was unfairly favored, by some mere accident, above his less lucky +companions. The rude vices of his old associates had made him impatient +of the feebler sensual indulgences of the later companions of +his luxury, and exposed their hollow fascinations; his sensitive +fastidiousness kept him clean among vulgar temptations; his clear +perceptions were never blinded by selfish sophistry. Meantime his +feeling for Susy remained unchanged. Pride had kept him from seeking the +Peytons. His present visit was as unpremeditated as Peyton's invitation +had been unlooked for by him. Yet he had not allowed himself to be +deceived. He knew that this courtesy was probably due to the change in +his fortune, although he had hoped it might have been some change in +their opinion brought about by Susy. But he would at least see +her again, not in the pretty, half-clandestine way she had thought +necessary, but openly and as her equal. + +In his rapid ride he seemed to have suddenly penetrated the peaceful +calm of the night. The restless irritation of the afternoon trade winds +had subsided; the tender moonlight had hushed and tranquilly possessed +the worried plain; the unending files of wild oats, far spaced and +distinct, stood erect and motionless as trees; something of the sedate +solemnity of a great forest seemed to have fallen upon their giant +stalks. There was no dew. In that light, dry air, the heavier dust no +longer rose beneath the heels of his horse, whose flying shadow passed +over the field like a cloud, leaving no trail or track behind it. In the +preoccupation of his thought and his breathless retrospect, the young +man had ridden faster than he intended, and he now checked his panting +horse. The influence of the night and the hushed landscape stole over +him; his thoughts took a gentler turn; in that dim, mysterious horizon +line before him, his future seemed to be dreamily peopled with airy, +graceful shapes that more or less took the likeness of Susy. She was +bright, coquettish, romantic, as he had last seen her; she was older, +graver, and thoughtfully welcome of him; or she was cold, distant, and +severely forgetful of the past. How would her adopted father and mother +receive him? Would they ever look upon him in the light of a suitor to +the young girl? He had no fear of Peyton,--he understood his own sex, +and, young as he was, knew already how to make himself respected; but +how could he overcome that instinctive aversion which Mrs. Peyton had +so often made him feel he had provoked? Yet in this dreamy hush of earth +and sky, what was not possible? His boyish heart beat high with daring +visions. + +He saw Mrs. Peyton in the porch, welcoming him with that maternal smile +which his childish longing had so often craved to share with Susy. +Peyton would be there, too,--Peyton, who had once pushed back his torn +straw hat to look approvingly in his boyish eyes; and Peyton, perhaps, +might be proud of him. + +Suddenly he started. A voice in his very ear! + +“Bah! A yoke of vulgar cattle grazing on lands that were thine by right +and law. Neither more nor less than that. And I tell thee, Pancho, like +cattle, to be driven off or caught and branded for one's own. Ha! There +are those who could swear to the truth of this on the Creed. Ay! and +bring papers stamped and signed by the governor's rubric to prove it. +And not that I hate them,--bah! what are those heretic swine to me? But +thou dost comprehend me? It galls and pricks me to see them swelling +themselves with stolen husks, and men like thee, Pancho, ousted from +their own land.” + +Clarence had halted in utter bewilderment. No one was visible before +him, behind him, on either side. The words, in Spanish, came from the +air, the sky, the distant horizon, he knew not which. Was he still +dreaming? A strange shiver crept over his skin as if the air had grown +suddenly chill. Then another mysterious voice arose, incredulous, half +mocking, but equally distinct and clear. + +“Caramba! What is this? You are wandering, friend Pancho. You are still +smarting from his tongue. He has the grant confirmed by his brigand +government; he has the POSSESSION, stolen by a thief like himself; and +he has the Corregidors with him. For is he not one of them himself, this +Judge Peyton?” + +Peyton! Clarence felt the blood rush back to his face in astonishment +and indignation. His heels mechanically pressed his horse's flanks, and +the animal sprang forward. + +“Guarda! Mira!” said the voice again in a quicker, lower tone. But +this time it was evidently in the field beside him, and the heads and +shoulders of two horsemen emerged at the same moment from the tall ranks +of wild oats. The mystery was solved. The strangers had been making +their way along a lower level of the terraced plain, hidden by the +grain, not twenty yards away, and parallel with the road they were now +ascending to join. Their figures were alike formless in long striped +serapes, and their features undistinguishable under stiff black +sombreros. + +“Buenas noches, senor,” said the second voice, in formal and cautious +deliberation. + +A sudden inspiration made Clarence respond in English, as if he had not +comprehended the stranger's words, “Eh?” + +“Gooda-nighta,” repeated the stranger. + +“Oh, good-night,” returned Clarence. They passed him. Their spurs +tinkled twice or thrice, their mustangs sprang forward, and the next +moment the loose folds of their serapes were fluttering at their sides +like wings in their flight. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +After the chill of a dewless night the morning sun was apt to look +ardently upon the Robles Rancho, if so strong an expression could +describe the dry, oven-like heat of a Californian coast-range valley. +Before ten o'clock the adobe wall of the patio was warm enough to permit +lingering vacqueros and idle peons to lean against it, and the exposed +annexe was filled with sharp, resinous odors from the oozing sap of +unseasoned “redwood” boards, warped and drying in the hot sunshine. Even +at that early hour the climbing Castilian roses were drooping against +the wooden columns of the new veranda, scarcely older than themselves, +and mingling an already faded spice with the aroma of baking wood and +the more material fragrance of steaming coffee, that seemed dominant +everywhere. + +In fact, the pretty breakfast-room, whose three broad windows, always +open to the veranda, gave an al fresco effect to every meal, was a +pathetic endeavor of the Southern-bred Peyton to emulate the soft, +luxurious, and open-air indolence of his native South, in a climate that +was not only not tropical, but even austere in its most fervid moments. +Yet, although cold draughts invaded it from the rear that morning, Judge +Peyton sat alone, between the open doors and windows, awaiting the +slow coming of his wife and the young ladies. He was not in an entirely +comfortable mood that morning. Things were not going on well at Robles. +That truculent vagabond, Pedro, had, the night before, taken himself off +with a curse that had frightened even the vacqueros, who most hated him +as a companion, but who now seemed inclined to regard his absence as an +injury done to their race. Peyton, uneasily conscious that his own anger +had been excited by an exaggerated conception of the accident, was +now, like most obstinate men, inclined to exaggerate the importance of +Pedro's insolence. He was well out of it to get rid of this quarrelsome +hanger-on, whose presumption and ill-humor threatened the discipline of +the rancho, yet he could not entirely forget that he had employed him +on account of his family claims, and from a desire to placate racial +jealousy and settle local differences. For the inferior Mexicans and +Indian half-breeds still regarded their old masters with affection; +were, in fact, more concerned for the integrity of their caste than +the masters were themselves, and the old Spanish families who had made +alliances with Americans, and shared their land with them, had rarely +succeeded in alienating their retainers with their lands. Certain +experiences in the proving of his grant before the Land Commission had +taught Peyton that they were not to be depended upon. And lately +there had been unpleasant rumors of the discovery of some unlooked-for +claimants to a division of the grant itself, which might affect his own +title. + +He looked up quickly as voices and light steps on the veranda at last +heralded the approach of his tardy household from the corridor. But, in +spite of his preoccupation, he was startled and even awkwardly impressed +with a change in Susy's appearance. She was wearing, for the first time, +a long skirt, and this sudden maturing of her figure struck him, as a +man, much more forcibly than it would probably have impressed a woman, +more familiar with details. He had not noticed certain indications of +womanhood, as significant, perhaps, in her carriage as her outlines, +which had been lately perfectly apparent to her mother and Mary, but +which were to him now, for the first time, indicated by a few inches of +skirt. She not only looked taller to his masculine eyes, but these few +inches had added to the mystery as well as the drapery of the goddess; +they were not so much the revelation of maturity as the suggestion that +it was HIDDEN. So impressed was he, that a half-serious lecture on her +yesterday's childishness, the outcome of his irritated reflections that +morning, died upon his lips. He felt he was no longer dealing with a +child. + +He welcomed them with that smile of bantering approbation, supposed to +keep down inordinate vanity, which for some occult reason one always +reserves for the members of one's own family. He was quite conscious +that Susy was looking very pretty in this new and mature frock, and that +as she stood beside his wife, far from ageing Mrs. Peyton's good looks +and figure, she appeared like an equal companion, and that they mutually +“became” one another. This, and the fact that they were all, including +Mary Rogers, in their freshest, gayest morning dresses, awakened a +half-humorous, half-real apprehension in his mind, that he was now +hopelessly surrounded by a matured sex, and in a weak minority. + +“I think I ought to have been prepared,” he began grimly, “for this +addition to--to--the skirts of my family.” + +“Why, John,” returned Mrs. Peyton quickly; “do you mean to say +you haven't noticed that the poor child has for weeks been looking +positively indecent?” + +“Really, papa, I've been a sight to behold. Haven't I, Mary?” chimed in +Susy. + +“Yes, dear. Why, Judge, I've been wondering that Susy stood it so well, +and never complained.” + +Peyton glanced around him at this compact feminine embattlement. It was +as he feared. Yet even here he was again at fault. + +“And,” said Mrs. Peyton slowly, with the reserved significance of the +feminine postscript in her voice, “if that Mr. Brant is coming here +to-day, it would be just as well for him to see that SHE IS NO LONGER A +CHILD, AS WHEN HE KNEW HER.” + +An hour later, good-natured Mary Rogers, in her character of “a +dear,”--which was usually indicated by the undertaking of small errands +for her friend,--was gathering roses from the old garden for Susy's +adornment, when she saw a vision which lingered with her for many a +day. She had stopped to look through the iron grille in the adobe wall, +across the open wind-swept plain. Miniature waves were passing over +the wild oats, with glittering disturbances here and there in the +depressions like the sparkling of green foam; the horizon line was +sharply defined against the hard, steel-blue sky; everywhere the +brand-new morning was shining with almost painted brilliancy; the vigor, +spirit, and even crudeness of youth were over all. The young girl was +dazzled and bewildered. Suddenly, as if blown out of the waving grain, +or an incarnation of the vivid morning, the bright and striking figure +of a youthful horseman flashed before the grille. It was Clarence Brant! +Mary Rogers had always seen him, in the loyalty of friendship, with +Susy's prepossessed eyes, yet she fancied that morning that he had +never looked so handsome before. Even the foppish fripperies of his +riding-dress and silver trappings seemed as much the natural expression +of conquering youth as the invincible morning sunshine. Perhaps it +might have been a reaction against Susy's caprice or some latent +susceptibility of her own; but a momentary antagonism to her friend +stirred even her kindly nature. What right had Susy to trifle with such +an opportunity? Who was SHE to hesitate over this gallant prince? + +But Prince Charming's quick eyes had detected her, and the next moment +his beautiful horse was beside the grating, and his ready hand of +greeting extended through the bars. + +“I suppose I am early and unexpected, but I slept at Santa Inez last +night, that I might ride over in the cool of the morning. My things are +coming by the stage-coach, later. It seemed such a slow way of coming +one's self.” + +Mary Rogers's black eyes intimated that the way he had taken was the +right one, but she gallantly recovered herself and remembered her +position as confidante. And here was the opportunity of delivering +Susy's warning unobserved. She withdrew her hand from Clarence's frank +grasp, and passing it through the grating, patted the sleek, shining +flanks of his horse, with a discreet division of admiration. + +“And such a lovely creature, too! And Susy will be so delighted! and +oh, Mr. Brant, please, you're to say nothing of having met her at Santa +Clara. It's just as well not to begin with THAT here, for, you see” + (with a large, maternal manner), “you were both SO young then.” + +Clarence drew a quick breath. It was the first check to his vision of +independence and equal footing! Then his invitation was NOT the outcome +of a continuous friendship revived by Susy, as he had hoped; the Peytons +had known nothing of his meeting with her, or perhaps they would not +have invited him. He was here as an impostor,--and all because Susy had +chosen to make a mystery of a harmless encounter, which might have +been explained, and which they might have even countenanced. He thought +bitterly of his old playmate for a brief moment,--as brief as Mary's +antagonism. The young girl noticed the change in his face, but +misinterpreted it. + +“Oh, there's no danger of its coming out if you don't say anything,” she +said, quickly. “Ride on to the house, and don't wait for me. You'll find +them in the patio on the veranda.” + +Clarence moved on, but not as spiritedly as before. Nevertheless there +was still dash enough about him and the animal he bestrode to stir into +admiration the few lounging vacqueros of a country which was apt to +judge the status of a rider by the quality of his horse. Nor was the +favorable impression confined to them alone. Peyton's gratification rang +out cheerily in his greeting:-- + +“Bravo, Clarence! You are here in true caballero style. Thanks for the +compliment to the rancho.” + +For a moment the young man was transported back again to his boyhood, +and once more felt Peyton's approving hand pushing back the worn straw +hat from his childish forehead. A faint color rose to his cheeks; his +eyes momentarily dropped. The highest art could have done no more! The +slight aggressiveness of his youthful finery and picturesque good looks +was condoned at once; his modesty conquered where self-assertion might +have provoked opposition, and even Mrs. Peyton felt herself impelled +to come forward with an outstretched hand scarcely less frank than her +husband's. Then Clarence lifted his eyes. He saw before him the woman +to whom his childish heart had gone out with the inscrutable longing and +adoration of a motherless, homeless, companionless boy; the woman who +had absorbed the love of his playmate without sharing it with him; who +had showered her protecting and maternal caresses on Susy, a waif like +himself, yet had not only left his heart lonely and desolate, but had +even added to his childish distrust of himself the thought that he +had excited her aversion. He saw her more beautiful than ever in her +restored health, freshness of coloring, and mature roundness of outline. +He was unconsciously touched with a man's admiration for her without +losing his boyish yearnings and half-filial affection; in her new +materialistic womanhood his youthful imagination had lifted her to +a queen and goddess. There was all this appeal in his still boyish +eyes,--eyes that had never yet known shame or fear in the expression of +their emotions; there was all this in the gesture with which he lifted +Mrs. Peyton's fingers to his lips. The little group saw in this act only +a Spanish courtesy in keeping with his accepted role. But a thrill of +surprise, of embarrassment, of intense gratification passed over her. +For he had not even looked at Susy! + +Her relenting was graceful. She welcomed him with a winning smile. Then +she motioned pleasantly towards Susy. + +“But here is an older friend, Mr. Brant, whom you do not seem to +recognize,--Susy, whom you have not seen since she was a child.” + +A quick flush rose to Clarence's cheek. The group smiled at this evident +youthful confession of some boyish admiration. But Clarence knew that +his truthful blood was merely resenting the deceit his lips were sealed +from divulging. He did not dare to glance at Susy; it added to the +general amusement that the young girl was obliged to present herself. +But in this interval she had exchanged glances with Mary Rogers, who had +rejoined the group, and she knew she was safe. She smiled with gracious +condescension at Clarence; observed, with the patronizing superiority +of age and established position, that he had GROWN, but had not greatly +changed, and, it is needless to say, again filled her mother's heart +with joy. Clarence, still intoxicated with Mrs. Peyton's kindliness, +and, perhaps, still embarrassed by remorse, had not time to remark the +girl's studied attitude. He shook hands with her cordially, and then, +in the quick reaction of youth, accepted with humorous gravity the +elaborate introduction to Mary Rogers by Susy, which completed this +little comedy. And if, with a woman's quickness, Mrs. Peyton detected a +certain lingering glance which passed between Mary Rogers and Clarence, +and misinterpreted it, it was only a part of that mystification into +which these youthful actors are apt to throw their mature audiences. + +“Confess, Ally,” said Peyton, cheerfully, as the three young people +suddenly found their tongues with aimless vivacity and inconsequent +laughter, and started with unintelligible spirits for an exploration of +the garden, “confess now that your bete noir is really a very manly as +well as a very presentable young fellow. By Jove! the padres have made a +Spanish swell out of him without spoiling the Brant grit, either! +Come, now; you're not afraid that Susy's style will suffer from HIS +companionship. 'Pon my soul, she might borrow a little of his courtesy +to his elders without indelicacy. I only wish she had as sincere a way +of showing her respect for you as he has. Did you notice that he really +didn't seem to see anybody else but you at first? And yet you never were +a friend to him, like Susy.” + +The lady tossed her head slightly, but smiled. + +“This is the first time he's seen Mary Rogers, isn't it?” she said +meditatively. + +“I reckon. But what's that to do with his politeness to you?” + +“And do her parents know him?” she continued, without replying. + +“How do I know? I suppose everybody has heard of him. Why?” + +“Because I think they've taken a fancy to each other.” + +“What in the name of folly, Ally”--began the despairing Peyton. + +“When you invite a handsome, rich, and fascinating young man into the +company of young ladies, John,” returned Mrs. Peyton, in her severest +manner, “you must not forget you owe a certain responsibility to the +parents. I shall certainly look after Miss Rogers.” + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +Although the three young people had left the veranda together, when they +reached the old garden Clarence and Susy found themselves considerably +in advance of Mary Rogers, who had become suddenly and deeply interested +in the beauty of a passion vine near the gate. At the first discovery of +their isolation their voluble exchange of information about themselves +and their occupations since their last meeting stopped simultaneously. +Clarence, who had forgotten his momentary irritation, and had recovered +his old happiness in her presence, was nevertheless conscious of some +other change in her than that suggested by the lengthened skirt and the +later and more delicate accentuation of her prettiness. It was not her +affectation of superiority and older social experience, for that was +only the outcome of what he had found charming in her as a child, and +which he still good-humoredly accepted; nor was it her characteristic +exaggeration of speech, which he still pleasantly recognized. It was +something else, vague and indefinite,--something that had been unnoticed +while Mary was with them, but had now come between them like some +unknown presence which had taken the confidante's place. He remained +silent, looking at her half-brightening cheek and conscious profile. +Then he spoke with awkward directness. + +“You are changed, Susy, more than in looks.” + +“Hush,” said the girl in a tragic whisper, with a warning gesture +towards the blandly unconscious Mary. + +“But,” returned Clarence wonderingly, “she's your--our friend, you +know.” + +“I DON'T know,” said Susy, in a still deeper tone, “that is--oh, don't +ask me! But when you're always surrounded by spies, when you can't say +your soul is your own, you doubt everybody!” There was such a pretty +distress in her violet eyes and curving eyebrows, that Clarence, albeit +vague as to its origin and particulars, nevertheless possessed himself +of the little hand that was gesticulating dangerously near his own, and +pressed it sympathetically. Perhaps preoccupied with her emotions, she +did not immediately withdraw it, as she went on rapidly: “And if you +were cooped up here, day after day, behind these bars,” pointing to the +grille, “you'd know what I suffer.” + +“But”--began Clarence. + +“Hush!” said Susy, with a stamp of her little foot. + +Clarence, who had only wished to point out that the whole lower end of +the garden wall was in ruins and the grille really was no prevention, +“hushed.” + +“And listen! Don't pay me much attention to-day, but talk to HER,” + indicating the still discreet and distant Mary, “before father and +mother. Not a word to her of this confidence, Clarence. To-morrow ride +out alone on your beautiful horse, and come back by way of the woods, +beyond our turning, at four o'clock. There's a trail to the right of the +big madrono tree. Take that. Be careful and keep a good lookout, for she +mustn't see you.” + +“Who mustn't see me?” said the puzzled Clarence. + +“Why, Mary, of course, you silly boy!” returned the girl impatiently. +“She'll be looking for ME. Go now, Clarence! Stop! Look at that lovely +big maiden's-blush up there,” pointing to a pink-suffused specimen +of rose grandiflora hanging on the wall. “Get it, Clarence,--that +one,--I'll show you where,--there!” They had already plunged into the +leafy bramble, and, standing on tiptoe, with her hand on his shoulder +and head upturned, Susy's cheek had innocently approached Clarence's +own. At this moment Clarence, possibly through some confusion of color, +fragrance, or softness of contact, seemed to have availed himself of the +opportunity, in a way which caused Susy to instantly rejoin Mary Rogers +with affected dignity, leaving him to follow a few moments later with +the captured flower. + +Without trying to understand the reason of to-morrow's rendezvous, and +perhaps not altogether convinced of the reality of Susy's troubles, he, +however, did not find that difficulty in carrying out her other commands +which he had expected. Mrs. Peyton was still gracious, and, with +feminine tact, induced him to talk of himself, until she was presently +in possession of his whole history, barring the episode of his meeting +with Susy, since he had parted with them. He felt a strange satisfaction +in familiarly pouring out his confidences to this superior woman, +whom he had always held in awe. There was a new delight in her womanly +interest in his trials and adventures, and a subtle pleasure even in her +half-motherly criticism and admonition of some passages. I am afraid he +forgot Susy, who listened with the complacency of an exhibitor; Mary, +whose black eyes dilated alternately with sympathy for the performer and +deprecation of Mrs. Peyton's critical glances; and Peyton, who, however, +seemed lost in thought, and preoccupied. Clarence was happy. The softly +shaded lights in the broad, spacious, comfortably furnished drawing-room +shone on the group before him. It was a picture of refined domesticity +which the homeless Clarence had never known except as a vague, +half-painful, boyish remembrance; it was a realization of welcome that +far exceeded his wildest boyish vision of the preceding night. With that +recollection came another,--a more uneasy one. He remembered how that +vision had been interrupted by the strange voices in the road, and their +vague but ominous import to his host. A feeling of self-reproach came +over him. The threats had impressed him as only mere braggadocio,--he +knew the characteristic exaggeration of the race,--but perhaps he ought +to privately tell Peyton of the incident at once. + +The opportunity came later, when the ladies had retired, and Peyton, +wrapped in a poncho in a rocking-chair, on the now chilly veranda, +looked up from his reverie and a cigar. Clarence casually introduced the +incident, as if only for the sake of describing the supernatural effect +of the hidden voices, but he was concerned to see that Peyton was +considerably disturbed by their more material import. After questioning +him as to the appearance of the two men, his host said: “I don't mind +telling you, Clarence, that as far as that fellow's intentions go he is +quite sincere, although his threats are only borrowed thunder. He is +a man whom I have just dismissed for carelessness and insolence,--two +things that run in double harness in this country,--but I should be more +afraid to find him at my back on a dark night, alone on the plains; than +to confront him in daylight, in the witness box, against me. He was +only repeating a silly rumor that the title to this rancho and the nine +square leagues beyond would be attacked by some speculators.” + +“But I thought your title was confirmed two years ago,” said Clarence. + +“The GRANT was confirmed,” returned Peyton, “which means that the +conveyance of the Mexican government of these lands to the ancestor of +Victor Robles was held to be legally proven by the United States Land +Commission, and a patent issued to all those who held under it. I and my +neighbors hold under it by purchase from Victor Robles, subject to the +confirmation of the Land Commission. But that confirmation was only +of Victor's GREAT-GRANDFATHER'S TITLE, and it is now alleged that as +Victor's father died without making a will, Victor has claimed and +disposed of property which he ought to have divided with his SISTERS. At +least, some speculating rascals in San Francisco have set up what they +call 'the Sisters' title,' and are selling it to actual settlers on +the unoccupied lands beyond. As, by the law, it would hold possession +against the mere ordinary squatters, whose only right is based, as you +know, on the presumption that there is NO TITLE CLAIMED, it gives the +possessor immunity to enjoy the use of the property until the case is +decided, and even should the original title hold good against his, the +successful litigant would probably be willing to pay for improvements +and possession to save the expensive and tedious process of ejectment.” + +“But this does not affect YOU, who have already possession?” said +Clarence quickly. + +“No, not as far as THIS HOUSE and the lands I actually OCCUPY AND +CULTIVATE are concerned; and they know that I am safe to fight to the +last, and carry the case to the Supreme Court in that case, until +the swindle is exposed, or they drop it; but I may have to pay them +something to keep the squatters off my UNOCCUPIED land.” + +“But you surely wouldn't recognize those rascals in any way?” said the +astonished Clarence. + +“As against other rascals? Why not?” returned Peyton grimly. “I only pay +for the possession which their sham title gives me to my own land. If by +accident that title obtains, I am still on the safe side.” After a pause +he said, more gravely, “What you overheard, Clarence, shows me that the +plan is more forward than I had imagined, and that I may have to fight +traitors here.” + +“I hope, sir,” said Clarence, with a quick glow in his earnest +face, “that you'll let me help you. You thought I did once, you +remember,--with the Indians.” + +There was so much of the old Clarence in his boyish appeal and eager, +questioning face that Peyton, who had been talking to him as a younger +but equal man of affairs, was startled into a smile, “You did, Clarence, +though the Indians butchered your friends, after all. I don't know, +though, but that your experiences with those Spaniards--you must have +known a lot of them when you were with Don Juan Robinson and at the +college--might be of service in getting at evidence, or smashing their +witnesses if it comes to a fight. But just now, MONEY is everything. +They must be bought OFF THE LAND if I have to mortgage it for the +purpose. That strikes you as a rather heroic remedy, Clarence, eh?” + he continued, in his old, half-bantering attitude towards Clarence's +inexperienced youth, “don't it?” + +But Clarence was not thinking of that. Another more audacious but +equally youthful and enthusiastic idea had taken possession of his mind, +and he lay awake half that night revolving it. It was true that it was +somewhat impractically mixed with his visions of Mrs. Peyton and Susy, +and even included his previous scheme of relief for the improvident and +incorrigible Hooker. But it gave a wonderful sincerity and happiness +to his slumbers that night, which the wiser and elder Peyton might have +envied, and I wot not was in the long run as correct and sagacious as +Peyton's sleepless cogitations. And in the early morning Mr. Clarence +Brant, the young capitalist, sat down to his traveling-desk and wrote +two clear-headed, logical, and practical business letters,--one to his +banker, and the other to his former guardian, Don Juan Robinson, as +his first step in a resolve that was, nevertheless, perhaps as wildly +quixotic and enthusiastic as any dream his boyish and unselfish heart +had ever indulged. + +At breakfast, in the charmed freedom of the domestic circle, Clarence +forgot Susy's capricious commands of yesterday, and began to address +himself to her in his old earnest fashion, until he was warned by +a significant knitting of the young lady's brows and monosyllabic +responses. But in his youthful loyalty to Mrs. Peyton, he was more +pained to notice Susy's occasional unconscious indifference to her +adopted mother's affectionate expression, and a more conscious disregard +of her wishes. So uneasy did he become, in his sensitive concern for +Mrs. Peyton's half-concealed mortification, that he gladly accepted +Peyton's offer to go with him to visit the farm and corral. As the +afternoon approached, with another twinge of self-reproach, he was +obliged to invent some excuse to decline certain hospitable plans +of Mrs. Peyton's for his entertainment, and at half past three stole +somewhat guiltily, with his horse, from the stables. But he had to pass +before the outer wall of the garden and grille, through which he had +seen Mary the day before. Raising his eyes mechanically, he was startled +to see Mrs. Peyton standing behind the grating, with her abstracted gaze +fixed upon the wind-tossed, level grain beyond her. She smiled as she +saw him, but there were traces of tears in her proud, handsome eyes. + +“You are going to ride?” she said pleasantly. + +“Y-e-es,” stammered the shamefaced Clarence. + +She glanced at him wistfully. + +“You are right. The girls have gone away by themselves. Mr. Peyton has +ridden over to Santa Inez on this dreadful land business, and I suppose +you'd have found him a dull riding companion. It is rather stupid here. +I quite envy you, Mr. Brant, your horse and your freedom.” + +“But, Mrs. Peyton,” broke in Clarence, impulsively, “you have a horse--I +saw it, a lovely lady's horse--eating its head off in the stable. Won't +you let me run back and order it; and won't you, please, come out with +me for a good, long gallop?” + +He meant what he said. He had spoken quickly, impulsively, but with the +perfect understanding in his own mind that his proposition meant the +complete abandonment of his rendezvous with Susy. Mrs. Peyton was +astounded and slightly stirred with his earnestness, albeit unaware of +all it implied. + +“It's a great temptation, Mr. Brant,” she said, with a playful smile, +which dazzled Clarence with its first faint suggestion of a refined +woman's coquetry; “but I'm afraid that Mr. Peyton would think me going +mad in my old age. No. Go on and enjoy your gallop, and if you should +see those giddy girls anywhere, send them home early for chocolate, +before the cold wind gets up.” + +She turned, waved her slim white hand playfully in acknowledgment of +Clarence's bared head, and moved away. + +For the first few moments the young man tried to find relief in furious +riding, and in bullying his spirited horse. Then he pulled quickly up. +What was he doing? What was he going to do? What foolish, vapid deceit +was this that he was going to practice upon that noble, queenly, +confiding, generous woman? (He had already forgotten that she had always +distrusted him.) What a fool he was not to tell her half-jokingly that +he expected to meet Susy! But would he have dared to talk half-jokingly +to such a woman on such a topic? And would it have been honorable +without disclosing the WHOLE truth,--that they had met secretly before? +And was it fair to Susy?--dear, innocent, childish Susy! Yet something +must be done! It was such trivial, purposeless deceit, after all; for +this noble woman, Mrs. Peyton, so kind, so gentle, would never object +to his loving Susy and marrying her. And they would all live happily +together; and Mrs. Peyton would never be separated from them, but always +beaming tenderly upon them as she did just now in the garden. Yes, he +would have a serious understanding with Susy, and that would excuse the +clandestine meeting to-day. + +His rapid pace, meantime, had brought him to the imperceptible incline +of the terrace, and he was astonished, in turning in the saddle, to find +that the casa, corral, and outbuildings had completely vanished, and +that behind him rolled only the long sea of grain, which seemed to have +swallowed them in its yellowing depths. Before him lay the wooded ravine +through which the stagecoach passed, which was also the entrance to +the rancho, and there, too, probably, was the turning of which Susy had +spoken. But it was still early for the rendezvous; indeed, he was in +no hurry to meet her in his present discontented state, and he made a +listless circuit of the field, in the hope of discovering the phenomena +that had caused the rancho's mysterious disappearance. When he had +found that it was the effect of the different levels, his attention was +arrested by a multitude of moving objects in a still more distant +field, which proved to be a band of wild horses. In and out among +them, circling aimlessly, as it seemed to him, appeared two horsemen +apparently performing some mystic evolution. To add to their singular +performance, from time to time one of the flying herd, driven by the +horsemen far beyond the circle of its companions, dropped suddenly and +unaccountably in full career. The field closed over it as if it had been +swallowed up. In a few moments it appeared again, trotting peacefully +behind its former pursuer. It was some time before Clarence grasped the +meaning of this strange spectacle. Although the clear, dry atmosphere +sharply accented the silhouette-like outlines of the men and horses, so +great was the distance that the slender forty-foot lasso, which in +the skillful hands of the horsemen had effected these captures, was +COMPLETELY INVISIBLE! The horsemen were Peyton's vacqueros, making a +selection from the young horses for the market. He remembered now +that Peyton had told him that he might be obliged to raise money by +sacrificing some of his stock, and the thought brought back Clarence's +uneasiness as he turned again to the trail. Indeed, he was hardly in +the vein for a gentle tryst, as he entered the wooded ravine to seek the +madrono tree which was to serve as a guide to his lady's bower. + +A few rods further, under the cool vault filled with woodland spicing, +he came upon it. In its summer harlequin dress of scarlet and green, +with hanging bells of poly-tinted berries, like some personified sylvan +Folly, it seemed a fitting symbol of Susy's childish masquerade of +passion. Its bizarre beauty, so opposed to the sober gravity of the +sedate pines and hemlocks, made it an unmistakable landmark. Here he +dismounted and picketed his horse. And here, beside it, to the right, +ran the little trail crawling over mossy boulders; a narrow yellow track +through the carpet of pine needles between the closest file of trees; +an almost imperceptible streak across pools of chickweed at their roots, +and a brown and ragged swath through the ferns. As he went on, the +anxiety and uneasiness that had possessed him gave way to a languid +intoxication of the senses; the mysterious seclusion of these woodland +depths recovered the old influence they had exerted over his boyhood. He +was not returning to Susy, as much as to the older love of his youth, of +which she was, perhaps, only an incident. It was therefore with an odd +boyish thrill again that, coming suddenly upon a little hollow, like +a deserted nest, where the lost trail made him hesitate, he heard the +crackle of a starched skirt behind him, was conscious of the subtle odor +of freshly ironed and scented muslin, and felt the gentle pressure of +delicate fingers upon his eyes. + +“Susy!” + +“You silly boy! Where were you blundering to? Why didn't you look around +you?” + +“I thought I would hear your voices.” + +“Whose voices, idiot?” + +“Yours and Mary's,” returned Clarence innocently, looking round for the +confidante. + +“Oh, indeed! Then you wanted to see MARY? Well, she's looking for me +somewhere. Perhaps you'll go and find her, or shall I?” + +She was offering to pass him when he laid his hand on hers to detain +her. She instantly evaded it, and drew herself up to her full height, +incontestably displaying the dignity of the added inches to her skirt. +All this was charmingly like the old Susy, but it did not bid fair +to help him to a serious interview. And, looking at the pretty, pink, +mocking face before him, with the witchery of the woodland still upon +him, he began to think that he had better put it off. + +“Never mind about Mary,” he said laughingly. “But you said you wanted to +see me, Susy; and here I am.” + +“Said I wanted to see you?” repeated Susy, with her blue eyes lifted in +celestial scorn and wonderment. “Said I wanted to see you? Are you not +mistaken, Mr. Brant? Really, I imagined that you came here to see ME.” + +With her fair head upturned, and the leaf of her scarlet lip temptingly +curled over, Clarence began to think this latest phase of her +extravagance the most fascinating. He drew nearer to her as he said +gently, “You know what I mean, Susy. You said yesterday you were +troubled. I thought you might have something to tell me.” + +“I should think it was YOU who might have something to tell me after all +these years,” she said poutingly, yet self-possessed. “But I suppose you +came here only to see Mary and mother. I'm sure you let them know that +plainly enough last evening.” + +“But you said”--began the stupefied Clarence. + +“Never mind what I said. It's always what I say, never what YOU say; and +you don't say anything.” + +The woodland influence must have been still very strong upon Clarence +that he did not discover in all this that, while Susy's general +capriciousness was unchanged, there was a new and singular insincerity +in her manifest acting. She was either concealing the existence of some +other real emotion, or assuming one that was absent. But he did not +notice it, and only replied tenderly:-- + +“But I want to say a great deal to you, Susy. I want to say that if you +still feel as I do, and as I have always felt, and you think you could +be happy as I would be if--if--we could be always together, we need not +conceal it from your mother and father any longer. I am old enough to +speak for myself, and I am my own master. Your mother has been very kind +to me,--so kind that it doesn't seem quite right to deceive her,--and +when I tell her that I love you, and that I want you to be my wife, I +believe she will give us her blessing.” + +Susy uttered a strange little laugh, and with an assumption of coyness, +that was, however, still affected, stooped to pick a few berries from a +manzanita bush. + +“I'll tell you what she'll say, Clarence. She'll say you're frightfully +young, and so you are!” + +The young fellow tried to echo the laugh, but felt as if he had received +a blow. For the first time he was conscious of the truth: this girl, +whom he had fondly regarded as a child, had already passed him in the +race; she had become a woman before he was yet a man, and now stood +before him, maturer in her knowledge, and older in her understanding, of +herself and of him. This was the change that had perplexed him; this +was the presence that had come between them,--a Susy he had never known +before. + +She laughed at his changed expression, and then swung herself easily to +a sitting posture on the low projecting branch of a hemlock. The act +was still girlish, but, nevertheless, she looked down upon him in +a superior, patronizing way. “Now, Clarence,” she said, with a +half-abstracted manner, “don't you be a big fool! If you talk that way +to mother, she'll only tell you to wait two or three years until you +know your own mind, and she'll pack me off to that horrid school again, +besides watching me like a cat every moment you are here. If you want +to stay here, and see me sometimes like this, you'll just behave as you +have done, and say nothing. Do you see? Perhaps you don't care to come, +or are satisfied with Mary and mother. Say so, then. Goodness knows, I +don't want to force you to come here.” + +Modest and reserved as Clarence was generally, I fear that bashfulness +of approach to the other sex was not one of these indications. He walked +up to Susy with appalling directness, and passed his arm around her +waist. She did not move, but remained looking at him and his intruding +arm with a certain critical curiosity, as if awaiting some novel +sensation. At which he kissed her. She then slowly disengaged his arm, +and said:-- + +“Really, upon my word, Clarence,” in perfectly level tones, and slipped +quietly to the ground. + +He again caught her in his arms, encircling her disarranged hair and +part of the beribboned hat hanging over her shoulder, and remained +for an instant holding her thus silently and tenderly. Then she freed +herself with an abstracted air, a half smile, and an unchanged color +except where her soft cheek had been abraded by his coat collar. + +“You're a bold, rude boy, Clarence,” she said, putting back her hair +quietly, and straightening the brim of her hat. “Heaven knows where +you learned manners!” and then, from a safer distance, with the same +critical look in her violet eyes, “I suppose you think mother would +allow THAT if she knew it?” + +But Clarence, now completely subjugated, with the memory of the kiss +upon him and a heightened color, protested that he only wanted to make +their intercourse less constrained, and to have their relations, even +their engagement, recognized by her parents; still he would take her +advice. Only there was always the danger that if they were discovered +she would be sent back to the convent all the same, and his banishment, +instead of being the probation of a few years, would be a perpetual +separation. + +“We could always run away, Clarence,” responded the young girl calmly. +“There's nothing the matter with THAT.” + +Clarence was startled. The idea of desolating the sad, proud, handsome +Mrs. Peyton, whom he worshiped, and her kind husband, whom he was just +about to serve, was so grotesque and confusing, that he said hopelessly, +“Yes.” + +“Of course,” she continued, with the same odd affectation of coyness, +which was, however, distinctly uncalled for, as she eyed him from under +her broad hat, “you needn't come with me unless you like. I can run away +by myself,--if I want to! I've thought of it before. One can't stand +everything!” + +“But, Susy,” said Clarence, with a swift remorseful recollection of her +confidence yesterday, “is there really anything troubles you? Tell me, +dear. What is it?” + +“Oh, nothing--EVERYTHING! It's no use,--YOU can't understand! YOU like +it, I know you do. I can see it; it's your style. But it's stupid, it's +awful, Clarence! With mamma snooping over you and around you all day, +with her 'dear child,' 'mamma's pet,' and 'What is it, dear?' and 'Tell +it all to your own mamma,' as if I would! And 'my own mamma,' indeed! As +if I didn't know, Clarence, that she ISN'T. And papa, caring for nothing +but this hideous, dreary rancho, and the huge, empty plains. It's worse +than school, for there, at least, when you went out, you could see +something besides cattle and horses and yellow-faced half-breeds! But +here--Lord! it's only a wonder I haven't run away before!” + +Startled and shocked as Clarence was at this revelation, accompanied as +it was by a hardness of manner that was new to him, the influence of +the young girl was still so strong upon him that he tried to evade it as +only an extravagance, and said with a faint smile, “But where would you +run to?” + +She looked at him cunningly, with her head on one side, and then said:-- + +“I have friends, and”-- + +She hesitated, pursing up her pretty lips. + +“And what?” + +“Relations.” + +“Relations?” + +“Yes,--an aunt by marriage. She lives in Sacramento. She'd be overjoyed +to have me come to her. Her second husband has a theatre there.” + +“But, Susy, what does Mrs. Peyton know of this?” + +“Nothing. Do you think I'd tell her, and have her buy them up as she has +my other relations? Do you suppose I don't know that I've been bought up +like a nigger?” + +She looked indignant, compressing her delicate little nostrils, and yet, +somehow, Clarence had the same singular impression that she was only +acting. + +The calling of a far-off voice came faintly through the wood. + +“That's Mary, looking for me,” said Susy composedly. “You must go, now, +Clarence. Quick! Remember what I said,--and don't breathe a word of +this. Good-by.” + +But Clarence was standing still, breathless, hopelessly disturbed, and +irresolute. Then he turned away mechanically towards the trail. + +“Well, Clarence?” + +She was looking at him half reproachfully, half coquettishly, with +smiling, parted lips. He hastened to forget himself and his troubles +upon them twice and thrice. Then she quickly disengaged herself, +whispered, “Go, now,” and, as Mary's call was repeated, Clarence heard +her voice, high and clear, answering, “Here, dear,” as he was plunging +into the thicket. + +He had scarcely reached the madrono tree again and remounted his horse, +before he heard the sound of hoofs approaching from the road. In +his present uneasiness he did not care to be discovered so near the +rendezvous, and drew back into the shadow until the horseman should +pass. It was Peyton, with a somewhat disturbed face, riding rapidly. +Still less was he inclined to join or immediately follow him, but he was +relieved when his host, instead of taking the direct road to the rancho, +through the wild oats, turned off in the direction of the corral. + +A moment later Clarence wheeled into the direct road, and presently +found himself in the long afternoon shadows through the thickest of the +grain. He was riding slowly, immersed in thought, when he was suddenly +startled by a hissing noise at his ear, and what seemed to be the +uncoiling stroke of a leaping serpent at his side. Instinctively he +threw himself forward on his horse's neck, and as the animal shied +into the grain, felt the crawling scrape and jerk of a horsehair lariat +across his back and down his horse's flanks. He reined in indignantly +and stood up in his stirrups. Nothing was to be seen above the level of +the grain. Beneath him the trailing riata had as noiselessly vanished +as if it had been indeed a gliding snake. Had he been the victim of a +practical joke, or of the blunder of some stupid vacquero? For he made +no doubt that it was the lasso of one of the performers he had watched +that afternoon. But his preoccupied mind did not dwell long upon it, and +by the time he had reached the wall of the old garden, the incident was +forgotten. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +Relieved of Clarence Brant's embarrassing presence, Jim Hooker did not, +however, refuse to avail himself of that opportunity to expound to the +farmer and his family the immense wealth, influence, and importance of +the friend who had just left him. Although Clarence's plan had suggested +reticence, Hooker could not forego the pleasure of informing them +that “Clar” Brant had just offered to let him into an extensive land +speculation. He had previously declined a large share or original +location in a mine of Clarence's, now worth a million, because it was +not “his style.” But the land speculation in a country of unsettled +titles and lawless men, he need not remind them, required some +experience of border warfare. He would not say positively, although he +left them to draw their own conclusions with gloomy significance, that +this was why Clarence had sought him. With this dark suggestion, he took +leave of Mr. and Mrs. Hopkins and their daughter Phoebe the next day, +not without some natural human emotion, and peacefully drove his team +and wagon into the settlement of Fair Plains. + +He was not prepared, however, for a sudden realization of his +imaginative prospects. A few days after his arrival in Fair Plains, +he received a letter from Clarence, explaining that he had not time to +return to Hooker to consult him, but had, nevertheless, fulfilled his +promise, by taking advantage of an opportunity of purchasing the Spanish +“Sisters'” title to certain unoccupied lands near the settlement. As +these lands in part joined the section already preempted and occupied by +Hopkins, Clarence thought that Jim Hooker would choose that part for the +sake of his neighbor's company. He inclosed a draft on San Francisco, +for a sum sufficient to enable Jim to put up a cabin and “stock” the +property, which he begged he would consider in the light of a loan, to +be paid back in installments, only when the property could afford it. +At the same time, if Jim was in difficulty, he was to inform him. The +letter closed with a characteristic Clarence-like mingling of enthusiasm +and older wisdom. “I wish you luck, Jim, but I see no reason why you +should trust to it. I don't know of anything that could keep you from +making yourself independent of any one, if you go to work with a LONG +AIM and don't fritter away your chances on short ones. If I were you, +old fellow, I'd drop the Plains and the Indians out of my thoughts, or +at least out of my TALK, for a while; they won't help you in the long +run. The people who believe you will be jealous of you; those who don't, +will look down upon you, and if they get to questioning your little +Indian romances, Jim, they'll be apt to question your civilized facts. +That won't help you in the ranching business and that's your only real +grip now.” For the space of two or three hours after this, Jim was +reasonably grateful and even subdued,--so much so that his employer, to +whom he confided his good fortune, frankly confessed that he believed +him from that unusual fact alone. Unfortunately, neither the practical +lesson conveyed in this grim admission, nor the sentiment of gratitude, +remained long with Jim. Another idea had taken possession of his fancy. +Although the land nominated in his bill of sale had been, except on the +occasion of his own temporary halt there, always unoccupied, +unsought, and unclaimed, and although he was amply protected by legal +certificates, he gravely collected a posse of three or four idlers from +Fair Plains, armed them at his own expense, and in the dead of night +took belligerent and forcible possession of the peaceful domain which +the weak generosity and unheroic dollars of Clarence had purchased for +him! A martial camp-fire tempered the chill night winds to the pulses of +the invaders, and enabled them to sleep on their arms in the field they +had won. The morning sun revealed to the astonished Hopkins family +the embattled plain beyond, with its armed sentries. Only then did Jim +hooker condescend to explain the reason of his warlike occupation, with +dark hints of the outlying “squatters” and “jumpers,” whose incursions +their boldness alone had repulsed. The effect of this romantic situation +upon the two women, with the slight fascination of danger imported +into their quiet lives, may well be imagined. Possibly owing to some +incautious questioning by Mr. Hopkins, and some doubts of the discipline +and sincerity of his posse, Jim discharged them the next day; but +during the erection of his cabin by some peaceful carpenters from the +settlement, he returned to his gloomy preoccupation and the ostentatious +wearing of his revolvers. As an opulent and powerful neighbor, he took +his meals with the family while his house was being built, and generally +impressed them with a sense of security they had never missed. + +Meantime, Clarence, duly informed of the installation of Jim as his +tenant, underwent a severe trial. It was necessary for his plans that +this should be kept a secret at present, and this was no easy thing for +his habitually frank and open nature. He had once mentioned that he had +met Jim at the settlement, but the information was received with such +indifference by Susy, and such marked disfavor by Mrs. Peyton, that +he said no more. He accompanied Peyton in his rides around the rancho, +fully possessed himself of the details of its boundaries, the debatable +lands held by the enemy, and listened with beating pulses, but a hushed +tongue, to his host's ill-concealed misgivings. + +“You see, Clarence, that lower terrace?” he said, pointing to a +far-reaching longitudinal plain beyond the corral; “it extends from my +corral to Fair Plains. That is claimed by the sisters' title, and, as +things appear to be going, if a division of the land is made it will be +theirs. It's bad enough to have this best grazing land lying just on +the flanks of the corral held by these rascals at an absurd prohibitory +price, but I am afraid that it may be made to mean something even worse. +According to the old surveys, these terraces on different levels were +the natural divisions of the property,--one heir or his tenant taking +one, and another taking another,--an easy distinction that saved the +necessity of boundary fencing or monuments, and gave no trouble to +people who were either kinsmen or lived in lazy patriarchal concord. +That is the form of division they are trying to reestablish now. Well,” + he continued, suddenly lifting his eyes to the young man's flushed face, +in some unconscious, sympathetic response to his earnest breathlessness, +“although my boundary line extends half a mile into that field, my house +and garden and corral ARE ACTUALLY UPON THAT TERRACE OR LEVEL.” They +certainly appeared to Clarence to be on the same line as the long field +beyond. “If,” went on Peyton, “such a decision is made, these men will +push on and claim the house and everything on the terrace.” + +“But,” said Clarence quickly, “you said their title was only valuable +where they have got or can give POSSESSION. You already have yours. They +can't take it from you except by force.” + +“No,” said Peyton grimly, “nor will they dare to do it as long as I live +to fight them.” + +“But,” persisted Clarence, with the same singular hesitancy of manner, +“why didn't you purchase possession of at least that part of the land +which lies so dangerously near your own house?” + +“Because it was held by squatters, who naturally preferred buying what +might prove a legal title to their land from these impostors than to +sell out their possession to ME at a fair price.” + +“But couldn't you have bought from them both?” continued Clarence. + +“My dear Clarence, I am not a Croesus nor a fool. Only a man who was +both would attempt to treat with these rascals, who would now, of +course, insist that THEIR WHOLE claim should be bought up at their own +price, by the man who was most concerned in defeating them.” + +He turned away a little impatiently. Fortunately he did not observe that +Clarence's averted face was crimson with embarrassment, and that a faint +smile hovered nervously about his mouth. + +Since his late rendezvous with Susy, Clarence had had no chance to +interrogate her further regarding her mysterious relative. That that +shadowy presence was more or less exaggerated, if not an absolute myth, +he more than half suspected, but of the discontent that had produced it, +or the recklessness it might provoke, there was no doubt. She might be +tempted to some act of folly. He wondered if Mary Rogers knew it. Yet, +with his sensitive ideas of loyalty, he would have shrunk from any +confidence with Mary regarding her friend's secrets, although he +fancied that Mary's dark eyes sometimes dwelt upon him with mournful +consciousness and premonition. He did not imagine the truth, that this +romantic contemplation was only the result of Mary's conviction that +Susy was utterly unworthy of his love. It so chanced one morning that +the vacquero who brought the post from Santa Inez arrived earlier than +usual, and so anticipated the two girls, who usually made a youthful +point of meeting him first as he passed the garden wall. The letter bag +was consequently delivered to Mrs. Peyton in the presence of the others, +and a look of consternation passed between the young girls. But +Mary quickly seized upon the bag as if with girlish and mischievous +impatience, opened it, and glanced within it. + +“There are only three letters for you,” she said, handing them to +Clarence, with a quick look of significance, which he failed to +comprehend, “and nothing for me or Susy.” + +“But,” began the innocent Clarence, as his first glance at the letters +showed him that one was directed to Susy, “here is”-- + +A wicked pinch on his arm that was nearest Mary stopped his speech, and +he quickly put the letters in his pocket. + +“Didn't you understand that Susy don't want her mother to see that +letter?” asked Mary impatiently, when they were alone a moment later. + +“No,” said Clarence simply, handing her the missive. + +Mary took it and turned it over in her hands. + +“It's in a man's handwriting,” she said innocently. + +“I hadn't noticed it,” returned Clarence with invincible naivete, “but +perhaps it is.” + +“And you hand it over for me to give to Susy, and ain't a bit curious to +know who it's from?” + +“No,” returned Clarence, opening his big eyes in smiling and apologetic +wonder. + +“Well,” responded the young lady, with a long breath of melancholy +astonishment, “certainly, of all things you are--you really ARE!” With +which incoherency--apparently perfectly intelligible to herself--she +left him. She had not herself the slightest idea who the letter was +from; she only knew that Susy wanted it concealed. + +The incident made little impression on Clarence, except as part of the +general uneasiness he felt in regard to his old playmate. It seemed +so odd to him that this worry should come from HER,--that she herself +should form the one discordant note in the Arcadian dream that he had +found so sweet; in his previous imaginings it was the presence of Mrs. +Peyton which he had dreaded; she whose propinquity now seemed so full +of gentleness, reassurance, and repose. How worthy she seemed of any +sacrifice he could make for her! He had seen little of her for the last +two or three days, although her smile and greeting were always ready +for him. Poor Clarence did not dream that she had found from certain +incontestable signs and tokens, both in the young ladies and himself, +that he did not require watching, and that becoming more resigned to +Susy's indifference, which seemed so general and passive in quality, she +was no longer tortured by the sting of jealousy. + +Finding himself alone that afternoon, the young man had wandered +somewhat listlessly beyond the low adobe gateway. The habits of the +siesta obtained in a modified form at the rancho. After luncheon, its +masters and employees usually retired, not so much from the torrid +heat of the afternoon sun, but from the first harrying of the afternoon +trades, whose monotonous whistle swept round the walls. A straggling +passion vine near the gate beat and struggled against the wind. Clarence +had stopped near it, and was gazing with worried abstraction across the +tossing fields, when a soft voice called his name. + +It was a pleasant voice,--Mrs. Peyton's. He glanced back at the gateway; +it was empty. He looked quickly to the right and left; no one was there. + +The voice spoke again with the musical addition of a laugh; it seemed +to come from the passion vine. Ah, yes; behind it, and half overgrown +by its branches, was a long, narrow embrasured opening in the wall, +defended by the usual Spanish grating, and still further back, as in the +frame of a picture, the half length figure of Mrs. Peyton, very handsome +and striking, too, with a painted picturesqueness from the effect of the +checkered light and shade. + +“You looked so tired and bored out there,” she said. “I am afraid you +are finding it very dull at the rancho. The prospect is certainly not +very enlivening from where you stand.” + +Clarence protested with a visible pleasure in his eyes, as he held back +a spray before the opening. + +“If you are not afraid of being worse bored, come in here and talk +with me. You have never seen this part of the house, I think,--my own +sitting-room. You reach it from the hall in the gallery. But Lola or +Anita will show you the way.” + +He reentered the gateway, and quickly found the hall,--a narrow, arched +passage, whose black, tunnel-like shadows were absolutely unaffected +by the vivid, colorless glare of the courtyard without, seen through an +opening at the end. The contrast was sharp, blinding, and distinct; +even the edges of the opening were black; the outer light halted on +the threshold and never penetrated within. The warm odor of verbena +and dried rose leaves stole from a half-open door somewhere in the +cloistered gloom. Guided by it, Clarence presently found himself on the +threshold of a low-vaulted room. Two other narrow embrasured windows +like the one he had just seen, and a fourth, wider latticed casement, +hung with gauze curtains, suffused the apartment with a clear, yet +mysterious twilight that seemed its own. The gloomy walls were warmed +by bright-fringed bookshelves, topped with trifles of light feminine +coloring and adornment. Low easy-chairs and a lounge, small fanciful +tables, a dainty desk, gayly colored baskets of worsteds or mysterious +kaleidoscopic fragments, and vases of flowers pervaded the apartment +with a mingled sense of grace and comfort. There was a womanly +refinement in its careless negligence, and even the delicate wrapper of +Japanese silk, gathered at the waist and falling in easy folds to the +feet of the graceful mistress of this charming disorder, looked a part +of its refined abandonment. + +Clarence hesitated as on the threshold of some sacred shrine. But Mrs. +Peyton, with her own hands, cleared a space for him on the lounge. + +“You will easily suspect from all this disorder, Mr. Brant, that I spend +a greater part of my time here, and that I seldom see much company. Mr. +Peyton occasionally comes in long enough to stumble over a footstool or +upset a vase, and I think Mary and Susy avoid it from a firm conviction +that there is work concealed in these baskets. But I have my books +here, and in the afternoons, behind these thick walls, one forgets the +incessant stir and restlessness of the dreadful winds outside. Just +now you were foolish enough to tempt them while you were nervous, or +worried, or listless. Take my word for it, it's a great mistake. There +is no more use fighting them, as I tell Mr. Peyton, than of fighting the +people born under them. I have my own opinion that these winds were +sent only to stir this lazy race of mongrels into activity, but they are +enough to drive us Anglo-Saxons into nervous frenzy. Don't you think +so? But you are young and energetic, and perhaps you are not affected by +them.” + +She spoke pleasantly and playfully, yet with a certain nervous tension +of voice and manner that seemed to illustrate her theory. At least, +Clarence, in quick sympathy with her slightest emotion, was touched by +it. There is no more insidious attraction in the persons we admire, than +the belief that we know and understand their unhappiness, and that our +admiration for them is lifted higher than a mere mutual instinctive +sympathy with beauty or strength. This adorable woman had suffered. The +very thought aroused his chivalry. It loosened, also, I fear, his quick, +impulsive tongue. + +Oh, yes; he knew it. He had lived under this whip of air and sky for +three years, alone in a Spanish rancho, with only the native peons +around him, and scarcely speaking his own tongue even to his guardian. +He spent his mornings on horseback in fields like these, until the +vientos generales, as they called them, sprang up and drove him nearly +frantic; and his only relief was to bury himself among the books in his +guardian's library, and shut out the world,--just as she did. The smile +which hovered around the lady's mouth at that moment arrested Clarence, +with a quick remembrance of their former relative positions, and a +sudden conviction of his familiarity in suggesting an equality of +experience, and he blushed. But Mrs. Peyton diverted his embarrassment +with an air of interested absorption in his story, and said:-- + +“Then you know these people thoroughly, Mr. Brant? I am afraid that WE +do not.” + +Clarence had already gathered that fact within the last few days, and, +with his usual impulsive directness, said so. A slight knitting of Mrs. +Peyton's brows passed off, however, as he quickly and earnestly went on +to say that it was impossible for the Peytons in their present relations +to the natives to judge them, or to be judged by them fairly. How they +were a childlike race, credulous and trustful, but, like all credulous +and trustful people, given to retaliate when imposed upon with a larger +insincerity, exaggeration, and treachery. How they had seen their houses +and lands occupied by strangers, their religion scorned, their customs +derided, their patriarchal society invaded by hollow civilization or +frontier brutality--all this fortified by incident and illustration, +the outcome of some youthful experience, and given with the glowing +enthusiasm of conviction. Mrs. Peyton listened with the usual divided +feminine interest between subject and speaker. + +Where did this rough, sullen boy--as she had known him--pick up this +delicate and swift perception, this reflective judgment, and this odd +felicity of expression? It was not possible that it was in him while he +was the companion of her husband's servants or the recognized “chum” of +the scamp Hooker. No. But if HE could have changed like this, why not +Susy? Mrs. Peyton, in the conservatism of her sex, had never been quite +free from fears of her adopted daughter's hereditary instincts; but, +with this example before her, she now took heart. Perhaps the change was +coming slowly; perhaps even now what she thought was indifference and +coldness was only some abnormal preparation or condition. But she only +smiled and said:-- + +“Then, if you think those people have been wronged, you are not on our +side, Mr. Brant?” + +What to an older and more worldly man would have seemed, and probably +was, only a playful reproach, struck Clarence deeply, and brought his +pent-up feelings to his lips. + +“YOU have never wronged them. You couldn't do it; it isn't in your +nature. I am on YOUR side, and for you and yours always, Mrs. Peyton. +From the first time I saw you on the plains, when I was brought, a +ragged boy, before you by your husband, I think I would gladly have +laid down my life for you. I don't mind telling you now that I was even +jealous of poor Susy, so anxious was I for the smallest share in your +thoughts, if only for a moment. You could have done anything with me you +wished, and I should have been happy,--far happier than I have been ever +since. I tell you this, Mrs. Peyton, now, because you have just doubted +if I might be 'on your side,' but I have been longing to tell it all to +you before, and it is that I am ready to do anything you want,--all you +want,--to be on YOUR SIDE and at YOUR SIDE, now and forever.” + +He was so earnest and hearty, and above all so appallingly and +blissfully happy, in this relief of his feelings, smiling as if it were +the most natural thing in the world, and so absurdly unconscious of his +twenty-two years, his little brown curling mustache, the fire in +his wistful, yearning eyes, and, above all, of his clasped hands and +lover-like attitude, that Mrs. Peyton--at first rigid as stone, then +suffused to the eyes--cast a hasty glance round the apartment, put her +handkerchief to her face, and laughed like a girl. + +At which Clarence, by no means discomposed, but rather accepting her +emotion as perfectly natural, joined her heartily, and added:-- + +“It's so, Mrs. Peyton; I'm glad I told you. You don't mind it, do you?” + +But Mrs. Peyton had resumed her gravity, and perhaps a touch of her +previous misgivings. + +“I should certainly be very sorry,” she said, looking at him critically, +“to object to your sharing your old friendship for your little playmate +with her parents and guardians, or to your expressing it to THEM as +frankly as to her.” + +She saw the quick change in his mobile face and the momentary arrest of +its happy expression. She was frightened and yet puzzled. It was not the +sensitiveness of a lover at the mention of the loved one's name, and yet +it suggested an uneasy consciousness. If his previous impulsive outburst +had been prompted honestly, or even artfully, by his passion for Susy, +why had he looked so shocked when she spoke of her? + +But Clarence, whose emotion had been caused by the sudden recall of his +knowledge of Susy's own disloyalty to the woman whose searching eyes +were upon him, in his revulsion against the deceit was, for an instant, +upon the point of divulging all. Perhaps, if Mrs. Peyton had shown more +confidence, he would have done so, and materially altered the evolution +of this story. But, happily, it is upon these slight human weaknesses +that your romancer depends, and Clarence, with no other reason than the +instinctive sympathy of youth with youth in its opposition to wisdom and +experience, let the opportunity pass, and took the responsibility of it +out of the hands of this chronicler. + +Howbeit, to cover his confusion, he seized upon the second idea that was +in his mind, and stammered, “Susy! Yes, I wanted to speak to you about +her.” Mrs. Peyton held her breath, but the young man went on, although +hesitatingly, with evident sincerity. “Have you heard from any of her +relations since--since--you adopted her?” + +It seemed a natural enough question, although not the sequitur she had +expected. “No,” she said carelessly. “It was well understood, after the +nearest relation--an aunt by marriage--had signed her consent to Susy's +adoption, that there should be no further intercourse with the family. +There seemed to us no necessity for reopening the past, and Susy herself +expressed no desire.” She stopped, and again fixing her handsome eyes on +Clarence, said, “Do you know any of them?” + +But Clarence by this time had recovered himself, and was able to answer +carelessly and truthfully that he did not. Mrs. Peyton, still regarding +him closely, added somewhat deliberately, “It matters little now what +relations she has; Mr. Peyton and I have complete legal control over her +until she is of age, and we can easily protect her from any folly of +her own or others, or from any of the foolish fancies that sometimes +overtake girls of her age and inexperience.” + +To her utter surprise, however, Clarence uttered a faint sigh of relief, +and his face again recovered its expression of boyish happiness. “I'm +glad of it, Mrs. Peyton,” he said heartily. “No one could understand +better what is for her interest in all things than yourself. Not,” he +said, with hasty and equally hearty loyalty to his old playmate, “that +I think she would ever go against your wishes, or do anything that she +knows to be wrong, but she is very young and innocent,--as much of a +child as ever, don't you think so, Mrs. Peyton?” + +It was amusing, yet nevertheless puzzling, to hear this boyish young man +comment upon Susy's girlishness. And Clarence was serious, for he had +quite forgotten in Mrs. Peyton's presence the impression of superiority +which Susy had lately made upon him. But Mrs. Peyton returned to +the charge, or, rather, to an attack upon what she conceived to be +Clarence's old position. + +“I suppose she does seem girlish compared to Mary Rogers, who is a much +more reserved and quiet nature. But Mary is very charming, Mr. Brant, +and I am really delighted to have her here with Susy. She has such +lovely dark eyes and such good manners. She has been well brought up, +and it is easy to see that her friends are superior people. I must +write to them to thank them for her visit, and beg them to let her stay +longer. I think you said you didn't know them?” + +But Clarence, whose eyes had been thoughtfully and admiringly wandering +over every characteristic detail of the charming apartment, here raised +them to its handsome mistress, with an apologetic air and a “No” of such +unaffected and complete abstraction, that she was again dumbfounded. +Certainly, it could not be Mary in whom he was interested. + +Abandoning any further inquisition for the present, she let the talk +naturally fall upon the books scattered about the tables. The young +man knew them all far better than she did, with a cognate knowledge of +others of which she had never heard. She found herself in the attitude +of receiving information from this boy, whose boyishness, however, +seemed to have evaporated, whose tone had changed with the subject, and +who now spoke with the conscious reserve of knowledge. Decidedly, she +must have grown rusty in her seclusion. This came, she thought bitterly, +of living alone; of her husband's preoccupation with the property; of +Susy's frivolous caprices. At the end of eight years to be outstripped +by a former cattle-boy of her husband's, and to have her French +corrected in a matter of fact way by this recent pupil of the priests, +was really too bad! Perhaps he even looked down upon Susy! She smiled +dangerously but suavely. + +“You must have worked so hard to educate yourself from nothing, Mr. +Brant. You couldn't read, I think, when you first came to us. No? Could +you really? I know it has been very difficult for Susy to get on with +her studies in proportion. We had so much to first eradicate in the way +of manners, style, and habits of thought which the poor child had +picked up from her companions, and for which SHE was not responsible. +Of course, with a boy that does not signify,” she added, with feline +gentleness. + +But the barbed speech glanced from the young man's smoothly smiling +abstraction. + +“Ah, yes. But those were happy days, Mrs. Peyton,” he answered, with an +exasperating return of his previous boyish enthusiasm, “perhaps because +of our ignorance. I don't think that Susy and I are any happier for +knowing that the plains are not as flat as we believed they were, and +that the sun doesn't have to burn a hole in them every night when it +sets. But I know I believed that YOU knew everything. When I once saw +you smiling over a book in your hand, I thought it must be a different +one from any that I had ever seen, and perhaps made expressly for you. +I can see you there still. Do you know,” quite confidentially, “that you +reminded me--of course YOU were much younger--of what I remembered of my +mother?” + +But Mrs. Peyton's reply of “Ah, indeed,” albeit polite, indicated some +coldness and lack of animation. Clarence rose quickly, but cast a long +and lingering look around him. + +“You will come again, Mr. Brant,” said the lady more graciously. “If you +are going to ride now, perhaps you would try to meet Mr. Peyton. He is +late already, and I am always uneasy when he is out alone,--particularly +on one of those half-broken horses, which they consider good enough for +riding here. YOU have ridden them before and understand them, but I am +afraid that's another thing WE have got to learn.” + +When the young man found himself again confronting the glittering light +of the courtyard, he remembered the interview and the soft twilight of +the boudoir only as part of a pleasant dream. There was a rude awakening +in the fierce wind, which had increased with the lengthening shadows. +It seemed to sweep away the half-sensuous comfort that had pervaded +him, and made him coldly realize that he had done nothing to solve the +difficulties of his relations to Susy. He had lost the one chance of +confiding to Mrs. Peyton,--if he had ever really intended to do so. +It was impossible for him to do it hereafter without a confession of +prolonged deceit. + +He reached the stables impatiently, where his attention was attracted +by the sound of excited voices in the corral. Looking within, he was +concerned to see that one of the vacqueros was holding the dragging +bridle of a blown, dusty, and foam-covered horse, around whom a dozen +idlers were gathered. Even beneath its coating of dust and foam and +the half-displaced saddle blanket, Clarence immediately recognized the +spirited pinto mustang which Peyton had ridden that morning. + +“What's the matter?” said Clarence, from the gateway. + +The men fell apart, glancing at each other. One said quickly in +Spanish:-- + +“Say nothing to HIM. It is an affair of the house.” + +But this brought Clarence down like a bombshell among them, not to be +overlooked in his equal command of their tongue and of them. “Ah! come, +now. What drunken piggishness is this? Speak!” + +“The padron has been--perhaps--thrown,” stammered the first speaker. +“His horse arrives,--but he does not. We go to inform the senora.” + +“No, you don't! mules and imbeciles! Do you want to frighten her to +death? Mount, every one of you, and follow me!” + +The men hesitated, but for only a moment. Clarence had a fine assortment +of Spanish epithets, expletives, and objurgations, gathered in his rodeo +experience at El Refugio, and laid them about him with such fervor +and discrimination that two or three mules, presumably with guilty +consciences, mistaking their direction, actually cowered against the +stockade of the corral in fear. In another moment the vacqueros had +hastily mounted, and, with Clarence at their head, were dashing down the +road towards Santa Inez. Here he spread them in open order in the grain, +on either side of the track, himself taking the road. + +They did not proceed very far. For when they had reached the gradual +slope which marked the decline to the second terrace, Clarence, obeying +an instinct as irresistible as it was unaccountable, which for the last +few moments had been forcing itself upon him, ordered a halt. The casa +and corral had already sunk in the plain behind them; it was the spot +where the lasso had been thrown at him a few evenings before! Bidding +the men converge slowly towards the road, he went on more cautiously, +with his eyes upon the track before him. Presently he stopped. There +was a ragged displacement of the cracked and crumbling soil and the +unmistakable scoop of kicking hoofs. As he stooped to examine them, one +of the men at the right uttered a shout. By the same strange instinct +Clarence knew that Peyton was found! + +He was, indeed, lying there among the wild oats at the right of the +road, but without trace of life or scarcely human appearance. His +clothes, where not torn and shredded away, were partly turned inside +out; his shoulders, neck, and head were a shapeless, undistinguishable +mask of dried earth and rags, like a mummy wrapping. His left boot was +gone. His large frame seemed boneless, and, except for the cerements of +his mud-stiffened clothing, was limp and sodden. + +Clarence raised his head suddenly from a quick examination of the body, +and looked at the men around him. One of them was already cantering +away. Clarence instantly threw himself on his horse, and, putting spurs +to the animal, drew a revolver from his holster and fired over the man's +head. The rider turned in his saddle, saw his pursuer, and pulled up. + +“Go back,” said Clarence, “or my next shot won't MISS you.” + +“I was only going to inform the senora,” said the man with a shrug and a +forced smile. + +“I will do that,” said Clarence grimly, driving him back with him +into the waiting circle; then turning to them he said slowly, with +deliberate, smileless irony, “And now, my brave gentlemen,--knights +of the bull and gallant mustang hunters,--I want to inform YOU that I +believe that Mr. Peyton was MURDERED, and if the man who killed him is +anywhere this side of hell, I intend to find him. Good! You understand +me! Now lift up the body,--you two, by the shoulders; you two, by the +feet. Let your horses follow. For I intend that you four shall carry +home your master in your arms, on foot. Now forward to the corral by the +back trail. Disobey me, or step out of line and”--He raised the revolver +ominously. + +If the change wrought in the dead man before them was weird and +terrifying, no less distinct and ominous was the change that, during the +last few minutes, had come over the living speaker. For it was no longer +the youthful Clarence who sat there, but a haggard, prematurely worn, +desperate-looking avenger, lank of cheek, and injected of eye, whose +white teeth glistened under the brown mustache and thin pale lips that +parted when his restrained breath now and then hurriedly escaped them. + +As the procession moved on, two men slunk behind with the horses. + +“Mother of God! Who is this wolf's whelp?” said Manuel. + +“Hush!” said his companion in a terrified whisper. “Have you not heard? +It is the son of Hamilton Brant, the assassin, the duelist,--he who +was fusiladed in Sonora.” He made the sign of the cross quickly. “Jesus +Maria! Let them look out who have cause, for the blood of his father is +in him!” + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +What other speech passed between Clarence and Peyton's retainers was not +known, but not a word of the interview seemed to have been divulged by +those present. It was generally believed and accepted that Judge Peyton +met his death by being thrown from his half-broken mustang, and dragged +at its heels, and medical opinion, hastily summoned from Santa Inez +after the body had been borne to the corral, and stripped of its +hideous encasings, declared that the neck had been broken, and death had +followed instantaneously. An inquest was deemed unnecessary. + +Clarence had selected Mary to break the news to Mrs. Peyton, and the +frightened young girl was too much struck with the change still visible +in his face, and the half authority of his manner, to decline, or even +to fully appreciate the calamity that had befallen them. After the first +benumbing shock, Mrs. Peyton passed into that strange exaltation of +excitement brought on by the immediate necessity for action, followed by +a pallid calm, which the average spectator too often unfairly accepts as +incongruous, inadequate, or artificial. There had also occurred one +of those strange compensations that wait on Death or disrupture by +catastrophe: such as the rude shaking down of an unsettled life, the +forcible realization of what were vague speculations, the breaking of +old habits and traditions, and the unloosing of half-conscious bonds. +Mrs. Peyton, without insensibility to her loss or disloyalty to her +affections, nevertheless felt a relief to know that she was now really +Susy's guardian, free to order her new life wherever and under what +conditions she chose as most favorable to it, and that she could dispose +of this house that was wearying to her when Susy was away, and which +the girl herself had always found insupportable. She could settle this +question of Clarence's relations to her daughter out of hand without +advice or opposition. She had a brother in the East, who would be +summoned to take care of the property. This consideration for the living +pursued her, even while the dead man's presence still awed the hushed +house; it was in her thoughts as she stood beside his bier and adjusted +the flowers on his breast, which no longer moved for or against these +vanities; and it stayed with her even in the solitude of her darkened +room. + +But if Mrs. Peyton was deficient, it was Susy who filled the popular +idea of a mourner, and whose emotional attitude of a grief-stricken +daughter left nothing to be desired. It was she who, when the house was +filled with sympathizing friends from San Francisco and the few near +neighbors who had hurried with condolences, was overflowing in her +reminiscences of the dead man's goodness to her, and her own undying +affection; who recalled ominous things that he had said, and strange +premonitions of her own, the result of her ever-present filial anxiety; +it was she who had hurried home that afternoon, impelled with vague +fears of some impending calamity; it was she who drew a picture of +Peyton as a doting and almost too indulgent parent, which Mary Rogers +failed to recognize, and which brought back vividly to Clarence's +recollection her own childish exaggerations of the Indian massacre. I +am far from saying that she was entirely insincere or merely acting at +these moments; at times she was taken with a mild hysteria, brought on +by the exciting intrusion of this real event in her monotonous life, +by the attentions of her friends, the importance of her suffering as an +only child, and the advancement of her position as the heiress of the +Robles Rancho. If her tears were near the surface, they were at least +genuine, and filmed her violet eyes and reddened her pretty eyelids +quite as effectually as if they had welled from the depths of her being. +Her black frock lent a matured dignity to her figure, and paled her +delicate complexion with the refinement of suffering. Even Clarence was +moved in that dark and haggard abstraction that had settled upon him +since his strange outbreak over the body of his old friend. + +The extent of that change had not been noticed by Mrs. Peyton, who +had only observed that Clarence had treated her grief with a grave and +silent respect. She was grateful for that. A repetition of his boyish +impulsiveness would have been distasteful to her at such a moment. She +only thought him more mature and more subdued, and as the only man now +in her household his services had been invaluable in the emergency. + +The funeral had taken place at Santa Inez, where half the county +gathered to pay their last respects to their former fellow-citizen and +neighbor, whose legal and combative victories they had admired, and whom +death had lifted into a public character. The family were returning to +the house the same afternoon, Mrs. Peyton and the girls in one carriage, +the female house-servants in another, and Clarence on horseback. They +had reached the first plateau, and Clarence was riding a little in +advance, when an extraordinary figure, rising from the grain beyond, +began to gesticulate to him wildly. Checking the driver of the first +carriage, Clarence bore down upon the stranger. To his amazement it +was Jim Hooker. Mounted on a peaceful, unwieldy plough horse, he was +nevertheless accoutred and armed after his most extravagant fashion. +In addition to a heavy rifle across his saddle-bow he was weighted down +with a knife and revolvers. Clarence was in no mood for trifling, and +almost rudely demanded his business. + +“Gord, Clarence, it ain't foolin'. The Sisters' title was decided +yesterday.” + +“I knew it, you fool! It's YOUR title! You were already on your land and +in possession. What the devil are you doing HERE?” + +“Yes,--but,” stammered Jim, “all the boys holding that title moved up +here to 'make the division' and grab all they could. And I followed. And +I found out that they were going to grab Judge Peyton's house, because +it was on the line, if they could, and findin' you was all away, by Gord +THEY DID! and they're in it! And I stoled out and rode down here to warn +ye.” + +He stopped, looked at Clarence, glanced darkly around him and then down +on his accoutrements. Even in that supreme moment of sincerity, he could +not resist the possibilities of the situation. + +“It's as much as my life's worth,” he said gloomily. “But,” with a dark +glance at his weapons, “I'll sell it dearly.” + +“Jim!” said Clarence, in a terrible voice, “you're not lying again?” + +“No,” said Jim hurriedly. “I swear it, Clarence! No! Honest Injin this +time. And look. I'll help you. They ain't expectin' you yet, and they +think ye'll come by the road. Ef I raised a scare off there by the +corral, while you're creepin' ROUND BY THE BACK, mebbe you could get in +while they're all lookin' for ye in front, don't you see? I'll raise a +big row, and they needn't know but what ye've got wind of it and brought +a party with you from Santa Inez.” + +In a flash Clarence had wrought a feasible plan out of Jim's fantasy. + +“Good,” he said, wringing his old companion's hand. “Go back quietly +now; hang round the corral, and when you see the carriage climbing the +last terrace raise your alarm. Don't mind how loud it is, there'll be +nobody but the servants in the carriages.” + +He rode quickly back to the first carriage, at whose window Mrs. +Peyton's calm face was already questioning him. He told her briefly and +concisely of the attack, and what he proposed to do. + +“You have shown yourself so strong in matters of worse moment than +this,” he added quietly, “that I have no fears for your courage. I have +only to ask you to trust yourself to me, to put you back at once in your +own home. Your presence there, just now, is the one important thing, +whatever happens afterwards.” + +She recognized his maturer tone and determined manner, and nodded +assent. More than that, a faint fire came into her handsome eyes; the +two girls kindled their own at that flaming beacon, and sat with flushed +checks and suspended, indignant breath. They were Western Americans, and +not over much used to imposition. + +“You must get down before we raise the hill, and follow me on foot +through the grain. I was thinking,” he added, turning to Mrs. Peyton, +“of your boudoir window.” + +She had been thinking of it, too, and nodded. + +“The vine has loosened the bars,” he said. + +“If it hasn't, we must squeeze through them,” she returned simply. + +At the end of the terrace Clarence dismounted, and helped them from the +carriage. He then gave directions to the coachmen to follow the road +slowly to the corral in front of the casa, and tied his horse behind +the second carriage. Then, with Mrs. Peyton and the two young girls, he +plunged into the grain. + +It was hot, it was dusty, their thin shoes slipped in the crumbling +adobe, and the great blades caught in their crape draperies, but they +uttered no complaint. Whatever ulterior thought was in their minds, they +were bent only on one thing at that moment,--on entering the house at +any hazard. Mrs. Peyton had lived long enough on the frontier to know +the magic power of POSSESSION. Susy already was old enough to feel the +acute feminine horror of the profanation of her own belongings by alien +hands. Clarence, more cognizant of the whole truth than the others, was +equally silent and determined; and Mary Rogers was fired with the zeal +of loyalty. + +Suddenly a series of blood-curdling yells broke from the direction +of the corral, and they stopped. But Clarence at once recognized the +well-known war-whoop imitation of Jim Hooker,--infinitely more gruesome +and appalling than the genuine aboriginal challenge. A half dozen shots +fired in quick succession had evidently the same friendly origin. + +“Now is our time,” said Clarence eagerly. “We must run for the house.” + +They had fortunately reached by this time the angle of the adobe wall of +the casa, and the long afternoon shadows of the building were in their +favor. They pressed forward eagerly with the sounds of Jim Hooker's sham +encounter still in their ears, mingled with answering shouts of defiance +from strange voices within the building towards the front. + +They rapidly skirted the wall, even passing boldly before the back +gateway, which seemed empty and deserted, and the next moment stood +beside the narrow window of the boudoir. Clarence's surmises were +correct; the iron grating was not only loose, but yielded to a vigorous +wrench, the vine itself acting as a lever to pull out the rusty bars. +The young man held out his hand, but Mrs. Peyton, with the sudden +agility of a young girl, leaped into the window, followed by Mary and +Susy. The inner casement yielded to her touch; the next moment they +were within the room. Then Mrs. Peyton's flushed and triumphant face +reappeared at the window. + +“It's all right; the men are all in the courtyard, or in the front of +the house. The boudoir door is strong, and we can bolt them out.” + +“It won't be necessary,” said Clarence quietly; “you will not be +disturbed.” + +“But are you not coming in?” she asked timidly, holding the window open. + +Clarence looked at her with his first faint smile since Peyton's death. + +“Of course I am, but not in THAT way. I am going in by THE FRONT GATE.” + +She would have detained him, but, with a quick wave of his hand, he left +her, and ran swiftly around the wall of the casa toward the front. The +gate was half open; a dozen excited men were gathered before it and in +the archway, and among them, whitened with dust, blackened with powder, +and apparently glutted with rapine, and still holding a revolver in his +hand, was Jim Hooker! As Clarence approached, the men quickly retreated +inside the gate and closed it, but not before he had exchanged a meaning +glance with Jim. When he reached the gate, a man from within roughly +demanded his business. + +“I wish to see the leader of this party,” said Clarence quietly. + +“I reckon you do,” returned the man, with a short laugh. “But I +kalkilate HE don't return the compliment.” + +“He probably will when he reads this note to his employer,” continued +Clarence still coolly, selecting a paper from his pocketbook. It was +addressed to Francisco Robles, Superintendent of the Sisters' Title, and +directed him to give Mr. Clarence Brant free access to the property and +the fullest information concerning it. The man took it, glanced at it, +looked again at Clarence, and then passed the paper to a third man among +the group in the courtyard. The latter read it, and approached the gate +carelessly. + +“Well, what do you want?” + +“I am afraid you have the advantage of me in being able to transact +business through bars,” said Clarence, with slow but malevolent +distinctness, “and as mine is important, I think you had better open the +gate to me.” + +The slight laugh that his speech had evoked from the bystanders was +checked as the leader retorted angrily:-- + +“That's all very well; but how do I know that you're the man represented +in that letter? Pancho Robles may know you, but I don't.” + +“That you can find out very easily,” said Clarence. “There is a man +among your party who knows me,--Mr. Hooker. Ask him.” + +The man turned, with a quick mingling of surprise and suspicion, to the +gloomy, imperturbable Hooker. Clarence could not hear the reply of that +young gentleman, but it was evidently not wanting in his usual dark, +enigmatical exaggeration. The man surlily opened the gate. + +“All the same,” he said, still glancing suspiciously at Hooker, “I don't +see what HE'S got to do with you.” + +“A great deal,” said Clarence, entering the courtyard, and stepping into +the veranda; “HE'S ONE OF MY TENANTS.” + +“Your WHAT?” said the man, with a coarse laugh of incredulity. + +“My tenants,” repeated Clarence, glancing around the courtyard +carelessly. Nevertheless, he was relieved to notice that the three +or four Mexicans of the party did not seem to be old retainers of the +rancho. There was no evidence of the internal treachery he had feared. + +“Your TENANTS!” echoed the man, with an uneasy glance at the faces of +the others. + +“Yes,” said Clarence, with business brevity; “and, for the matter of +that, although I have no reason to be particularly proud of it, SO ARE +YOU ALL. You ask my business here. It seems to be the same as yours,--to +hold possession of this house! With this difference, however,” he +continued, taking a document from his pocket. “Here is the certificate, +signed by the County Clerk, of the bill of sale of the entire Sisters' +title to ME. It includes the whole two leagues from Fair Plains to +the old boundary line of this rancho, which you forcibly entered this +morning. There is the document; examine it if you like. The only shadow +of a claim you could have to this property you would have to derive from +ME. The only excuse you could have for this act of lawlessness would +be orders from ME. And all that you have done this morning is only the +assertion of MY legal right to this house. If I disavow your act, as I +might, I leave you as helpless as any tramp that was ever kicked from +a doorstep,--as any burglar that was ever collared on the fence by a +constable.” + +It was the truth. There was no denying the authority of the document, +the facts of the situation, or its ultimate power and significance. +There was consternation, stupefaction, and even a half-humorous +recognition of the absurdity of their position on most of the faces +around him. Incongruous as the scene was, it was made still more +grotesque by the attitude of Jim Hooker. Ruthlessly abandoning the +party of convicted trespassers, he stalked gloomily over to the side +of Clarence, with the air of having been all the time scornfully in +the secret and a mien of wearied victoriousness, and thus halting, he +disdainfully expectorated tobacco juice on the ground between him +and his late companions, as if to form a line of demarcation. The +few Mexicans began to edge towards the gateway. This defection of his +followers recalled the leader, who was no coward, to himself again. + +“Shut the gate, there!” he shouted. + +As its two sides clashed together again, he turned deliberately to +Clarence. + +“That's all very well, young man, as regards the TITLE. You may have +BOUGHT up the land, and legally own every square inch of howling +wilderness between this and San Francisco, and I wish you joy of +your d--d fool's bargain; you may have got a whole circus like that,” + pointing to the gloomy Jim, “at your back. But with all your money and +all your friends you've forgotten one thing. You haven't got possession, +and we have.” + +“That's just where we differ,” said Clarence coolly, “for if you take +the trouble to examine the house, you will see that it is already in +possession of Mrs. Peyton,--MY TENANT.” + +He paused to give effect to his revelations. But he was, nevertheless, +unprepared for an unrehearsed dramatic situation. Mrs. Peyton, who had +been tired of waiting, and was listening in the passage, at the mention +of her name, entered the gallery, followed by the young ladies. The +slight look of surprise upon her face at the revelation she had just +heard of Clarence's ownership, only gave the suggestion of her having +been unexpectedly disturbed in her peaceful seclusion. One of the +Mexicans turned pale, with a frightened glance at the passage, as if he +expected the figure of the dead man to follow. + +The group fell back. The game was over,--and lost. No one recognized it +more quickly than the gamblers themselves. More than that, desperate and +lawless as they were, they still retained the chivalry of Western men, +and every hat was slowly doffed to the three black figures that stood +silently in the gallery. And even apologetic speech began to loosen the +clenched teeth of the discomfited leader. + +“We--were--told there was no one in the house,” he stammered. + +“And it was the truth,” said a pert, youthful, yet slightly affected +voice. “For we climbed into the window just as you came in at the gate.” + +It was Susy's words that stung their ears again; but it was Susy's +pretty figure, suddenly advanced and in a slightly theatrical attitude, +that checked their anger. There had been a sudden ominous silence, +as the whole plot of rescue seemed to be revealed to them in those +audacious words. But a sense of the ludicrous, which too often was the +only perception that ever mitigated the passions of such assemblies, +here suddenly asserted itself. The leader burst into a loud laugh, which +was echoed by the others, and, with waving hats, the whole party swept +peacefully out through the gate. + +“But what does all this mean about YOUR purchasing the land, Mr. Brant?” + said Mrs. Peyton quickly, fixing her eyes intently on Clarence. + +A faint color--the useless protest of his truthful blood--came to his +cheek. + +“The house is YOURS, and yours alone, Mrs. Peyton. The purchase of the +sisters' title was a private arrangement between Mr. Peyton and myself, +in view of an emergency like this.” + +She did not, however, take her proud, searching eyes from his face, and +he was forced to turn away. + +“It was SO like dear, good, thoughtful papa,” said Susy. “Why, bless +me,” in a lower voice, “if that isn't that lying old Jim Hooker standing +there by the gate!” + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +Judge Peyton had bequeathed his entire property unconditionally to his +wife. But his affairs were found to be greatly in disorder, and his +papers in confusion, and although Mrs. Peyton could discover no actual +record of the late transaction with Mr. Brant, which had saved her the +possession of the homestead, it was evident that he had spent large sums +in speculative attempts to maintain the integrity of his estate. That +enormous domain, although perfectly unencumbered, had been nevertheless +unremunerative, partly through the costs of litigation and partly +through the systematic depredations to which its great size and long +line of unprotected boundary had subjected it. It had been invaded +by squatters and “jumpers,” who had sown and reaped crops without +discovery; its cattle and wild horses had strayed or been driven beyond +its ill-defined and hopeless limits. Against these difficulties the +widow felt herself unable and unwilling to contend, and with the advice +of her friends and her lawyer, she concluded to sell the estate, except +that portion covered by the Sisters' title, which, with the homestead, +had been reconveyed to her by Clarence. She retired with Susy to the +house in San Francisco, leaving Clarence to occupy and hold the casa, +with her servants, for her until order was restored. The Robles Rancho +thus became the headquarters of the new owner of the Sisters' title, +from which he administered its affairs, visited its incumbencies, +overlooked and surveyed its lands, and--occasionally--collected its +rents. There were not wanting critics who averred that these were +scarcely remunerative, and that the young San Francisco fine gentleman, +who was only Hamilton Brant's son, after all, yet who wished to ape +the dignity and degree of a large landholder, had made a very foolish +bargain. I grieve to say that one of his own tenants, namely, Jim +Hooker, in his secret heart inclined to that belief, and looked upon +Clarence's speculation as an act of far-seeing and inordinate vanity. + +Indeed, the belligerent Jim had partly--and of course darkly--intimated +something of this to Susy in their brief reunion at the casa during +the few days that followed its successful reoccupation. And Clarence, +remembering her older caprices, and her remark on her first recognition +of him, was quite surprised at the easy familiarity of her reception +of this forgotten companion of their childhood. But he was still more +concerned in noticing, for the first time, a singular sympathetic +understanding of each other, and an odd similarity of occasional action +and expression between them. It was a part of this monstrous peculiarity +that neither the sympathy nor the likeness suggested any particular +friendship or amity in the pair, but rather a mutual antagonism and +suspicion. Mrs. Peyton, coldly polite to Clarence's former COMPANION, +but condescendingly gracious to his present TENANT and retainer, did not +notice it, preoccupied with the annoyance and pain of Susy's frequent +references to the old days of their democratic equality. + +“You don't remember, Jim, the time that you painted my face in the +wagon, and got me up as an Indian papoose?” she said mischievously. + +But Jim, who had no desire to recall his previous humble position before +Mrs. Peyton or Clarence, was only vaguely responsive. Clarence, although +joyfully touched at this seeming evidence of Susy's loyalty to the past, +nevertheless found himself even more acutely pained at the distress +it caused Mrs. Peyton, and was as relieved as she was by Hooker's +reticence. For he had seen little of Susy since Peyton's death, and +there had been no repetition of their secret interviews. Neither had he, +nor she as far as he could judge, noticed the omission. He had been more +than usually kind, gentle, and protecting in his manner towards her, +with little reference, however, to any response from her, yet he was +vaguely conscious of some change in his feelings. He attributed it, when +he thought of it at all, to the exciting experiences through which he +had passed; to some sentiment of responsibility to his dead friend; and +to another secret preoccupation that was always in his mind. He believed +it would pass in time. Yet he felt a certain satisfaction that she was +no longer able to trouble him, except, of course, when she pained Mrs. +Peyton, and then he was half conscious of taking the old attitude of +the dead husband in mediating between them. Yet so great was his +inexperience that he believed, with pathetic simplicity of perception, +that all this was due to the slow maturing of his love for her, and +that he was still able to make her happy. But this was something to +be thought of later. Just now Providence seemed to have offered him a +vocation and a purpose that his idle adolescence had never known. He did +not dream that his capacity for patience was only the slow wasting of +his love. + +Meantime that more wonderful change and recreation of the Californian +landscape, so familiar, yet always so young, had come to the rancho. The +league-long terrace that had yellowed, whitened, and wasted for half a +year beneath a staring, monotonous sky, now under sailing clouds, flying +and broken shafts of light, and sharply defined lines of rain, had taken +a faint hue of resurrection. The dust that had muffled the roads and +byways, and choked the low oaks that fringed the sunken canada, had +long since been laid. The warm, moist breath of the southwest trades had +softened the hard, dry lines of the landscape, and restored its color as +of a picture over which a damp sponge had been passed. The broad expanse +of plateau before the casa glistened and grew dark. The hidden woods of +the canada, cleared and strengthened in their solitude, dripped along +the trails and hollows that were now transformed into running streams. +The distinguishing madrono near the entrance to the rancho had changed +its crimson summer suit and masqueraded in buff and green. + +Yet there were leaden days, when half the prospect seemed to be seen +through palisades of rain; when the slight incline between the terraces +became a tumultuous cascade, and the surest hoofs slipped on trails of +unctuous mud; when cattle were bogged a few yards from the highway, and +the crossing of the turnpike road was a dangerous ford. There were +days of gale and tempest, when the shriveled stalks of giant oats were +stricken like trees, and lay across each other in rigid angles, and +a roar as of the sea came up from the writhing treetops in the sunken +valley. There were long weary nights of steady downpour, hammering +on the red tiles of the casa, and drumming on the shingles of the +new veranda, which was more terrible to be borne. Alone, but for the +servants, and an occasional storm-stayed tenant from Fair Plains, +Clarence might have, at such times, questioned the effect of this +seclusion upon his impassioned nature. But he had already been +accustomed to monastic seclusion in his boyish life at El Refugio, and +he did not reflect that, for that very reason, its indulgences might +have been dangerous. From time to time letters reached him from the +outer world of San Francisco,--a few pleasant lines from Mrs. Peyton, in +answer to his own chronicle of his half stewardship, giving the news of +the family, and briefly recounting their movements. She was afraid that +Susy's sensitive nature chafed under the restriction of mourning in the +gay city, but she trusted to bring her back for a change to Robles when +the rains were over. This was a poor substitute for those brief, happy +glimpses of the home circle which had so charmed him, but he accepted +it stoically. He wandered over the old house, from which the perfume +of domesticity seemed to have evaporated, yet, notwithstanding Mrs. +Peyton's playful permission, he never intruded upon the sanctity of the +boudoir, and kept it jealously locked. + +He was sitting in Peyton's business room one morning, when Incarnacion +entered. Clarence had taken a fancy to this Indian, half steward, half +vacquero, who had reciprocated it with a certain dog-like fidelity, +but also a feline indirectness that was part of his nature. He had been +early prepossessed with Clarence through a kinsman at El Refugio, where +the young American's generosity had left a romantic record among the +common people. He had been pleased to approve of his follies before +the knowledge of his profitless and lordly land purchase had commended +itself to him as corroborative testimony. “Of true hidalgo blood, mark +you,” he had said oracularly. “Wherefore was his father sacrificed by +mongrels! As to the others, believe me,--bah!” + +He stood there, sombrero in hand, murky and confidential, steaming +through his soaked serape and exhaling a blended odor of equine +perspiration and cigarette smoke. + +“It was, perhaps, as the master had noticed, a brigand's own day! +Bullying, treacherous, and wicked! It blew you off your horse if you so +much as lifted your arms and let the wind get inside your serape; and as +for the mud,--caramba! in fifty varas your forelegs were like bears, and +your hoofs were earthen plasters!” + +Clarence knew that Incarnacion had not sought him with mere +meteorological information, and patiently awaited further developments. +The vacquero went on:-- + +“But one of the things this beast of a weather did was to wash down the +stalks of the grain, and to clear out the trough and hollows between, +and to make level the fields, and--look you! to uncover the stones and +rubbish and whatever the summer dust had buried. Indeed, it was even as +a miracle that Jose Mendez one day, after the first showers, came upon +a silver button from his calzas, which he had lost in the early summer. +And it was only that morning that, remembering how much and with what +fire Don Clarencio had sought the missing boot from the foot of the +Senor Peyton when his body was found, he, Incarnacion, had thought he +would look for it on the falda of the second terrace. And behold, Mother +of God it was there! Soaked with mud and rain, but the same as when the +senor was alive. To the very spur!” + +He drew the boot from beneath his serape and laid it before Clarence. +The young man instantly recognized it, in spite of its weather-beaten +condition and its air of grotesque and drunken inconsistency to the +usually trim and correct appearance of Peyton when alive. “It is the +same,” he said, in a low voice. + +“Good!” said Incarnacion. “Now, if Don Clarencio will examine the +American spur, he will see--what? A few horse-hairs twisted and caught +in the sharp points of the rowel. Good! Is it the hair of the horse that +Senor rode? Clearly not; and in truth not. It is too long for the flanks +and belly of the horse; it is not the same color as the tail and the +mane. How comes it there? It comes from the twisted horsehair rope of a +riata, and not from the braided cowhide thongs of the regular lasso of a +vacquero. The lasso slips not much, but holds; the riata slips much and +strangles.” + +“But Mr. Peyton was not strangled,” said Clarence quickly. + +“No, for the noose of the riata was perhaps large,--who knows? It +might have slipped down his arms, pinioned him, and pulled him off. +Truly!--such has been known before. Then on the ground it slipped again, +or he perhaps worked it off to his feet where it caught on his spur, and +then he was dragged until the boot came off, and behold! he was dead.” + +This had been Clarence's own theory of the murder, but he had only +half confided it to Incarnacion. He silently examined the spur with the +accusing horse-hair, and placed it in his desk. Incarnacion continued:-- + +“There is not a vacquero in the whole rancho who has a horse-hair riata. +We use the braided cowhide; it is heavier and stronger; it is for +the bull and not the man. The horse-hair riata comes from over the +range--south.” + +There was a dead silence, broken only by the drumming of the rain upon +the roof of the veranda. Incarnacion slightly shrugged his shoulders. + +“Don Clarencio does not know the southern county? Francisco Robles, +cousin of the 'Sisters,'--he they call 'Pancho,'--comes from the south. +Surely when Don Clarencio bought the title he saw Francisco, for he was +the steward?” + +“I dealt only with the actual owners and through my bankers in San +Francisco,” returned Clarence abstractedly. + +Incarnacion looked through the yellow corners of his murky eyes at his +master. + +“Pedro Valdez, who was sent away by Senor Peyton, is the foster-brother +of Francisco. They were much together. Now that Francisco is rich from +the gold Don Clarencio paid for the title, they come not much together. +But Pedro is rich, too. Mother of God! He gambles and is a fine +gentleman. He holds his head high,--even over the Americanos he gambles +with. Truly, they say he can shoot with the best of them. He boasts and +swells himself, this Pedro! He says if all the old families were like +him, they would drive those western swine back over the mountains +again.” + +Clarence raised his eyes, caught a subtle yellow flash from +Incarnacion's, gazed at him suddenly, and rose. + +“I don't think I have ever seen him,” he said quietly. “Thank you for +bringing me the spur. But keep the knowledge of it to yourself, good +Nascio, for the present.” + +Nascio nevertheless still lingered. Perceiving which, Clarence handed +him a cigarette and proceeded to light one himself. He knew that the +vacquero would reroll his, and that that always deliberate occupation +would cover and be an excuse for further confidence. + +“The Senora Peyton does not perhaps meet this Pedro in the society of +San Francisco?” + +“Surely not. The senora is in mourning and goes not out in society, nor +would she probably go anywhere where she would meet a dismissed servant +of her husband.” + +Incarnacion slowly lit his cigarette, and said between the puffs, “And +the senorita--she would not meet him?” + +“Assuredly not.” + +“And,” continued Incarnacion, throwing down the match and putting his +foot on it, “if this boaster, this turkey-cock, says she did, you could +put him out like that?” + +“Certainly,” said Clarence, with an easy confidence he was, however, far +from feeling, “if he really SAID it--which I doubt.” + +“Ah, truly,” said Incarnacion; “who knows? It may be another Senorita +Silsbee.” + +“The senora's adopted daughter is called MISS PEYTON, friend Nascio. You +forget yourself,” said Clarence quietly. + +“Ah, pardon!” said Incarnacion with effusive apology; “but she was born +Silsbee. Everybody knows it; she herself has told it to Pepita. The +Senor Peyton bequeathed his estate to the Senora Peyton. He named +not the senorita! Eh, what would you? It is the common cackle of the +barnyard. But I say 'Mees Silsbee.' For look you. There is a Silsbee of +Sacramento, the daughter of her aunt, who writes letters to her. Pepita +has seen them! And possibly it is only that Mees of whom the brigand +Pedro boasts.” + +“Possibly,” said Clarence, “but as far as this rancho is concerned, +friend Nascio, thou wilt understand--and I look to thee to make the +others understand--that there is no Senorita SILSBEE here, only the +Senorita PEYTON, the respected daughter of the senora thy mistress!” He +spoke with the quaint mingling of familiarity and paternal gravity of +the Spanish master--a faculty he had acquired at El Refugio in a like +vicarious position, and which never failed as a sign of authority. “And +now,” he added gravely, “get out of this, friend, with God's blessing, +and see that thou rememberest what I told thee.” + +The retainer, with equal gravity, stepped backwards, saluted with his +sombrero until the stiff brim scraped the floor, and then solemnly +withdrew. + +Left to himself, Clarence remained for an instant silent and thoughtful +before the oven-like hearth. So! everybody knew Susy's real relations to +the Peytons, and everybody but Mrs. Peyton, perhaps, knew that she +was secretly corresponding with some one of her own family. In other +circumstances he might have found some excuse for this assertion of her +independence and love of her kindred, but in her attitude towards Mrs. +Peyton it seemed monstrous. It appeared impossible that Mrs. Peyton +should not have heard of it, or suspected the young girl's disaffection. +Perhaps she had,--it was another burden laid upon her shoulders,--but +the proud woman had kept it to herself. A film of moisture came across +his eyes. I fear he thought less of the suggestion of Susy's secret +meeting with Pedro, or Incarnacion's implied suspicions that Pedro was +concerned in Peyton's death, than of this sentimental possibility. He +knew that Pedro had been hated by the others on account of his position; +he knew the instinctive jealousies of the race and their predisposition +to extravagant misconstruction. From what he had gathered, and +particularly from the voices he had overheard on the Fair Plains Road, +it seemed to him that Pedro was more capable of mercenary intrigue than +physical revenge. He was not aware of the irrevocable affront put upon +Pedro by Peyton, and he had consequently attached no importance to +Peyton's own half-scornful intimation of the only kind of retaliation +that Pedro would be likely to take. The unsuccessful attempt upon +himself he had always thought might have been an accident, or if it was +really a premeditated assault, it might have been intended actually for +HIMSELF and not Peyton, as he had first thought, and his old friend had +suffered for HIM, through some mistake of the assailant. The purpose, +which alone seemed wanting, might have been to remove Clarence as a +possible witness who had overheard their conspiracy--how much of it they +did not know--on the Fair Plains Road that night. The only clue he held +to the murderer in the spur locked in his desk, merely led him beyond +the confines of the rancho, but definitely nowhere else. It was, +however, some relief to know that the crime was not committed by one of +Peyton's retainers, nor the outcome of domestic treachery. + +After some consideration he resolved to seek Jim Hooker, who might be +possessed of some information respecting Susy's relations, either from +the young girl's own confidences or from Jim's personal knowledge of the +old frontier families. From a sense of loyalty to Susy and Mrs. Peyton, +he had never alluded to the subject before him, but since the young +girl's own indiscretion had made it a matter of common report, however +distasteful it was to his own feelings, he felt he could not plead the +sense of delicacy for her. He had great hopes in what he had always +believed was only her exaggeration of fact as well as feeling. And he +had an instinctive reliance on her fellow poseur's ability to detect it. +A few days later, when he found he could safely leave the rancho alone, +he rode to Fair Plains. + +The floods were out along the turnpike road, and even seemed to have +increased since his last journey. The face of the landscape had changed +again. One of the lower terraces had become a wild mere of sedge and +reeds. The dry and dusty bed of a forgotten brook had reappeared, a +full-banked river, crossing the turnpike and compelling a long detour +before the traveler could ford it. But as he approached the Hopkins +farm and the opposite clearing and cabin of Jim Hooker, he was quite +unprepared for a still more remarkable transformation. The cabin, a +three-roomed structure, and its cattle-shed had entirely disappeared! +There were no traces or signs of inundation. The land lay on a gentle +acclivity above the farm and secure from the effects of the flood, and +a part of the ploughed and cleared land around the site of the cabin +showed no evidence of overflow on its black, upturned soil. But +the house was gone! Only a few timbers too heavy to be removed, +the blighting erasions of a few months of occupation, and the dull, +blackened area of the site itself were to be seen. The fence alone was +intact. + +Clarence halted before it, perplexed and astonished. Scarcely two weeks +had elapsed since he had last visited it and sat beneath its roof with +Jim, and already its few ruins had taken upon themselves the look of +years of abandonment and decay. The wild land seemed to have thrown off +its yoke of cultivation in a night, and nature rioted again with all its +primal forces over the freed soil. Wild oats and mustard were springing +already in the broken furrows, and lank vines were slimily spreading +over a few scattered but still unseasoned and sappy shingles. Some +battered tin cans and fragments of old clothing looked as remote as if +they had been relics of the earliest immigration. + +Clarence turned inquiringly towards the Hopkins farmhouse across the +road. His arrival, however, had already been noticed, as the door of the +kitchen opened in an anticipatory fashion, and he could see the slight +figure of Phoebe Hopkins in the doorway, backed by the overlooking heads +and shoulders of her parents. The face of the young girl was pale and +drawn with anxiety, at which Clarence's simple astonishment took a shade +of concern. + +“I am looking for Mr. Hooker,” he said uneasily. “And I don't seem to be +able to find either him or his house.” + +“And you don't know what's gone of him?” said the girl quickly. + +“No; I haven't seen him for two weeks.” + +“There, I told you so!” said the girl, turning nervously to her parents. +“I knew it. He hasn't seen him for two weeks.” Then, looking almost +tearfully at Clarence's face, she said, “No more have we.” + +“But,” said Clarence impatiently, “something must have happened. Where +is his house?” + +“Taken away by them jumpers,” interrupted the old farmer; “a lot of +roughs that pulled it down and carted it off in a jiffy before our very +eyes without answerin' a civil question to me or her. But he wasn't +there, nor before, nor since.” + +“No,” added the old woman, with flashing eyes, “or he'd let 'em have +what ther' was in his six-shooters.” + +“No, he wouldn't, mother,” said the girl impatiently, “he'd CHANGED, and +was agin all them ideas of force and riotin'. He was for peace and +law all the time. Why, the day before we missed him he was tellin' me +California never would be decent until people obeyed the laws and the +titles were settled. And for that reason, because he wouldn't fight +agin the law, or without the consent of the law, they've killed him, or +kidnapped him away.” + +The girl's lips quivered, and her small brown hands twisted the edges of +her blue checked apron. Although this new picture of Jim's peacefulness +was as astounding and unsatisfactory as his own disappearance, there was +no doubt of the sincerity of poor Phoebe's impression. + +In vain did Clarence point out to them there must be some mistake; that +the trespassers--the so-called jumpers--really belonged to the same +party as Hooker, and would have no reason to dispossess him; that, in +fact, they were all HIS, Clarence's, tenants. In vain he assured them of +Hooker's perfect security in possession; that he could have driven the +intruders away by the simple exhibition of his lease, or that he could +have even called a constable from the town of Fair Plains to protect him +from mere lawlessness. In vain did he assure them of his intention to +find his missing friend, and reinstate him at any cost. The conviction +that the unfortunate young man had been foully dealt with was fixed in +the minds of the two women. For a moment Clarence himself was staggered +by it. + +“You see,” said the young girl, with a kindling face, “the day before +he came back from Robles, ther' were some queer men hangin' round his +cabin, but as they were the same kind that went off with him the day the +Sisters' title was confirmed, we thought nothing of it. But when he +came back from you he seemed worried and anxious, and wasn't a bit like +himself. We thought perhaps he'd got into some trouble there, or been +disappointed. He hadn't, had he, Mr. Brant?” continued Phoebe, with an +appealing look. + +“By no means,” said Clarence warmly. “On the contrary, he was able to do +his friends good service there, and was successful in what he attempted. +Mrs. Peyton was very grateful. Of course he told you what had happened, +and what he did for us,” continued Clarence, with a smile. + +He had already amused himself on the way with a fanciful conception +of the exaggerated account Jim had given of his exploits. But the +bewildered girl shook her head. + +“No, he didn't tell us ANYTHING.” + +Clarence was really alarmed. This unprecedented abstention of Hooker's +was portentous. + +“He didn't say anything but what I told you about law and order,” + she went on; “but that same night we heard a good deal of talking and +shouting in the cabin and around it. And the next day he was talking +with father, and wanting to know how HE kept his land without trouble +from outsiders.” + +“And I said,” broke in Hopkins, “that I guessed folks didn't bother a +man with women folks around, and that I kalkilated that I wasn't quite +as notorious for fightin' as he was.” + +“And he said,” also interrupted Mrs. Hopkins, “and quite in his nat'ral +way, too,--gloomy like, you remember, Cyrus,” appealingly to her +husband,--“that that was his curse.” + +The smile that flickered around Clarence's mouth faded, however, as he +caught sight of Phoebe's pleading, interrogating eyes. It was really too +bad. Whatever change had come over the rascal it was too evident that +his previous belligerent personality had had its full effect upon the +simple girl, and that, hereafter, one pair of honest eyes would be +wistfully following him. + +Perplexed and indignant, Clarence again closely questioned her as to the +personnel of the trespassing party who had been seen once or twice since +passing over the field. He had at last elicited enough information to +identify one of them as Gilroy, the leader of the party that had invaded +Robles rancho. His cheek flushed. Even if they had wished to take a +theatrical and momentary revenge on Hooker for the passing treachery to +them which they had just discovered, although such retaliation was +only transitory, and they could not hold the land, it was an insult +to Clarence himself, whose tenant Jim was, and subversive of all their +legally acquired rights. He would confront this Gilroy at once; his +half-wild encampment was only a few miles away, just over the boundaries +of the Robles estate. Without stating his intention, he took leave of +the Hopkins family with the cheerful assurance that he would probably +return with some news of Hooker, and rode away. + +The trail became more indistinct and unfrequented as it diverged from +the main road, and presently lost itself in the slope towards the east. +The horizon grew larger: there were faint bluish lines upon it which he +knew were distant mountains; beyond this a still fainter white line--the +Sierran snows. Presently he intersected a trail running south, and +remarked that it crossed the highway behind him, where he had once met +the two mysterious horsemen. They had evidently reached the terrace +through the wild oats by that trail. A little farther on were a +few groups of sheds and canvas tents in a bare and open space, with +scattered cattle and horsemen, exactly like an encampment, or the +gathering of a country fair. As Clarence rode down towards them he could +see that his approach was instantly observed, and that a simultaneous +movement was made as if to anticipate him. For the first time he +realized the possible consequences of his visit, single-handed, but it +was too late to retrace his steps. With a glance at his holster, he rode +boldly forward to the nearest shed. A dozen men hovered near him, but +something in his quiet, determined manner held them aloof. Gilroy was +on the threshold in his shirtsleeves. A single look showed him that +Clarence was alone, and with a careless gesture of his hand he warned +away his own followers. + +“You've got a sort of easy way of droppin' in whar you ain't invited, +Brant,” he said with a grim smile, which was not, however, without a +certain air of approval. “Got it from your father, didn't you?” + +“I don't know, but I don't believe HE ever thought it necessary to warn +twenty men of the approach of ONE,” replied Clarence, in the same tone. +“I had no time to stand on ceremony, for I have just come from Hooker's +quarter section at Fair Plains.” + +Gilroy smiled again, and gazed abstractedly at the sky. + +“You know as well as I do,” said Clarence, controlling his voice with +an effort, “that what you have done there will have to be undone, if you +wish to hold even those lawless men of yours together, or keep yourself +and them from being run into the brush like highwaymen. I've no fear for +that. Neither do I care to know what was your motive in doing it; but I +can only tell you that if it was retaliation, I alone was and still am +responsible for Hooker's action at the rancho. I came here to know just +what you have done with him, and, if necessary, to take his place.” + +“You're just a little too previous in your talk, I reckon, Brant,” + returned Gilroy lazily, “and as to legality, I reckon we stand on the +same level with yourself, just here. Beginnin' with what you came for: +as we don't know where your Jim Hooker is, and as we ain't done anythin' +to HIM, we don't exackly see what we could do with YOU in his place. +Ez to our motives,--well, we've got a good deal to say about THAT. +We reckoned that he wasn't exackly the kind of man we wanted for a +neighbor. His pow'ful fightin' style didn't suit us peaceful folks, and +we thought it rather worked agin this new 'law and order' racket to have +such a man about, to say nuthin' of it prejudicin' quiet settlers. +He had too many revolvers for one man to keep his eye on, and was +altogether too much steeped in blood, so to speak, for ordinary washin' +and domestic purposes! His hull get up was too deathlike and clammy; so +we persuaded him to leave. We just went there, all of us, and exhorted +him. We stayed round there two days and nights, takin' turns, talkin' +with him, nuthin' more, only selecting subjects in his own style to +please him, until he left! And then, as we didn't see any use for his +house there, we took it away. Them's the cold facts, Brant,” he added, +with a certain convincing indifference that left no room for doubt, “and +you can stand by 'em. Now, workin' back to the first principle you laid +down,--that we'll have to UNDO what we've DONE,--we don't agree with +you, for we've taken a leaf outer your own book. We've got it here +in black and white. We've got a bill o' sale of Hooker's house and +possession, and we're on the land in place of him,--AS YOUR TENANTS.” + He reentered the shanty, took a piece of paper from a soap-box on the +shell, and held it out to Clarence. “Here it is. It's a fair and square +deal, Brant. We gave him, as it says here, a hundred dollars for it! No +humbuggin', but the hard cash, by Jiminy! AND HE TOOK THE MONEY.” + +The ring of truth in the man's voice was as unmistakable as the +signature in Jim's own hand. Hooker had sold out! Clarence turned +hastily away. + +“We don't know where he went,” continued Gilroy grimly, “but I reckon +you ain't over anxious to see him NOW. And I kin tell ye something to +ease your mind,--he didn't require much persuadin'. And I kin tell ye +another, if ye ain't above takin' advice from folks that don't pertend +to give it,” he added, with the same curious look of interest in his +face. “You've done well to get shut of him, and if you got shut of a few +more of his kind that you trust to, you'd do better.” + +As if to avoid noticing any angry reply from the young man, he reentered +the cabin and shut the door behind him. Clarence felt the uselessness of +further parley, and rode away. + +But Gilroy's Parthian arrow rankled as he rode. He was not greatly +shocked at Jim's defection, for he was always fully conscious of +his vanity and weakness; but he was by no means certain that Jim's +extravagance and braggadocio, which he had found only amusing and, +perhaps, even pathetic, might not be as provocative and prejudicial +to others as Gilroy had said. But, like all sympathetic and unselfish +natures, he sought to find some excuse for his old companion's weakness +in his own mistaken judgment. He had no business to bring poor Jim on +the land, to subject his singular temperament to the temptations of +such a life and such surroundings; he should never have made use of his +services at the rancho. He had done him harm rather than good in his +ill-advised, and, perhaps, SELFISH attempts to help him. I have said +that Gilroy's parting warning rankled in his breast, but not ignobly. +It wounded the surface of his sensitive nature, but could not taint or +corrupt the pure, wholesome blood of the gentleman beneath it. For in +Gilroy's warning he saw only his own shortcomings. A strange fatality +had marked his friendships. He had been no help to Jim; he had brought +no happiness to Susy or Mrs. Peyton, whose disagreement his visit seemed +to have accented. Thinking over the mysterious attack upon himself, it +now seemed to him possible that, in some obscure way, his presence at +the rancho had precipitated the more serious attack on Peyton. If, as +it had been said, there was some curse upon his inheritance from his +father, he seemed to have made others share it with him. He was riding +onward abstractedly, with his head sunk on his breast and his eyes fixed +upon some vague point between his horse's sensitive ears, when a sudden, +intelligent, forward pricking of them startled him, and an apparition +arose from the plain before him that seemed to sweep all other sense +away. + +It was the figure of a handsome young horseman as abstracted as himself, +but evidently on better terms with his own personality. He was dark +haired, sallow cheeked, and blue eyed,--the type of the old Spanish +Californian. A burnt-out cigarette was in his mouth, and he was riding +a roan mustang with the lazy grace of his race. But what arrested +Clarence's attention more than his picturesque person was the narrow, +flexible, long coil of gray horse-hair riata which hung from his +saddle-bow, but whose knotted and silver-beaded terminating lash he +was swirling idly in his narrow brown hand. Clarence knew and instantly +recognized it as the ordinary fanciful appendage of a gentleman rider, +used for tethering his horse on lonely plains, and always made the +object of the most lavish expenditure of decoration and artistic +skill. But he was as suddenly filled with a blind, unreasoning sense +of repulsion and fury, and lifted his eyes to the man as he approached. +What the stranger saw in Clarence's blazing eyes no one but himself +knew, for his own became fixed and staring; his sallow cheeks grew +lanker and livid; his careless, jaunty bearing stiffened into rigidity, +and swerving his horse to one side he suddenly passed Clarence at a +furious gallop. The young American wheeled quickly, and for an instant +his knees convulsively gripped the flanks of his horse to follow. But +the next moment he recalled himself, and with an effort began to collect +his thoughts. What was he intending to do, and for what reason! He had +met hundreds of such horsemen before, and caparisoned and accoutred like +this, even to the riata. And he certainly was not dressed like either of +the mysterious horsemen whom he had overheard that moonlight evening. He +looked back; the stranger had already slackened his pace, and was slowly +disappearing. Clarence turned and rode on his way. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +Without disclosing the full extent of Jim's defection and desertion, +Clarence was able to truthfully assure the Hopkins family of his +personal safety, and to promise that he would continue his quest, and +send them further news of the absentee. He believed it would be found +that Jim had been called away on some important business, but that not +daring to leave his new shanty exposed and temptingly unprotected, he +had made a virtue of necessity by selling it to his neighbors, intending +to build a better house on its site after his return. Having comforted +Phoebe, and impulsively conceived further plans for restoring Jim to +her,--happily without any recurrence of his previous doubts as to his +own efficacy as a special Providence,--he returned to the rancho. If he +thought again of Jim's defection and Gilroy's warning, it was only to +strengthen himself to a clearer perception of his unselfish duty and +singleness of purpose. He would give up brooding, apply himself more +practically to the management of the property, carry out his plans +for the foundation of a Landlords' Protective League for the southern +counties, become a candidate for the Legislature, and, in brief, try +to fill Peyton's place in the county as he had at the rancho. He would +endeavor to become better acquainted with the half-breed laborers on +the estate and avoid the friction between them and the Americans; he was +conscious that he had not made that use of his early familiarity with +their ways and language which he might have done. If, occasionally, the +figure of the young Spaniard whom he had met on the lonely road obtruded +itself on him, it was always with the instinctive premonition that he +would meet him again, and the mystery of the sudden repulsion be in some +way explained. Thus Clarence! But the momentary impulse that had driven +him to Fair Plains, the eagerness to set his mind at rest regarding Susy +and her relatives, he had utterly forgotten. + +Howbeit some of the energy and enthusiasm that he breathed into these +various essays made their impression. He succeeded in forming the +Landlords' League; under a commission suggested by him the straggling +boundaries of Robles and the adjacent claims were resurveyed, defined, +and mutually protected; even the lawless Gilroy, from extending an +amused toleration to the young administrator, grew to recognize and +accept him; the peons and vacqueros began to have faith in a man who +acknowledged them sufficiently to rebuild the ruined Mission Chapel on +the estate, and save them the long pilgrimage to Santa Inez on Sundays +and saints' days; the San Francisco priest imported from Clarence's +old college at San Jose, and an habitual guest at Clarence's hospitable +board, was grateful enough to fill his flock with loyalty to the young +padron. + +He had returned from a long drive one afternoon, and had just thrown +himself into an easy-chair with the comfortable consciousness of a rest +fairly earned. The dull embers of a fire occasionally glowed in the +oven-like hearth, although the open casement of a window let in the +soft breath of the southwest trades. The angelus had just rung from the +restored chapel, and, mellowed by distance, seemed to Clarence to lend +that repose to the wind-swept landscape that it had always lacked. + +Suddenly his quick ear detected the sound of wheels in the ruts of the +carriage way. Usually his visitors to the casa came on horseback, and +carts and wagons used only the lower road. As the sound approached +nearer, an odd fancy filled his heart with unaccountable pleasure. Could +it be Mrs. Peyton making an unexpected visit to the rancho? He held his +breath. The vehicle was now rolling on into the patio. The clatter of +hoofs and a halt were followed by the accents of women's voices. One +seemed familiar. He rose quickly, as light footsteps ran along the +corridor, and then the door opened impetuously to the laughing face of +Susy! + +He came towards her hastily, yet with only the simple impulse of +astonishment. He had no thought of kissing her, but as he approached, +she threw her charming head archly to one side, with a mischievous +knitting of her brows and a significant gesture towards the passage, +that indicated the proximity of a stranger and the possibility of +interruption. + +“Hush! Mrs. McClosky's here,” she whispered. + +“Mrs. McClosky?” repeated Clarence vaguely. + +“Yes, of course,” impatiently. “My Aunt Jane. Silly! We just cut away +down here to surprise you. Aunty's never seen the place, and here was a +good chance.” + +“And your mother--Mrs. Peyton? Has she--does she?”--stammered Clarence. + +“Has she--does she?” mimicked Susy, with increasing impatience. “Why, of +course she DOESN'T know anything about it. She thinks I'm visiting Mary +Rogers at Oakland. And I am--AFTERWARDS,” she laughed. “I just wrote to +Aunt Jane to meet me at Alameda, and we took the stage to Santa Inez +and drove on here in a buggy. Wasn't it real fun? Tell me, Clarence! You +don't say anything! Tell me--wasn't it real fun?” + +This was all so like her old, childlike, charming, irresponsible self, +that Clarence, troubled and bewildered as he was, took her hands and +drew her like a child towards him. + +“Of course,” she went on, yet stopping to smell a rosebud in his +buttonhole, “I have a perfect right to come to my own home, goodness +knows! and if I bring my own aunt, a married woman, with me,--although,” + loftily, “there may be a young unmarried gentleman alone there,--still I +fail to see any impropriety in it!” + +He was still holding her; but in that instant her manner had completely +changed again; the old Susy seemed to have slipped away and evaded him, +and he was retaining only a conscious actress in his arms. + +“Release me, Mr. Brant, please,” she said, with a languid affected +glance behind her; “we are not alone.” + +Then, as the rustling of a skirt sounded nearer in the passage, she +seemed to change back to her old self once more, and with a lightning +flash of significance whispered,-- + +“She knows everything!” + +To add to Clarence's confusion, the woman who entered cast a quick +glance of playful meaning on the separating youthful pair. She was an +ineffective blonde with a certain beauty that seemed to be gradually +succumbing to the ravages of paint and powder rather than years; +her dress appeared to have suffered from an equally unwise excess of +ornamentation and trimming, and she gave the general impression of +having been intended for exhibition in almost any other light than the +one in which she happened to be. There were two or three mud-stains +on the laces of her sleeve and underskirt that were obtrusively +incongruous. Her voice, which had, however, a ring of honest intention +in it, was somewhat over-strained, and evidently had not yet adjusted +itself to the low-ceilinged, conventual-like building. + +“There, children, don't mind me! I know I'm not on in this scene, but I +got nervous waiting there, in what you call the 'salon,' with only those +Greaser servants staring round me in a circle, like a regular chorus. +My! but it's anteek here--regular anteek--Spanish.” Then, with a glance +at Clarence, “So this is Clarence Brant,--your Clarence? Interduce me, +Susy.” + +In his confusion of indignation, pain, and even a certain conception of +the grim ludicrousness of the situation, Clarence grasped despairingly +at the single sentence of Susy's. “In my own home.” Surely, at least, it +was HER OWN HOME, and as he was only the business agent of her adopted +mother, he had no right to dictate to her under what circumstances +she should return to it, or whom she should introduce there. In her +independence and caprice Susy might easily have gone elsewhere with this +astounding relative, and would Mrs. Peyton like it better? Clinging to +this idea, his instinct of hospitality asserted itself. He welcomed Mrs. +McClosky with nervous effusion:-- + +“I am only Mrs. Peyton's major domo here, but any guest of her +DAUGHTER'S is welcome.” + +“Yes,” said Mrs. McClosky, with ostentatious archness, “I reckon Susy +and I understand your position here, and you've got a good berth of it. +But we won't trouble you much on Mrs. Peyton's account, will we, Susy? +And now she and me will just take a look around the shanty,--it is real +old Spanish anteek, ain't it?--and sorter take stock of it, and you +young folks will have to tear yourselves apart for a while, and play +propriety before me. You've got to be on your good behavior while +I'm here, I can tell you! I'm a heavy old 'doo-anna.' Ain't I, Susy? +School-ma'ms and mother superiors ain't in the game with ME for +discipline.” + +She threw her arms around the young girl's waist and drew her towards +her affectionately, an action that slightly precipitated some powder +upon the black dress of her niece. Susy glanced mischievously at +Clarence, but withdrew her eyes presently to let them rest with +unmistakable appreciation and admiration on her relative. A pang shot +through Clarence's breast. He had never seen her look in that way at +Mrs. Peyton. Yet here was this stranger, provincial, overdressed, and +extravagant, whose vulgarity was only made tolerable through her good +humor, who had awakened that interest which the refined Mrs. Peyton had +never yet been able to touch. As Mrs. McClosky swept out of the room +with Susy he turned away with a sinking heart. + +Yet it was necessary that the Spanish house servants should not suspect +this treason to their mistress, and Clarence stopped their childish +curiosity about the stranger with a careless and easy acceptance of +Susy's sudden visit in the light of an ordinary occurrence, and with a +familiarity towards Mrs. McClosky which became the more distasteful to +him in proportion as he saw that it was evidently agreeable to her. But, +easily responsive, she became speedily confidential. Without a single +question from himself, or a contributing remark from Susy, in half an +hour she had told him her whole history. How, as Jane Silsbee, an elder +sister of Susy's mother, she had early eloped from the paternal home +in Kansas with McClosky, a strolling actor. How she had married him +and gone on the stage under his stage name, effectively preventing any +recognition by her family. How, coming to California, where her husband +had become manager of the theatre at Sacramento, she was indignant to +find that her only surviving relation, a sister-in-law, living in the +same place, had for a money consideration given up all claim to the +orphaned Susy, and how she had resolved to find out “if the poor child +was happy.” How she succeeded in finding out that she was not happy. +How she wrote to her, and even met her secretly at San Francisco and +Oakland, and how she had undertaken this journey partly for “a lark,” + and partly to see Clarence and the property. There was no doubt of the +speaker's sincerity; with this outrageous candor there was an equal +obliviousness of any indelicacy in her conduct towards Mrs. Peyton that +seemed hopeless. Yet he must talk plainly to her; he must say to her +what he could not say to Susy; upon HER Mrs. Peyton's happiness--he +believed he was thinking of Susy's also--depended. He must take the +first opportunity of speaking to her alone. + +That opportunity came sooner than he had expected. After dinner, Mrs. +McClosky turned to Susy, and playfully telling her that she had “to talk +business” with Mr. Brant, bade her go to the salon and await her. When +the young girl left the room, she looked at Clarence, and, with that +assumption of curtness with which coarse but kindly natures believe they +overcome the difficulty of delicate subjects, said abruptly:-- + +“Well, young man, now what's all this between you and Susy? I'm looking +after her interests--same as if she was my own girl. If you've got +anything to say, now's your time. And don't you shilly-shally too long +over it, either, for you might as well know that a girl like that can +have her pick and choice, and be beholden to no one; and when she don't +care to choose, there's me and my husband ready to do for her all the +same. We mightn't be able to do the anteek Spanish Squire, but we've got +our own line of business, and it's a comfortable one.” + +To have this said to him under the roof of Mrs. Peyton, from whom, in +his sensitiveness, he had thus far jealously guarded his own secret, was +even more than Clarence's gentleness could stand, and fixed his wavering +resolution. + +“I don't think we quite understand each other, Mrs. McClosky,” he said +coldly, but with glittering eyes. “I have certainly something to say to +you; if it is not on a subject as pleasant as the one you propose, +it is, nevertheless, one that I think you and I are more competent to +discuss together.” + +Then, with quiet but unrelenting directness, he pointed out to her that +Susy was a legally adopted daughter of Mrs. Peyton, and, as a minor, +utterly under her control; that Mrs. Peyton had no knowledge of any +opposing relatives; and that Susy had not only concealed the fact from +her, but that he was satisfied that Mrs. Peyton did not even know of +Susy's discontent and alienation; that she had tenderly and carefully +brought up the helpless orphan as her own child, and even if she had not +gained her affection was at least entitled to her obedience and respect; +that while Susy's girlish caprice and inexperience excused HER +conduct, Mrs. Peyton and her friends would have a right to expect more +consideration from a person of Mrs. McClosky's maturer judgment. That +for these reasons, and as the friend of Mrs. Peyton, whom he could alone +recognize as Susy's guardian and the arbiter of her affections, he must +decline to discuss the young girl with any reference to himself or his +own intentions. + +An unmistakable flush asserted itself under the lady's powder. + +“Suit yourself, young man, suit yourself,” she said, with equally direct +resentment and antagonism; “only mebbee you'll let me tell you that +Jim McClosky ain't no fool, and mebbee knows what lawyers think of an +arrangement with a sister-in-law that leaves a real sister out! Mebbee +that's a 'Sister's title' you ain't thought of, Mr. Brant! And mebbee +you'll find out that your chance o' gettin' Mrs. Peyton's consent ain't +as safe to gamble on as you reckon it is. And mebbee, what's more to the +purpose, if you DID get it, it might not be just the trump card to fetch +Susy with! And to wind up, Mr. Brant, when you DO have to come down to +the bed-rock and me and Jim McClosky, you may find out that him and me +have discovered a better match for Susy than the son of old Ham Brant, +who is trying to play the Spanish grandee off his father's money on a +couple of women. And we mayn't have to go far to do it--or to get THE +REAL THING, Mr. Brant!” + +Too heartsick and disgusted to even notice the slur upon himself or the +import of her last words, Clarence only rose and bowed as she jumped up +from the table. But as she reached the door he said, half appealingly:-- + +“Whatever are your other intentions, Mrs. McClosky, as we are both +Susy's guests, I beg you will say nothing of this to her while we are +here, and particularly that you will not allow her to think for a moment +that I have discussed MY relations to her with anybody.” + +She flung herself out of the door without a reply; but on entering the +dark low-ceilinged drawing-room she was surprised to find that Susy was +not there. She was consequently obliged to return to the veranda, where +Clarence had withdrawn, and to somewhat ostentatiously demand of the +servants that Susy should be sent to her room at once. But the young +girl was not in her own room, and was apparently nowhere to be found. +Clarence, who had now fully determined as a last resource to make a +direct appeal to Susy herself, listened to this fruitless search with +some concern. She could not have gone out in the rain, which was again +falling. She might be hiding somewhere to avoid a recurrence of the +scene she had perhaps partly overheard. He turned into the corridor +that led to Mrs. Peyton's boudoir. As he knew that it was locked, he was +surprised to see by the dim light of the hanging lamp that a duplicate +key to the one in his desk was in the lock. It must be Susy's, and the +young girl had probably taken refuge there. He knocked gently. There was +a rustle in the room and the sound of a chair being moved, but no reply. +Impelled by a sudden instinct he opened the door, and was met by a cool +current of air from some open window. At the same moment the figure of +Susy approached him from the semi-darkness of the interior. + +“I did not know you were here,” said Clarence, much relieved, he knew +not why, “but I am glad, for I wanted to speak with you alone for a few +moments.” + +She did not reply, but he drew a match from his pocket and lit the two +candles which he knew stood on the table. The wick of one was still +warm, as if it had been recently extinguished. As the light slowly +radiated, he could see that she was regarding him with an air of +affected unconcern, but a somewhat heightened color. It was like her, +and not inconsistent with his idea that she had come there to avoid an +after scene with Mrs. McClosky or himself, or perhaps both. The room was +not disarranged in any way. The window that was opened was the casement +of the deep embrasured one in the rear wall, and the light curtain +before it still swayed occasionally in the night wind. + +“I'm afraid I had a row with your aunt, Susy,” he began lightly, in his +old familiar way; “but I had to tell her I didn't think her conduct to +Mrs. Peyton was exactly the square thing towards one who had been as +devoted to you as she has been.” + +“Oh, for goodness' sake, don't go over all that again,” said Susy +impatiently. “I've had enough of it.” + +Clarence flashed, but recovered himself. + +“Then you overheard what I said, and know what I think,” he said calmly. + +“I knew it BEFORE,” said the young girl, with a slight supercilious toss +of the head, and yet a certain abstraction of manner as she went to the +window and closed it. “Anybody could see it! I know you always wanted +me to stay here with Mrs. Peyton, and be coddled and monitored and +catechised and shut up away from any one, until YOU had been coddled and +monitored and catechised by somebody else sufficiently to suit her +ideas of your being a fit husband for me. I told aunty it was no use our +coming here to--to”-- + +“To do what?” asked Clarence. + +“To put some spirit into you,” said the young girl, turning upon him +sharply; “to keep you from being tied to that woman's apron-strings. To +keep her from making a slave of you as she would of me. But it is of +no use. Mary Rogers was right when she said you had no wish to please +anybody but Mrs. Peyton, and no eyes for anybody but her. And if it +hadn't been too ridiculous, considering her age and yours, she'd say you +were dead in love with her.” + +For an instant Clarence felt the blood rush to his face and then sink +away, leaving him pale and cold. The room, which had seemed to +whirl around him, and then fade away, returned with appalling +distinctness,--the distinctness of memory,--and a vision of the first +day that he had seen Mrs. Peyton sitting there, as he seemed to see her +now. For the first time there flashed upon him the conviction that the +young girl had spoken the truth, and had brusquely brushed the veil from +his foolish eyes. He WAS in love with Mrs. Peyton! That was what his +doubts and hesitation regarding Susy meant. That alone was the source, +secret, and limit of his vague ambition. + +But with the conviction came a singular calm. In the last few moments +he seemed to have grown older, to have loosed the bonds of old +companionship with Susy, and the later impression she had given him of +her mature knowledge, and moved on far beyond her years and experience. +And it was with an authority that was half paternal, and in a voice he +himself scarcely recognized, that he said:-- + +“If I did not know you were prejudiced by a foolish and indiscreet +woman, I should believe that you were trying to insult me as you have +your adopted mother, and would save you the pain of doing both in HER +house by leaving it now and forever. But because I believe you are +controlled against your best instinct by that woman, I shall remain +here with you to frustrate her as best I can, or until I am able to lay +everything before Mrs. Peyton except the foolish speech you have just +made.” + +The young girl laughed. “Why not THAT one too, while you're about it? +See what she'll say.” + +“I shall tell her,” continued Clarence calmly, “only what YOU yourself +have made it necessary for me to tell her to save you from folly and +disgrace, and only enough to spare her the mortification of hearing it +first from her own servants.” + +“Hearing WHAT from her own servants? What do you mean? How dare you?” + demanded the young girl sharply. + +She was quite real in her anxiety now, although her attitude of virtuous +indignation struck him as being like all her emotional expression, +namely, acting. + +“I mean that the servants know of your correspondence with Mrs. +McClosky, and that she claims to be your aunt,” returned Clarence. “They +know that you confided to Pepita. They believe that either Mrs. McClosky +or you have seen”-- + +He had stopped suddenly. He was about to say that the servants +(particularly Incarnacion) knew that Pedro had boasted of having met +Susy, when, for the first time, the tremendous significance of what he +had hitherto considered as merely an idle falsehood flashed upon him. + +“Seen whom?” repeated Susy in a higher voice, impatiently stamping her +foot. + +Clarence looked at her, and in her excited, questioning face saw a +confirmation of his still half-formed suspicions. In his own abrupt +pause and knitted eyebrows she must have read his thoughts also. Their +eyes met. Her violet pupils dilated, trembled, and then quickly shifted +as she suddenly stiffened into an attitude of scornful indifference, +almost grotesque in its unreality. His eyes slowly turned to the window, +the door, the candles on the table and the chair before it, and then +came back to her face again. Then he drew a deep breath. + +“I give no heed to the idle gossip of servants, Susy,” he said slowly. +“I have no belief that you have ever contemplated anything worse than an +act of girlish folly, or the gratification of a passing caprice. Neither +do I want to appeal to you or frighten you, but I must tell you now, +that I know certain facts that might make such a simple act of folly +monstrous, inconceivable in YOU, and almost accessory to a crime! I can +tell you no more. But so satisfied am I of such a possibility, that I +shall not scruple to take any means--the strongest--to prevent even +the remotest chance of it. Your aunt has been looking for you; you had +better go to her now. I will close the room and lock the door. Meantime, +I should advise you not to sit so near an open window with a candle at +night in this locality. Even if it might not be dangerous for you, it +might be fatal to the foolish creatures it might attract.” + +He took the key from the door as he held it open for her to pass out. +She uttered a shrill little laugh, like a nervous, mischievous child, +and, slipping out of her previous artificial attitude as if it had been +a mantle, ran out of the room. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +As Susy's footsteps died away, Clarence closed the door, walked to the +window, and examined it closely. The bars had been restored since he had +wrenched them off to give ingress to the family on the day of recapture. +He glanced around the room; nothing seemed to have been disturbed. +Nevertheless he was uneasy. The suspicions of a frank, trustful nature +when once aroused are apt to be more general and far-reaching than the +specific distrusts of the disingenuous, for they imply the overthrow of +a whole principle and not a mere detail. Clarence's conviction that Susy +had seen Pedro recently since his dismissal led him into the wildest +surmises of her motives. It was possible that without her having reason +to suspect Pedro's greater crime, he might have confided to her his +intention of reclaiming the property and installing her as the mistress +and chatelaine of the rancho. The idea was one that might have appealed +to Susy's theatrical imagination. He recalled Mrs. McClosky's sneer +at his own pretensions and her vague threats of a rival of more lineal +descent. The possible infidelity of Susy to himself touched him lightly +when the first surprise was over; indeed, it scarcely could be called +infidelity, if she knew and believed Mary Rogers's discovery; and the +conviction that he and she had really never loved each other now enabled +him, as he believed, to look at her conduct dispassionately. Yet it was +her treachery to Mrs. Peyton and not to himself that impressed him most, +and perhaps made him equally unjust, through his affections. + +He extinguished the candles, partly from some vague precautions he could +not explain, and partly to think over his fears in the abstraction and +obscurity of the semi-darkness. The higher windows suffused a faint +light on the ceiling, and, assisted by the dark lantern-like glow +cast on the opposite wall by the tunnel of the embrasured window, +the familiar outlines of the room and its furniture came back to him. +Somewhat in this fashion also, in the obscurity and quiet, came back +to him the events he had overlooked and forgotten. He recalled now some +gossip of the servants, and hints dropped by Susy of a violent quarrel +between Peyton and Pedro, which resulted in Pedro's dismissal, but which +now seemed clearly attributable to some graver cause than inattention +and insolence. He recalled Mary Rogers's playful pleasantries with Susy +about Pedro, and Susy's mysterious air, which he had hitherto +regarded only as part of her exaggeration. He remembered Mrs. Peyton's +unwarrantable uneasiness about Susy, which he had either overlooked or +referred entirely to himself; she must have suspected something. To his +quickened imagination, in this ruin of his faith and trust, he believed +that Hooker's defection was either part of the conspiracy, or that he +had run away to avoid being implicated with Susy in its discovery. +This, too, was the significance of Gilroy's parting warning. He and +Mrs. Peyton alone had been blind and confiding in the midst of this +treachery, and even HE had been blind to his own real affections. + +The wind had risen again, and the faint light on the opposite wall grew +tremulous and shifting with the movement of the foliage without. But +presently the glow became quite obliterated, as if by the intervention +of some opaque body outside the window. He rose hurriedly and went to +the casement. But at the same moment he fancied he heard the jamming of +a door or window in quite another direction, and his examination of +the casement before him showed him only the silver light of the thinly +clouded sky falling uninterruptedly through the bars and foliage on the +interior of the whitewashed embrasure. Then a conception of his mistake +flashed across him. The line of the casa was long, straggling, and +exposed elsewhere; why should the attempt to enter or communicate +with any one within be confined only to this single point? And why not +satisfy himself at once if any trespassers were lounging around the +walls, and then confront them boldly in the open? Their discovery and +identification was as important as the defeat of their intentions. + +He relit the candle, and, placing it on a small table by the wall beyond +the visual range of the window, rearranged the curtain so that, while +it permitted the light to pass out, it left the room in shadow. He then +opened the door softly, locked it behind him, and passed noiselessly +into the hall. Susy's and Mrs. McClosky's rooms were at the further end +of the passage, but between them and the boudoir was the open patio, and +the low murmur of the voices of servants, who still lingered until he +should dismiss them for the night. Turning back, he moved silently down +the passage, until he reached the narrow arched door to the garden. +This he unlocked and opened with the same stealthy caution. The rain had +recommenced. Not daring to risk a return to his room, he took from a +peg in the recess an old waterproof cloak and “sou'wester” of Peyton's, +which still hung there, and passed out into the night, locking the +door behind him. To keep the knowledge of his secret patrol from the +stablemen, he did not attempt to take out his own horse, but trusted to +find some vacquero's mustang in the corral. By good luck an old “Blue +Grass” hack of Peyton's, nearest the stockade as he entered, allowed +itself to be quickly caught. Using its rope headstall for a bridle, +Clarence vaulted on its bare back, and paced cautiously out into the +road. Here he kept the curve of the long line of stockade until he +reached the outlying field where, half hidden in the withered, sapless, +but still standing stalks of grain, he slowly began a circuit of the +casa. + +The misty gray dome above him, which an invisible moon seemed to have +quicksilvered over, alternately lightened and darkened with passing +gusts of fine rain. Nevertheless he could see the outline of the broad +quadrangle of the house quite distinctly, except on the west side, +where a fringe of writhing willows beat the brown adobe walls with their +imploring arms at every gust. Elsewhere nothing moved; the view was +uninterrupted to where the shining, watery sky met the equally shining, +watery plain. He had already made a half circuit of the house, and was +still noiselessly picking his way along the furrows, muffled with soaked +and broken-down blades, and the velvety upspringing of the “volunteer” + growth, when suddenly, not fifty yards before him, without sound or +warning, a figure rode out of the grain upon the open crossroad, and +deliberately halted with a listless, abstracted, waiting air. Clarence +instantly recognized one of his own vacqueros, an undersized half-breed, +but he as instantly divined that he was only an outpost or confederate, +stationed to give the alarm. The same precaution had prevented each +hearing the other, and the lesser height of the vacquero had rendered +him indistinguishable as he preceded Clarence among the grain. As the +young man made no doubt that the real trespasser was nearer the casa, +along the line of willows, he wheeled to intercept him without alarming +his sentry. Unfortunately, his horse answered the rope bridle clumsily, +and splashed in striking out. The watcher quickly raised his head, and +Clarence knew that his only chance was now to suppress him. Determined +to do this at any hazard, with a threatening gesture he charged boldly +down upon him. + +But he had not crossed half the distance between them when the man +uttered an appalling cry, so wild and despairing that it seemed to chill +even the hot blood in Clarence's veins, and dashed frenziedly down the +cross-road into the interminable plain. Before Clarence could determine +if that cry was a signal or an involuntary outburst, it was followed +instantly by the sound of frightened and struggling hoofs clattering +against the wall of the casa, and a swaying of the shrubbery near the +back gate of the patio. Here was his real quarry! Without hesitation he +dug his heels into the flanks of his horse and rode furiously towards +it. As he approached, a long tremor seemed to pass through the +shrubbery, with the retreating sound of horse hoofs. The unseen +trespasser had evidently taken the alarm and was fleeing, and Clarence +dashed in pursuit. Following the sound, for the shrubbery hid the +fugitive from view, he passed the last wall of the casa; but it soon +became evident that the unknown had the better horse. The hoof-beats +grew fainter and fainter, and at times appeared even to cease, until +his own approach started them again, eventually to fade away in the +distance. In vain Clarence dug his heels into the flanks of his heavier +steed, and regretted his own mustang; and when at last he reached the +edge of the thicket he had lost both sight and sound of the fugitive. +The descent to the lower terrace lay before him empty and desolate. The +man had escaped! + +He turned slowly back with baffled anger and vindictiveness. However, +he had prevented something, although he knew not what. The principal had +got away, but he had identified his confederate, and for the first time +held a clue to his mysterious visitant. There was no use to alarm the +household, which did not seem to have been disturbed. The trespassers +were far away by this time, and the attempt would hardly be repeated +that night. He made his way quietly back to the corral, let loose his +horse, and regained the casa unobserved. He unlocked the arched door in +the wall, reentered the darkened passage, stopped a moment to open +the door of the boudoir, glance at the closely fastened casement, and +extinguish the still burning candle, and, relocking the door securely, +made his way to his own room. + +But he could not sleep. The whole incident, over so quickly, had +nevertheless impressed him deeply, and yet like a dream. The strange +yell of the vacquero still rang in his ears, but with an unearthly and +superstitious significance that was even more dreamlike in its meaning. +He awakened from a fitful slumber to find the light of morning in the +room, and Incarnacion standing by his bedside. + +The yellow face of the steward was greenish with terror, and his lips +were dry. + +“Get up, Senor Clarencio; get up at once, my master. Strange things have +happened. Mother of God protect us!” + +Clarence rolled to his feet, with the events of the past night +struggling back upon his consciousness. + +“What mean you, Nascio?” he said, grasping the man's arm, which +was still mechanically making the sign of the cross, as he muttered +incoherently. “Speak, I command you!” + +“It is Jose, the little vacquero, who is even now at the padre's house, +raving as a lunatic, stricken as a madman with terror! He has seen +him,--the dead alive! Save us!” + +“Are you mad yourself, Nascio?” said Clarence. “Whom has he seen?” + +“Whom? God help us! the old padron--Senor Peyton himself! He rushed +towards him here, in the patio, last night--out of the air, the sky, the +ground, he knew not,--his own self, wrapped in his old storm cloak and +hat, and riding his own horse,--erect, terrible, and menacing, with an +awful hand upholding a rope--so! He saw him with these eyes, as I see +you. What HE said to him, God knows! The priest, perhaps, for he has +made confession!” + +In a flash of intelligence Clarence comprehended all. He rose grimly and +began to dress himself. + +“Not a word of this to the women,--to any one, Nascio, dost thou +understand?” he said curtly. “It may be that Jose has been partaking too +freely of aguardiente,--it is possible. I will see the priest myself. +But what possesses thee? Collect thyself, good Nascio.” + +But the man was still trembling. + +“It is not all,--Mother of God! it is not all, master!” he stammered, +dropping to his knees and still crossing himself. “This morning, beside +the corral, they find the horse of Pedro Valdez splashed and spattered +on saddle and bridle, and in the stirrup,--dost thou hear? the +STIRRUP,--hanging, the torn-off boot of Valdez! Ah, God! The same as +HIS! Now do you understand? It is HIS vengeance. No! Jesu forgive me! it +is the vengeance of God!” + +Clarence was staggered. + +“And you have not found Valdez? You have looked for him?” he said, +hurriedly throwing on his clothes. + +“Everywhere,--all over the plain. The whole rancho has been out since +sunrise,--here and there and everywhere. And there is nothing! Of course +not. What would you?” He pointed solemnly to the ground. + +“Nonsense!” said Clarence, buttoning his coat and seizing his hat. +“Follow me.” + +He ran down the passage, followed by Incarnacion, through the excited, +gesticulating crowd of servants in the patio, and out of the back gate. +He turned first along the wall of the casa towards the barred window of +the boudoir. Then a cry came from Incarnacion. + +They ran quickly forward. Hanging from the grating of the window, like +a mass of limp and saturated clothes, was the body of Pedro Valdez, with +one unbooted foot dangling within an inch of the ground. His head was +passed inside the grating and fixed as at that moment when the first +spring of the frightened horse had broken his neck between the bars as +in a garrote, and the second plunge of the terrified animal had carried +off his boot in the caught stirrup when it escaped. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +The winter rains were over and gone, and the whole long line of +Californian coast was dashed with color. There were miles of yellow and +red poppies, leagues of lupines that painted the gently rounded hills +with soft primary hues, and long continuous slopes, like low mountain +systems, of daisies and dandelions. At Sacramento it was already summer; +the yellow river was flashing and intolerable; the tule and marsh +grasses were lush and long; the bloom of cottonwood and sycamore +whitened the outskirts of the city, and as Cyrus Hopkins and his +daughter Phoebe looked from the veranda of the Placer Hotel, accustomed +as they were to the cool trade winds of the coast valleys, they felt +homesick from the memory of eastern heats. + +Later, when they were surveying the long dinner tables at the table +d'hote with something of the uncomfortable and shamefaced loneliness of +the provincial, Phoebe uttered a slight cry and clutched her father's +arm. Mr. Hopkins stayed the play of his squared elbows and glanced +inquiringly at his daughter's face. There was a pretty animation in it, +as she pointed to a figure that had just entered. It was that of a young +man attired in the extravagance rather than the taste of the prevailing +fashion, which did not, however, in the least conceal a decided +rusticity of limb and movement. A long mustache, which looked unkempt, +even in its pomatumed stiffness, and lank, dark hair that had bent but +never curled under the barber's iron, made him notable even in that +heterogeneous assembly. + +“That's he,” whispered Phoebe. + +“Who?” said her father. + +Alas for the inconsistencies of love! The blush came with the name and +not the vision. + +“Mr. Hooker,” she stammered. + +It was, indeed, Jim Hooker. But the role of his exaggeration was no +longer the same; the remorseful gloom in which he had been habitually +steeped had changed into a fatigued, yet haughty, fastidiousness more +in keeping with his fashionable garments. He was more peaceful, yet not +entirely placable, and, as he sat down at a side table and pulled down +his striped cuffs with his clasped fingers, he cast a glance of critical +disapproval on the general company. Nevertheless, he seemed to be +furtively watchful of his effect upon them, and as one or two whispered +and looked towards him, his consciousness became darkly manifest. + +All of which might have intimidated the gentle Phoebe, but did not +discompose her father. He rose, and crossing over to Hooker's table, +clapped him heartily on the back. + +“How do, Hooker? I didn't recognize you in them fine clothes, but Phoebe +guessed as how it was you.” + +Flushed, disconcerted, irritated, but always in wholesome awe of Mr. +Hopkins, Jim returned his greeting awkwardly and half hysterically. How +he would have received the more timid Phoebe is another question. But +Mr. Hopkins, without apparently noticing these symptoms, went on:-- + +“We're only just down, Phoebe and me, and as I guess we'll want to talk +over old times, we'll come alongside o' you. Hold on, and I'll fetch +her.” + +The interval gave the unhappy Jim a chance to recover himself, to regain +his vanished cuffs, display his heavy watch-chain, curl his mustache, +and otherwise reassume his air of blase fastidiousness. But the transfer +made, Phoebe, after shaking hands, became speechless under these +perfections. Not so her father. + +“If there's anything in looks, you seem to be prospering,” he said +grimly; “unless you're in the tailorin' line, and you're only showin' +off stock. What mout ye be doing?” + +“Ye ain't bin long in Sacramento, I reckon?” suggested Jim, with +patronizing pity. + +“No, we only came this morning,” returned Hopkins. + +“And you ain't bin to the theatre?” continued Jim. + +“No.” + +“Nor moved much in--in--gin'ral fash'nable sassiety?” + +“Not yet,” interposed Phoebe, with an air of faint apology. + +“Nor seen any of them large posters on the fences, of 'The Prairie +Flower; or, Red-handed Dick,'--three-act play with five tableaux,--just +the biggest sensation out,--runnin' for forty nights,--money turned +away every night,--standin' room only?” continued Jim, with prolonged +toleration. + +“No.” + +“Well, I play Red-handed Dick. I thought you might have seen it and +recognized me. All those people over there,” darkly indicating the long +table, “know me. A fellow can't stand it, you know, being stared at by +such a vulgar, low-bred lot. It's gettin' too fresh here. I'll have to +give the landlord notice and cut the whole hotel. They don't seem to +have ever seen a gentleman and a professional before.” + +“Then you're a play-actor now?” said the farmer, in a tone which did +not, however, exhibit the exact degree of admiration which shone in +Phoebe's eyes. + +“For the present,” said Jim, with lofty indifference. “You see I was +in--in partnership with McClosky, the manager, and I didn't like the +style of the chump that was doin' Red-handed Dick, so I offered to take +his place one night to show him how. And by Jinks! the audience, after +that night, wouldn't let anybody else play it,--wouldn't stand even the +biggest, highest-priced stars in it! I reckon,” he added gloomily, “I'll +have to run the darned thing in all the big towns in Californy,--if I +don't have to go East with it after all, just for the business. But it's +an awful grind on a man,--leaves him no time, along of the invitations +he gets, and what with being run after in the streets and stared at in +the hotels he don't get no privacy. There's men, and women, too, over +at that table, that just lie in wait for me here till I come, and don't +lift their eyes off me. I wonder they don't bring their opery-glasses +with them.” + +Concerned, sympathizing, and indignant, poor Phoebe turned her brown +head and honest eyes in that direction. But because they were honest, +they could not help observing that the other table did not seem to be +paying the slightest attention to the distinguished impersonator of +Red-handed Dick. Perhaps he had been overheard. + +“Then that was the reason ye didn't come back to your location. I always +guessed it was because you'd got wind of the smash-up down there, afore +we did,” said Hopkins grimly. + +“What smash-up?” asked Jim, with slightly resentful quickness. + +“Why, the smash-up of the Sisters' title,--didn't you hear that?” + +There was a slight movement of relief and a return of gloomy hauteur in +Jim's manner. + +“No, we don't know much of what goes on in the cow counties, up here.” + +“Ye mout, considerin' it concerns some o' your friends,” returned +Hopkins dryly. “For the Sisters' title went smash as soon as it was +known that Pedro Valdez--the man as started it--had his neck broken +outside the walls o' Robles Rancho; and they do say as this yer Brant, +YOUR friend, had suthin' to do with the breaking of it, though it was +laid to the ghost of old Peyton. Anyhow, there was such a big skeer +that one of the Greaser gang, who thought he'd seen the ghost, being a +Papist, to save his everlasting soul went to the priest and confessed. +But the priest wouldn't give him absolution until he'd blown the +hull thing, and made it public. And then it turned out that all the +dockyments for the title, and even the custom-house paper, were FORGED +by Pedro Valdez, and put on the market by his confederates. And that's +just where YOUR friend, Clarence Brant, comes in, for HE had bought up +the whole title from them fellers. Now, either, as some say, he was in +the fraud from the beginnin', and never paid anything, or else he was an +all-fired fool, and had parted with his money like one. Some allow +that the reason was that he was awfully sweet on Mrs. Peyton's adopted +daughter, and ez the parents didn't approve of him, he did THIS so as +to get a holt over them by the property. But he's a ruined man, anyway, +now; for they say he's such a darned fool that he's goin' to pay for all +the improvements that the folks who bought under him put into the land, +and that'll take his last cent. I thought I'd tell you that, for I +suppose YOU'VE lost a heap in your improvements, and will put in your +claim?” + +“I reckon I put nearly as much into it as Clar Brant did,” said Jim +gloomily, “but I ain't goin' to take a cent from him, or go back on him +now.” + +The rascal could not resist this last mendacious opportunity, although +he was perfectly sincere in his renunciation, touched in his sympathy, +and there was even a film of moisture in his shifting eyes. + +Phoebe was thrilled with the generosity of this noble being, who could +be unselfish even in his superior condition. She added softly:-- + +“And they say that the girl did not care for him at all, but was +actually going to run off with Pedro, when he stopped her and sent for +Mrs. Peyton.” + +To her surprise, Jim's face flushed violently. + +“It's all a dod-blasted lie,” he said, in a thick stage whisper. “It's +only the hogwash them Greasers and Pike County galoots ladle out to +each other around the stove in a county grocery. But,” recalling himself +loftily, and with a tolerant wave of his be-diamonded hand, “wot kin +you expect from one of them cow counties? They ain't satisfied till they +drive every gentleman out of the darned gopher-holes they call their +'kentry.'” + +In her admiration of what she believed to be a loyal outburst for his +friend, Phoebe overlooked the implied sneer at her provincial home. But +her father went on with a perfunctory, exasperating, dusty aridity:-- + +“That mebbee ez mebbee, Mr. Hooker, but the story down in our precinct +goes that she gave Mrs. Peyton the slip,--chucked up her situation as +adopted darter, and went off with a queer sort of a cirkiss woman,--one +of her own KIN, and I reckon one of her own KIND.” + +To this Mr. Hooker offered no further reply than a withering rebuke of +the waiter, a genteel abstraction, and a lofty change of subject. He +pressed upon them two tickets for the performance, of which he seemed to +have a number neatly clasped in an india-rubber band, and advised +them to come early. They would see him after the performance and sup +together. He must leave them now, as he had to be punctually at the +theatre, and if he lingered he should be pestered by interviewers. He +withdrew under a dazzling display of cuff and white handkerchief, +and with that inward swing of the arm and slight bowiness of the leg +generally recognized in his profession as the lounging exit of high +comedy. + +The mingling of awe and an uneasy sense of changed relations which that +meeting with Jim had brought to Phoebe was not lessened when she entered +the theatre with her father that evening, and even Mr. Hopkins seemed to +share her feelings. The theatre was large, and brilliant in decoration, +the seats were well filled with the same heterogeneous mingling she had +seen in the dining-room at the Placer Hotel, but in the parquet were +some fashionable costumes and cultivated faces. Mr. Hopkins was not +altogether so sure that Jim had been “only gassing.” But the gorgeous +drop curtain, representing an allegory of Californian prosperity and +abundance, presently uprolled upon a scene of Western life almost as +striking in its glaring unreality. From a rose-clad English cottage in +a subtropical landscape skipped “Rosalie, the Prairie Flower.” The +briefest of skirts, the most unsullied of stockings, the tiniest of +slippers, and the few diamonds that glittered on her fair neck and +fingers, revealed at once the simple and unpretending daughter of the +American backwoodsman. A tumult of delighted greeting broke from the +audience. The bright color came to the pink, girlish cheeks, gratified +vanity danced in her violet eyes, and as she piquantly bowed her +acknowledgments, this great breath of praise seemed to transfigure and +possess her. A very young actor who represented the giddy world in +a straw hat and with an effeminate manner was alternately petted and +girded at by her during the opening exposition of the plot, until the +statement that a “dark destiny” obliged her to follow her uncle in an +emigrant train across the plains closed the act, apparently extinguished +him, and left HER the central figure. So far, she evidently was the +favorite. A singular aversion to her crept into the heart of Phoebe. + +But the second act brought an Indian attack upon the emigrant train, and +here “Rosalie” displayed the archest heroism and the pinkest and most +distracting self-possession, in marked contrast to the giddy worldling +who, having accompanied her apparently for comic purposes best known to +himself, cowered abjectly under wagons, and was pulled ignominiously out +of straw, until Red Dick swept out of the wings with a chosen band and +a burst of revolvers and turned the tide of victory. Attired as a +picturesque combination of the Neapolitan smuggler, river-bar miner, +and Mexican vacquero, Jim Hooker instantly began to justify the plaudits +that greeted him and the most sanguinary hopes of the audience. A gloomy +but fascinating cloud of gunpowder and dark intrigue from that moment +hung about the stage. + +Yet in this sombre obscuration Rosalie had passed a happy six months, +coming out with her character and stockings equally unchanged and +unblemished, to be rewarded with the hand of Red Dick and the discovery +of her father, the governor of New Mexico, as a white-haired, but +objectionable vacquero, at the fall of the curtain. + +Through this exciting performance Phoebe sat with a vague and increasing +sense of loneliness and distrust. She did not know that Hooker had added +to his ordinary inventive exaggeration the form of dramatic composition. +But she had early detected the singular fact that such shadowy outlines +of plot as the piece possessed were evidently based on his previous +narrative of his OWN experiences, and the saving of Susy Peyton--by +himself! There was the episode of their being lost on the plains, as +he had already related it to her, with the addition of a few years to +Susy's age and some vivid picturesqueness to himself as Red Dick. She +was not, of course, aware that the part of the giddy worldling was +Jim's own conception of the character of Clarence. But what, even to +her provincial taste, seemed the extravagance of the piece, she felt, in +some way, reflected upon the truthfulness of the story she had heard. It +seemed to be a parody on himself, and in the laughter which some of the +most thrilling points produced in certain of the audience, she heard +an echo of her own doubts. But even this she could have borne if Jim's +confidence had not been given to the general public; it was no longer +HERS alone, she shared it with them. And this strange, bold girl, who +acted with him,--the “Blanche Belville” of the bills,--how often he must +have told HER the story, and yet how badly she had learned it! It was +not her own idea of it, nor of HIM. In the last extravagant scene she +turned her weary and half-shamed eyes from the stage and looked around +the theatre. Among a group of loungers by the wall a face that +seemed familiar was turned towards her own with a look of kindly and +sympathetic recognition. It was the face of Clarence Brant. When the +curtain fell, and she and her father rose to go, he was at their side. +He seemed older and more superior looking than she had ever thought him +before, and there was a gentle yet sad wisdom in his eyes and voice that +comforted her even while it made her feel like crying. + +“You are satisfied that no harm has come to our friend,” he said +pleasantly. “Of course you recognized him?” + +“Oh, yes; we met him to-day,” said Phoebe. Her provincial pride impelled +her to keep up a show of security and indifference. “We are going to +supper with him.” + +Clarence slightly lifted his brows. + +“You are more fortunate than I am,” he said smilingly. “I only arrived +here at seven, and I must leave at midnight.” + +Phoebe hesitated a moment, then said with affected carelessness:-- + +“What do you think of the young girl who plays with him? Do you know +her? Who is she?” + +He looked at her quickly, and then said, with some surprise:-- + +“Did he not tell you?” + +“She WAS the adopted daughter of Mrs. Peyton,--Miss Susan Silsbee,” he +said gravely. + +“Then she DID run away from home as they said,” said Phoebe impulsively. + +“Not EXACTLY as they said,” said Clarence gently. “She elected to make +her home with her aunt, Mrs. McClosky, who is the wife of the manager +of this theatre, and she adopted the profession a month ago. As it +now appears that there was some informality in the old articles of +guardianship, Mrs. Peyton would have been powerless to prevent her from +doing either, even if she had wished to.” + +The infelicity of questioning Clarence regarding Susy suddenly flashed +upon the forgetful Phoebe, and she colored. Yet, although sad, he did +not look like a rejected lover. + +“Of course, if she is here with her own relatives, that makes all the +difference,” she said gently. “It is protection.” + +“Certainly,” said Clarence. + +“And,” continued Phoebe hesitatingly, “she is playing with--with--an old +friend--Mr. Hooker!” + +“That is quite proper, too, considering their relations,” said Clarence +tolerantly. + +“I--don't--understand,” stammered Phoebe. + +The slightly cynical smile on Clarence's face changed as he looked into +Phoebe's eyes. + +“I've just heard that they are married,” he returned gently. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +Nowhere had the long season of flowers brought such glory as to the +broad plains and slopes of Robles Rancho. By some fortuitous chance of +soil, or flood, or drifting pollen, the three terraces had each taken a +distinct and separate blossom and tint of color. The straggling line of +corral, the crumbling wall of the old garden, the outlying chapel, and +even the brown walls of the casa itself, were half sunken in the tall +racemes of crowding lupines, until from the distance they seemed to be +slowly settling in the profundity of a dark-blue sea. The second terrace +was a league-long flow of gray and gold daisies, in which the cattle +dazedly wandered mid-leg deep. A perpetual sunshine of yellow dandelions +lay upon the third. The gentle slope to the dark-green canada was a +broad cataract of crimson poppies. Everywhere where water had stood, +great patches of color had taken its place. It seemed as if the rains +had ceased only that the broken heavens might drop flowers. + +Never before had its beauty--a beauty that seemed built upon a cruel, +youthful, obliterating forgetfulness of the past--struck Clarence as +keenly as when he had made up his mind that he must leave the place +forever. For the tale of his mischance and ill-fortune, as told by +Hopkins, was unfortunately true. When he discovered that in his desire +to save Peyton's house by the purchase of the Sisters' title he himself +had been the victim of a gigantic fraud, he accepted the loss of the +greater part of his fortune with resignation, and was even satisfied by +the thought that he had at least effected the possession of the property +for Mrs. Peyton. But when he found that those of his tenants who had +bought under him had acquired only a dubious possession of their +lands and no title, he had unhesitatingly reimbursed them for their +improvements with the last of his capital. Only the lawless Gilroy had +good-humoredly declined. The quiet acceptance of the others did +not, unfortunately, preclude their settled belief that Clarence had +participated in the fraud, and that even now his restitution was making +a dangerous precedent, subversive of the best interests of the State, +and discouraging to immigration. Some doubted his sanity. Only one, +struck with the sincerity of his motive, hesitated to take his money, +with a look of commiseration on his face. + +“Are you not satisfied?” asked Clarence, smiling. + +“Yes, but”-- + +“But what?” + +“Nothin'. Only I was thinkin' that a man like you must feel awful +lonesome in Calforny!” + +Lonely he was, indeed; but his loneliness was not the loss of fortune +nor what it might bring. Perhaps he had never fully realized his wealth; +it had been an accident rather than a custom of his life, and when it +had failed in the only test he had made of its power, it is to be feared +that he only sentimentally regretted it. It was too early yet for him +to comprehend the veiled blessings of the catastrophe in its merciful +disruption of habits and ways of life; his loneliness was still the +hopeless solitude left by vanished ideals and overthrown idols. He was +satisfied that he had never cared for Susy, but he still cared for the +belief that he had. + +After the discovery of Pedro's body that fatal morning, a brief but +emphatic interview between himself and Mrs. McClosky had followed. He +had insisted upon her immediately accompanying Susy and himself to +Mrs. Peyton in San Francisco. Horror-stricken and terrified at the +catastrophe, and frightened by the strange looks of the excited +servants, they did not dare to disobey him. He had left them with Mrs. +Peyton in the briefest preliminary interview, during which he spoke only +of the catastrophe, shielding the woman from the presumption of having +provoked it, and urging only the importance of settling the question +of guardianship at once. It was odd that Mrs. Peyton had been less +disturbed than he imagined she would be at even his charitable version +of Susy's unfaithfulness to her; it even seemed to him that she had +already suspected it. But as he was about to withdraw to leave her to +meet them alone, she had stopped him suddenly. + +“What would you advise me to do?” + +It was his first interview with her since the revelation of his own +feelings. He looked into the pleading, troubled eyes of the woman he now +knew he had loved, and stammered:-- + +“You alone can judge. Only you must remember that one cannot force an +affection any more than one can prevent it.” + +He felt himself blushing, and, conscious of the construction of his +words, he even fancied that she was displeased. + +“Then you have no preference?” she said, a little impatiently. + +“None.” + +She made a slight gesture with her handsome shoulders, but she only +said, “I should have liked to have pleased you in this,” and turned +coldly away. He had left without knowing the result of the interview; +but a few days later he received a letter from her stating that she had +allowed Susy to return to her aunt, and that she had resigned all claims +to her guardianship. + +“It seemed to be a foregone conclusion,” she wrote; “and although I +cannot think such a change will be for her permanent welfare, it is her +present WISH, and who knows, indeed, if the change will be permanent? +I have not allowed the legal question to interfere with my judgment, +although her friends must know that she forfeits any claim upon the +estate by her action; but at the same time, in the event of her suitable +marriage, I should try to carry out what I believe would have been Mr. +Peyton's wishes.” + +There were a few lines of postscript: “It seems to me that the change +would leave you more free to consult your own wishes in regard to +continuing your friendship with Susy, and upon such a footing as may +please you. I judge from Mrs. McClosky's conversation that she believed +you thought you were only doing your duty in reporting to me, and that +the circumstances had not altered the good terms in which you all three +formerly stood.” + +Clarence had dropped the letter with a burning indignation that seemed +to sting his eyes until a scalding moisture hid the words before him. +What might not Susy have said? What exaggeration of his affection was +she not capable of suggesting? He recalled Mrs. McClosky, and remembered +her easy acceptance of him as Susy's lover. What had they told Mrs. +Peyton? What must be her opinion of his deceit towards herself? It was +hard enough to bear this before he knew he loved her. It was intolerable +now! And this is what she meant when she suggested that he should +renew his old terms with Susy; it was for HIM that this ill-disguised, +scornful generosity in regard to Susy's pecuniary expectations was +intended. What should he do? He would write to her, and indignantly deny +any clandestine affection for Susy. But could he do that, in honor, +in truthfulness? Would it not be better to write and confess all? +Yes,--EVERYTHING. + +Fortunately for his still boyish impulsiveness, it was at this time that +the discovery of his own financial ruin came to him. The inquest on the +body of Pedro Valdez and the confession of his confidant had revealed +the facts of the fraudulent title and forged testamentary documents. +Although it was correctly believed that Pedro had met his death in an +escapade of gallantry or intrigue, the coroner's jury had returned a +verdict of “accidental death,” and the lesser scandal was lost in the +wider, far-spreading disclosure of fraud. When he had resolved to assume +all the liabilities of his purchase, he was obliged to write to Mrs. +Peyton and confess his ruin. But he was glad to remind her that it did +not alter HER status or security; he had only given her the possession, +and she would revert to her original and now uncontested title. But as +there was now no reason for his continuing the stewardship, and as he +must adopt some profession and seek his fortune elsewhere, he begged her +to relieve him of his duty. Albeit written with a throbbing heart and +suffused eyes, it was a plain, business-like, and practical letter. Her +reply was equally cool and matter of fact. She was sorry to hear of his +losses, although she could not agree with him that they could logically +sever his present connection with the rancho, or that, placed upon +another and distinctly business footing, the occupation would not be as +remunerative to him as any other. But, of course, if he had a preference +for some more independent position, that was another question, although +he would forgive her for using the privilege of her years to remind +him that his financial and business success had not yet justified his +independence. She would also advise him not to decide hastily, or, at +least, to wait until she had again thoroughly gone over her husband's +papers with her lawyer, in reference to the old purchase of the Sisters' +title, and the conditions under which it was bought. She knew that Mr. +Brant would not refuse this as a matter of business, nor would that +friendship, which she valued so highly, allow him to imperil the +possession of the rancho by leaving it at such a moment. As soon as she +had finished the examination of the papers, she would write again. Her +letter seemed to leave him no hope, if, indeed, he had ever indulged +in any. It was the practical kindliness of a woman of business, nothing +more. As to the examination of her husband's papers, that was a +natural precaution. He alone knew that they would give no record of +a transaction which had never occurred. He briefly replied that his +intention to seek another situation was unchanged, but that he would +cheerfully await the arrival of his successor. Two weeks passed. Then +Mr. Sanderson, Mrs. Peyton's lawyer, arrived, bringing an apologetic +note from Mrs. Peyton. She was so sorry her business was still delayed, +but as she had felt that she had no right to detain him entirely at +Robles, she had sent to Mr. Sanderson to TEMPORARILY relieve him, that +he might be free to look around him or visit San Francisco in reference +to his own business, only extracting a promise from him that he would +return to Robles to meet her at the end of the week, before settling +upon anything. + +The bitter smile with which Clarence had read thus far suddenly changed. +Some mysterious touch of unbusiness-like but womanly hesitation, that +he had never noticed in her previous letters, gave him a faint sense of +pleasure, as if her note had been perfumed. He had availed himself of +the offer. It was on this visit to Sacramento that he had accidentally +discovered the marriage of Susy and Hooker. + +“It's a great deal better business for her to have a husband in the +'profesh' if she's agoin' to stick to it,” said his informant, Mrs. +McClosky, “and she's nothing if she ain't business and profesh, Mr. +Brant. I never see a girl that was born for the stage--yes, you might +say jess cut out o' the boards of the stage--as that girl Susy is! And +that's jest what's the matter; and YOU know it, and I know it, and there +you are!” + +It was with these experiences that Clarence was to-day reentering the +wooded and rocky gateway of the rancho from the high road of the canada; +but as he cantered up the first slope, through the drift of scarlet +poppies that almost obliterated the track, and the blue and yellow +blooms of the terraces again broke upon his view, he thought only of +Mrs. Peyton's pleasure in this changed aspect of her old home. She had +told him of it once before, and of her delight in it; and he had once +thought how happy he should be to see it with her. + +The servant who took his horse told him that the senora had arrived that +morning from Santa Inez, bringing with her the two Senoritas Hernandez +from the rancho of Los Canejos, and that other guests were expected. And +there was the Senor Sanderson and his Reverence Padre Esteban. Truly an +affair of hospitality, the first since the padron died. Whatever dream +Clarence might have had of opportunities for confidential interview was +rudely dispelled. Yet Mrs. Peyton had left orders to be informed at once +of Don Clarencio's arrival. + +As he crossed the patio and stepped upon the corridor he fancied he +already detected in the internal arrangements the subtle influence of +Mrs. Peyton's taste and the indefinable domination of the mistress. For +an instant he thought of anticipating the servant and seeking her in the +boudoir, but some instinct withheld him, and he turned into the study +which he had used as an office. It was empty; a few embers glimmered on +the hearth. At the same moment there was a light step behind him, +and Mrs. Peyton entered and closed the door behind her. She was +very beautiful. Although paler and thinner, there was an odd sort of +animation about her, so unlike her usual repose that it seemed almost +feverish. + +“I thought we could talk together a few moments before the guests +arrive. The house will be presently so full, and my duties as hostess +commence.” + +“I was--about to seek you--in--in the boudoir,” hesitated Clarence. + +She gave an impatient shiver. + +“Good heavens, not there! I shall never go there again. I should fancy +every time I looked out of the window that I saw the head of that man +between the bars. No! I am only thankful that I wasn't here at the time, +and that I can keep my remembrance of the dear old place unchanged.” She +checked herself a little abruptly, and then added somewhat irrelevantly +but cheerfully, “Well, you have been away? What have you done?” + +“Nothing,” said Clarence. + +“Then you have kept your promise,” she said, with the same nervous +hilarity. + +“I have returned here without making any other engagement,” he said +gravely; “but I have not altered my determination.” + +She shrugged her shoulders again, or, as it seemed, the skin of her +tightly fitting black dress above them, with the sensitive shiver of a +highly groomed horse, and moved to the hearth as if for warmth; put her +slim, slippered foot upon the low fender, drawing, with a quick hand, +the whole width of her skirt behind her until it clingingly accented the +long, graceful curve from her hip to her feet. All this was so unlike +her usual fastidiousness and repose that he was struck by it. With her +eyes on the glowing embers of the hearth, and tentatively advancing her +toe to its warmth and drawing it away, she said:-- + +“Of course, you must please yourself. I am afraid I have no right except +that of habit and custom to keep you here; and you know,” she added, +with an only half-withheld bitterness, “that they are not always very +effective with young people who prefer to have the ordering of their own +lives. But I have something still to tell you before you finally decide. +I have, as you know, been looking over my--over Mr. Peyton's papers very +carefully. Well, as a result, I find, Mr. Brant, that there is no record +whatever of his wonderfully providential purchase of the Sisters' title +from you; that he never entered into any written agreement with you, and +never paid you a cent; and that, furthermore, his papers show me that +he never even contemplated it; nor, indeed, even knew of YOUR owning +the title when he died. Yes, Mr. Brant, it was all to YOUR foresight and +prudence, and YOUR generosity alone, that we owe our present possession +of the rancho. When you helped us into that awful window, it was YOUR +house we were entering; and if it had been YOU, and not those wretches, +who had chosen to shut the doors on us after the funeral, we could never +have entered here again. Don't deny it, Mr. Brant. I have suspected it a +long time, and when you spoke of changing YOUR position, I determined to +find out if it wasn't I who had to leave the house rather than you. One +moment, please. And I did find out, and it WAS I. Don't speak, please, +yet. And now,” she said, with a quick return to her previous nervous +hilarity, “knowing this, as you did, and knowing, too, that I would know +it when I examined the papers,--don't speak, I'm not through yet,--don't +you think that it was just a LITTLE cruel for you to try to hurry me, +and make me come here instead of your coming to ME in San Francisco, +when I gave you leave for that purpose?” + +“But, Mrs. Peyton,” gasped Clarence. + +“Please don't interrupt me,” said the lady, with a touch of her old +imperiousness, “for in a moment I must join my guests. When I found you +wouldn't tell me, and left it to me to find out, I could only go away +as I did, and really leave you to control what I believed was your own +property. And I thought, too, that I understood your motives, and, to be +frank with you, that worried me; for I believed I knew the disposition +and feelings of a certain person better than yourself.” + +“One moment,” broke out Clarence, “you MUST hear me, now. Foolish and +misguided as that purchase may have been, I swear to you I had only one +motive in making it,--to save the homestead for you and your husband, +who had been my first and earliest benefactors. What the result of it +was, you, as a business woman, know; your friends know; your lawyer will +tell you the same. You owe me nothing. I have given you nothing but the +repossession of this property, which any other man could have done, and +perhaps less stupidly than I did. I would not have forced you to come +here to hear this if I had dreamed of your suspicions, or even if I had +simply understood that you would see me in San Francisco as I passed +through.” + +“Passed through? Where were you going?” she said quickly. + +“To Sacramento.” + +The abrupt change in her manner startled him to a recollection of Susy, +and he blushed. She bit her lips, and moved towards the window. + +“Then you saw her?” she said, turning suddenly towards him. The inquiry +of her beautiful eyes was more imperative than her speech. + +Clarence recognized quickly what he thought was his cruel blunder in +touching the half-healed wound of separation. But he had gone too far to +be other than perfectly truthful now. + +“Yes; I saw her on the stage,” he said, with a return of his boyish +earnestness; “and I learned something which I wanted you to first +hear from me. She is MARRIED,--and to Mr. Hooker, who is in the same +theatrical company with her. But I want you to think, as I honestly do, +that it is the best for her. She has married in her profession, which is +a great protection and a help to her success, and she has married a man +who can look lightly upon certain qualities in her that others might +not be so lenient to. His worst faults are on the surface, and will wear +away in contact with the world, and he looks up to her as his superior. +I gathered this from her friend, for I did not speak with her myself; I +did not go there to see her. But as I expected to be leaving you soon, +I thought it only right that as I was the humble means of first bringing +her into your life, I should bring you this last news, which I suppose +takes her out of it forever. Only I want you to believe that YOU have +nothing to regret, and that SHE is neither lost nor unhappy.” + +The expression of suspicious inquiry on her face when he began changed +gradually to perplexity as he continued, and then relaxed into a faint, +peculiar smile. But there was not the slightest trace of that pain, +wounded pride, indignation, or anger, that he had expected to see upon +it. + +“That means, I suppose, Mr. Brant, that YOU no longer care for her?” + +The smile had passed, yet she spoke now with a half-real, half-affected +archness that was also unlike her. + +“It means,” said Clarence with a white face, but a steady voice, “that +I care for her now as much as I ever cared for her, no matter to what +folly it once might have led me. But it means, also, that there was no +time when I was not able to tell it to YOU as frankly as I do now”-- + +“One moment, please,” she interrupted, and turned quickly towards +the door. She opened it and looked out. “I thought they were calling +me,--and--I--I--MUST go now, Mr. Brant. And without finishing my +business either, or saying half I had intended to say. But wait”--she +put her hand to her head in a pretty perplexity, “it's a moonlight +night, and I'll propose after dinner a stroll in the gardens, and you +can manage to walk a little with me.” She stopped again, returned, said, +“It was very kind of you to think of me at Sacramento,” held out her +hand, allowed it to remain for an instant, cool but acquiescent, in his +warmer grasp, and with the same odd youthfulness of movement and gesture +slipped out of the door. + +An hour later she was at the head of her dinner table, serene, +beautiful, and calm, in her elegant mourning, provokingly inaccessible +in the sweet deliberation of her widowed years; Padre Esteban was at +her side with a local magnate, who had known Peyton and his wife, while +Donna Rosita and a pair of liquid-tongued, childlike senoritas were near +Clarence and Sanderson. To the priest Mrs. Peyton spoke admiringly of +the changes in the rancho and the restoration of the Mission Chapel, and +together they had commended Clarence from the level of their superior +passionless reserve and years. Clarence felt hopelessly young and +hopelessly lonely; the naive prattle of the young girls beside him +appeared infantine. In his abstraction, he heard Mrs. Peyton allude to +the beauty of the night, and propose that after coffee and chocolate +the ladies should put on their wraps and go with her to the old garden. +Clarence raised his eyes; she was not looking at him, but there was +a slight consciousness in her face that was not there before, and +the faintest color in her cheek, still lingering, no doubt, from the +excitement of conversation. + +It was a cool, tranquil, dewless night when they at last straggled out, +mere black and white patches in the colorless moonlight. The brilliancy +of the flower-hued landscape was subdued under its passive, pale +austerity; even the gray and gold of the second terrace seemed dulled +and confused. At any other time Clarence might have lingered over this +strange effect, but his eyes followed only a tall figure, in a long +striped burnous, that moved gracefully beside the soutaned priest. As he +approached, it turned towards him. + +“Ah! here you are. I just told Father Esteban that you talked of leaving +to-morrow, and that he would have to excuse me a few moments while you +showed me what you had done to the old garden.” + +She moved beside him, and, with a hesitation that was not unlike a more +youthful timidity, slipped her hand through his arm. It was for the +first time, and, without thinking, he pressed it impulsively to his +side. I have already intimated that Clarence's reserve was at times +qualified by singular directness. + +A few steps carried them out of hearing; a few more, and they seemed +alone in the world. The long adobe wall glanced away emptily beside +them, and was lost; the black shadows of the knotted pear-trees were +beneath their feet. They began to walk with the slight affectation of +treading the shadows as if they were patterns on a carpet. Clarence was +voiceless, and yet he seemed to be moving beside a spirit that must be +first addressed. + +But it was flesh and blood nevertheless. + +“I interrupted you in something you were saying when I left the office,” + she said quietly. + +“I was speaking of Susy,” returned Clarence eagerly; “and”-- + +“Then you needn't go on,” interrupted Mrs. Peyton quickly. “I understand +you, and believe you. I would rather talk of something else. We have not +yet arranged how I can make restitution to you for the capital you sank +in saving this place. You will be reasonable, Mr. Brant, and not leave +me with the shame and pain of knowing that you ruined yourself for the +sake of your old friends. For it is no more a sentimental idea of mine +to feel in this way than it is a fair and sensible one for you to imply +that a mere quibble of construction absolves me from responsibility. Mr. +Sanderson himself admits that the repossession you gave us is a fair and +legal basis for any arrangement of sharing or division of the property +with you, that might enable you to remain here and continue the work you +have so well begun. Have you no suggestion, or must it come from ME, Mr. +Brant?” + +“Neither. Let us not talk of that now.” + +She did not seem to notice the boyish doggedness of his speech, except +so far as it might have increased her inconsequent and nervously pitched +levity. + +“Then suppose we speak of the Misses Hernandez, with whom you scarcely +exchanged a word at dinner, and whom I invited for you and your fluent +Spanish. They are charming girls, even if they are a little stupid. +But what can I do? If I am to live here, I must have a few young people +around me, if only to make the place cheerful for others. Do you know I +have taken a great fancy to Miss Rogers, and have asked her to visit me. +I think she is a good friend of yours, although perhaps she is a little +shy. What's the matter? You have nothing against her, have you?” + +Clarence had stopped short. They had reached the end of the pear-tree +shadows. A few steps more would bring them to the fallen south wall +of the garden and the open moonlight beyond, but to the right an olive +alley of deeper shadow diverged. + +“No,” he said, with slow deliberation; “I have to thank Mary Rogers for +having discovered something in me that I have been blindly, foolishly, +and hopelessly struggling with.” + +“And, pray, what was that?” said Mrs. Peyton sharply. + +“That I love you!” + +Mrs. Peyton was fairly startled. The embarrassment of any truth is +apt to be in its eternal abruptness, which no deviousness of tact or +circumlocution of diplomacy has ever yet surmounted. Whatever had been +in her heart, or mind, she was unprepared for this directness. The bolt +had dropped from the sky; they were alone; there was nothing between the +stars and the earth but herself and this man and this truth; it could +not be overlooked, surmounted, or escaped from. A step or two more would +take her out of the garden into the moonlight, but always into this +awful frankness of blunt and outspoken nature. She hesitated, and turned +the corner into the olive shadows. It was, perhaps, more dangerous; +but less shameless, and less like truckling. And the appallingly direct +Clarence instantly followed. + +“I know you will despise me, hate me; and, perhaps, worst of all, +disbelieve me; but I swear to you, now, that I have always loved +you,--yes, ALWAYS! When first I came here, it was not to see my old +playmate, but YOU, for I had kept the memory of you as I first saw +you when a boy, and you have always been my ideal. I have thought of, +dreamed of, worshiped, and lived for no other woman. Even when I found +Susy again, grown up here at your side; even when I thought that I +might, with your consent, marry her, it was that I might be with YOU +always; that I might be a part of YOUR home, your family, and have a +place with her in YOUR heart; for it was you I loved, and YOU only. +Don't laugh at me, Mrs. Peyton, it is the truth, the whole truth, I am +telling you. God help me!” + +If she only COULD have laughed,--harshly, ironically, or even mercifully +and kindly! But it would not come. And she burst out:-- + +“I am not laughing. Good heavens, don't you see? It is ME you are making +ridiculous.” + +“YOU ridiculous?” he said in a momentarily choked, half-stupefied voice. +“You--a beautiful woman, my superior in everything, the mistress +of these lands where I am only steward--made ridiculous, not by my +presumption, but by my confession? Was the saint you just now admired in +Father Esteban's chapel ridiculous because of the peon clowns who were +kneeling before it?” + +“Hush! This is wicked! Stop!” + +She felt she was now on firm ground, and made the most of it in voice +and manner. She must draw the line somewhere, and she would draw it +between passion and impiety. + +“Not until I have told you all, and I MUST before I leave you. I loved +you when I came here,--even when your husband was alive. Don't be angry, +Mrs. Peyton; HE would not, and need not, have been angry; he would have +pitied the foolish boy, who, in the very innocence and ignorance of his +passion, might have revealed it to him as he did to everybody but ONE. +And yet, I sometimes think you might have guessed it, had you thought of +me at all. It must have been on my lips that day I sat with you in the +boudoir. I know that I was filled with it; with it and with you; with +your presence, with your beauty, your grace of heart and mind,--yes, +Mrs. Peyton, even with your own unrequited love for Susy. Only, then, I +knew not what it was.” + +“But I think I can tell you what it was then, and now,” said Mrs. +Peyton, recovering her nervous little laugh, though it died a moment +after on her lips. “I remember it very well. You told me then that +I REMINDED YOU OF YOUR MOTHER. Well, I am not old enough to be your +mother, Mr. Brant, but I am old enough to have been, and might have +been, the mother of your wife. That was what you meant then; that +is what you mean now. I was wrong to accuse you of trying to make me +ridiculous. I ask your pardon. Let us leave it as it was that day in the +boudoir, as it is NOW. Let me still remind you of your mother,--I know +she must have been a good woman to have had so good a son,--and when +you have found some sweet young girl to make you happy, come to me for +a mother's blessing, and we will laugh at the recollection and +misunderstanding of this evening.” + +Her voice did not, however, exhibit that exquisite maternal tenderness +which the beatific vision ought to have called up, and the persistent +voice of Clarence could not be evaded in the shadow. + +“I said you reminded me of my mother,” he went on at her side, “because +I knew her and lost her only as a child. She never was anything to me +but a memory, and yet an ideal of all that was sweet and lovable in +woman. Perhaps it was a dream of what she might have been when she was +as young in years as you. If it pleases you still to misunderstand me, +it may please you also to know that there is a reminder of her even +in this. I have no remembrance of a word of affection from her, nor a +caress; I have been as hopeless in my love for her who was my mother, as +of the woman I would make my wife.” + +“But you have seen no one, you know no one, you are young, you scarcely +know your own self! You will forget this, you will forget ME! And +if--if--I should--listen to you, what would the world say, what would +YOU yourself say a few years hence? Oh, be reasonable. Think of it,--it +would be so wild,--so mad! so--so--utterly ridiculous!” + +In proof of its ludicrous quality, two tears escaped her eyes in +the darkness. But Clarence caught the white flash of her withdrawn +handkerchief in the shadow, and captured her returning hand. It was +trembling, but did not struggle, and presently hushed itself to rest in +his. + +“I'm not only a fool but a brute,” he said in a lower voice. “Forgive +me. I have given you pain,--you, for whom I would have died.” + +They had both stopped. He was still holding her sleeping hand. His arm +had stolen around the burnous so softly that it followed the curves +of her figure as lightly as a fold of the garment, and was presumably +unfelt. Grief has its privileges, and suffering exonerates a +questionable situation. In another moment her fair head MIGHT have +dropped upon his shoulder. But an approaching voice uprose in the +adjoining broad allee. It might have been the world speaking through the +voice of the lawyer Sanderson. + +“Yes, he is a good fellow, and an intelligent fellow, too, but a perfect +child in his experience of mankind.” + +They both started, but Mrs. Peyton's hand suddenly woke up and grasped +his firmly. Then she said in a higher, but perfectly level tone:-- + +“Yes, I think with you we had better look at it again in the sunlight +to-morrow. But here come our friends; they have probably been waiting +for us to join them and go in.” + +* * * * * + +The wholesome freshness of early morning was in the room when Clarence +awoke, cleared and strengthened. His resolution had been made. He would +leave the rancho that morning, to enter the world again and seek his +fortune elsewhere. This was only right to HER, whose future it should +never be said he had imperiled by his folly and inexperience; and if, in +a year or two of struggle he could prove his right to address her again, +he would return. He had not spoken to her since they had parted in the +garden, with the grim truths of the lawyer ringing in his ears, but he +had written a few lines of farewell, to be given to her after he +had left. He was calm in his resolution, albeit a little pale and +hollow-eyed for it. + +He crept downstairs in the gray twilight of the scarce-awakened house, +and made his way to the stables. Saddling his horse, and mounting, +he paced forth into the crisp morning air. The sun, just risen, was +everywhere bringing out the fresh color of the flower-strewn terraces, +as the last night's shadows, which had hidden them, were slowly beaten +back. He cast a last look at the brown adobe quadrangle of the quiet +house, just touched with the bronzing of the sun, and then turned his +face towards the highway. As he passed the angle of the old garden he +hesitated, but, strong in his resolution, he put the recollection of +last night behind him, and rode by without raising his eyes. + +“Clarence!” + +It was HER voice. He wheeled his horse. She was standing behind the +grille in the old wall as he had seen her standing on the day he had +ridden to his rendezvous with Susy. A Spanish manta was thrown over her +head and shoulders, as if she had dressed hastily, and had run out to +intercept him while he was still in the stable. Her beautiful face was +pale in its black-hooded recess, and there were faint circles around her +lovely eyes. + +“You were going without saying 'goodby'!” she said softly. + +She passed her slim white hand between the grating. Clarence leaped to +the ground, caught it, and pressed it to his lips. But he did not let it +go. + +“No! no!” she said, struggling to withdraw it. “It is better as it +is--as--as you have decided it to be. Only I could not let you go +thus,--without a word. There now,--go, Clarence, go. Please! Don't you +see I am behind these bars? Think of them as the years that separate +us, my poor, dear, foolish boy. Think of them as standing between us, +growing closer, heavier, and more cruel and hopeless as the years go +on.” + +Ah, well! they had been good bars a hundred and fifty years ago, when it +was thought as necessary to repress the innocence that was behind them +as the wickedness that was without. They had done duty in the convent +at Santa Inez, and the monastery of Santa Barbara, and had been brought +hither in Governor Micheltorrenas' time to keep the daughters of Robles +from the insidious contact of the outer world, when they took the air +in their cloistered pleasance. Guitars had tinkled against them in vain, +and they had withstood the stress and storm of love tokens. But, like +many other things which have had their day and time, they had retained +their semblance of power, even while rattling loosely in their sockets, +only because no one had ever thought of putting them to the test, and, +in the strong hand of Clarence, assisted, perhaps, by the leaning +figure of Mrs. Peyton, I grieve to say that the whole grille suddenly +collapsed, became a frame of tinkling iron, and then clanked, bar by +bar, into the road. Mrs. Peyton uttered a little cry and drew back, and +Clarence, leaping the ruins, caught her in his arms. + +For a moment only, for she quickly withdrew from them, and although +the morning sunlight was quite rosy on her cheeks, she said gravely, +pointing to the dismantled opening:-- + +“I suppose you MUST stay now, for you never could leave me here alone +and defenseless.” + +He stayed. And with this fulfillment of his youthful dreams the romance +of his young manhood seemed to be completed, and so closed the second +volume of this trilogy. But what effect that fulfillment of youth +had upon his maturer years, or the fortunes of those who were nearly +concerned in it, may be told in a later and final chronicle. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Susy, A Story of the Plains, by Bret Harte + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SUSY, A STORY OF THE PLAINS *** + +***** This file should be named 2495-0.txt or 2495-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/9/2495/ + +Produced by Donald Lainson + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project +Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the Foundation” + or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the phrase “Project +Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase “Project Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +“Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, “Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.” + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +“Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right +of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/2495-0.zip b/2495-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e0cc902 --- /dev/null +++ b/2495-0.zip diff --git a/2495-h.zip b/2495-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7fd9551 --- /dev/null +++ b/2495-h.zip diff --git a/2495-h/2495-h.htm b/2495-h/2495-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9898047 --- /dev/null +++ b/2495-h/2495-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6424 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Susy, a Story of the Plains, by Bret Harte + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Susy, A Story of the Plains, by Bret Harte + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Susy, A Story of the Plains + +Author: Bret Harte + +Release Date: May 16, 2006 [EBook #2495] +Last Updated: March 4, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SUSY, A STORY OF THE PLAINS *** + + + + +Produced by Donald Lainson; David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h1> + SUSY, <br /> <br /> A STORY OF THE PLAINS + </h1> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Bret Harte + </h2> + <h4> + From: “ARGONAUT EDITION” OF THE WORKS OF BRET HARTE, VOL. 7 <br /> <br /> P. + F. COLLIER & SON <br /> <br /> NEW YORK + </h4> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> <big><b>SUSY, A STORY OF THE PLAINS</b></big> + </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII. </a> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h1> + SUSY, A STORY OF THE PLAINS + </h1> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I. + </h2> + <p> + Where the San Leandro turnpike stretches its dusty, hot, and interminable + length along the valley, at a point where the heat and dust have become + intolerable, the monotonous expanse of wild oats on either side + illimitable, and the distant horizon apparently remoter than ever, it + suddenly slips between a stunted thicket or hedge of “scrub oaks,” which + until that moment had been undistinguishable above the long, misty, + quivering level of the grain. The thicket rising gradually in height, but + with a regular slope whose gradient had been determined by centuries of + western trade winds, presently becomes a fair wood of live-oak, and a few + hundred yards further at last assumes the aspect of a primeval forest. A + delicious coolness fills the air; the long, shadowy aisles greet the + aching eye with a soothing twilight; the murmur of unseen brooks is heard, + and, by a strange irony, the enormous, widely-spaced stacks of wild oats + are replaced by a carpet of tiny-leaved mosses and chickweed at the roots + of trees, and the minutest clover in more open spaces. The baked and + cracked adobe soil of the now vanished plains is exchanged for a heavy red + mineral dust and gravel, rocks and boulders make their appearance, and at + times the road is crossed by the white veins of quartz. It is still the + San Leandro turnpike,—a few miles later to rise from this canada + into the upper plains again,—but it is also the actual gateway and + avenue to the Robles Rancho. When the departing visitors of Judge Peyton, + now owner of the rancho, reach the outer plains again, after twenty + minutes' drive from the house, the canada, rancho, and avenue have as + completely disappeared from view as if they had been swallowed up in the + plain. + </p> + <p> + A cross road from the turnpike is the usual approach to the casa or + mansion,—a long, low quadrangle of brown adobe wall in a bare but + gently sloping eminence. And here a second surprise meets the stranger. He + seems to have emerged from the forest upon another illimitable plain, but + one utterly trackless, wild, and desolate. It is, however, only a lower + terrace of the same valley, and, in fact, comprises the three square + leagues of the Robles Rancho. Uncultivated and savage as it appears, given + over to wild cattle and horses that sometimes sweep in frightened bands + around the very casa itself, the long south wall of the corral embraces an + orchard of gnarled pear-trees, an old vineyard, and a venerable garden of + olives and oranges. A manor, formerly granted by Charles V. to Don + Vincente Robles, of Andalusia, of pious and ascetic memory, it had + commended itself to Judge Peyton, of Kentucky, a modern heretic pioneer of + bookish tastes and secluded habits, who had bought it of Don Vincente's + descendants. Here Judge Peyton seemed to have realized his idea of a + perfect climate, and a retirement, half-studious, half-active, with + something of the seignioralty of the old slaveholder that he had been. + Here, too, he had seen the hope of restoring his wife's health—for + which he had undertaken the overland emigration—more than fulfilled + in Mrs. Peyton's improved physical condition, albeit at the expense, + perhaps, of some of the languorous graces of ailing American wifehood. + </p> + <p> + It was with a curious recognition of this latter fact that Judge Peyton + watched his wife crossing the patio or courtyard with her arm around the + neck of her adopted daughter “Suzette.” A sudden memory crossed his mind + of the first day that he had seen them together,—the day that he had + brought the child and her boy-companion—two estrays from an emigrant + train on the plains—to his wife in camp. Certainly Mrs. Peyton was + stouter and stronger fibred; the wonderful Californian climate had + materialized her figure, as it had their Eastern fruits and flowers, but + it was stranger that “Susy”—the child of homelier frontier blood and + parentage, whose wholesome peasant plumpness had at first attracted them—should + have grown thinner and more graceful, and even seemed to have gained the + delicacy his wife had lost. Six years had imperceptibly wrought this + change; it had never struck him before so forcibly as on this day of + Susy's return from the convent school at Santa Clara for the holidays. + </p> + <p> + The woman and child had reached the broad veranda which, on one side of + the patio, replaced the old Spanish corridor. It was the single modern + innovation that Peyton had allowed himself when he had broken the + quadrangular symmetry of the old house with a wooden “annexe” or addition + beyond the walls. It made a pleasant lounging-place, shadowed from the hot + midday sun by sloping roofs and awnings, and sheltered from the boisterous + afternoon trade winds by the opposite side of the court. But Susy did not + seem inclined to linger there long that morning, in spite of Mrs. Peyton's + evident desire for a maternal tete-a-tete. The nervous preoccupation and + capricious ennui of an indulged child showed in her pretty but + discontented face, and knit her curved eyebrows, and Peyton saw a look of + pain pass over his wife's face as the young girl suddenly and + half-laughingly broke away and fluttered off towards the old garden. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Peyton looked up and caught her husband's eye. + </p> + <p> + “I am afraid Susy finds it more dull here every time she returns,” she + said, with an apologetic smile. “I am glad she has invited one of her + school friends to come for a visit to-morrow. You know, yourself, John,” + she added, with a slight partisan attitude, “that the lonely old house and + wild plain are not particularly lively for young people, however much they + may suit YOUR ways.” + </p> + <p> + “It certainly must be dull if she can't stand it for three weeks in the + year,” said her husband dryly. “But we really cannot open the San + Francisco house for her summer vacation, nor can we move from the rancho + to a more fashionable locality. Besides, it will do her good to run wild + here. I can remember when she wasn't so fastidious. In fact, I was + thinking just now how changed she was from the day when we picked her up”— + </p> + <p> + “How often am I to remind you, John,” interrupted the lady, with some + impatience, “that we agreed never to speak of her past, or even to think + of her as anything but our own child. You know how it pains me! And the + poor dear herself has forgotten it, and thinks of us only as her own + parents. I really believe that if that wretched father and mother of hers + had not been killed by the Indians, or were to come to life again, she + would neither know them nor care for them. I mean, of course, John,” she + said, averting her eyes from a slightly cynical smile on her husband's + face, “that it's only natural for young children to be forgetful, and + ready to take new impressions.” + </p> + <p> + “And as long, dear, as WE are not the subjects of this youthful + forgetfulness, and she isn't really finding US as stupid as the rancho,” + replied her husband cheerfully, “I suppose we mustn't complain.” + </p> + <p> + “John, how can you talk such nonsense?” said Mrs. Peyton impatiently. “But + I have no fear of that,” she added, with a slightly ostentatious + confidence. “I only wish I was as sure”— + </p> + <p> + “Of what?” + </p> + <p> + “Of nothing happening that could take her from us. I do not mean death, + John,—like our first little one. That does not happen to one twice; + but I sometimes dread”— + </p> + <p> + “What? She's only fifteen, and it's rather early to think about the only + other inevitable separation,—marriage. Come, Ally, this is mere + fancy. She has been given up to us by her family,—at least, by all + that we know are left of them. I have legally adopted her. If I have not + made her my heiress, it is because I prefer to leave everything to YOU, + and I would rather she should know that she was dependent upon you for the + future than upon me.” + </p> + <p> + “And I can make a will in her favor if I want to?” said Mrs. Peyton + quickly. + </p> + <p> + “Always,” responded her husband smilingly; “but you have ample time to + think of that, I trust. Meanwhile I have some news for you which may make + Susy's visit to the rancho this time less dull to her. You remember + Clarence Brant, the boy who was with her when we picked her up, and who + really saved her life?” + </p> + <p> + “No, I don't,” said Mrs. Peyton pettishly, “nor do I want to! You know, + John, how distasteful and unpleasant it is for me to have those dreary, + petty, and vulgar details of the poor child's past life recalled, and, + thank Heaven, I have forgotten them except when you choose to drag them + before me. You agreed, long ago, that we were never to talk of the Indian + massacre of her parents, so that we could also ignore it before her; then + why do you talk of her vulgar friends, who are just as unpleasant? Please + let us drop the past.” + </p> + <p> + “Willingly, my dear; but, unfortunately, we cannot make others do it. And + this is a case in point. It appears that this boy, whom we brought to + Sacramento to deliver to a relative”— + </p> + <p> + “And who was a wicked little impostor,—you remember that yourself, + John, for he said that he was the son of Colonel Brant, and that he was + dead; and you know, and my brother Harry knew, that Colonel Brant was + alive all the time, and that he was lying, and Colonel Brant was not his + father,” broke in Mrs. Peyton impatiently. + </p> + <p> + “As it seems you do remember that much,” said Peyton dryly, “it is only + just to him that I should tell you that it appears that he was not an + impostor. His story was TRUE. I have just learned that Colonel Brant WAS + actually his father, but had concealed his lawless life here, as well as + his identity, from the boy. He was really that vague relative to whom + Clarence was confided, and under that disguise he afterwards protected the + boy, had him carefully educated at the Jesuit College of San Jose, and, + dying two years ago in that filibuster raid in Mexico, left him a + considerable fortune.” + </p> + <p> + “And what has he to do with Susy's holidays?” said Mrs. Peyton, with + uneasy quickness. “John, you surely cannot expect her ever to meet this + common creature again, with his vulgar ways. His wretched associates like + that Jim Hooker, and, as you yourself admit, the blood of an assassin, + duelist, and—Heaven knows what kind of a pirate his father wasn't at + the last—in his veins! You don't believe that a lad of this type, + however much of his father's ill-gotten money he may have, can be fit + company for your daughter? You never could have thought of inviting him + here?” + </p> + <p> + “I'm afraid that's exactly what I have done, Ally,” said the smiling but + unmoved Peyton; “but I'm still more afraid that your conception of his + present condition is an unfair one, like your remembrance of his past. + Father Sobriente, whom I met at San Jose yesterday, says he is very + intelligent, and thoroughly educated, with charming manners and refined + tastes. His father's money, which they say was an investment for him in + Carson's Bank five years ago, is as good as any one's, and his father's + blood won't hurt him in California or the Southwest. At least, he is + received everywhere, and Don Juan Robinson was his guardian. Indeed, as + far as social status goes, it might be a serious question if the actual + daughter of the late John Silsbee, of Pike County, and the adopted child + of John Peyton was in the least his superior. As Father Sobriente + evidently knew Clarence's former companionship with Susy and her parents, + it would be hardly politic for us to ignore it or seem to be ashamed of + it. So I intrusted Sobriente with an invitation to young Brant on the + spot.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Peyton's impatience, indignation, and opposition, which had + successively given way before her husband's quiet, masterful good humor, + here took the form of a neurotic fatalism. She shook her head with + superstitious resignation. + </p> + <p> + “Didn't I tell you, John, that I always had a dread of something coming”— + </p> + <p> + “But if it comes in the shape of a shy young lad, I see nothing singularly + portentous in it. They have not met since they were quite small; their + tastes have changed; if they don't quarrel and fight they may be equally + bored with each other. Yet until then, in one way or another, Clarence + will occupy the young lady's vacant caprice, and her school friend, Mary + Rogers, will be here, you know, to divide his attentions, and,” added + Peyton, with mock solemnity, “preserve the interest of strict propriety. + Shall I break it to her,—or will you?” + </p> + <p> + “No,—yes,” hesitated Mrs. Peyton; “perhaps I had better.” + </p> + <p> + “Very well, I leave his character in your hands; only don't prejudice her + into a romantic fancy for him.” And Judge Peyton lounged smilingly away. + </p> + <p> + Then two little tears forced themselves from Mrs. Peyton's eyes. Again she + saw that prospect of uninterrupted companionship with Susy, upon which + each successive year she had built so many maternal hopes and confidences, + fade away before her. She dreaded the coming of Susy's school friend, who + shared her daughter's present thoughts and intimacy, although she had + herself invited her in a more desperate dread of the child's abstracted, + discontented eyes; she dreaded the advent of the boy who had shared Susy's + early life before she knew her; she dreaded the ordeal of breaking the + news and perhaps seeing that pretty animation spring into her eyes, which + she had begun to believe no solicitude or tenderness of her own ever again + awakened,—and yet she dreaded still more that her husband should see + it too. For the love of this recreated woman, although not entirely + materialized with her changed fibre, had nevertheless become a coarser + selfishness fostered by her loneliness and limited experience. The + maternal yearning left unsatisfied by the loss of her first-born had never + been filled by Susy's thoughtless acceptance of it; she had been led + astray by the child's easy transference of dependence and the + forgetfulness of youth, and was only now dimly conscious of finding + herself face to face with an alien nature. + </p> + <p> + She started to her feet and followed the direction that Susy had taken. + For a moment she had to front the afternoon trade wind which chilled her + as it swept the plain beyond the gateway, but was stopped by the adobe + wall, above whose shelter the stunted treetops—through years of + exposure—slanted as if trimmed by gigantic shears. At first, looking + down the venerable alley of fantastic, knotted shapes, she saw no trace of + Susy. But half way down the gleam of a white skirt against a thicket of + dark olives showed her the young girl sitting on a bench in a neglected + arbor. In the midst of this formal and faded pageantry she looked + charmingly fresh, youthful, and pretty; and yet the unfortunate woman + thought that her attitude and expression at that moment suggested more + than her fifteen years of girlhood. Her golden hair still hung unfettered + over her straight, boy-like back and shoulders; her short skirt still + showed her childish feet and ankles; yet there seemed to be some undefined + maturity or a vague womanliness about her that stung Mrs. Peyton's heart. + The child was growing away from her, too! + </p> + <p> + “Susy!” + </p> + <p> + The young girl raised her head quickly; her deep violet eyes seemed also + to leap with a sudden suspicion, and with a half-mechanical, secretive + movement, that might have been only a schoolgirl's instinct, her right + hand had slipped a paper on which she was scribbling between the leaves of + her book. Yet the next moment, even while looking interrogatively at her + mother, she withdrew the paper quietly, tore it up into small pieces, and + threw them on the ground. + </p> + <p> + But Mrs. Peyton was too preoccupied with her news to notice the + circumstance, and too nervous in her haste to be tactful. “Susy, your + father has invited that boy, Clarence Brant,—you know that creature + we picked up and assisted on the plains, when you were a mere baby,—to + come down here and make us a visit.” + </p> + <p> + Her heart seemed to stop beating as she gazed breathlessly at the girl. + But Susy's face, unchanged except for the alert, questioning eyes, + remained fixed for a moment; then a childish smile of wonder opened her + small red mouth, expanded it slightly as she said simply:— + </p> + <p> + “Lor, mar! He hasn't, really!” + </p> + <p> + Inexpressibly, yet unreasonably reassured, Mrs. Peyton hurriedly recounted + her husband's story of Clarence's fortune, and was even joyfully surprised + into some fairness of statement. + </p> + <p> + “But you don't remember him much, do you, dear? It was so long ago, and—you + are quite a young lady now,” she added eagerly. + </p> + <p> + The open mouth was still fixed; the wondering smile would have been + idiotic in any face less dimpled, rosy, and piquant than Susy's. After a + slight gasp, as if in still incredulous and partly reminiscent + preoccupation, she said without replying:— + </p> + <p> + “How funny! When is he coming?” + </p> + <p> + “Day after to-morrow,” returned Mrs. Peyton, with a contented smile. + </p> + <p> + “And Mary Rogers will be here, too. It will be real fun for her.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Peyton was more than reassured. Half ashamed of her jealous fears, + she drew Susy's golden head towards her and kissed it. And the young girl, + still reminiscent, with smilingly abstracted toleration, returned the + caress. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II. + </h2> + <p> + It was not thought inconsistent with Susy's capriciousness that she should + declare her intention the next morning of driving her pony buggy to Santa + Inez to anticipate the stage-coach and fetch Mary Rogers from the station. + Mrs. Peyton, as usual, supported the young lady's whim and opposed her + husband's objections. + </p> + <p> + “Because the stage-coach happens to pass our gate, John, it is no reason + why Susy shouldn't drive her friend from Santa Inez if she prefers it. + It's only seven miles, and you can send Pedro to follow her on horseback + to see that she comes to no harm.” + </p> + <p> + “But that isn't Pedro's business,” said Peyton. + </p> + <p> + “He ought to be proud of the privilege,” returned the lady, with a toss of + her head. + </p> + <p> + Peyton smiled grimly, but yielded; and when the stage-coach drew up the + next afternoon at the Santa Inez Hotel, Susy was already waiting in her + pony carriage before it. Although the susceptible driver, expressman, and + passengers generally, charmed with this golden-haired vision, would have + gladly protracted the meeting of the two young friends, the transfer of + Mary Rogers from the coach to the carriage was effected with considerable + hauteur and youthful dignity by Susy. Even Mary Rogers, two years Susy's + senior, a serious brunette, whose good-humor did not, however, impair her + capacity for sentiment, was impressed and even embarrassed by her + demeanor; but only for a moment. When they had driven from the hotel and + were fairly hidden again in the dust of the outlying plain, with the + discreet Pedro hovering in the distance, Susy dropped the reins, and, + grasping her companion's arm, gasped, in tones of dramatic intensity:— + </p> + <p> + “He's been heard from, and is coming HERE!” + </p> + <p> + “Who?” + </p> + <p> + A sickening sense that her old confidante had already lost touch with her—they + had been separated for nearly two weeks—might have passed through + Susy's mind. + </p> + <p> + “Who?” she repeated, with a vicious shake of Mary's arm, “why, Clarence + Brant, of course.” + </p> + <p> + “No!” said Mary, vaguely. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, Susy went on rapidly, as if to neutralize the effect of her + comrade's vacuity. + </p> + <p> + “You never could have imagined it! Never! Even I, when mother told me, I + thought I should have fainted, and ALL would have been revealed!” + </p> + <p> + “But,” hesitated the still wondering confidante, “I thought that was all + over long ago. You haven't seen him nor heard from him since that day you + met accidentally at Santa Clara, two years ago, have you?” + </p> + <p> + Susy's eyes shot a blue ray of dark but unutterable significance into + Mary's, and then were carefully averted. Mary Rogers, although perfectly + satisfied that Susy had never seen Clarence since, nevertheless instantly + accepted and was even thrilled with this artful suggestion of a + clandestine correspondence. Such was the simple faith of youthful + friendship. + </p> + <p> + “Mother knows nothing of it, of course, and a word from you or him would + ruin everything,” continued the breathless Susy. “That's why I came to + fetch you and warn you. You must see him first, and warn him at any cost. + If I hadn't run every risk to come here to-day, Heaven knows what might + have happened! What do you think of the ponies, dear? They're my own, and + the sweetest! This one's Susy, that one Clarence,—but privately, you + know. Before the world and in the stables he's only Birdie.” + </p> + <p> + “But I thought you wrote to me that you called them 'Paul and Virginie,'” + said Mary doubtfully. + </p> + <p> + “I do, sometimes,” said Susy calmly. “But one has to learn to suppress + one's feelings, dear!” Then quickly, “I do so hate deceit, don't you? Tell + me, don't you think deceit perfectly hateful?” + </p> + <p> + Without waiting for her friend's loyal assent, she continued rapidly: “And + he's just rolling in wealth! and educated, papa says, to the highest + degree!” + </p> + <p> + “Then,” began Mary, “if he's coming with your mother's consent, and if you + haven't quarreled, and it is not broken off, I should think you'd be just + delighted.” + </p> + <p> + But another quick flash from Susy's eyes dispersed these beatific visions + of the future. “Hush!” she said, with suppressed dramatic intensity. “You + know not what you say! There's an awful mystery hangs over him. Mary + Rogers,” continued the young girl, approaching her small mouth to her + confidante's ear in an appalling whisper. “His father was—a PIRATE! + Yes—lived a pirate and was killed a pirate!” + </p> + <p> + The statement, however, seemed to be partly ineffective. Mary Rogers was + startled but not alarmed, and even protested feebly. “But,” she said, “if + the father's dead, what's that to do with Clarence? He was always with + your papa—so you told me, dear—or other people, and couldn't + catch anything from his own father. And I'm sure, dearest, he always + seemed nice and quiet.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, SEEMED,” returned Susy darkly, “but that's all you know! It was in + his BLOOD. You know it always is,—you read it in the books,—you + could see it in his eye. There were times, my dear, when he was thwarted,—when + the slightest attention from another person to me revealed it! I have kept + it to myself,—but think, dearest, of the effects of jealousy on that + passionate nature! Sometimes I tremble to look back upon it.” + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, she raised her hands and threw back her lovely golden mane + from her childish shoulders with an easy, untroubled gesture. It was + singular that Mary Rogers, leaning back comfortably in the buggy, also + accepted these heart-rending revelations with comfortably knitted brows + and luxuriously contented concern. If she found it difficult to recognize + in the picture just drawn by Susy the quiet, gentle, and sadly reserved + youth she had known, she said nothing. After a silence, lazily watching + the distant wheeling vacquero, she said:— + </p> + <p> + “And your father always sends an outrider like that with you? How nice! So + picturesque—and like the old Spanish days.” + </p> + <p> + “Hush!” said Susy, with another unutterable glance. + </p> + <p> + But this time Mary was in full sympathetic communion with her friend, and + equal to any incoherent hiatus of revelation. + </p> + <p> + “No!” she said promptly, “you don't mean it!” + </p> + <p> + “Don't ask me, I daren't say anything to papa, for he'd be simply furious. + But there are times when we're alone, and Pedro wheels down so near with + SUCH a look in his black eyes, that I'm all in a tremble. It's dreadful! + They say he's a real Briones,—and he sometimes says something in + Spanish, ending with 'senorita,' but I pretend I don't understand.” + </p> + <p> + “And I suppose that if anything should happen to the ponies, he'd just + risk his life to save you.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,—and it would be so awful,—for I just hate him!” + </p> + <p> + “But if I was with you, dear, he couldn't expect you to be as grateful as + if you were alone. Susy!” she continued after a pause, “if you just + stirred up the ponies a little so as to make 'em go fast, perhaps he might + think they'd got away from you, and come dashing down here. It would be so + funny to see him,—wouldn't it?” + </p> + <p> + The two girls looked at each other; their eyes sparkled already with a + fearful joy,—they drew a long breath of guilty anticipation. For a + moment Susy even believed in her imaginary sketch of Pedro's devotion. + </p> + <p> + “Papa said I wasn't to use the whip except in a case of necessity,” she + said, reaching for the slender silver-handled toy, and setting her pretty + lips together with the added determination of disobedience. “G'long!”—and + she laid the lash smartly on the shining backs of the animals. + </p> + <p> + They were wiry, slender brutes of Mojave Indian blood, only lately broken + to harness, and still undisciplined in temper. The lash sent them rearing + into the air, where, forgetting themselves in the slackened traces and + loose reins, they came down with a succession of bounds that brought the + light buggy leaping after them with its wheels scarcely touching the + ground. That unlucky lash had knocked away the bonds of a few months' + servitude and sent the half-broken brutes instinctively careering with + arched backs and kicking heels into the field towards the nearest cover. + </p> + <p> + Mary Rogers cast a hurried glance over her shoulder. Alas, they had not + calculated on the insidious levels of the terraced plain, and the faithful + Pedro had suddenly disappeared; the intervention of six inches of rising + wild oats had wiped him out of the prospect and their possible salvation + as completely as if he had been miles away. Nevertheless, the girls were + not frightened; perhaps they had not time. There was, however, the + briefest interval for the most dominant of feminine emotions, and it was + taken advantage of by Susy. + </p> + <p> + “It was all YOUR fault, dear!” she gasped, as the forewheels of the buggy, + dropping into a gopher rut, suddenly tilted up the back of the vehicle and + shot its fair occupants into the yielding palisades of dusty grain. The + shock detached the whiffletree from the splinter-bar, snapped the light + pole, and, turning the now thoroughly frightened animals again from their + course, sent them, goaded by the clattering fragments, flying down the + turnpike. Half a mile farther on they overtook the gleaming white canvas + hood of a slowly moving wagon drawn by two oxen, and, swerving again, the + nearer pony stepped upon a trailing trace and ingloriously ended their + career by rolling himself and his companion in the dust at the very feet + of the peacefully plodding team. + </p> + <p> + Equally harmless and inglorious was the catastrophe of Susy and her + friend. The strong, elastic stalks of the tall grain broke their fall and + enabled them to scramble to their feet, dusty, disheveled, but unhurt, and + even unstunned by the shock. Their first instinctive cries over a damaged + hat or ripped skirt were followed by the quick reaction of childish + laughter. They were alone; the very defection of Pedro consoled them, in + its absence of any witness to their disaster; even their previous slight + attitude to each other was forgotten. They groped their way, pushing and + panting, to the road again, where, beholding the overset buggy with its + wheels ludicrously in the air, they suddenly seized and shook each other, + and in an outburst of hilarious ecstasy, fairly laughed until the tears + came into their eyes. + </p> + <p> + Then there was a breathless silence. + </p> + <p> + “The stage will be coming by in a moment,” composedly said Susy. “Fix me, + dear.” + </p> + <p> + Mary Rogers calmly walked around her friend, bestowing a practical shake + there, a pluck here, completely retying one bow and restoring an engaging + fullness to another, yet critically examining, with her head on one side, + the fascinating result. Then Susy performed the same function for Mary + with equal deliberation and deftness. Suddenly Mary started and looked up. + </p> + <p> + “It's coming,” she said quickly, “and they've SEEN US.” + </p> + <p> + The expression of the faces of the two girls instantly changed. A pained + dignity and resignation, apparently born of the most harrowing experiences + and controlled only by perfect good breeding, was distinctly suggested in + their features and attitude as they stood patiently by the wreck of their + overturned buggy awaiting the oncoming coach. In sharp contrast was the + evident excitement among the passengers. A few rose from their seats in + their eagerness; as the stage pulled up in the road beside the buggy four + or five of the younger men leaped to the ground. + </p> + <p> + “Are you hurt, miss?” they gasped sympathetically. + </p> + <p> + Susy did not immediately reply, but ominously knitted her pretty eyebrows + as if repressing a spasm of pain. Then she said, “Not at all,” coldly, + with the suggestion of stoically concealing some lasting or perhaps fatal + injury, and took the arm of Mary Rogers, who had, in the mean time, + established a touching yet graceful limp. + </p> + <p> + Declining the proffered assistance of the passengers, they helped each + other into the coach, and freezingly requesting the driver to stop at Mr. + Peyton's gate, maintained a statuesque and impressive silence. At the + gates they got down, followed by the sympathetic glances of the others. + </p> + <p> + To all appearance their escapade, albeit fraught with dangerous + possibilities, had happily ended. But in the economy of human affairs, as + in nature, forces are not suddenly let loose without more or less + sympathetic disturbance which is apt to linger after the impelling cause + is harmlessly spent. The fright which the girls had unsuccessfully + attempted to produce in the heart of their escort had passed him to become + a panic elsewhere. Judge Peyton, riding near the gateway of his rancho, + was suddenly confronted by the spectacle of one of his vacqueros driving + on before him the two lassoed and dusty ponies, with a face that broke + into violent gesticulating at his master's quick interrogation. + </p> + <p> + “Ah! Mother of God! It was an evil day! For the bronchos had run away, + upset the buggy, and had only been stopped by a brave Americano of an + ox-team, whose lasso was even now around their necks, to prove it, and who + had been dragged a matter of a hundred varas, like a calf, at their heels. + The senoritas,—ah! had he not already said they were safe, by the + mercy of Jesus!—picked up by the coach, and would be here at this + moment.” + </p> + <p> + “But where was Pedro all the time? What was he doing?” demanded Peyton, + with a darkened face and gathering anger. + </p> + <p> + The vacquero looked at his master, and shrugged his shoulders + significantly. At any other time Peyton would have remembered that Pedro, + as the reputed scion of a decayed Spanish family, and claiming + superiority, was not a favorite with his fellow-retainers. But the + gesture, half of suggestion, half of depreciation, irritated Peyton still + more. + </p> + <p> + “Well, where is this American who DID something when there wasn't a man + among you all able to stop a child's runaway ponies?” he said + sarcastically. “Let me see him.” + </p> + <p> + The vacquero became still more deprecatory. + </p> + <p> + “Ah! He had driven on with his team towards San Antonio. He would not stop + to be thanked. But that was the whole truth. He, Incarnacion, could swear + to it as to the Creed. There was nothing more.” + </p> + <p> + “Take those beasts around the back way to the corral,” said Peyton, + thoroughly enraged, “and not a word of this to any one at the casa, do you + hear? Not a word to Mrs. Peyton or the servants, or, by Heaven, I'll clear + the rancho of the whole lazy crew of you at once. Out of the way there, + and be off!” + </p> + <p> + He spurred his horse past the frightened menial, and dashed down the + narrow lane that led to the gate. But, as Incarnacion had truly said, “It + was an evil day,” for at the bottom of the lane, ambling slowly along as + he lazily puffed a yellow cigarette, appeared the figure of the erring + Pedro. Utterly unconscious of the accident, attributing the disappearance + of his charges to the inequalities of the plain, and, in truth, little + interested in what he firmly believed was his purely artificial function, + he had even made a larger circuit to stop at a wayside fonda for + refreshments. + </p> + <p> + Unfortunately, there is no more illogical sequence of human emotion than + the exasperation produced by the bland manner of the unfortunate object + who has excited it, although that very unconcern may be the convincing + proof of innocence of intention. Judge Peyton, already influenced, was + furious at the comfortable obliviousness of his careless henchman, and + rode angrily towards him. Only a quick turn of Pedro's wrist kept the two + men from coming into collision. + </p> + <p> + “Is this the way you attend to your duty?” demanded Peyton, in a thick, + suppressed voice, “Where is the buggy? Where is my daughter?” + </p> + <p> + There was no mistaking Judge Peyton's manner, even if the reason of it was + not so clear to Pedro's mind, and his hot Latin blood flew instinctively + to his face. But for that, he might have shown some concern or asked an + explanation. As it was, he at once retorted with the national shrug and + the national half-scornful, half-lazy “Quien sabe?” + </p> + <p> + “Who knows?” repeated Peyton, hotly. “I do! She was thrown out of her + buggy through your negligence and infernal laziness! The ponies ran away, + and were stopped by a stranger who wasn't afraid of risking his bones, + while you were limping around somewhere like a slouching, cowardly + coyote.” + </p> + <p> + The vacquero struggled a moment between blank astonishment and + inarticulate rage. At last he burst out:— + </p> + <p> + “I am no coyote! I was there! I saw no runaway!” + </p> + <p> + “Don't lie to me, sir!” roared Peyton. “I tell you the buggy was smashed, + the girls were thrown out and nearly killed”—He stopped suddenly. + The sound of youthful laughter had come from the bottom of the lane, where + Susy Peyton and Mary Rogers, just alighted from the coach, in the reaction + of their previous constrained attitude, were flying hilariously into view. + A slight embarrassment crossed Peyton's face; a still deeper flush of + anger overspread Pedro's sullen cheek. + </p> + <p> + Then Pedro found tongue again, his native one, rapidly, violently, half + incoherently. “Ah, yes! It had come to this. It seems he was not a + vacquero, a companion of the padrone on lands that had been his own before + the Americanos robbed him of it, but a servant, a lackey of muchachas, an + attendant on children to amuse them, or—why not?—an appendage + to his daughter's state! Ah, Jesus Maria! such a state! such a muchacha! A + picked-up foundling—a swineherd's daughter—to be ennobled by + his, Pedro's, attendance, and for whose vulgar, clownish tricks,—tricks + of a swineherd's daughter,—he, Pedro, was to be brought to book and + insulted as if she were of Hidalgo blood! Ah, Caramba! Don Juan Peyton + would find he could no more make a servant of him than he could make a + lady of her!” + </p> + <p> + The two young girls were rapidly approaching. Judge Peyton spurred his + horse beside the vacquero's, and, swinging the long thong of his bridle + ominously in his clenched fingers, said, with a white face:— + </p> + <p> + “Vamos!” + </p> + <p> + Pedro's hand slid towards his sash. Peyton only looked at him with a rigid + smile of scorn. + </p> + <p> + “Or I'll lash you here before them both,” he added in a lower voice. + </p> + <p> + The vacquero met Peyton's relentless eyes with a yellow flash of hate, + drew his reins sharply, until his mustang, galled by the cruel bit, reared + suddenly as if to strike at the immovable American, then, apparently with + the same action, he swung it around on its hind legs, as on a pivot, and + dashed towards the corral at a furious gallop. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III. + </h2> + <p> + Meantime the heroic proprietor of the peaceful ox-team, whose valor + Incarnacion had so infelicitously celebrated, was walking listlessly in + the dust beside his wagon. At a first glance his slouching figure, taken + in connection with his bucolic conveyance, did not immediately suggest a + hero. As he emerged from the dusty cloud it could be seen that he was + wearing a belt from which a large dragoon revolver and hunting knife were + slung, and placed somewhat ostentatiously across the wagon seat was a + rifle. Yet the other contents of the wagon were of a singularly + inoffensive character, and even suggested articles of homely barter. + Culinary utensils of all sizes, tubs, scullery brushes, and clocks, with + several rolls of cheap carpeting and calico, might have been the wares of + some traveling vender. Yet, as they were only visible through a flap of + the drawn curtains of the canvas hood, they did not mitigate the general + aggressive effect of their owner's appearance. A red bandanna handkerchief + knotted and thrown loosely over his shoulders, a slouched hat pulled + darkly over a head of long tangled hair, which, however, shadowed a round, + comfortable face, scantily and youthfully bearded, were part of these + confusing inconsistencies. + </p> + <p> + The shadows of the team wagon were already lengthening grotesquely over + the flat, cultivated fields, which for some time had taken the place of + the plains of wild oats in the branch road into which they had turned. The + gigantic shadow of the proprietor, occasionally projected before it, was + in characteristic exaggeration, and was often obliterated by a puff of + dust, stirred by the plodding hoofs of the peaceful oxen, and swept across + the field by the strong afternoon trades. The sun sank lower, although a + still potent presence above the horizon line; the creaking wagon lumbered + still heavily along. Yet at intervals its belligerent proprietor would + start up from his slouching, silent march, break out into violent, + disproportionate, but utterly ineffective objurgation of his cattle, jump + into the air and kick his heels together in some paroxysm of indignation + against them,—an act, however, which was received always with heavy + bovine indifference, the dogged scorn of swaying, repudiating heads, or + the dull contempt of lazily flicking tails. + </p> + <p> + Towards sunset one or two straggling barns and cottages indicated their + approach to the outskirts of a country town or settlement. Here the team + halted, as if the belligerent-looking teamster had felt his appearance was + inconsistent with an effeminate civilization, and the oxen were turned + into an open waste opposite a nondescript wooden tenement, half farmhouse + and half cabin, evidently of the rudest Western origin. He may have + recognized the fact that these “shanties” were not, as the ordinary + traveler might infer, the first rude shelter of the original pioneers or + settlers, but the later makeshifts of some recent Western immigrants who, + like himself, probably found themselves unequal to the settled habits of + the village, and who still retained their nomadic instincts. It chanced, + however, that the cabin at present was occupied by a New England mechanic + and his family, who had emigrated by ship around Cape Horn, and who had no + experience of the West, the plains, or its people. It was therefore with + some curiosity and a certain amount of fascinated awe that the mechanic's + only daughter regarded from the open door of her dwelling the arrival of + this wild and lawless-looking stranger. + </p> + <p> + Meantime he had opened the curtains of the wagon and taken from its + interior a number of pots, pans, and culinary utensils, which he proceeded + to hang upon certain hooks that were placed on the outer ribs of the board + and the sides of the vehicle. To this he added a roll of rag carpet, the + end of which hung from the tailboard, and a roll of pink calico temptingly + displayed on the seat. The mystification and curiosity of the young girl + grew more intense at these proceedings. It looked like the ordinary + exhibition of a traveling peddler, but the gloomy and embattled appearance + of the man himself scouted so peaceful and commonplace a suggestion. Under + the pretense of chasing away a marauding hen, she sallied out upon the + waste near the wagon. It then became evident that the traveler had seen + her, and was not averse to her interest in his movements, although he had + not changed his attitude of savage retrospection. An occasional + ejaculation of suppressed passion, as if the memory of some past conflict + was too much for him, escaped him even in this peaceful occupation. As + this possibly caused the young girl to still hover timidly in the + distance, he suddenly entered the wagon and reappeared carrying a tin + bucket, with which he somewhat ostentatiously crossed her path, his eyes + darkly wandering as if seeking something. + </p> + <p> + “If you're lookin' for the spring, it's a spell furder on—by the + willows.” + </p> + <p> + It was a pleasant voice, the teamster thought, albeit with a dry, crisp, + New England accent unfamiliar to his ears. He looked into the depths of an + unlovely blue-check sunbonnet, and saw certain small, irregular features + and a sallow check, lit up by a pair of perfectly innocent, trustful, and + wondering brown eyes. Their timid possessor seemed to be a girl of + seventeen, whose figure, although apparently clad in one of her mother's + gowns, was still undeveloped and repressed by rustic hardship and + innutrition. As her eyes met his she saw that the face of this gloomy + stranger was still youthful, by no means implacable, and, even at that + moment, was actually suffused by a brick-colored blush! In matters of mere + intuition, the sex, even in its most rustic phase, is still our superior; + and this unsophisticated girl, as the trespasser stammered, “Thank ye, + miss,” was instinctively emboldened to greater freedom. + </p> + <p> + “Dad ain't tu hum, but ye kin have a drink o' milk if ye keer for it.” + </p> + <p> + She motioned shyly towards the cabin, and then led the way. The stranger, + with an inarticulate murmur, afterwards disguised as a cough, followed her + meekly. Nevertheless, by the time they had reached the cabin he had shaken + his long hair over his eyes again, and a dark abstraction gathered chiefly + in his eyebrows. But it did not efface from the girl's mind the previous + concession of a blush, and, although it added to her curiosity, did not + alarm her. He drank the milk awkwardly. But by the laws of courtesy, even + among the most savage tribes, she felt he was, at that moment at least, + harmless. A timid smile fluttered around her mouth as she said:— + </p> + <p> + “When ye hung up them things I thought ye might be havin' suthing to swap + or sell. That is,”—with tactful politeness,—“mother was + wantin' a new skillet, and it would have been handy if you'd had one. But”—with + an apologetic glance at his equipments—“if it ain't your business, + it's all right, and no offense.” + </p> + <p> + “I've got a lot o' skillets,” said the strange teamster, with marked + condescension, “and she can have one. They're all that's left outer a heap + o' trader's stuff captured by Injuns t'other side of Laramie. We had a big + fight to get 'em back. Lost two of our best men,—scalped at Bloody + Creek,—and had to drop a dozen redskins in their tracks,—me + and another man,—lyin' flat in er wagon and firin' under the flaps + o' the canvas. I don't know ez they waz wuth it,” he added in gloomy + retrospect; “but I've got to get rid of 'em, I reckon, somehow, afore I + work over to Deadman's Gulch again.” + </p> + <p> + The young girl's eyes brightened timidly with a feminine mingling of + imaginative awe and personal, pitying interest. He was, after all, so + young and amiable looking for such hardships and adventures. And with all + this, he—this Indian fighter—was a little afraid of HER! + </p> + <p> + “Then that's why you carry that knife and six-shooter?” she said. “But you + won't want 'em now, here in the settlement.” + </p> + <p> + “That's ez mebbe,” said the stranger darkly. He paused, and then suddenly, + as if recklessly accepting a dangerous risk, unbuckled his revolver and + handed it abstractedly to the young girl. But the sheath of the + bowie-knife was a fixture in his body-belt, and he was obliged to withdraw + the glittering blade by itself, and to hand it to her in all its naked + terrors. The young girl received the weapons with a smiling complacency. + Upon such altars as these the skeptical reader will remember that Mars had + once hung his “battered shield,” his lance, and “uncontrolled crest.” + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, the warlike teamster was not without embarrassment. + Muttering something about the necessity of “looking after his stock,” he + achieved a hesitating bow, backed awkwardly out of the door, and receiving + from the conquering hands of the young girl his weapons again, was obliged + to carry them somewhat ingloriously in his hands across the road, and put + them on the wagon seat, where, in company with the culinary articles, they + seemed to lose their distinctively aggressive character. Here, although + his cheek was still flushed from his peaceful encounter, his voice + regained some of its hoarse severity as he drove the oxen from the muddy + pool into which they had luxuriantly wandered, and brought their fodder + from the wagon. Later, as the sun was setting, he lit a corn-cob pipe, and + somewhat ostentatiously strolled down the road, with a furtive eye + lingering upon the still open door of the farmhouse. Presently two angular + figures appeared from it, the farmer and his wife, intent on barter. + </p> + <p> + These he received with his previous gloomy preoccupation, and a slight + variation of the story he had told their daughter. It is possible that his + suggestive indifference piqued and heightened the bargaining instincts of + the woman, for she not only bought the skillet, but purchased a clock and + a roll of carpeting. Still more, in some effusion of rustic courtesy, she + extended an invitation to him to sup with them, which he declined and + accepted in the same embarrassed breath, returning the proffered + hospitality by confidentially showing them a couple of dried scalps, + presumably of Indian origin. It was in the same moment of human weakness + that he answered their polite query as to “what they might call him,” by + intimating that his name was “Red Jim,”—a title of achievement by + which he was generally known, which for the present must suffice them. But + during the repast that followed this was shortened to “Mister Jim,” and + even familiarly by the elders to plain “Jim.” Only the young girl + habitually used the formal prefix in return for the “Miss Phoebe” that he + called her. + </p> + <p> + With three such sympathetic and unexperienced auditors the gloomy + embarrassment of Red Jim was soon dissipated, although it could hardly be + said that he was generally communicative. Dark tales of Indian warfare, of + night attacks and wild stampedes, in which he had always taken a prominent + part, flowed freely from his lips, but little else of his past history or + present prospects. And even his narratives of adventure were more or less + fragmentary and imperfect in detail. + </p> + <p> + “You woz saying,” said the farmer, with slow, matter of fact, New England + deliberation, “ez how you guessed you woz beguiled amongst the Injins by + your Mexican partner, a pow'ful influential man, and yet you woz the only + one escaped the gen'ral slarterin'. How came the Injins to kill HIM,—their + friend?” + </p> + <p> + “They didn't,” returned Jim, with ominously averted eyes. + </p> + <p> + “What became of him?” continued the farmer. + </p> + <p> + Red Jim shadowed his eyes with his hand, and cast a dark glance of + scrutiny out of the doors and windows. The young girl perceived it with + timid, fascinated concern, and said hurriedly:— + </p> + <p> + “Don't ask him, father! Don't you see he mustn't tell?” + </p> + <p> + “Not when spies may be hangin' round, and doggin' me at every step,” said + Red Jim, as if reflecting, with another furtive glance towards the already + fading prospect without. “They've sworn to revenge him,” he added moodily. + </p> + <p> + A momentary silence followed. The farmer coughed slightly, and looked + dubiously at his wife. But the two women had already exchanged feminine + glances of sympathy for this evident slayer of traitors, and were + apparently inclined to stop any adverse criticism. + </p> + <p> + In the midst of which a shout was heard from the road. The farmer and his + family instinctively started. Red Jim alone remained unmoved,—a fact + which did not lessen the admiration of his feminine audience. The host + rose quickly, and went out. The figure of a horseman had halted in the + road, but after a few moments' conversation with the farmer they both + moved towards the house and disappeared. When the farmer returned, it was + to say that “one of them 'Frisco dandies, who didn't keer about stoppin' + at the hotel in the settlement,” had halted to give his “critter” a feed + and drink that he might continue his journey. He had asked him to come in + while the horse was feeding, but the stranger had “guessed he'd stretch + his legs outside and smoke his cigar;” he might have thought the company + “not fine enough for him,” but he was “civil spoken enough, and had an + all-fired smart hoss, and seemed to know how to run him.” To the anxious + inquiries of his wife and daughter he added that the stranger didn't seem + like a spy or a Mexican; was “as young as HIM,” pointing to the moody Red + Jim, “and a darned sight more peaceful-like in style.” + </p> + <p> + Perhaps owing to the criticism of the farmer, perhaps from some still + lurking suspicion of being overheard by eavesdroppers, or possibly from a + humane desire to relieve the strained apprehension of the women, Red Jim, + as the farmer disappeared to rejoin the stranger, again dropped into a + lighter and gentler vein of reminiscence. He told them how, when a mere + boy, he had been lost from an emigrant train in company with a little girl + some years his junior. How, when they found themselves alone on the + desolate plain, with the vanished train beyond their reach, he endeavored + to keep the child from a knowledge of the real danger of their position, + and to soothe and comfort her. How he carried her on his back, until, + exhausted, he sank in a heap of sage-brush. How he was surrounded by + Indians, who, however, never suspected his hiding-place; and how he + remained motionless and breathless with the sleeping child for three + hours, until they departed. How, at the last moment, he had perceived a + train in the distance, and had staggered with her thither, although shot + at and wounded by the trainmen in the belief that he was an Indian. How it + was afterwards discovered that the child was the long-lost daughter of a + millionaire; how he had resolutely refused any gratuity for saving her, + and she was now a peerless young heiress, famous in California. Whether + this lighter tone of narrative suited him better, or whether the active + feminine sympathy of his auditors helped him along, certain it was that + his story was more coherent and intelligible and his voice less hoarse and + constrained than in his previous belligerent reminiscences; his expression + changed, and even his features worked into something like gentler emotion. + The bright eyes of Phoebe, fastened upon him, turned dim with a faint + moisture, and her pale cheek took upon itself a little color. The mother, + after interjecting “Du tell,” and “I wanter know,” remained open-mouthed, + staring at her visitor. And in the silence that followed, a pleasant, but + somewhat melancholy voice came from the open door. + </p> + <p> + “I beg your pardon, but I thought I couldn't be mistaken. It IS my old + friend, Jim Hooker!” + </p> + <p> + Everybody started. Red Jim stumbled to his feet with an inarticulate and + hysteric exclamation. Yet the apparition that now stood in the doorway was + far from being terrifying or discomposing. It was evidently the stranger,—a + slender, elegantly-knit figure, whose upper lip was faintly shadowed by a + soft, dark mustache indicating early manhood, and whose unstudied ease in + his well-fitting garments bespoke the dweller of cities. Good-looking and + well-dressed, without the consciousness of being either; self-possessed + through easy circumstances, yet without self-assertion; courteous by + nature and instinct as well as from an experience of granting favors, he + might have been a welcome addition to even a more critical company. But + Red Jim, hurriedly seizing his outstretched hand, instantly dragged him + away from the doorway into the road and out of hearing of his audience. + </p> + <p> + “Did you hear what I was saying?” he asked hoarsely. + </p> + <p> + “Well, yes,—I think so,” returned the stranger, with a quiet smile. + </p> + <p> + “Ye ain't goin' back on me, Clarence, are ye,—ain't goin' to gimme + away afore them, old pard, are ye?” said Jim, with a sudden change to + almost pathetic pleading. + </p> + <p> + “No,” returned the stranger, smiling. “And certainly not before that + interested young lady, Jim. But stop. Let me look at you.” + </p> + <p> + He held out both hands, took Jim's, spread them apart for a moment with a + boyish gesture, and, looking in his face, said half mischievously, half + sadly, “Yes, it's the same old Jim Hooker,—unchanged.” + </p> + <p> + “But YOU'RE changed,—reg'lar war paint, Big Injin style!” said + Hooker, looking up at him with an awkward mingling of admiration and envy. + “Heard you struck it rich with the old man, and was Mister Brant now!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Clarence gently, yet with a smile that had not only a tinge of + weariness but even of sadness in it. + </p> + <p> + Unfortunately, the act, which was quite natural to Clarence's + sensitiveness, and indeed partly sprang from some concern in his old + companion's fortunes, translated itself by a very human process to + Hooker's consciousness as a piece of rank affectation. HE would have been + exalted and exultant in Clarence's place, consequently any other + exhibition was only “airs.” Nevertheless, at the present moment Clarence + was to be placated. + </p> + <p> + “You didn't mind my telling that story about your savin' Susy as my own, + did ye?” he said, with a hasty glance over his shoulder. “I only did it to + fool the old man and women-folks, and make talk. You won't blow on me? Ye + ain't mad about it?” + </p> + <p> + It had crossed Clarence's memory that when they were both younger Jim + Hooker had once not only borrowed his story, but his name and personality + as well. Yet in his loyalty to old memories there was mingled no + resentment for past injury. “Of course not,” he said, with a smile that + was, however, still thoughtful. “Why should I? Only I ought to tell you + that Susy Peyton is living with her adopted parents not ten miles from + here, and it might reach their ears. She's quite a young lady now, and if + I wouldn't tell her story to strangers, I don't think YOU ought to, Jim.” + </p> + <p> + He said this so pleasantly that even the skeptical Jim forgot what he + believed were the “airs and graces” of self-abnegation, and said, “Let's + go inside, and I'll introduce you,” and turned to the house. But Clarence + Brant drew back. “I'm going on as soon as my horse is fed, for I'm on a + visit to Peyton, and I intend to push as far as Santa Inez still to-night. + I want to talk with you about yourself, Jim,” he added gently; “your + prospects and your future. I heard,” he went on hesitatingly, “that you + were—at work—in a restaurant in San Francisco. I'm glad to see + that you are at least your own master here,”—he glanced at the + wagon. “You are selling things, I suppose? For yourself, or another? Is + that team yours? Come,” he added, still pleasantly, but in an older and + graver voice, with perhaps the least touch of experienced authority, “be + frank, Jim. Which is it? Never mind what things you've told IN THERE, tell + ME the truth about yourself. Can I help you in any way? Believe me, I + should like to. We have been old friends, whatever difference in our luck, + I am yours still.” + </p> + <p> + Thus adjured, the redoubtable Jim, in a hoarse whisper, with a furtive eye + on the house, admitted that he was traveling for an itinerant peddler, + whom he expected to join later in the settlement; that he had his own + methods of disposing of his wares, and (darkly) that his proprietor and + the world generally had better not interfere with him; that (with a return + to more confidential lightness) he had already “worked the Wild West + Injin” business so successfully as to dispose of his wares, particularly + in yonder house, and might do even more if not prematurely and wantonly + “blown upon,” “gone back on,” or “given away.” + </p> + <p> + “But wouldn't you like to settle down on some bit of land like this, and + improve it for yourself?” said Clarence. “All these valley terraces are + bound to rise in value, and meantime you would be independent. It could be + managed, Jim. I think I could arrange it for you,” he went on, with a + slight glow of youthful enthusiasm. “Write to me at Peyton's ranch, and + I'll see you when I come back, and we'll hunt up something for you + together.” As Jim received the proposition with a kind of gloomy + embarrassment, he added lightly, with a glance at the farmhouse, “It might + be near HERE, you know; and you'd have pleasant neighbors, and even eager + listeners to your old adventures.” + </p> + <p> + “You'd better come in a minit before you go,” said Jim, clumsily evading a + direct reply. Clarence hesitated a moment, and then yielded. For an equal + moment Jim Hooker was torn between secret jealousy of his old comrade's + graces and a desire to present them as familiar associations of his own. + But his vanity was quickly appeased. + </p> + <p> + Need it be said that the two women received this fleck and foam of a + super-civilization they knew little of as almost an impertinence compared + to the rugged, gloomy, pathetic, and equally youthful hero of an + adventurous wilderness of which they knew still less? What availed the + courtesy and gentle melancholy of Clarence Brant beside the mysterious + gloom and dark savagery of Red Jim? Yet they received him patronizingly, + as one who was, like themselves, an admirer of manly grace and power, and + the recipient of Jim's friendship. The farmer alone seemed to prefer + Clarence, and yet the latter's tacit indorsement of Red Jim, through his + evident previous intimacy with him, impressed the man in Jim's favor. All + of which Clarence saw with that sensitive perception which had given him + an early insight into human weakness, yet still had never shaken his + youthful optimism. He smiled a little thoughtfully, but was openly + fraternal to Jim, courteous to his host and family, and, as he rode away + in the faint moonlight, magnificently opulent in his largess to the + farmer,—his first and only assertion of his position. + </p> + <p> + The farmhouse, straggling barn, and fringe of dusty willows, the white + dome of the motionless wagon, with the hanging frying pans and kettles + showing in the moonlight like black silhouettes against the staring + canvas, all presently sank behind Clarence like the details of a dream, + and he was alone with the moon, the hazy mystery of the level, grassy + plain, and the monotony of the unending road. As he rode slowly along he + thought of that other dreary plain, white with alkali patches and brown + with rings of deserted camp-fires, known to his boyhood of deprivation, + dependency, danger, and adventure, oddly enough, with a strange delight; + and his later years of study, monastic seclusion, and final ease and + independence, with an easy sense of wasted existence and useless waiting. + He remembered his homeless childhood in the South, where servants and + slaves took the place of the father he had never known, and the mother + that he rarely saw; he remembered his abandonment to a mysterious female + relation, where his natural guardians seemed to have overlooked and + forgotten him, until he was sent, an all too young adventurer, to work his + passage on an overland emigrant train across the plains; he remembered, as + yesterday, the fears, the hopes, the dreams and dangers of that momentous + journey. He recalled his little playmate, Susy, and their strange + adventures—the whole incident that the imaginative Jim Hooker had + translated and rehearsed as his own—rose vividly before him. He + thought of the cruel end of that pilgrimage, which again left him homeless + and forgotten by even the relative he was seeking in a strange land. He + remembered his solitary journey to the gold mines, taken with a boy's + trust and a boy's fearlessness, and the strange protector he had found + there, who had news of his missing kinsman; he remembered how this + protector—whom he had at once instinctively loved—transferred + him to the house of this new-found relation, who treated him kindly and + sent him to the Jesuit school, but who never awakened in him a feeling of + kinship. He dreamed again of his life at school, his accidental meeting + with Susy at Santa Clara, the keen revival of his boyish love for his old + playmate, now a pretty schoolgirl, the petted adopted child of wealthy + parents. He recalled the terrible shock that interrupted this boyish + episode: the news of the death of his protector, and the revelation that + this hard, silent, and mysterious man was his own father, whose reckless + life and desperate reputation had impelled him to assume a disguise. + </p> + <p> + He remembered how his sudden accession to wealth and independence had half + frightened him, and had always left a lurking sensitiveness that he was + unfairly favored, by some mere accident, above his less lucky companions. + The rude vices of his old associates had made him impatient of the feebler + sensual indulgences of the later companions of his luxury, and exposed + their hollow fascinations; his sensitive fastidiousness kept him clean + among vulgar temptations; his clear perceptions were never blinded by + selfish sophistry. Meantime his feeling for Susy remained unchanged. Pride + had kept him from seeking the Peytons. His present visit was as + unpremeditated as Peyton's invitation had been unlooked for by him. Yet he + had not allowed himself to be deceived. He knew that this courtesy was + probably due to the change in his fortune, although he had hoped it might + have been some change in their opinion brought about by Susy. But he would + at least see her again, not in the pretty, half-clandestine way she had + thought necessary, but openly and as her equal. + </p> + <p> + In his rapid ride he seemed to have suddenly penetrated the peaceful calm + of the night. The restless irritation of the afternoon trade winds had + subsided; the tender moonlight had hushed and tranquilly possessed the + worried plain; the unending files of wild oats, far spaced and distinct, + stood erect and motionless as trees; something of the sedate solemnity of + a great forest seemed to have fallen upon their giant stalks. There was no + dew. In that light, dry air, the heavier dust no longer rose beneath the + heels of his horse, whose flying shadow passed over the field like a + cloud, leaving no trail or track behind it. In the preoccupation of his + thought and his breathless retrospect, the young man had ridden faster + than he intended, and he now checked his panting horse. The influence of + the night and the hushed landscape stole over him; his thoughts took a + gentler turn; in that dim, mysterious horizon line before him, his future + seemed to be dreamily peopled with airy, graceful shapes that more or less + took the likeness of Susy. She was bright, coquettish, romantic, as he had + last seen her; she was older, graver, and thoughtfully welcome of him; or + she was cold, distant, and severely forgetful of the past. How would her + adopted father and mother receive him? Would they ever look upon him in + the light of a suitor to the young girl? He had no fear of Peyton,—he + understood his own sex, and, young as he was, knew already how to make + himself respected; but how could he overcome that instinctive aversion + which Mrs. Peyton had so often made him feel he had provoked? Yet in this + dreamy hush of earth and sky, what was not possible? His boyish heart beat + high with daring visions. + </p> + <p> + He saw Mrs. Peyton in the porch, welcoming him with that maternal smile + which his childish longing had so often craved to share with Susy. Peyton + would be there, too,—Peyton, who had once pushed back his torn straw + hat to look approvingly in his boyish eyes; and Peyton, perhaps, might be + proud of him. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly he started. A voice in his very ear! + </p> + <p> + “Bah! A yoke of vulgar cattle grazing on lands that were thine by right + and law. Neither more nor less than that. And I tell thee, Pancho, like + cattle, to be driven off or caught and branded for one's own. Ha! There + are those who could swear to the truth of this on the Creed. Ay! and bring + papers stamped and signed by the governor's rubric to prove it. And not + that I hate them,—bah! what are those heretic swine to me? But thou + dost comprehend me? It galls and pricks me to see them swelling themselves + with stolen husks, and men like thee, Pancho, ousted from their own land.” + </p> + <p> + Clarence had halted in utter bewilderment. No one was visible before him, + behind him, on either side. The words, in Spanish, came from the air, the + sky, the distant horizon, he knew not which. Was he still dreaming? A + strange shiver crept over his skin as if the air had grown suddenly chill. + Then another mysterious voice arose, incredulous, half mocking, but + equally distinct and clear. + </p> + <p> + “Caramba! What is this? You are wandering, friend Pancho. You are still + smarting from his tongue. He has the grant confirmed by his brigand + government; he has the POSSESSION, stolen by a thief like himself; and he + has the Corregidors with him. For is he not one of them himself, this + Judge Peyton?” + </p> + <p> + Peyton! Clarence felt the blood rush back to his face in astonishment and + indignation. His heels mechanically pressed his horse's flanks, and the + animal sprang forward. + </p> + <p> + “Guarda! Mira!” said the voice again in a quicker, lower tone. But this + time it was evidently in the field beside him, and the heads and shoulders + of two horsemen emerged at the same moment from the tall ranks of wild + oats. The mystery was solved. The strangers had been making their way + along a lower level of the terraced plain, hidden by the grain, not twenty + yards away, and parallel with the road they were now ascending to join. + Their figures were alike formless in long striped serapes, and their + features undistinguishable under stiff black sombreros. + </p> + <p> + “Buenas noches, senor,” said the second voice, in formal and cautious + deliberation. + </p> + <p> + A sudden inspiration made Clarence respond in English, as if he had not + comprehended the stranger's words, “Eh?” + </p> + <p> + “Gooda-nighta,” repeated the stranger. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, good-night,” returned Clarence. They passed him. Their spurs tinkled + twice or thrice, their mustangs sprang forward, and the next moment the + loose folds of their serapes were fluttering at their sides like wings in + their flight. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV. + </h2> + <p> + After the chill of a dewless night the morning sun was apt to look + ardently upon the Robles Rancho, if so strong an expression could describe + the dry, oven-like heat of a Californian coast-range valley. Before ten + o'clock the adobe wall of the patio was warm enough to permit lingering + vacqueros and idle peons to lean against it, and the exposed annexe was + filled with sharp, resinous odors from the oozing sap of unseasoned + “redwood” boards, warped and drying in the hot sunshine. Even at that + early hour the climbing Castilian roses were drooping against the wooden + columns of the new veranda, scarcely older than themselves, and mingling + an already faded spice with the aroma of baking wood and the more material + fragrance of steaming coffee, that seemed dominant everywhere. + </p> + <p> + In fact, the pretty breakfast-room, whose three broad windows, always open + to the veranda, gave an al fresco effect to every meal, was a pathetic + endeavor of the Southern-bred Peyton to emulate the soft, luxurious, and + open-air indolence of his native South, in a climate that was not only not + tropical, but even austere in its most fervid moments. Yet, although cold + draughts invaded it from the rear that morning, Judge Peyton sat alone, + between the open doors and windows, awaiting the slow coming of his wife + and the young ladies. He was not in an entirely comfortable mood that + morning. Things were not going on well at Robles. That truculent vagabond, + Pedro, had, the night before, taken himself off with a curse that had + frightened even the vacqueros, who most hated him as a companion, but who + now seemed inclined to regard his absence as an injury done to their race. + Peyton, uneasily conscious that his own anger had been excited by an + exaggerated conception of the accident, was now, like most obstinate men, + inclined to exaggerate the importance of Pedro's insolence. He was well + out of it to get rid of this quarrelsome hanger-on, whose presumption and + ill-humor threatened the discipline of the rancho, yet he could not + entirely forget that he had employed him on account of his family claims, + and from a desire to placate racial jealousy and settle local differences. + For the inferior Mexicans and Indian half-breeds still regarded their old + masters with affection; were, in fact, more concerned for the integrity of + their caste than the masters were themselves, and the old Spanish families + who had made alliances with Americans, and shared their land with them, + had rarely succeeded in alienating their retainers with their lands. + Certain experiences in the proving of his grant before the Land Commission + had taught Peyton that they were not to be depended upon. And lately there + had been unpleasant rumors of the discovery of some unlooked-for claimants + to a division of the grant itself, which might affect his own title. + </p> + <p> + He looked up quickly as voices and light steps on the veranda at last + heralded the approach of his tardy household from the corridor. But, in + spite of his preoccupation, he was startled and even awkwardly impressed + with a change in Susy's appearance. She was wearing, for the first time, a + long skirt, and this sudden maturing of her figure struck him, as a man, + much more forcibly than it would probably have impressed a woman, more + familiar with details. He had not noticed certain indications of + womanhood, as significant, perhaps, in her carriage as her outlines, which + had been lately perfectly apparent to her mother and Mary, but which were + to him now, for the first time, indicated by a few inches of skirt. She + not only looked taller to his masculine eyes, but these few inches had + added to the mystery as well as the drapery of the goddess; they were not + so much the revelation of maturity as the suggestion that it was HIDDEN. + So impressed was he, that a half-serious lecture on her yesterday's + childishness, the outcome of his irritated reflections that morning, died + upon his lips. He felt he was no longer dealing with a child. + </p> + <p> + He welcomed them with that smile of bantering approbation, supposed to + keep down inordinate vanity, which for some occult reason one always + reserves for the members of one's own family. He was quite conscious that + Susy was looking very pretty in this new and mature frock, and that as she + stood beside his wife, far from ageing Mrs. Peyton's good looks and + figure, she appeared like an equal companion, and that they mutually + “became” one another. This, and the fact that they were all, including + Mary Rogers, in their freshest, gayest morning dresses, awakened a + half-humorous, half-real apprehension in his mind, that he was now + hopelessly surrounded by a matured sex, and in a weak minority. + </p> + <p> + “I think I ought to have been prepared,” he began grimly, “for this + addition to—to—the skirts of my family.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, John,” returned Mrs. Peyton quickly; “do you mean to say you haven't + noticed that the poor child has for weeks been looking positively + indecent?” + </p> + <p> + “Really, papa, I've been a sight to behold. Haven't I, Mary?” chimed in + Susy. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, dear. Why, Judge, I've been wondering that Susy stood it so well, + and never complained.” + </p> + <p> + Peyton glanced around him at this compact feminine embattlement. It was as + he feared. Yet even here he was again at fault. + </p> + <p> + “And,” said Mrs. Peyton slowly, with the reserved significance of the + feminine postscript in her voice, “if that Mr. Brant is coming here + to-day, it would be just as well for him to see that SHE IS NO LONGER A + CHILD, AS WHEN HE KNEW HER.” + </p> + <p> + An hour later, good-natured Mary Rogers, in her character of “a dear,”—which + was usually indicated by the undertaking of small errands for her friend,—was + gathering roses from the old garden for Susy's adornment, when she saw a + vision which lingered with her for many a day. She had stopped to look + through the iron grille in the adobe wall, across the open wind-swept + plain. Miniature waves were passing over the wild oats, with glittering + disturbances here and there in the depressions like the sparkling of green + foam; the horizon line was sharply defined against the hard, steel-blue + sky; everywhere the brand-new morning was shining with almost painted + brilliancy; the vigor, spirit, and even crudeness of youth were over all. + The young girl was dazzled and bewildered. Suddenly, as if blown out of + the waving grain, or an incarnation of the vivid morning, the bright and + striking figure of a youthful horseman flashed before the grille. It was + Clarence Brant! Mary Rogers had always seen him, in the loyalty of + friendship, with Susy's prepossessed eyes, yet she fancied that morning + that he had never looked so handsome before. Even the foppish fripperies + of his riding-dress and silver trappings seemed as much the natural + expression of conquering youth as the invincible morning sunshine. Perhaps + it might have been a reaction against Susy's caprice or some latent + susceptibility of her own; but a momentary antagonism to her friend + stirred even her kindly nature. What right had Susy to trifle with such an + opportunity? Who was SHE to hesitate over this gallant prince? + </p> + <p> + But Prince Charming's quick eyes had detected her, and the next moment his + beautiful horse was beside the grating, and his ready hand of greeting + extended through the bars. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose I am early and unexpected, but I slept at Santa Inez last + night, that I might ride over in the cool of the morning. My things are + coming by the stage-coach, later. It seemed such a slow way of coming + one's self.” + </p> + <p> + Mary Rogers's black eyes intimated that the way he had taken was the right + one, but she gallantly recovered herself and remembered her position as + confidante. And here was the opportunity of delivering Susy's warning + unobserved. She withdrew her hand from Clarence's frank grasp, and passing + it through the grating, patted the sleek, shining flanks of his horse, + with a discreet division of admiration. + </p> + <p> + “And such a lovely creature, too! And Susy will be so delighted! and oh, + Mr. Brant, please, you're to say nothing of having met her at Santa Clara. + It's just as well not to begin with THAT here, for, you see” (with a + large, maternal manner), “you were both SO young then.” + </p> + <p> + Clarence drew a quick breath. It was the first check to his vision of + independence and equal footing! Then his invitation was NOT the outcome of + a continuous friendship revived by Susy, as he had hoped; the Peytons had + known nothing of his meeting with her, or perhaps they would not have + invited him. He was here as an impostor,—and all because Susy had + chosen to make a mystery of a harmless encounter, which might have been + explained, and which they might have even countenanced. He thought + bitterly of his old playmate for a brief moment,—as brief as Mary's + antagonism. The young girl noticed the change in his face, but + misinterpreted it. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, there's no danger of its coming out if you don't say anything,” she + said, quickly. “Ride on to the house, and don't wait for me. You'll find + them in the patio on the veranda.” + </p> + <p> + Clarence moved on, but not as spiritedly as before. Nevertheless there was + still dash enough about him and the animal he bestrode to stir into + admiration the few lounging vacqueros of a country which was apt to judge + the status of a rider by the quality of his horse. Nor was the favorable + impression confined to them alone. Peyton's gratification rang out + cheerily in his greeting:— + </p> + <p> + “Bravo, Clarence! You are here in true caballero style. Thanks for the + compliment to the rancho.” + </p> + <p> + For a moment the young man was transported back again to his boyhood, and + once more felt Peyton's approving hand pushing back the worn straw hat + from his childish forehead. A faint color rose to his cheeks; his eyes + momentarily dropped. The highest art could have done no more! The slight + aggressiveness of his youthful finery and picturesque good looks was + condoned at once; his modesty conquered where self-assertion might have + provoked opposition, and even Mrs. Peyton felt herself impelled to come + forward with an outstretched hand scarcely less frank than her husband's. + Then Clarence lifted his eyes. He saw before him the woman to whom his + childish heart had gone out with the inscrutable longing and adoration of + a motherless, homeless, companionless boy; the woman who had absorbed the + love of his playmate without sharing it with him; who had showered her + protecting and maternal caresses on Susy, a waif like himself, yet had not + only left his heart lonely and desolate, but had even added to his + childish distrust of himself the thought that he had excited her aversion. + He saw her more beautiful than ever in her restored health, freshness of + coloring, and mature roundness of outline. He was unconsciously touched + with a man's admiration for her without losing his boyish yearnings and + half-filial affection; in her new materialistic womanhood his youthful + imagination had lifted her to a queen and goddess. There was all this + appeal in his still boyish eyes,—eyes that had never yet known shame + or fear in the expression of their emotions; there was all this in the + gesture with which he lifted Mrs. Peyton's fingers to his lips. The little + group saw in this act only a Spanish courtesy in keeping with his accepted + role. But a thrill of surprise, of embarrassment, of intense gratification + passed over her. For he had not even looked at Susy! + </p> + <p> + Her relenting was graceful. She welcomed him with a winning smile. Then + she motioned pleasantly towards Susy. + </p> + <p> + “But here is an older friend, Mr. Brant, whom you do not seem to + recognize,—Susy, whom you have not seen since she was a child.” + </p> + <p> + A quick flush rose to Clarence's cheek. The group smiled at this evident + youthful confession of some boyish admiration. But Clarence knew that his + truthful blood was merely resenting the deceit his lips were sealed from + divulging. He did not dare to glance at Susy; it added to the general + amusement that the young girl was obliged to present herself. But in this + interval she had exchanged glances with Mary Rogers, who had rejoined the + group, and she knew she was safe. She smiled with gracious condescension + at Clarence; observed, with the patronizing superiority of age and + established position, that he had GROWN, but had not greatly changed, and, + it is needless to say, again filled her mother's heart with joy. Clarence, + still intoxicated with Mrs. Peyton's kindliness, and, perhaps, still + embarrassed by remorse, had not time to remark the girl's studied + attitude. He shook hands with her cordially, and then, in the quick + reaction of youth, accepted with humorous gravity the elaborate + introduction to Mary Rogers by Susy, which completed this little comedy. + And if, with a woman's quickness, Mrs. Peyton detected a certain lingering + glance which passed between Mary Rogers and Clarence, and misinterpreted + it, it was only a part of that mystification into which these youthful + actors are apt to throw their mature audiences. + </p> + <p> + “Confess, Ally,” said Peyton, cheerfully, as the three young people + suddenly found their tongues with aimless vivacity and inconsequent + laughter, and started with unintelligible spirits for an exploration of + the garden, “confess now that your bete noir is really a very manly as + well as a very presentable young fellow. By Jove! the padres have made a + Spanish swell out of him without spoiling the Brant grit, either! Come, + now; you're not afraid that Susy's style will suffer from HIS + companionship. 'Pon my soul, she might borrow a little of his courtesy to + his elders without indelicacy. I only wish she had as sincere a way of + showing her respect for you as he has. Did you notice that he really + didn't seem to see anybody else but you at first? And yet you never were a + friend to him, like Susy.” + </p> + <p> + The lady tossed her head slightly, but smiled. + </p> + <p> + “This is the first time he's seen Mary Rogers, isn't it?” she said + meditatively. + </p> + <p> + “I reckon. But what's that to do with his politeness to you?” + </p> + <p> + “And do her parents know him?” she continued, without replying. + </p> + <p> + “How do I know? I suppose everybody has heard of him. Why?” + </p> + <p> + “Because I think they've taken a fancy to each other.” + </p> + <p> + “What in the name of folly, Ally”—began the despairing Peyton. + </p> + <p> + “When you invite a handsome, rich, and fascinating young man into the + company of young ladies, John,” returned Mrs. Peyton, in her severest + manner, “you must not forget you owe a certain responsibility to the + parents. I shall certainly look after Miss Rogers.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V. + </h2> + <p> + Although the three young people had left the veranda together, when they + reached the old garden Clarence and Susy found themselves considerably in + advance of Mary Rogers, who had become suddenly and deeply interested in + the beauty of a passion vine near the gate. At the first discovery of + their isolation their voluble exchange of information about themselves and + their occupations since their last meeting stopped simultaneously. + Clarence, who had forgotten his momentary irritation, and had recovered + his old happiness in her presence, was nevertheless conscious of some + other change in her than that suggested by the lengthened skirt and the + later and more delicate accentuation of her prettiness. It was not her + affectation of superiority and older social experience, for that was only + the outcome of what he had found charming in her as a child, and which he + still good-humoredly accepted; nor was it her characteristic exaggeration + of speech, which he still pleasantly recognized. It was something else, + vague and indefinite,—something that had been unnoticed while Mary + was with them, but had now come between them like some unknown presence + which had taken the confidante's place. He remained silent, looking at her + half-brightening cheek and conscious profile. Then he spoke with awkward + directness. + </p> + <p> + “You are changed, Susy, more than in looks.” + </p> + <p> + “Hush,” said the girl in a tragic whisper, with a warning gesture towards + the blandly unconscious Mary. + </p> + <p> + “But,” returned Clarence wonderingly, “she's your—our friend, you + know.” + </p> + <p> + “I DON'T know,” said Susy, in a still deeper tone, “that is—oh, + don't ask me! But when you're always surrounded by spies, when you can't + say your soul is your own, you doubt everybody!” There was such a pretty + distress in her violet eyes and curving eyebrows, that Clarence, albeit + vague as to its origin and particulars, nevertheless possessed himself of + the little hand that was gesticulating dangerously near his own, and + pressed it sympathetically. Perhaps preoccupied with her emotions, she did + not immediately withdraw it, as she went on rapidly: “And if you were + cooped up here, day after day, behind these bars,” pointing to the grille, + “you'd know what I suffer.” + </p> + <p> + “But”—began Clarence. + </p> + <p> + “Hush!” said Susy, with a stamp of her little foot. + </p> + <p> + Clarence, who had only wished to point out that the whole lower end of the + garden wall was in ruins and the grille really was no prevention, + “hushed.” + </p> + <p> + “And listen! Don't pay me much attention to-day, but talk to HER,” + indicating the still discreet and distant Mary, “before father and mother. + Not a word to her of this confidence, Clarence. To-morrow ride out alone + on your beautiful horse, and come back by way of the woods, beyond our + turning, at four o'clock. There's a trail to the right of the big madrono + tree. Take that. Be careful and keep a good lookout, for she mustn't see + you.” + </p> + <p> + “Who mustn't see me?” said the puzzled Clarence. + </p> + <p> + “Why, Mary, of course, you silly boy!” returned the girl impatiently. + “She'll be looking for ME. Go now, Clarence! Stop! Look at that lovely big + maiden's-blush up there,” pointing to a pink-suffused specimen of rose + grandiflora hanging on the wall. “Get it, Clarence,—that one,—I'll + show you where,—there!” They had already plunged into the leafy + bramble, and, standing on tiptoe, with her hand on his shoulder and head + upturned, Susy's cheek had innocently approached Clarence's own. At this + moment Clarence, possibly through some confusion of color, fragrance, or + softness of contact, seemed to have availed himself of the opportunity, in + a way which caused Susy to instantly rejoin Mary Rogers with affected + dignity, leaving him to follow a few moments later with the captured + flower. + </p> + <p> + Without trying to understand the reason of to-morrow's rendezvous, and + perhaps not altogether convinced of the reality of Susy's troubles, he, + however, did not find that difficulty in carrying out her other commands + which he had expected. Mrs. Peyton was still gracious, and, with feminine + tact, induced him to talk of himself, until she was presently in + possession of his whole history, barring the episode of his meeting with + Susy, since he had parted with them. He felt a strange satisfaction in + familiarly pouring out his confidences to this superior woman, whom he had + always held in awe. There was a new delight in her womanly interest in his + trials and adventures, and a subtle pleasure even in her half-motherly + criticism and admonition of some passages. I am afraid he forgot Susy, who + listened with the complacency of an exhibitor; Mary, whose black eyes + dilated alternately with sympathy for the performer and deprecation of + Mrs. Peyton's critical glances; and Peyton, who, however, seemed lost in + thought, and preoccupied. Clarence was happy. The softly shaded lights in + the broad, spacious, comfortably furnished drawing-room shone on the group + before him. It was a picture of refined domesticity which the homeless + Clarence had never known except as a vague, half-painful, boyish + remembrance; it was a realization of welcome that far exceeded his wildest + boyish vision of the preceding night. With that recollection came another,—a + more uneasy one. He remembered how that vision had been interrupted by the + strange voices in the road, and their vague but ominous import to his + host. A feeling of self-reproach came over him. The threats had impressed + him as only mere braggadocio,—he knew the characteristic + exaggeration of the race,—but perhaps he ought to privately tell + Peyton of the incident at once. + </p> + <p> + The opportunity came later, when the ladies had retired, and Peyton, + wrapped in a poncho in a rocking-chair, on the now chilly veranda, looked + up from his reverie and a cigar. Clarence casually introduced the + incident, as if only for the sake of describing the supernatural effect of + the hidden voices, but he was concerned to see that Peyton was + considerably disturbed by their more material import. After questioning + him as to the appearance of the two men, his host said: “I don't mind + telling you, Clarence, that as far as that fellow's intentions go he is + quite sincere, although his threats are only borrowed thunder. He is a man + whom I have just dismissed for carelessness and insolence,—two + things that run in double harness in this country,—but I should be + more afraid to find him at my back on a dark night, alone on the plains; + than to confront him in daylight, in the witness box, against me. He was + only repeating a silly rumor that the title to this rancho and the nine + square leagues beyond would be attacked by some speculators.” + </p> + <p> + “But I thought your title was confirmed two years ago,” said Clarence. + </p> + <p> + “The GRANT was confirmed,” returned Peyton, “which means that the + conveyance of the Mexican government of these lands to the ancestor of + Victor Robles was held to be legally proven by the United States Land + Commission, and a patent issued to all those who held under it. I and my + neighbors hold under it by purchase from Victor Robles, subject to the + confirmation of the Land Commission. But that confirmation was only of + Victor's GREAT-GRANDFATHER'S TITLE, and it is now alleged that as Victor's + father died without making a will, Victor has claimed and disposed of + property which he ought to have divided with his SISTERS. At least, some + speculating rascals in San Francisco have set up what they call 'the + Sisters' title,' and are selling it to actual settlers on the unoccupied + lands beyond. As, by the law, it would hold possession against the mere + ordinary squatters, whose only right is based, as you know, on the + presumption that there is NO TITLE CLAIMED, it gives the possessor + immunity to enjoy the use of the property until the case is decided, and + even should the original title hold good against his, the successful + litigant would probably be willing to pay for improvements and possession + to save the expensive and tedious process of ejectment.” + </p> + <p> + “But this does not affect YOU, who have already possession?” said Clarence + quickly. + </p> + <p> + “No, not as far as THIS HOUSE and the lands I actually OCCUPY AND + CULTIVATE are concerned; and they know that I am safe to fight to the + last, and carry the case to the Supreme Court in that case, until the + swindle is exposed, or they drop it; but I may have to pay them something + to keep the squatters off my UNOCCUPIED land.” + </p> + <p> + “But you surely wouldn't recognize those rascals in any way?” said the + astonished Clarence. + </p> + <p> + “As against other rascals? Why not?” returned Peyton grimly. “I only pay + for the possession which their sham title gives me to my own land. If by + accident that title obtains, I am still on the safe side.” After a pause + he said, more gravely, “What you overheard, Clarence, shows me that the + plan is more forward than I had imagined, and that I may have to fight + traitors here.” + </p> + <p> + “I hope, sir,” said Clarence, with a quick glow in his earnest face, “that + you'll let me help you. You thought I did once, you remember,—with + the Indians.” + </p> + <p> + There was so much of the old Clarence in his boyish appeal and eager, + questioning face that Peyton, who had been talking to him as a younger but + equal man of affairs, was startled into a smile, “You did, Clarence, + though the Indians butchered your friends, after all. I don't know, + though, but that your experiences with those Spaniards—you must have + known a lot of them when you were with Don Juan Robinson and at the + college—might be of service in getting at evidence, or smashing + their witnesses if it comes to a fight. But just now, MONEY is everything. + They must be bought OFF THE LAND if I have to mortgage it for the purpose. + That strikes you as a rather heroic remedy, Clarence, eh?” he continued, + in his old, half-bantering attitude towards Clarence's inexperienced + youth, “don't it?” + </p> + <p> + But Clarence was not thinking of that. Another more audacious but equally + youthful and enthusiastic idea had taken possession of his mind, and he + lay awake half that night revolving it. It was true that it was somewhat + impractically mixed with his visions of Mrs. Peyton and Susy, and even + included his previous scheme of relief for the improvident and + incorrigible Hooker. But it gave a wonderful sincerity and happiness to + his slumbers that night, which the wiser and elder Peyton might have + envied, and I wot not was in the long run as correct and sagacious as + Peyton's sleepless cogitations. And in the early morning Mr. Clarence + Brant, the young capitalist, sat down to his traveling-desk and wrote two + clear-headed, logical, and practical business letters,—one to his + banker, and the other to his former guardian, Don Juan Robinson, as his + first step in a resolve that was, nevertheless, perhaps as wildly quixotic + and enthusiastic as any dream his boyish and unselfish heart had ever + indulged. + </p> + <p> + At breakfast, in the charmed freedom of the domestic circle, Clarence + forgot Susy's capricious commands of yesterday, and began to address + himself to her in his old earnest fashion, until he was warned by a + significant knitting of the young lady's brows and monosyllabic responses. + But in his youthful loyalty to Mrs. Peyton, he was more pained to notice + Susy's occasional unconscious indifference to her adopted mother's + affectionate expression, and a more conscious disregard of her wishes. So + uneasy did he become, in his sensitive concern for Mrs. Peyton's + half-concealed mortification, that he gladly accepted Peyton's offer to go + with him to visit the farm and corral. As the afternoon approached, with + another twinge of self-reproach, he was obliged to invent some excuse to + decline certain hospitable plans of Mrs. Peyton's for his entertainment, + and at half past three stole somewhat guiltily, with his horse, from the + stables. But he had to pass before the outer wall of the garden and + grille, through which he had seen Mary the day before. Raising his eyes + mechanically, he was startled to see Mrs. Peyton standing behind the + grating, with her abstracted gaze fixed upon the wind-tossed, level grain + beyond her. She smiled as she saw him, but there were traces of tears in + her proud, handsome eyes. + </p> + <p> + “You are going to ride?” she said pleasantly. + </p> + <p> + “Y-e-es,” stammered the shamefaced Clarence. + </p> + <p> + She glanced at him wistfully. + </p> + <p> + “You are right. The girls have gone away by themselves. Mr. Peyton has + ridden over to Santa Inez on this dreadful land business, and I suppose + you'd have found him a dull riding companion. It is rather stupid here. I + quite envy you, Mr. Brant, your horse and your freedom.” + </p> + <p> + “But, Mrs. Peyton,” broke in Clarence, impulsively, “you have a horse—I + saw it, a lovely lady's horse—eating its head off in the stable. + Won't you let me run back and order it; and won't you, please, come out + with me for a good, long gallop?” + </p> + <p> + He meant what he said. He had spoken quickly, impulsively, but with the + perfect understanding in his own mind that his proposition meant the + complete abandonment of his rendezvous with Susy. Mrs. Peyton was + astounded and slightly stirred with his earnestness, albeit unaware of all + it implied. + </p> + <p> + “It's a great temptation, Mr. Brant,” she said, with a playful smile, + which dazzled Clarence with its first faint suggestion of a refined + woman's coquetry; “but I'm afraid that Mr. Peyton would think me going mad + in my old age. No. Go on and enjoy your gallop, and if you should see + those giddy girls anywhere, send them home early for chocolate, before the + cold wind gets up.” + </p> + <p> + She turned, waved her slim white hand playfully in acknowledgment of + Clarence's bared head, and moved away. + </p> + <p> + For the first few moments the young man tried to find relief in furious + riding, and in bullying his spirited horse. Then he pulled quickly up. + What was he doing? What was he going to do? What foolish, vapid deceit was + this that he was going to practice upon that noble, queenly, confiding, + generous woman? (He had already forgotten that she had always distrusted + him.) What a fool he was not to tell her half-jokingly that he expected to + meet Susy! But would he have dared to talk half-jokingly to such a woman + on such a topic? And would it have been honorable without disclosing the + WHOLE truth,—that they had met secretly before? And was it fair to + Susy?—dear, innocent, childish Susy! Yet something must be done! It + was such trivial, purposeless deceit, after all; for this noble woman, + Mrs. Peyton, so kind, so gentle, would never object to his loving Susy and + marrying her. And they would all live happily together; and Mrs. Peyton + would never be separated from them, but always beaming tenderly upon them + as she did just now in the garden. Yes, he would have a serious + understanding with Susy, and that would excuse the clandestine meeting + to-day. + </p> + <p> + His rapid pace, meantime, had brought him to the imperceptible incline of + the terrace, and he was astonished, in turning in the saddle, to find that + the casa, corral, and outbuildings had completely vanished, and that + behind him rolled only the long sea of grain, which seemed to have + swallowed them in its yellowing depths. Before him lay the wooded ravine + through which the stagecoach passed, which was also the entrance to the + rancho, and there, too, probably, was the turning of which Susy had + spoken. But it was still early for the rendezvous; indeed, he was in no + hurry to meet her in his present discontented state, and he made a + listless circuit of the field, in the hope of discovering the phenomena + that had caused the rancho's mysterious disappearance. When he had found + that it was the effect of the different levels, his attention was arrested + by a multitude of moving objects in a still more distant field, which + proved to be a band of wild horses. In and out among them, circling + aimlessly, as it seemed to him, appeared two horsemen apparently + performing some mystic evolution. To add to their singular performance, + from time to time one of the flying herd, driven by the horsemen far + beyond the circle of its companions, dropped suddenly and unaccountably in + full career. The field closed over it as if it had been swallowed up. In a + few moments it appeared again, trotting peacefully behind its former + pursuer. It was some time before Clarence grasped the meaning of this + strange spectacle. Although the clear, dry atmosphere sharply accented the + silhouette-like outlines of the men and horses, so great was the distance + that the slender forty-foot lasso, which in the skillful hands of the + horsemen had effected these captures, was COMPLETELY INVISIBLE! The + horsemen were Peyton's vacqueros, making a selection from the young horses + for the market. He remembered now that Peyton had told him that he might + be obliged to raise money by sacrificing some of his stock, and the + thought brought back Clarence's uneasiness as he turned again to the + trail. Indeed, he was hardly in the vein for a gentle tryst, as he entered + the wooded ravine to seek the madrono tree which was to serve as a guide + to his lady's bower. + </p> + <p> + A few rods further, under the cool vault filled with woodland spicing, he + came upon it. In its summer harlequin dress of scarlet and green, with + hanging bells of poly-tinted berries, like some personified sylvan Folly, + it seemed a fitting symbol of Susy's childish masquerade of passion. Its + bizarre beauty, so opposed to the sober gravity of the sedate pines and + hemlocks, made it an unmistakable landmark. Here he dismounted and + picketed his horse. And here, beside it, to the right, ran the little + trail crawling over mossy boulders; a narrow yellow track through the + carpet of pine needles between the closest file of trees; an almost + imperceptible streak across pools of chickweed at their roots, and a brown + and ragged swath through the ferns. As he went on, the anxiety and + uneasiness that had possessed him gave way to a languid intoxication of + the senses; the mysterious seclusion of these woodland depths recovered + the old influence they had exerted over his boyhood. He was not returning + to Susy, as much as to the older love of his youth, of which she was, + perhaps, only an incident. It was therefore with an odd boyish thrill + again that, coming suddenly upon a little hollow, like a deserted nest, + where the lost trail made him hesitate, he heard the crackle of a starched + skirt behind him, was conscious of the subtle odor of freshly ironed and + scented muslin, and felt the gentle pressure of delicate fingers upon his + eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Susy!” + </p> + <p> + “You silly boy! Where were you blundering to? Why didn't you look around + you?” + </p> + <p> + “I thought I would hear your voices.” + </p> + <p> + “Whose voices, idiot?” + </p> + <p> + “Yours and Mary's,” returned Clarence innocently, looking round for the + confidante. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, indeed! Then you wanted to see MARY? Well, she's looking for me + somewhere. Perhaps you'll go and find her, or shall I?” + </p> + <p> + She was offering to pass him when he laid his hand on hers to detain her. + She instantly evaded it, and drew herself up to her full height, + incontestably displaying the dignity of the added inches to her skirt. All + this was charmingly like the old Susy, but it did not bid fair to help him + to a serious interview. And, looking at the pretty, pink, mocking face + before him, with the witchery of the woodland still upon him, he began to + think that he had better put it off. + </p> + <p> + “Never mind about Mary,” he said laughingly. “But you said you wanted to + see me, Susy; and here I am.” + </p> + <p> + “Said I wanted to see you?” repeated Susy, with her blue eyes lifted in + celestial scorn and wonderment. “Said I wanted to see you? Are you not + mistaken, Mr. Brant? Really, I imagined that you came here to see ME.” + </p> + <p> + With her fair head upturned, and the leaf of her scarlet lip temptingly + curled over, Clarence began to think this latest phase of her extravagance + the most fascinating. He drew nearer to her as he said gently, “You know + what I mean, Susy. You said yesterday you were troubled. I thought you + might have something to tell me.” + </p> + <p> + “I should think it was YOU who might have something to tell me after all + these years,” she said poutingly, yet self-possessed. “But I suppose you + came here only to see Mary and mother. I'm sure you let them know that + plainly enough last evening.” + </p> + <p> + “But you said”—began the stupefied Clarence. + </p> + <p> + “Never mind what I said. It's always what I say, never what YOU say; and + you don't say anything.” + </p> + <p> + The woodland influence must have been still very strong upon Clarence that + he did not discover in all this that, while Susy's general capriciousness + was unchanged, there was a new and singular insincerity in her manifest + acting. She was either concealing the existence of some other real + emotion, or assuming one that was absent. But he did not notice it, and + only replied tenderly:— + </p> + <p> + “But I want to say a great deal to you, Susy. I want to say that if you + still feel as I do, and as I have always felt, and you think you could be + happy as I would be if—if—we could be always together, we need + not conceal it from your mother and father any longer. I am old enough to + speak for myself, and I am my own master. Your mother has been very kind + to me,—so kind that it doesn't seem quite right to deceive her,—and + when I tell her that I love you, and that I want you to be my wife, I + believe she will give us her blessing.” + </p> + <p> + Susy uttered a strange little laugh, and with an assumption of coyness, + that was, however, still affected, stooped to pick a few berries from a + manzanita bush. + </p> + <p> + “I'll tell you what she'll say, Clarence. She'll say you're frightfully + young, and so you are!” + </p> + <p> + The young fellow tried to echo the laugh, but felt as if he had received a + blow. For the first time he was conscious of the truth: this girl, whom he + had fondly regarded as a child, had already passed him in the race; she + had become a woman before he was yet a man, and now stood before him, + maturer in her knowledge, and older in her understanding, of herself and + of him. This was the change that had perplexed him; this was the presence + that had come between them,—a Susy he had never known before. + </p> + <p> + She laughed at his changed expression, and then swung herself easily to a + sitting posture on the low projecting branch of a hemlock. The act was + still girlish, but, nevertheless, she looked down upon him in a superior, + patronizing way. “Now, Clarence,” she said, with a half-abstracted manner, + “don't you be a big fool! If you talk that way to mother, she'll only tell + you to wait two or three years until you know your own mind, and she'll + pack me off to that horrid school again, besides watching me like a cat + every moment you are here. If you want to stay here, and see me sometimes + like this, you'll just behave as you have done, and say nothing. Do you + see? Perhaps you don't care to come, or are satisfied with Mary and + mother. Say so, then. Goodness knows, I don't want to force you to come + here.” + </p> + <p> + Modest and reserved as Clarence was generally, I fear that bashfulness of + approach to the other sex was not one of these indications. He walked up + to Susy with appalling directness, and passed his arm around her waist. + She did not move, but remained looking at him and his intruding arm with a + certain critical curiosity, as if awaiting some novel sensation. At which + he kissed her. She then slowly disengaged his arm, and said:— + </p> + <p> + “Really, upon my word, Clarence,” in perfectly level tones, and slipped + quietly to the ground. + </p> + <p> + He again caught her in his arms, encircling her disarranged hair and part + of the beribboned hat hanging over her shoulder, and remained for an + instant holding her thus silently and tenderly. Then she freed herself + with an abstracted air, a half smile, and an unchanged color except where + her soft cheek had been abraded by his coat collar. + </p> + <p> + “You're a bold, rude boy, Clarence,” she said, putting back her hair + quietly, and straightening the brim of her hat. “Heaven knows where you + learned manners!” and then, from a safer distance, with the same critical + look in her violet eyes, “I suppose you think mother would allow THAT if + she knew it?” + </p> + <p> + But Clarence, now completely subjugated, with the memory of the kiss upon + him and a heightened color, protested that he only wanted to make their + intercourse less constrained, and to have their relations, even their + engagement, recognized by her parents; still he would take her advice. + Only there was always the danger that if they were discovered she would be + sent back to the convent all the same, and his banishment, instead of + being the probation of a few years, would be a perpetual separation. + </p> + <p> + “We could always run away, Clarence,” responded the young girl calmly. + “There's nothing the matter with THAT.” + </p> + <p> + Clarence was startled. The idea of desolating the sad, proud, handsome + Mrs. Peyton, whom he worshiped, and her kind husband, whom he was just + about to serve, was so grotesque and confusing, that he said hopelessly, + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “Of course,” she continued, with the same odd affectation of coyness, + which was, however, distinctly uncalled for, as she eyed him from under + her broad hat, “you needn't come with me unless you like. I can run away + by myself,—if I want to! I've thought of it before. One can't stand + everything!” + </p> + <p> + “But, Susy,” said Clarence, with a swift remorseful recollection of her + confidence yesterday, “is there really anything troubles you? Tell me, + dear. What is it?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, nothing—EVERYTHING! It's no use,—YOU can't understand! + YOU like it, I know you do. I can see it; it's your style. But it's + stupid, it's awful, Clarence! With mamma snooping over you and around you + all day, with her 'dear child,' 'mamma's pet,' and 'What is it, dear?' and + 'Tell it all to your own mamma,' as if I would! And 'my own mamma,' + indeed! As if I didn't know, Clarence, that she ISN'T. And papa, caring + for nothing but this hideous, dreary rancho, and the huge, empty plains. + It's worse than school, for there, at least, when you went out, you could + see something besides cattle and horses and yellow-faced half-breeds! But + here—Lord! it's only a wonder I haven't run away before!” + </p> + <p> + Startled and shocked as Clarence was at this revelation, accompanied as it + was by a hardness of manner that was new to him, the influence of the + young girl was still so strong upon him that he tried to evade it as only + an extravagance, and said with a faint smile, “But where would you run + to?” + </p> + <p> + She looked at him cunningly, with her head on one side, and then said:— + </p> + <p> + “I have friends, and”— + </p> + <p> + She hesitated, pursing up her pretty lips. + </p> + <p> + “And what?” + </p> + <p> + “Relations.” + </p> + <p> + “Relations?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,—an aunt by marriage. She lives in Sacramento. She'd be + overjoyed to have me come to her. Her second husband has a theatre there.” + </p> + <p> + “But, Susy, what does Mrs. Peyton know of this?” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing. Do you think I'd tell her, and have her buy them up as she has + my other relations? Do you suppose I don't know that I've been bought up + like a nigger?” + </p> + <p> + She looked indignant, compressing her delicate little nostrils, and yet, + somehow, Clarence had the same singular impression that she was only + acting. + </p> + <p> + The calling of a far-off voice came faintly through the wood. + </p> + <p> + “That's Mary, looking for me,” said Susy composedly. “You must go, now, + Clarence. Quick! Remember what I said,—and don't breathe a word of + this. Good-by.” + </p> + <p> + But Clarence was standing still, breathless, hopelessly disturbed, and + irresolute. Then he turned away mechanically towards the trail. + </p> + <p> + “Well, Clarence?” + </p> + <p> + She was looking at him half reproachfully, half coquettishly, with + smiling, parted lips. He hastened to forget himself and his troubles upon + them twice and thrice. Then she quickly disengaged herself, whispered, + “Go, now,” and, as Mary's call was repeated, Clarence heard her voice, + high and clear, answering, “Here, dear,” as he was plunging into the + thicket. + </p> + <p> + He had scarcely reached the madrono tree again and remounted his horse, + before he heard the sound of hoofs approaching from the road. In his + present uneasiness he did not care to be discovered so near the + rendezvous, and drew back into the shadow until the horseman should pass. + It was Peyton, with a somewhat disturbed face, riding rapidly. Still less + was he inclined to join or immediately follow him, but he was relieved + when his host, instead of taking the direct road to the rancho, through + the wild oats, turned off in the direction of the corral. + </p> + <p> + A moment later Clarence wheeled into the direct road, and presently found + himself in the long afternoon shadows through the thickest of the grain. + He was riding slowly, immersed in thought, when he was suddenly startled + by a hissing noise at his ear, and what seemed to be the uncoiling stroke + of a leaping serpent at his side. Instinctively he threw himself forward + on his horse's neck, and as the animal shied into the grain, felt the + crawling scrape and jerk of a horsehair lariat across his back and down + his horse's flanks. He reined in indignantly and stood up in his stirrups. + Nothing was to be seen above the level of the grain. Beneath him the + trailing riata had as noiselessly vanished as if it had been indeed a + gliding snake. Had he been the victim of a practical joke, or of the + blunder of some stupid vacquero? For he made no doubt that it was the + lasso of one of the performers he had watched that afternoon. But his + preoccupied mind did not dwell long upon it, and by the time he had + reached the wall of the old garden, the incident was forgotten. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI. + </h2> + <p> + Relieved of Clarence Brant's embarrassing presence, Jim Hooker did not, + however, refuse to avail himself of that opportunity to expound to the + farmer and his family the immense wealth, influence, and importance of the + friend who had just left him. Although Clarence's plan had suggested + reticence, Hooker could not forego the pleasure of informing them that + “Clar” Brant had just offered to let him into an extensive land + speculation. He had previously declined a large share or original location + in a mine of Clarence's, now worth a million, because it was not “his + style.” But the land speculation in a country of unsettled titles and + lawless men, he need not remind them, required some experience of border + warfare. He would not say positively, although he left them to draw their + own conclusions with gloomy significance, that this was why Clarence had + sought him. With this dark suggestion, he took leave of Mr. and Mrs. + Hopkins and their daughter Phoebe the next day, not without some natural + human emotion, and peacefully drove his team and wagon into the settlement + of Fair Plains. + </p> + <p> + He was not prepared, however, for a sudden realization of his imaginative + prospects. A few days after his arrival in Fair Plains, he received a + letter from Clarence, explaining that he had not time to return to Hooker + to consult him, but had, nevertheless, fulfilled his promise, by taking + advantage of an opportunity of purchasing the Spanish “Sisters'” title to + certain unoccupied lands near the settlement. As these lands in part + joined the section already preempted and occupied by Hopkins, Clarence + thought that Jim Hooker would choose that part for the sake of his + neighbor's company. He inclosed a draft on San Francisco, for a sum + sufficient to enable Jim to put up a cabin and “stock” the property, which + he begged he would consider in the light of a loan, to be paid back in + installments, only when the property could afford it. At the same time, if + Jim was in difficulty, he was to inform him. The letter closed with a + characteristic Clarence-like mingling of enthusiasm and older wisdom. “I + wish you luck, Jim, but I see no reason why you should trust to it. I + don't know of anything that could keep you from making yourself + independent of any one, if you go to work with a LONG AIM and don't + fritter away your chances on short ones. If I were you, old fellow, I'd + drop the Plains and the Indians out of my thoughts, or at least out of my + TALK, for a while; they won't help you in the long run. The people who + believe you will be jealous of you; those who don't, will look down upon + you, and if they get to questioning your little Indian romances, Jim, + they'll be apt to question your civilized facts. That won't help you in + the ranching business and that's your only real grip now.” For the space + of two or three hours after this, Jim was reasonably grateful and even + subdued,—so much so that his employer, to whom he confided his good + fortune, frankly confessed that he believed him from that unusual fact + alone. Unfortunately, neither the practical lesson conveyed in this grim + admission, nor the sentiment of gratitude, remained long with Jim. Another + idea had taken possession of his fancy. Although the land nominated in his + bill of sale had been, except on the occasion of his own temporary halt + there, always unoccupied, unsought, and unclaimed, and although he was + amply protected by legal certificates, he gravely collected a posse of + three or four idlers from Fair Plains, armed them at his own expense, and + in the dead of night took belligerent and forcible possession of the + peaceful domain which the weak generosity and unheroic dollars of Clarence + had purchased for him! A martial camp-fire tempered the chill night winds + to the pulses of the invaders, and enabled them to sleep on their arms in + the field they had won. The morning sun revealed to the astonished Hopkins + family the embattled plain beyond, with its armed sentries. Only then did + Jim hooker condescend to explain the reason of his warlike occupation, + with dark hints of the outlying “squatters” and “jumpers,” whose + incursions their boldness alone had repulsed. The effect of this romantic + situation upon the two women, with the slight fascination of danger + imported into their quiet lives, may well be imagined. Possibly owing to + some incautious questioning by Mr. Hopkins, and some doubts of the + discipline and sincerity of his posse, Jim discharged them the next day; + but during the erection of his cabin by some peaceful carpenters from the + settlement, he returned to his gloomy preoccupation and the ostentatious + wearing of his revolvers. As an opulent and powerful neighbor, he took his + meals with the family while his house was being built, and generally + impressed them with a sense of security they had never missed. + </p> + <p> + Meantime, Clarence, duly informed of the installation of Jim as his + tenant, underwent a severe trial. It was necessary for his plans that this + should be kept a secret at present, and this was no easy thing for his + habitually frank and open nature. He had once mentioned that he had met + Jim at the settlement, but the information was received with such + indifference by Susy, and such marked disfavor by Mrs. Peyton, that he + said no more. He accompanied Peyton in his rides around the rancho, fully + possessed himself of the details of its boundaries, the debatable lands + held by the enemy, and listened with beating pulses, but a hushed tongue, + to his host's ill-concealed misgivings. + </p> + <p> + “You see, Clarence, that lower terrace?” he said, pointing to a + far-reaching longitudinal plain beyond the corral; “it extends from my + corral to Fair Plains. That is claimed by the sisters' title, and, as + things appear to be going, if a division of the land is made it will be + theirs. It's bad enough to have this best grazing land lying just on the + flanks of the corral held by these rascals at an absurd prohibitory price, + but I am afraid that it may be made to mean something even worse. + According to the old surveys, these terraces on different levels were the + natural divisions of the property,—one heir or his tenant taking + one, and another taking another,—an easy distinction that saved the + necessity of boundary fencing or monuments, and gave no trouble to people + who were either kinsmen or lived in lazy patriarchal concord. That is the + form of division they are trying to reestablish now. Well,” he continued, + suddenly lifting his eyes to the young man's flushed face, in some + unconscious, sympathetic response to his earnest breathlessness, “although + my boundary line extends half a mile into that field, my house and garden + and corral ARE ACTUALLY UPON THAT TERRACE OR LEVEL.” They certainly + appeared to Clarence to be on the same line as the long field beyond. + “If,” went on Peyton, “such a decision is made, these men will push on and + claim the house and everything on the terrace.” + </p> + <p> + “But,” said Clarence quickly, “you said their title was only valuable + where they have got or can give POSSESSION. You already have yours. They + can't take it from you except by force.” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Peyton grimly, “nor will they dare to do it as long as I live + to fight them.” + </p> + <p> + “But,” persisted Clarence, with the same singular hesitancy of manner, + “why didn't you purchase possession of at least that part of the land + which lies so dangerously near your own house?” + </p> + <p> + “Because it was held by squatters, who naturally preferred buying what + might prove a legal title to their land from these impostors than to sell + out their possession to ME at a fair price.” + </p> + <p> + “But couldn't you have bought from them both?” continued Clarence. + </p> + <p> + “My dear Clarence, I am not a Croesus nor a fool. Only a man who was both + would attempt to treat with these rascals, who would now, of course, + insist that THEIR WHOLE claim should be bought up at their own price, by + the man who was most concerned in defeating them.” + </p> + <p> + He turned away a little impatiently. Fortunately he did not observe that + Clarence's averted face was crimson with embarrassment, and that a faint + smile hovered nervously about his mouth. + </p> + <p> + Since his late rendezvous with Susy, Clarence had had no chance to + interrogate her further regarding her mysterious relative. That that + shadowy presence was more or less exaggerated, if not an absolute myth, he + more than half suspected, but of the discontent that had produced it, or + the recklessness it might provoke, there was no doubt. She might be + tempted to some act of folly. He wondered if Mary Rogers knew it. Yet, + with his sensitive ideas of loyalty, he would have shrunk from any + confidence with Mary regarding her friend's secrets, although he fancied + that Mary's dark eyes sometimes dwelt upon him with mournful consciousness + and premonition. He did not imagine the truth, that this romantic + contemplation was only the result of Mary's conviction that Susy was + utterly unworthy of his love. It so chanced one morning that the vacquero + who brought the post from Santa Inez arrived earlier than usual, and so + anticipated the two girls, who usually made a youthful point of meeting + him first as he passed the garden wall. The letter bag was consequently + delivered to Mrs. Peyton in the presence of the others, and a look of + consternation passed between the young girls. But Mary quickly seized upon + the bag as if with girlish and mischievous impatience, opened it, and + glanced within it. + </p> + <p> + “There are only three letters for you,” she said, handing them to + Clarence, with a quick look of significance, which he failed to + comprehend, “and nothing for me or Susy.” + </p> + <p> + “But,” began the innocent Clarence, as his first glance at the letters + showed him that one was directed to Susy, “here is”— + </p> + <p> + A wicked pinch on his arm that was nearest Mary stopped his speech, and he + quickly put the letters in his pocket. + </p> + <p> + “Didn't you understand that Susy don't want her mother to see that + letter?” asked Mary impatiently, when they were alone a moment later. + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Clarence simply, handing her the missive. + </p> + <p> + Mary took it and turned it over in her hands. + </p> + <p> + “It's in a man's handwriting,” she said innocently. + </p> + <p> + “I hadn't noticed it,” returned Clarence with invincible naivete, “but + perhaps it is.” + </p> + <p> + “And you hand it over for me to give to Susy, and ain't a bit curious to + know who it's from?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” returned Clarence, opening his big eyes in smiling and apologetic + wonder. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” responded the young lady, with a long breath of melancholy + astonishment, “certainly, of all things you are—you really ARE!” + With which incoherency—apparently perfectly intelligible to herself—she + left him. She had not herself the slightest idea who the letter was from; + she only knew that Susy wanted it concealed. + </p> + <p> + The incident made little impression on Clarence, except as part of the + general uneasiness he felt in regard to his old playmate. It seemed so odd + to him that this worry should come from HER,—that she herself should + form the one discordant note in the Arcadian dream that he had found so + sweet; in his previous imaginings it was the presence of Mrs. Peyton which + he had dreaded; she whose propinquity now seemed so full of gentleness, + reassurance, and repose. How worthy she seemed of any sacrifice he could + make for her! He had seen little of her for the last two or three days, + although her smile and greeting were always ready for him. Poor Clarence + did not dream that she had found from certain incontestable signs and + tokens, both in the young ladies and himself, that he did not require + watching, and that becoming more resigned to Susy's indifference, which + seemed so general and passive in quality, she was no longer tortured by + the sting of jealousy. + </p> + <p> + Finding himself alone that afternoon, the young man had wandered somewhat + listlessly beyond the low adobe gateway. The habits of the siesta obtained + in a modified form at the rancho. After luncheon, its masters and + employees usually retired, not so much from the torrid heat of the + afternoon sun, but from the first harrying of the afternoon trades, whose + monotonous whistle swept round the walls. A straggling passion vine near + the gate beat and struggled against the wind. Clarence had stopped near + it, and was gazing with worried abstraction across the tossing fields, + when a soft voice called his name. + </p> + <p> + It was a pleasant voice,—Mrs. Peyton's. He glanced back at the + gateway; it was empty. He looked quickly to the right and left; no one was + there. + </p> + <p> + The voice spoke again with the musical addition of a laugh; it seemed to + come from the passion vine. Ah, yes; behind it, and half overgrown by its + branches, was a long, narrow embrasured opening in the wall, defended by + the usual Spanish grating, and still further back, as in the frame of a + picture, the half length figure of Mrs. Peyton, very handsome and + striking, too, with a painted picturesqueness from the effect of the + checkered light and shade. + </p> + <p> + “You looked so tired and bored out there,” she said. “I am afraid you are + finding it very dull at the rancho. The prospect is certainly not very + enlivening from where you stand.” + </p> + <p> + Clarence protested with a visible pleasure in his eyes, as he held back a + spray before the opening. + </p> + <p> + “If you are not afraid of being worse bored, come in here and talk with + me. You have never seen this part of the house, I think,—my own + sitting-room. You reach it from the hall in the gallery. But Lola or Anita + will show you the way.” + </p> + <p> + He reentered the gateway, and quickly found the hall,—a narrow, + arched passage, whose black, tunnel-like shadows were absolutely + unaffected by the vivid, colorless glare of the courtyard without, seen + through an opening at the end. The contrast was sharp, blinding, and + distinct; even the edges of the opening were black; the outer light halted + on the threshold and never penetrated within. The warm odor of verbena and + dried rose leaves stole from a half-open door somewhere in the cloistered + gloom. Guided by it, Clarence presently found himself on the threshold of + a low-vaulted room. Two other narrow embrasured windows like the one he + had just seen, and a fourth, wider latticed casement, hung with gauze + curtains, suffused the apartment with a clear, yet mysterious twilight + that seemed its own. The gloomy walls were warmed by bright-fringed + bookshelves, topped with trifles of light feminine coloring and adornment. + Low easy-chairs and a lounge, small fanciful tables, a dainty desk, gayly + colored baskets of worsteds or mysterious kaleidoscopic fragments, and + vases of flowers pervaded the apartment with a mingled sense of grace and + comfort. There was a womanly refinement in its careless negligence, and + even the delicate wrapper of Japanese silk, gathered at the waist and + falling in easy folds to the feet of the graceful mistress of this + charming disorder, looked a part of its refined abandonment. + </p> + <p> + Clarence hesitated as on the threshold of some sacred shrine. But Mrs. + Peyton, with her own hands, cleared a space for him on the lounge. + </p> + <p> + “You will easily suspect from all this disorder, Mr. Brant, that I spend a + greater part of my time here, and that I seldom see much company. Mr. + Peyton occasionally comes in long enough to stumble over a footstool or + upset a vase, and I think Mary and Susy avoid it from a firm conviction + that there is work concealed in these baskets. But I have my books here, + and in the afternoons, behind these thick walls, one forgets the incessant + stir and restlessness of the dreadful winds outside. Just now you were + foolish enough to tempt them while you were nervous, or worried, or + listless. Take my word for it, it's a great mistake. There is no more use + fighting them, as I tell Mr. Peyton, than of fighting the people born + under them. I have my own opinion that these winds were sent only to stir + this lazy race of mongrels into activity, but they are enough to drive us + Anglo-Saxons into nervous frenzy. Don't you think so? But you are young + and energetic, and perhaps you are not affected by them.” + </p> + <p> + She spoke pleasantly and playfully, yet with a certain nervous tension of + voice and manner that seemed to illustrate her theory. At least, Clarence, + in quick sympathy with her slightest emotion, was touched by it. There is + no more insidious attraction in the persons we admire, than the belief + that we know and understand their unhappiness, and that our admiration for + them is lifted higher than a mere mutual instinctive sympathy with beauty + or strength. This adorable woman had suffered. The very thought aroused + his chivalry. It loosened, also, I fear, his quick, impulsive tongue. + </p> + <p> + Oh, yes; he knew it. He had lived under this whip of air and sky for three + years, alone in a Spanish rancho, with only the native peons around him, + and scarcely speaking his own tongue even to his guardian. He spent his + mornings on horseback in fields like these, until the vientos generales, + as they called them, sprang up and drove him nearly frantic; and his only + relief was to bury himself among the books in his guardian's library, and + shut out the world,—just as she did. The smile which hovered around + the lady's mouth at that moment arrested Clarence, with a quick + remembrance of their former relative positions, and a sudden conviction of + his familiarity in suggesting an equality of experience, and he blushed. + But Mrs. Peyton diverted his embarrassment with an air of interested + absorption in his story, and said:— + </p> + <p> + “Then you know these people thoroughly, Mr. Brant? I am afraid that WE do + not.” + </p> + <p> + Clarence had already gathered that fact within the last few days, and, + with his usual impulsive directness, said so. A slight knitting of Mrs. + Peyton's brows passed off, however, as he quickly and earnestly went on to + say that it was impossible for the Peytons in their present relations to + the natives to judge them, or to be judged by them fairly. How they were a + childlike race, credulous and trustful, but, like all credulous and + trustful people, given to retaliate when imposed upon with a larger + insincerity, exaggeration, and treachery. How they had seen their houses + and lands occupied by strangers, their religion scorned, their customs + derided, their patriarchal society invaded by hollow civilization or + frontier brutality—all this fortified by incident and illustration, + the outcome of some youthful experience, and given with the glowing + enthusiasm of conviction. Mrs. Peyton listened with the usual divided + feminine interest between subject and speaker. + </p> + <p> + Where did this rough, sullen boy—as she had known him—pick up + this delicate and swift perception, this reflective judgment, and this odd + felicity of expression? It was not possible that it was in him while he + was the companion of her husband's servants or the recognized “chum” of + the scamp Hooker. No. But if HE could have changed like this, why not + Susy? Mrs. Peyton, in the conservatism of her sex, had never been quite + free from fears of her adopted daughter's hereditary instincts; but, with + this example before her, she now took heart. Perhaps the change was coming + slowly; perhaps even now what she thought was indifference and coldness + was only some abnormal preparation or condition. But she only smiled and + said:— + </p> + <p> + “Then, if you think those people have been wronged, you are not on our + side, Mr. Brant?” + </p> + <p> + What to an older and more worldly man would have seemed, and probably was, + only a playful reproach, struck Clarence deeply, and brought his pent-up + feelings to his lips. + </p> + <p> + “YOU have never wronged them. You couldn't do it; it isn't in your nature. + I am on YOUR side, and for you and yours always, Mrs. Peyton. From the + first time I saw you on the plains, when I was brought, a ragged boy, + before you by your husband, I think I would gladly have laid down my life + for you. I don't mind telling you now that I was even jealous of poor + Susy, so anxious was I for the smallest share in your thoughts, if only + for a moment. You could have done anything with me you wished, and I + should have been happy,—far happier than I have been ever since. I + tell you this, Mrs. Peyton, now, because you have just doubted if I might + be 'on your side,' but I have been longing to tell it all to you before, + and it is that I am ready to do anything you want,—all you want,—to + be on YOUR SIDE and at YOUR SIDE, now and forever.” + </p> + <p> + He was so earnest and hearty, and above all so appallingly and blissfully + happy, in this relief of his feelings, smiling as if it were the most + natural thing in the world, and so absurdly unconscious of his twenty-two + years, his little brown curling mustache, the fire in his wistful, + yearning eyes, and, above all, of his clasped hands and lover-like + attitude, that Mrs. Peyton—at first rigid as stone, then suffused to + the eyes—cast a hasty glance round the apartment, put her + handkerchief to her face, and laughed like a girl. + </p> + <p> + At which Clarence, by no means discomposed, but rather accepting her + emotion as perfectly natural, joined her heartily, and added:— + </p> + <p> + “It's so, Mrs. Peyton; I'm glad I told you. You don't mind it, do you?” + </p> + <p> + But Mrs. Peyton had resumed her gravity, and perhaps a touch of her + previous misgivings. + </p> + <p> + “I should certainly be very sorry,” she said, looking at him critically, + “to object to your sharing your old friendship for your little playmate + with her parents and guardians, or to your expressing it to THEM as + frankly as to her.” + </p> + <p> + She saw the quick change in his mobile face and the momentary arrest of + its happy expression. She was frightened and yet puzzled. It was not the + sensitiveness of a lover at the mention of the loved one's name, and yet + it suggested an uneasy consciousness. If his previous impulsive outburst + had been prompted honestly, or even artfully, by his passion for Susy, why + had he looked so shocked when she spoke of her? + </p> + <p> + But Clarence, whose emotion had been caused by the sudden recall of his + knowledge of Susy's own disloyalty to the woman whose searching eyes were + upon him, in his revulsion against the deceit was, for an instant, upon + the point of divulging all. Perhaps, if Mrs. Peyton had shown more + confidence, he would have done so, and materially altered the evolution of + this story. But, happily, it is upon these slight human weaknesses that + your romancer depends, and Clarence, with no other reason than the + instinctive sympathy of youth with youth in its opposition to wisdom and + experience, let the opportunity pass, and took the responsibility of it + out of the hands of this chronicler. + </p> + <p> + Howbeit, to cover his confusion, he seized upon the second idea that was + in his mind, and stammered, “Susy! Yes, I wanted to speak to you about + her.” Mrs. Peyton held her breath, but the young man went on, although + hesitatingly, with evident sincerity. “Have you heard from any of her + relations since—since—you adopted her?” + </p> + <p> + It seemed a natural enough question, although not the sequitur she had + expected. “No,” she said carelessly. “It was well understood, after the + nearest relation—an aunt by marriage—had signed her consent to + Susy's adoption, that there should be no further intercourse with the + family. There seemed to us no necessity for reopening the past, and Susy + herself expressed no desire.” She stopped, and again fixing her handsome + eyes on Clarence, said, “Do you know any of them?” + </p> + <p> + But Clarence by this time had recovered himself, and was able to answer + carelessly and truthfully that he did not. Mrs. Peyton, still regarding + him closely, added somewhat deliberately, “It matters little now what + relations she has; Mr. Peyton and I have complete legal control over her + until she is of age, and we can easily protect her from any folly of her + own or others, or from any of the foolish fancies that sometimes overtake + girls of her age and inexperience.” + </p> + <p> + To her utter surprise, however, Clarence uttered a faint sigh of relief, + and his face again recovered its expression of boyish happiness. “I'm glad + of it, Mrs. Peyton,” he said heartily. “No one could understand better + what is for her interest in all things than yourself. Not,” he said, with + hasty and equally hearty loyalty to his old playmate, “that I think she + would ever go against your wishes, or do anything that she knows to be + wrong, but she is very young and innocent,—as much of a child as + ever, don't you think so, Mrs. Peyton?” + </p> + <p> + It was amusing, yet nevertheless puzzling, to hear this boyish young man + comment upon Susy's girlishness. And Clarence was serious, for he had + quite forgotten in Mrs. Peyton's presence the impression of superiority + which Susy had lately made upon him. But Mrs. Peyton returned to the + charge, or, rather, to an attack upon what she conceived to be Clarence's + old position. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose she does seem girlish compared to Mary Rogers, who is a much + more reserved and quiet nature. But Mary is very charming, Mr. Brant, and + I am really delighted to have her here with Susy. She has such lovely dark + eyes and such good manners. She has been well brought up, and it is easy + to see that her friends are superior people. I must write to them to thank + them for her visit, and beg them to let her stay longer. I think you said + you didn't know them?” + </p> + <p> + But Clarence, whose eyes had been thoughtfully and admiringly wandering + over every characteristic detail of the charming apartment, here raised + them to its handsome mistress, with an apologetic air and a “No” of such + unaffected and complete abstraction, that she was again dumbfounded. + Certainly, it could not be Mary in whom he was interested. + </p> + <p> + Abandoning any further inquisition for the present, she let the talk + naturally fall upon the books scattered about the tables. The young man + knew them all far better than she did, with a cognate knowledge of others + of which she had never heard. She found herself in the attitude of + receiving information from this boy, whose boyishness, however, seemed to + have evaporated, whose tone had changed with the subject, and who now + spoke with the conscious reserve of knowledge. Decidedly, she must have + grown rusty in her seclusion. This came, she thought bitterly, of living + alone; of her husband's preoccupation with the property; of Susy's + frivolous caprices. At the end of eight years to be outstripped by a + former cattle-boy of her husband's, and to have her French corrected in a + matter of fact way by this recent pupil of the priests, was really too + bad! Perhaps he even looked down upon Susy! She smiled dangerously but + suavely. + </p> + <p> + “You must have worked so hard to educate yourself from nothing, Mr. Brant. + You couldn't read, I think, when you first came to us. No? Could you + really? I know it has been very difficult for Susy to get on with her + studies in proportion. We had so much to first eradicate in the way of + manners, style, and habits of thought which the poor child had picked up + from her companions, and for which SHE was not responsible. Of course, + with a boy that does not signify,” she added, with feline gentleness. + </p> + <p> + But the barbed speech glanced from the young man's smoothly smiling + abstraction. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, yes. But those were happy days, Mrs. Peyton,” he answered, with an + exasperating return of his previous boyish enthusiasm, “perhaps because of + our ignorance. I don't think that Susy and I are any happier for knowing + that the plains are not as flat as we believed they were, and that the sun + doesn't have to burn a hole in them every night when it sets. But I know I + believed that YOU knew everything. When I once saw you smiling over a book + in your hand, I thought it must be a different one from any that I had + ever seen, and perhaps made expressly for you. I can see you there still. + Do you know,” quite confidentially, “that you reminded me—of course + YOU were much younger—of what I remembered of my mother?” + </p> + <p> + But Mrs. Peyton's reply of “Ah, indeed,” albeit polite, indicated some + coldness and lack of animation. Clarence rose quickly, but cast a long and + lingering look around him. + </p> + <p> + “You will come again, Mr. Brant,” said the lady more graciously. “If you + are going to ride now, perhaps you would try to meet Mr. Peyton. He is + late already, and I am always uneasy when he is out alone,—particularly + on one of those half-broken horses, which they consider good enough for + riding here. YOU have ridden them before and understand them, but I am + afraid that's another thing WE have got to learn.” + </p> + <p> + When the young man found himself again confronting the glittering light of + the courtyard, he remembered the interview and the soft twilight of the + boudoir only as part of a pleasant dream. There was a rude awakening in + the fierce wind, which had increased with the lengthening shadows. It + seemed to sweep away the half-sensuous comfort that had pervaded him, and + made him coldly realize that he had done nothing to solve the difficulties + of his relations to Susy. He had lost the one chance of confiding to Mrs. + Peyton,—if he had ever really intended to do so. It was impossible + for him to do it hereafter without a confession of prolonged deceit. + </p> + <p> + He reached the stables impatiently, where his attention was attracted by + the sound of excited voices in the corral. Looking within, he was + concerned to see that one of the vacqueros was holding the dragging bridle + of a blown, dusty, and foam-covered horse, around whom a dozen idlers were + gathered. Even beneath its coating of dust and foam and the half-displaced + saddle blanket, Clarence immediately recognized the spirited pinto mustang + which Peyton had ridden that morning. + </p> + <p> + “What's the matter?” said Clarence, from the gateway. + </p> + <p> + The men fell apart, glancing at each other. One said quickly in Spanish:— + </p> + <p> + “Say nothing to HIM. It is an affair of the house.” + </p> + <p> + But this brought Clarence down like a bombshell among them, not to be + overlooked in his equal command of their tongue and of them. “Ah! come, + now. What drunken piggishness is this? Speak!” + </p> + <p> + “The padron has been—perhaps—thrown,” stammered the first + speaker. “His horse arrives,—but he does not. We go to inform the + senora.” + </p> + <p> + “No, you don't! mules and imbeciles! Do you want to frighten her to death? + Mount, every one of you, and follow me!” + </p> + <p> + The men hesitated, but for only a moment. Clarence had a fine assortment + of Spanish epithets, expletives, and objurgations, gathered in his rodeo + experience at El Refugio, and laid them about him with such fervor and + discrimination that two or three mules, presumably with guilty + consciences, mistaking their direction, actually cowered against the + stockade of the corral in fear. In another moment the vacqueros had + hastily mounted, and, with Clarence at their head, were dashing down the + road towards Santa Inez. Here he spread them in open order in the grain, + on either side of the track, himself taking the road. + </p> + <p> + They did not proceed very far. For when they had reached the gradual slope + which marked the decline to the second terrace, Clarence, obeying an + instinct as irresistible as it was unaccountable, which for the last few + moments had been forcing itself upon him, ordered a halt. The casa and + corral had already sunk in the plain behind them; it was the spot where + the lasso had been thrown at him a few evenings before! Bidding the men + converge slowly towards the road, he went on more cautiously, with his + eyes upon the track before him. Presently he stopped. There was a ragged + displacement of the cracked and crumbling soil and the unmistakable scoop + of kicking hoofs. As he stooped to examine them, one of the men at the + right uttered a shout. By the same strange instinct Clarence knew that + Peyton was found! + </p> + <p> + He was, indeed, lying there among the wild oats at the right of the road, + but without trace of life or scarcely human appearance. His clothes, where + not torn and shredded away, were partly turned inside out; his shoulders, + neck, and head were a shapeless, undistinguishable mask of dried earth and + rags, like a mummy wrapping. His left boot was gone. His large frame + seemed boneless, and, except for the cerements of his mud-stiffened + clothing, was limp and sodden. + </p> + <p> + Clarence raised his head suddenly from a quick examination of the body, + and looked at the men around him. One of them was already cantering away. + Clarence instantly threw himself on his horse, and, putting spurs to the + animal, drew a revolver from his holster and fired over the man's head. + The rider turned in his saddle, saw his pursuer, and pulled up. + </p> + <p> + “Go back,” said Clarence, “or my next shot won't MISS you.” + </p> + <p> + “I was only going to inform the senora,” said the man with a shrug and a + forced smile. + </p> + <p> + “I will do that,” said Clarence grimly, driving him back with him into the + waiting circle; then turning to them he said slowly, with deliberate, + smileless irony, “And now, my brave gentlemen,—knights of the bull + and gallant mustang hunters,—I want to inform YOU that I believe + that Mr. Peyton was MURDERED, and if the man who killed him is anywhere + this side of hell, I intend to find him. Good! You understand me! Now lift + up the body,—you two, by the shoulders; you two, by the feet. Let + your horses follow. For I intend that you four shall carry home your + master in your arms, on foot. Now forward to the corral by the back trail. + Disobey me, or step out of line and”—He raised the revolver + ominously. + </p> + <p> + If the change wrought in the dead man before them was weird and + terrifying, no less distinct and ominous was the change that, during the + last few minutes, had come over the living speaker. For it was no longer + the youthful Clarence who sat there, but a haggard, prematurely worn, + desperate-looking avenger, lank of cheek, and injected of eye, whose white + teeth glistened under the brown mustache and thin pale lips that parted + when his restrained breath now and then hurriedly escaped them. + </p> + <p> + As the procession moved on, two men slunk behind with the horses. + </p> + <p> + “Mother of God! Who is this wolf's whelp?” said Manuel. + </p> + <p> + “Hush!” said his companion in a terrified whisper. “Have you not heard? It + is the son of Hamilton Brant, the assassin, the duelist,—he who was + fusiladed in Sonora.” He made the sign of the cross quickly. “Jesus Maria! + Let them look out who have cause, for the blood of his father is in him!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VII. + </h2> + <p> + What other speech passed between Clarence and Peyton's retainers was not + known, but not a word of the interview seemed to have been divulged by + those present. It was generally believed and accepted that Judge Peyton + met his death by being thrown from his half-broken mustang, and dragged at + its heels, and medical opinion, hastily summoned from Santa Inez after the + body had been borne to the corral, and stripped of its hideous encasings, + declared that the neck had been broken, and death had followed + instantaneously. An inquest was deemed unnecessary. + </p> + <p> + Clarence had selected Mary to break the news to Mrs. Peyton, and the + frightened young girl was too much struck with the change still visible in + his face, and the half authority of his manner, to decline, or even to + fully appreciate the calamity that had befallen them. After the first + benumbing shock, Mrs. Peyton passed into that strange exaltation of + excitement brought on by the immediate necessity for action, followed by a + pallid calm, which the average spectator too often unfairly accepts as + incongruous, inadequate, or artificial. There had also occurred one of + those strange compensations that wait on Death or disrupture by + catastrophe: such as the rude shaking down of an unsettled life, the + forcible realization of what were vague speculations, the breaking of old + habits and traditions, and the unloosing of half-conscious bonds. Mrs. + Peyton, without insensibility to her loss or disloyalty to her affections, + nevertheless felt a relief to know that she was now really Susy's + guardian, free to order her new life wherever and under what conditions + she chose as most favorable to it, and that she could dispose of this + house that was wearying to her when Susy was away, and which the girl + herself had always found insupportable. She could settle this question of + Clarence's relations to her daughter out of hand without advice or + opposition. She had a brother in the East, who would be summoned to take + care of the property. This consideration for the living pursued her, even + while the dead man's presence still awed the hushed house; it was in her + thoughts as she stood beside his bier and adjusted the flowers on his + breast, which no longer moved for or against these vanities; and it stayed + with her even in the solitude of her darkened room. + </p> + <p> + But if Mrs. Peyton was deficient, it was Susy who filled the popular idea + of a mourner, and whose emotional attitude of a grief-stricken daughter + left nothing to be desired. It was she who, when the house was filled with + sympathizing friends from San Francisco and the few near neighbors who had + hurried with condolences, was overflowing in her reminiscences of the dead + man's goodness to her, and her own undying affection; who recalled ominous + things that he had said, and strange premonitions of her own, the result + of her ever-present filial anxiety; it was she who had hurried home that + afternoon, impelled with vague fears of some impending calamity; it was + she who drew a picture of Peyton as a doting and almost too indulgent + parent, which Mary Rogers failed to recognize, and which brought back + vividly to Clarence's recollection her own childish exaggerations of the + Indian massacre. I am far from saying that she was entirely insincere or + merely acting at these moments; at times she was taken with a mild + hysteria, brought on by the exciting intrusion of this real event in her + monotonous life, by the attentions of her friends, the importance of her + suffering as an only child, and the advancement of her position as the + heiress of the Robles Rancho. If her tears were near the surface, they + were at least genuine, and filmed her violet eyes and reddened her pretty + eyelids quite as effectually as if they had welled from the depths of her + being. Her black frock lent a matured dignity to her figure, and paled her + delicate complexion with the refinement of suffering. Even Clarence was + moved in that dark and haggard abstraction that had settled upon him since + his strange outbreak over the body of his old friend. + </p> + <p> + The extent of that change had not been noticed by Mrs. Peyton, who had + only observed that Clarence had treated her grief with a grave and silent + respect. She was grateful for that. A repetition of his boyish + impulsiveness would have been distasteful to her at such a moment. She + only thought him more mature and more subdued, and as the only man now in + her household his services had been invaluable in the emergency. + </p> + <p> + The funeral had taken place at Santa Inez, where half the county gathered + to pay their last respects to their former fellow-citizen and neighbor, + whose legal and combative victories they had admired, and whom death had + lifted into a public character. The family were returning to the house the + same afternoon, Mrs. Peyton and the girls in one carriage, the female + house-servants in another, and Clarence on horseback. They had reached the + first plateau, and Clarence was riding a little in advance, when an + extraordinary figure, rising from the grain beyond, began to gesticulate + to him wildly. Checking the driver of the first carriage, Clarence bore + down upon the stranger. To his amazement it was Jim Hooker. Mounted on a + peaceful, unwieldy plough horse, he was nevertheless accoutred and armed + after his most extravagant fashion. In addition to a heavy rifle across + his saddle-bow he was weighted down with a knife and revolvers. Clarence + was in no mood for trifling, and almost rudely demanded his business. + </p> + <p> + “Gord, Clarence, it ain't foolin'. The Sisters' title was decided + yesterday.” + </p> + <p> + “I knew it, you fool! It's YOUR title! You were already on your land and + in possession. What the devil are you doing HERE?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,—but,” stammered Jim, “all the boys holding that title moved up + here to 'make the division' and grab all they could. And I followed. And I + found out that they were going to grab Judge Peyton's house, because it + was on the line, if they could, and findin' you was all away, by Gord THEY + DID! and they're in it! And I stoled out and rode down here to warn ye.” + </p> + <p> + He stopped, looked at Clarence, glanced darkly around him and then down on + his accoutrements. Even in that supreme moment of sincerity, he could not + resist the possibilities of the situation. + </p> + <p> + “It's as much as my life's worth,” he said gloomily. “But,” with a dark + glance at his weapons, “I'll sell it dearly.” + </p> + <p> + “Jim!” said Clarence, in a terrible voice, “you're not lying again?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Jim hurriedly. “I swear it, Clarence! No! Honest Injin this + time. And look. I'll help you. They ain't expectin' you yet, and they + think ye'll come by the road. Ef I raised a scare off there by the corral, + while you're creepin' ROUND BY THE BACK, mebbe you could get in while + they're all lookin' for ye in front, don't you see? I'll raise a big row, + and they needn't know but what ye've got wind of it and brought a party + with you from Santa Inez.” + </p> + <p> + In a flash Clarence had wrought a feasible plan out of Jim's fantasy. + </p> + <p> + “Good,” he said, wringing his old companion's hand. “Go back quietly now; + hang round the corral, and when you see the carriage climbing the last + terrace raise your alarm. Don't mind how loud it is, there'll be nobody + but the servants in the carriages.” + </p> + <p> + He rode quickly back to the first carriage, at whose window Mrs. Peyton's + calm face was already questioning him. He told her briefly and concisely + of the attack, and what he proposed to do. + </p> + <p> + “You have shown yourself so strong in matters of worse moment than this,” + he added quietly, “that I have no fears for your courage. I have only to + ask you to trust yourself to me, to put you back at once in your own home. + Your presence there, just now, is the one important thing, whatever + happens afterwards.” + </p> + <p> + She recognized his maturer tone and determined manner, and nodded assent. + More than that, a faint fire came into her handsome eyes; the two girls + kindled their own at that flaming beacon, and sat with flushed checks and + suspended, indignant breath. They were Western Americans, and not over + much used to imposition. + </p> + <p> + “You must get down before we raise the hill, and follow me on foot through + the grain. I was thinking,” he added, turning to Mrs. Peyton, “of your + boudoir window.” + </p> + <p> + She had been thinking of it, too, and nodded. + </p> + <p> + “The vine has loosened the bars,” he said. + </p> + <p> + “If it hasn't, we must squeeze through them,” she returned simply. + </p> + <p> + At the end of the terrace Clarence dismounted, and helped them from the + carriage. He then gave directions to the coachmen to follow the road + slowly to the corral in front of the casa, and tied his horse behind the + second carriage. Then, with Mrs. Peyton and the two young girls, he + plunged into the grain. + </p> + <p> + It was hot, it was dusty, their thin shoes slipped in the crumbling adobe, + and the great blades caught in their crape draperies, but they uttered no + complaint. Whatever ulterior thought was in their minds, they were bent + only on one thing at that moment,—on entering the house at any + hazard. Mrs. Peyton had lived long enough on the frontier to know the + magic power of POSSESSION. Susy already was old enough to feel the acute + feminine horror of the profanation of her own belongings by alien hands. + Clarence, more cognizant of the whole truth than the others, was equally + silent and determined; and Mary Rogers was fired with the zeal of loyalty. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly a series of blood-curdling yells broke from the direction of the + corral, and they stopped. But Clarence at once recognized the well-known + war-whoop imitation of Jim Hooker,—infinitely more gruesome and + appalling than the genuine aboriginal challenge. A half dozen shots fired + in quick succession had evidently the same friendly origin. + </p> + <p> + “Now is our time,” said Clarence eagerly. “We must run for the house.” + </p> + <p> + They had fortunately reached by this time the angle of the adobe wall of + the casa, and the long afternoon shadows of the building were in their + favor. They pressed forward eagerly with the sounds of Jim Hooker's sham + encounter still in their ears, mingled with answering shouts of defiance + from strange voices within the building towards the front. + </p> + <p> + They rapidly skirted the wall, even passing boldly before the back + gateway, which seemed empty and deserted, and the next moment stood beside + the narrow window of the boudoir. Clarence's surmises were correct; the + iron grating was not only loose, but yielded to a vigorous wrench, the + vine itself acting as a lever to pull out the rusty bars. The young man + held out his hand, but Mrs. Peyton, with the sudden agility of a young + girl, leaped into the window, followed by Mary and Susy. The inner + casement yielded to her touch; the next moment they were within the room. + Then Mrs. Peyton's flushed and triumphant face reappeared at the window. + </p> + <p> + “It's all right; the men are all in the courtyard, or in the front of the + house. The boudoir door is strong, and we can bolt them out.” + </p> + <p> + “It won't be necessary,” said Clarence quietly; “you will not be + disturbed.” + </p> + <p> + “But are you not coming in?” she asked timidly, holding the window open. + </p> + <p> + Clarence looked at her with his first faint smile since Peyton's death. + </p> + <p> + “Of course I am, but not in THAT way. I am going in by THE FRONT GATE.” + </p> + <p> + She would have detained him, but, with a quick wave of his hand, he left + her, and ran swiftly around the wall of the casa toward the front. The + gate was half open; a dozen excited men were gathered before it and in the + archway, and among them, whitened with dust, blackened with powder, and + apparently glutted with rapine, and still holding a revolver in his hand, + was Jim Hooker! As Clarence approached, the men quickly retreated inside + the gate and closed it, but not before he had exchanged a meaning glance + with Jim. When he reached the gate, a man from within roughly demanded his + business. + </p> + <p> + “I wish to see the leader of this party,” said Clarence quietly. + </p> + <p> + “I reckon you do,” returned the man, with a short laugh. “But I kalkilate + HE don't return the compliment.” + </p> + <p> + “He probably will when he reads this note to his employer,” continued + Clarence still coolly, selecting a paper from his pocketbook. It was + addressed to Francisco Robles, Superintendent of the Sisters' Title, and + directed him to give Mr. Clarence Brant free access to the property and + the fullest information concerning it. The man took it, glanced at it, + looked again at Clarence, and then passed the paper to a third man among + the group in the courtyard. The latter read it, and approached the gate + carelessly. + </p> + <p> + “Well, what do you want?” + </p> + <p> + “I am afraid you have the advantage of me in being able to transact + business through bars,” said Clarence, with slow but malevolent + distinctness, “and as mine is important, I think you had better open the + gate to me.” + </p> + <p> + The slight laugh that his speech had evoked from the bystanders was + checked as the leader retorted angrily:— + </p> + <p> + “That's all very well; but how do I know that you're the man represented + in that letter? Pancho Robles may know you, but I don't.” + </p> + <p> + “That you can find out very easily,” said Clarence. “There is a man among + your party who knows me,—Mr. Hooker. Ask him.” + </p> + <p> + The man turned, with a quick mingling of surprise and suspicion, to the + gloomy, imperturbable Hooker. Clarence could not hear the reply of that + young gentleman, but it was evidently not wanting in his usual dark, + enigmatical exaggeration. The man surlily opened the gate. + </p> + <p> + “All the same,” he said, still glancing suspiciously at Hooker, “I don't + see what HE'S got to do with you.” + </p> + <p> + “A great deal,” said Clarence, entering the courtyard, and stepping into + the veranda; “HE'S ONE OF MY TENANTS.” + </p> + <p> + “Your WHAT?” said the man, with a coarse laugh of incredulity. + </p> + <p> + “My tenants,” repeated Clarence, glancing around the courtyard carelessly. + Nevertheless, he was relieved to notice that the three or four Mexicans of + the party did not seem to be old retainers of the rancho. There was no + evidence of the internal treachery he had feared. + </p> + <p> + “Your TENANTS!” echoed the man, with an uneasy glance at the faces of the + others. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Clarence, with business brevity; “and, for the matter of that, + although I have no reason to be particularly proud of it, SO ARE YOU ALL. + You ask my business here. It seems to be the same as yours,—to hold + possession of this house! With this difference, however,” he continued, + taking a document from his pocket. “Here is the certificate, signed by the + County Clerk, of the bill of sale of the entire Sisters' title to ME. It + includes the whole two leagues from Fair Plains to the old boundary line + of this rancho, which you forcibly entered this morning. There is the + document; examine it if you like. The only shadow of a claim you could + have to this property you would have to derive from ME. The only excuse + you could have for this act of lawlessness would be orders from ME. And + all that you have done this morning is only the assertion of MY legal + right to this house. If I disavow your act, as I might, I leave you as + helpless as any tramp that was ever kicked from a doorstep,—as any + burglar that was ever collared on the fence by a constable.” + </p> + <p> + It was the truth. There was no denying the authority of the document, the + facts of the situation, or its ultimate power and significance. There was + consternation, stupefaction, and even a half-humorous recognition of the + absurdity of their position on most of the faces around him. Incongruous + as the scene was, it was made still more grotesque by the attitude of Jim + Hooker. Ruthlessly abandoning the party of convicted trespassers, he + stalked gloomily over to the side of Clarence, with the air of having been + all the time scornfully in the secret and a mien of wearied + victoriousness, and thus halting, he disdainfully expectorated tobacco + juice on the ground between him and his late companions, as if to form a + line of demarcation. The few Mexicans began to edge towards the gateway. + This defection of his followers recalled the leader, who was no coward, to + himself again. + </p> + <p> + “Shut the gate, there!” he shouted. + </p> + <p> + As its two sides clashed together again, he turned deliberately to + Clarence. + </p> + <p> + “That's all very well, young man, as regards the TITLE. You may have + BOUGHT up the land, and legally own every square inch of howling + wilderness between this and San Francisco, and I wish you joy of your d—d + fool's bargain; you may have got a whole circus like that,” pointing to + the gloomy Jim, “at your back. But with all your money and all your + friends you've forgotten one thing. You haven't got possession, and we + have.” + </p> + <p> + “That's just where we differ,” said Clarence coolly, “for if you take the + trouble to examine the house, you will see that it is already in + possession of Mrs. Peyton,—MY TENANT.” + </p> + <p> + He paused to give effect to his revelations. But he was, nevertheless, + unprepared for an unrehearsed dramatic situation. Mrs. Peyton, who had + been tired of waiting, and was listening in the passage, at the mention of + her name, entered the gallery, followed by the young ladies. The slight + look of surprise upon her face at the revelation she had just heard of + Clarence's ownership, only gave the suggestion of her having been + unexpectedly disturbed in her peaceful seclusion. One of the Mexicans + turned pale, with a frightened glance at the passage, as if he expected + the figure of the dead man to follow. + </p> + <p> + The group fell back. The game was over,—and lost. No one recognized + it more quickly than the gamblers themselves. More than that, desperate + and lawless as they were, they still retained the chivalry of Western men, + and every hat was slowly doffed to the three black figures that stood + silently in the gallery. And even apologetic speech began to loosen the + clenched teeth of the discomfited leader. + </p> + <p> + “We—were—told there was no one in the house,” he stammered. + </p> + <p> + “And it was the truth,” said a pert, youthful, yet slightly affected + voice. “For we climbed into the window just as you came in at the gate.” + </p> + <p> + It was Susy's words that stung their ears again; but it was Susy's pretty + figure, suddenly advanced and in a slightly theatrical attitude, that + checked their anger. There had been a sudden ominous silence, as the whole + plot of rescue seemed to be revealed to them in those audacious words. But + a sense of the ludicrous, which too often was the only perception that + ever mitigated the passions of such assemblies, here suddenly asserted + itself. The leader burst into a loud laugh, which was echoed by the + others, and, with waving hats, the whole party swept peacefully out + through the gate. + </p> + <p> + “But what does all this mean about YOUR purchasing the land, Mr. Brant?” + said Mrs. Peyton quickly, fixing her eyes intently on Clarence. + </p> + <p> + A faint color—the useless protest of his truthful blood—came + to his cheek. + </p> + <p> + “The house is YOURS, and yours alone, Mrs. Peyton. The purchase of the + sisters' title was a private arrangement between Mr. Peyton and myself, in + view of an emergency like this.” + </p> + <p> + She did not, however, take her proud, searching eyes from his face, and he + was forced to turn away. + </p> + <p> + “It was SO like dear, good, thoughtful papa,” said Susy. “Why, bless me,” + in a lower voice, “if that isn't that lying old Jim Hooker standing there + by the gate!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VIII. + </h2> + <p> + Judge Peyton had bequeathed his entire property unconditionally to his + wife. But his affairs were found to be greatly in disorder, and his papers + in confusion, and although Mrs. Peyton could discover no actual record of + the late transaction with Mr. Brant, which had saved her the possession of + the homestead, it was evident that he had spent large sums in speculative + attempts to maintain the integrity of his estate. That enormous domain, + although perfectly unencumbered, had been nevertheless unremunerative, + partly through the costs of litigation and partly through the systematic + depredations to which its great size and long line of unprotected boundary + had subjected it. It had been invaded by squatters and “jumpers,” who had + sown and reaped crops without discovery; its cattle and wild horses had + strayed or been driven beyond its ill-defined and hopeless limits. Against + these difficulties the widow felt herself unable and unwilling to contend, + and with the advice of her friends and her lawyer, she concluded to sell + the estate, except that portion covered by the Sisters' title, which, with + the homestead, had been reconveyed to her by Clarence. She retired with + Susy to the house in San Francisco, leaving Clarence to occupy and hold + the casa, with her servants, for her until order was restored. The Robles + Rancho thus became the headquarters of the new owner of the Sisters' + title, from which he administered its affairs, visited its incumbencies, + overlooked and surveyed its lands, and—occasionally—collected + its rents. There were not wanting critics who averred that these were + scarcely remunerative, and that the young San Francisco fine gentleman, + who was only Hamilton Brant's son, after all, yet who wished to ape the + dignity and degree of a large landholder, had made a very foolish bargain. + I grieve to say that one of his own tenants, namely, Jim Hooker, in his + secret heart inclined to that belief, and looked upon Clarence's + speculation as an act of far-seeing and inordinate vanity. + </p> + <p> + Indeed, the belligerent Jim had partly—and of course darkly—intimated + something of this to Susy in their brief reunion at the casa during the + few days that followed its successful reoccupation. And Clarence, + remembering her older caprices, and her remark on her first recognition of + him, was quite surprised at the easy familiarity of her reception of this + forgotten companion of their childhood. But he was still more concerned in + noticing, for the first time, a singular sympathetic understanding of each + other, and an odd similarity of occasional action and expression between + them. It was a part of this monstrous peculiarity that neither the + sympathy nor the likeness suggested any particular friendship or amity in + the pair, but rather a mutual antagonism and suspicion. Mrs. Peyton, + coldly polite to Clarence's former COMPANION, but condescendingly gracious + to his present TENANT and retainer, did not notice it, preoccupied with + the annoyance and pain of Susy's frequent references to the old days of + their democratic equality. + </p> + <p> + “You don't remember, Jim, the time that you painted my face in the wagon, + and got me up as an Indian papoose?” she said mischievously. + </p> + <p> + But Jim, who had no desire to recall his previous humble position before + Mrs. Peyton or Clarence, was only vaguely responsive. Clarence, although + joyfully touched at this seeming evidence of Susy's loyalty to the past, + nevertheless found himself even more acutely pained at the distress it + caused Mrs. Peyton, and was as relieved as she was by Hooker's reticence. + For he had seen little of Susy since Peyton's death, and there had been no + repetition of their secret interviews. Neither had he, nor she as far as + he could judge, noticed the omission. He had been more than usually kind, + gentle, and protecting in his manner towards her, with little reference, + however, to any response from her, yet he was vaguely conscious of some + change in his feelings. He attributed it, when he thought of it at all, to + the exciting experiences through which he had passed; to some sentiment of + responsibility to his dead friend; and to another secret preoccupation + that was always in his mind. He believed it would pass in time. Yet he + felt a certain satisfaction that she was no longer able to trouble him, + except, of course, when she pained Mrs. Peyton, and then he was half + conscious of taking the old attitude of the dead husband in mediating + between them. Yet so great was his inexperience that he believed, with + pathetic simplicity of perception, that all this was due to the slow + maturing of his love for her, and that he was still able to make her + happy. But this was something to be thought of later. Just now Providence + seemed to have offered him a vocation and a purpose that his idle + adolescence had never known. He did not dream that his capacity for + patience was only the slow wasting of his love. + </p> + <p> + Meantime that more wonderful change and recreation of the Californian + landscape, so familiar, yet always so young, had come to the rancho. The + league-long terrace that had yellowed, whitened, and wasted for half a + year beneath a staring, monotonous sky, now under sailing clouds, flying + and broken shafts of light, and sharply defined lines of rain, had taken a + faint hue of resurrection. The dust that had muffled the roads and byways, + and choked the low oaks that fringed the sunken canada, had long since + been laid. The warm, moist breath of the southwest trades had softened the + hard, dry lines of the landscape, and restored its color as of a picture + over which a damp sponge had been passed. The broad expanse of plateau + before the casa glistened and grew dark. The hidden woods of the canada, + cleared and strengthened in their solitude, dripped along the trails and + hollows that were now transformed into running streams. The distinguishing + madrono near the entrance to the rancho had changed its crimson summer + suit and masqueraded in buff and green. + </p> + <p> + Yet there were leaden days, when half the prospect seemed to be seen + through palisades of rain; when the slight incline between the terraces + became a tumultuous cascade, and the surest hoofs slipped on trails of + unctuous mud; when cattle were bogged a few yards from the highway, and + the crossing of the turnpike road was a dangerous ford. There were days of + gale and tempest, when the shriveled stalks of giant oats were stricken + like trees, and lay across each other in rigid angles, and a roar as of + the sea came up from the writhing treetops in the sunken valley. There + were long weary nights of steady downpour, hammering on the red tiles of + the casa, and drumming on the shingles of the new veranda, which was more + terrible to be borne. Alone, but for the servants, and an occasional + storm-stayed tenant from Fair Plains, Clarence might have, at such times, + questioned the effect of this seclusion upon his impassioned nature. But + he had already been accustomed to monastic seclusion in his boyish life at + El Refugio, and he did not reflect that, for that very reason, its + indulgences might have been dangerous. From time to time letters reached + him from the outer world of San Francisco,—a few pleasant lines from + Mrs. Peyton, in answer to his own chronicle of his half stewardship, + giving the news of the family, and briefly recounting their movements. She + was afraid that Susy's sensitive nature chafed under the restriction of + mourning in the gay city, but she trusted to bring her back for a change + to Robles when the rains were over. This was a poor substitute for those + brief, happy glimpses of the home circle which had so charmed him, but he + accepted it stoically. He wandered over the old house, from which the + perfume of domesticity seemed to have evaporated, yet, notwithstanding + Mrs. Peyton's playful permission, he never intruded upon the sanctity of + the boudoir, and kept it jealously locked. + </p> + <p> + He was sitting in Peyton's business room one morning, when Incarnacion + entered. Clarence had taken a fancy to this Indian, half steward, half + vacquero, who had reciprocated it with a certain dog-like fidelity, but + also a feline indirectness that was part of his nature. He had been early + prepossessed with Clarence through a kinsman at El Refugio, where the + young American's generosity had left a romantic record among the common + people. He had been pleased to approve of his follies before the knowledge + of his profitless and lordly land purchase had commended itself to him as + corroborative testimony. “Of true hidalgo blood, mark you,” he had said + oracularly. “Wherefore was his father sacrificed by mongrels! As to the + others, believe me,—bah!” + </p> + <p> + He stood there, sombrero in hand, murky and confidential, steaming through + his soaked serape and exhaling a blended odor of equine perspiration and + cigarette smoke. + </p> + <p> + “It was, perhaps, as the master had noticed, a brigand's own day! + Bullying, treacherous, and wicked! It blew you off your horse if you so + much as lifted your arms and let the wind get inside your serape; and as + for the mud,—caramba! in fifty varas your forelegs were like bears, + and your hoofs were earthen plasters!” + </p> + <p> + Clarence knew that Incarnacion had not sought him with mere meteorological + information, and patiently awaited further developments. The vacquero went + on:— + </p> + <p> + “But one of the things this beast of a weather did was to wash down the + stalks of the grain, and to clear out the trough and hollows between, and + to make level the fields, and—look you! to uncover the stones and + rubbish and whatever the summer dust had buried. Indeed, it was even as a + miracle that Jose Mendez one day, after the first showers, came upon a + silver button from his calzas, which he had lost in the early summer. And + it was only that morning that, remembering how much and with what fire Don + Clarencio had sought the missing boot from the foot of the Senor Peyton + when his body was found, he, Incarnacion, had thought he would look for it + on the falda of the second terrace. And behold, Mother of God it was + there! Soaked with mud and rain, but the same as when the senor was alive. + To the very spur!” + </p> + <p> + He drew the boot from beneath his serape and laid it before Clarence. The + young man instantly recognized it, in spite of its weather-beaten + condition and its air of grotesque and drunken inconsistency to the + usually trim and correct appearance of Peyton when alive. “It is the + same,” he said, in a low voice. + </p> + <p> + “Good!” said Incarnacion. “Now, if Don Clarencio will examine the American + spur, he will see—what? A few horse-hairs twisted and caught in the + sharp points of the rowel. Good! Is it the hair of the horse that Senor + rode? Clearly not; and in truth not. It is too long for the flanks and + belly of the horse; it is not the same color as the tail and the mane. How + comes it there? It comes from the twisted horsehair rope of a riata, and + not from the braided cowhide thongs of the regular lasso of a vacquero. + The lasso slips not much, but holds; the riata slips much and strangles.” + </p> + <p> + “But Mr. Peyton was not strangled,” said Clarence quickly. + </p> + <p> + “No, for the noose of the riata was perhaps large,—who knows? It + might have slipped down his arms, pinioned him, and pulled him off. Truly!—such + has been known before. Then on the ground it slipped again, or he perhaps + worked it off to his feet where it caught on his spur, and then he was + dragged until the boot came off, and behold! he was dead.” + </p> + <p> + This had been Clarence's own theory of the murder, but he had only half + confided it to Incarnacion. He silently examined the spur with the + accusing horse-hair, and placed it in his desk. Incarnacion continued:— + </p> + <p> + “There is not a vacquero in the whole rancho who has a horse-hair riata. + We use the braided cowhide; it is heavier and stronger; it is for the bull + and not the man. The horse-hair riata comes from over the range—south.” + </p> + <p> + There was a dead silence, broken only by the drumming of the rain upon the + roof of the veranda. Incarnacion slightly shrugged his shoulders. + </p> + <p> + “Don Clarencio does not know the southern county? Francisco Robles, cousin + of the 'Sisters,'—he they call 'Pancho,'—comes from the south. + Surely when Don Clarencio bought the title he saw Francisco, for he was + the steward?” + </p> + <p> + “I dealt only with the actual owners and through my bankers in San + Francisco,” returned Clarence abstractedly. + </p> + <p> + Incarnacion looked through the yellow corners of his murky eyes at his + master. + </p> + <p> + “Pedro Valdez, who was sent away by Senor Peyton, is the foster-brother of + Francisco. They were much together. Now that Francisco is rich from the + gold Don Clarencio paid for the title, they come not much together. But + Pedro is rich, too. Mother of God! He gambles and is a fine gentleman. He + holds his head high,—even over the Americanos he gambles with. + Truly, they say he can shoot with the best of them. He boasts and swells + himself, this Pedro! He says if all the old families were like him, they + would drive those western swine back over the mountains again.” + </p> + <p> + Clarence raised his eyes, caught a subtle yellow flash from Incarnacion's, + gazed at him suddenly, and rose. + </p> + <p> + “I don't think I have ever seen him,” he said quietly. “Thank you for + bringing me the spur. But keep the knowledge of it to yourself, good + Nascio, for the present.” + </p> + <p> + Nascio nevertheless still lingered. Perceiving which, Clarence handed him + a cigarette and proceeded to light one himself. He knew that the vacquero + would reroll his, and that that always deliberate occupation would cover + and be an excuse for further confidence. + </p> + <p> + “The Senora Peyton does not perhaps meet this Pedro in the society of San + Francisco?” + </p> + <p> + “Surely not. The senora is in mourning and goes not out in society, nor + would she probably go anywhere where she would meet a dismissed servant of + her husband.” + </p> + <p> + Incarnacion slowly lit his cigarette, and said between the puffs, “And the + senorita—she would not meet him?” + </p> + <p> + “Assuredly not.” + </p> + <p> + “And,” continued Incarnacion, throwing down the match and putting his foot + on it, “if this boaster, this turkey-cock, says she did, you could put him + out like that?” + </p> + <p> + “Certainly,” said Clarence, with an easy confidence he was, however, far + from feeling, “if he really SAID it—which I doubt.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, truly,” said Incarnacion; “who knows? It may be another Senorita + Silsbee.” + </p> + <p> + “The senora's adopted daughter is called MISS PEYTON, friend Nascio. You + forget yourself,” said Clarence quietly. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, pardon!” said Incarnacion with effusive apology; “but she was born + Silsbee. Everybody knows it; she herself has told it to Pepita. The Senor + Peyton bequeathed his estate to the Senora Peyton. He named not the + senorita! Eh, what would you? It is the common cackle of the barnyard. But + I say 'Mees Silsbee.' For look you. There is a Silsbee of Sacramento, the + daughter of her aunt, who writes letters to her. Pepita has seen them! And + possibly it is only that Mees of whom the brigand Pedro boasts.” + </p> + <p> + “Possibly,” said Clarence, “but as far as this rancho is concerned, friend + Nascio, thou wilt understand—and I look to thee to make the others + understand—that there is no Senorita SILSBEE here, only the Senorita + PEYTON, the respected daughter of the senora thy mistress!” He spoke with + the quaint mingling of familiarity and paternal gravity of the Spanish + master—a faculty he had acquired at El Refugio in a like vicarious + position, and which never failed as a sign of authority. “And now,” he + added gravely, “get out of this, friend, with God's blessing, and see that + thou rememberest what I told thee.” + </p> + <p> + The retainer, with equal gravity, stepped backwards, saluted with his + sombrero until the stiff brim scraped the floor, and then solemnly + withdrew. + </p> + <p> + Left to himself, Clarence remained for an instant silent and thoughtful + before the oven-like hearth. So! everybody knew Susy's real relations to + the Peytons, and everybody but Mrs. Peyton, perhaps, knew that she was + secretly corresponding with some one of her own family. In other + circumstances he might have found some excuse for this assertion of her + independence and love of her kindred, but in her attitude towards Mrs. + Peyton it seemed monstrous. It appeared impossible that Mrs. Peyton should + not have heard of it, or suspected the young girl's disaffection. Perhaps + she had,—it was another burden laid upon her shoulders,—but + the proud woman had kept it to herself. A film of moisture came across his + eyes. I fear he thought less of the suggestion of Susy's secret meeting + with Pedro, or Incarnacion's implied suspicions that Pedro was concerned + in Peyton's death, than of this sentimental possibility. He knew that + Pedro had been hated by the others on account of his position; he knew the + instinctive jealousies of the race and their predisposition to extravagant + misconstruction. From what he had gathered, and particularly from the + voices he had overheard on the Fair Plains Road, it seemed to him that + Pedro was more capable of mercenary intrigue than physical revenge. He was + not aware of the irrevocable affront put upon Pedro by Peyton, and he had + consequently attached no importance to Peyton's own half-scornful + intimation of the only kind of retaliation that Pedro would be likely to + take. The unsuccessful attempt upon himself he had always thought might + have been an accident, or if it was really a premeditated assault, it + might have been intended actually for HIMSELF and not Peyton, as he had + first thought, and his old friend had suffered for HIM, through some + mistake of the assailant. The purpose, which alone seemed wanting, might + have been to remove Clarence as a possible witness who had overheard their + conspiracy—how much of it they did not know—on the Fair Plains + Road that night. The only clue he held to the murderer in the spur locked + in his desk, merely led him beyond the confines of the rancho, but + definitely nowhere else. It was, however, some relief to know that the + crime was not committed by one of Peyton's retainers, nor the outcome of + domestic treachery. + </p> + <p> + After some consideration he resolved to seek Jim Hooker, who might be + possessed of some information respecting Susy's relations, either from the + young girl's own confidences or from Jim's personal knowledge of the old + frontier families. From a sense of loyalty to Susy and Mrs. Peyton, he had + never alluded to the subject before him, but since the young girl's own + indiscretion had made it a matter of common report, however distasteful it + was to his own feelings, he felt he could not plead the sense of delicacy + for her. He had great hopes in what he had always believed was only her + exaggeration of fact as well as feeling. And he had an instinctive + reliance on her fellow poseur's ability to detect it. A few days later, + when he found he could safely leave the rancho alone, he rode to Fair + Plains. + </p> + <p> + The floods were out along the turnpike road, and even seemed to have + increased since his last journey. The face of the landscape had changed + again. One of the lower terraces had become a wild mere of sedge and + reeds. The dry and dusty bed of a forgotten brook had reappeared, a + full-banked river, crossing the turnpike and compelling a long detour + before the traveler could ford it. But as he approached the Hopkins farm + and the opposite clearing and cabin of Jim Hooker, he was quite unprepared + for a still more remarkable transformation. The cabin, a three-roomed + structure, and its cattle-shed had entirely disappeared! There were no + traces or signs of inundation. The land lay on a gentle acclivity above + the farm and secure from the effects of the flood, and a part of the + ploughed and cleared land around the site of the cabin showed no evidence + of overflow on its black, upturned soil. But the house was gone! Only a + few timbers too heavy to be removed, the blighting erasions of a few + months of occupation, and the dull, blackened area of the site itself were + to be seen. The fence alone was intact. + </p> + <p> + Clarence halted before it, perplexed and astonished. Scarcely two weeks + had elapsed since he had last visited it and sat beneath its roof with + Jim, and already its few ruins had taken upon themselves the look of years + of abandonment and decay. The wild land seemed to have thrown off its yoke + of cultivation in a night, and nature rioted again with all its primal + forces over the freed soil. Wild oats and mustard were springing already + in the broken furrows, and lank vines were slimily spreading over a few + scattered but still unseasoned and sappy shingles. Some battered tin cans + and fragments of old clothing looked as remote as if they had been relics + of the earliest immigration. + </p> + <p> + Clarence turned inquiringly towards the Hopkins farmhouse across the road. + His arrival, however, had already been noticed, as the door of the kitchen + opened in an anticipatory fashion, and he could see the slight figure of + Phoebe Hopkins in the doorway, backed by the overlooking heads and + shoulders of her parents. The face of the young girl was pale and drawn + with anxiety, at which Clarence's simple astonishment took a shade of + concern. + </p> + <p> + “I am looking for Mr. Hooker,” he said uneasily. “And I don't seem to be + able to find either him or his house.” + </p> + <p> + “And you don't know what's gone of him?” said the girl quickly. + </p> + <p> + “No; I haven't seen him for two weeks.” + </p> + <p> + “There, I told you so!” said the girl, turning nervously to her parents. + “I knew it. He hasn't seen him for two weeks.” Then, looking almost + tearfully at Clarence's face, she said, “No more have we.” + </p> + <p> + “But,” said Clarence impatiently, “something must have happened. Where is + his house?” + </p> + <p> + “Taken away by them jumpers,” interrupted the old farmer; “a lot of roughs + that pulled it down and carted it off in a jiffy before our very eyes + without answerin' a civil question to me or her. But he wasn't there, nor + before, nor since.” + </p> + <p> + “No,” added the old woman, with flashing eyes, “or he'd let 'em have what + ther' was in his six-shooters.” + </p> + <p> + “No, he wouldn't, mother,” said the girl impatiently, “he'd CHANGED, and + was agin all them ideas of force and riotin'. He was for peace and law all + the time. Why, the day before we missed him he was tellin' me California + never would be decent until people obeyed the laws and the titles were + settled. And for that reason, because he wouldn't fight agin the law, or + without the consent of the law, they've killed him, or kidnapped him + away.” + </p> + <p> + The girl's lips quivered, and her small brown hands twisted the edges of + her blue checked apron. Although this new picture of Jim's peacefulness + was as astounding and unsatisfactory as his own disappearance, there was + no doubt of the sincerity of poor Phoebe's impression. + </p> + <p> + In vain did Clarence point out to them there must be some mistake; that + the trespassers—the so-called jumpers—really belonged to the + same party as Hooker, and would have no reason to dispossess him; that, in + fact, they were all HIS, Clarence's, tenants. In vain he assured them of + Hooker's perfect security in possession; that he could have driven the + intruders away by the simple exhibition of his lease, or that he could + have even called a constable from the town of Fair Plains to protect him + from mere lawlessness. In vain did he assure them of his intention to find + his missing friend, and reinstate him at any cost. The conviction that the + unfortunate young man had been foully dealt with was fixed in the minds of + the two women. For a moment Clarence himself was staggered by it. + </p> + <p> + “You see,” said the young girl, with a kindling face, “the day before he + came back from Robles, ther' were some queer men hangin' round his cabin, + but as they were the same kind that went off with him the day the Sisters' + title was confirmed, we thought nothing of it. But when he came back from + you he seemed worried and anxious, and wasn't a bit like himself. We + thought perhaps he'd got into some trouble there, or been disappointed. He + hadn't, had he, Mr. Brant?” continued Phoebe, with an appealing look. + </p> + <p> + “By no means,” said Clarence warmly. “On the contrary, he was able to do + his friends good service there, and was successful in what he attempted. + Mrs. Peyton was very grateful. Of course he told you what had happened, + and what he did for us,” continued Clarence, with a smile. + </p> + <p> + He had already amused himself on the way with a fanciful conception of the + exaggerated account Jim had given of his exploits. But the bewildered girl + shook her head. + </p> + <p> + “No, he didn't tell us ANYTHING.” + </p> + <p> + Clarence was really alarmed. This unprecedented abstention of Hooker's was + portentous. + </p> + <p> + “He didn't say anything but what I told you about law and order,” she went + on; “but that same night we heard a good deal of talking and shouting in + the cabin and around it. And the next day he was talking with father, and + wanting to know how HE kept his land without trouble from outsiders.” + </p> + <p> + “And I said,” broke in Hopkins, “that I guessed folks didn't bother a man + with women folks around, and that I kalkilated that I wasn't quite as + notorious for fightin' as he was.” + </p> + <p> + “And he said,” also interrupted Mrs. Hopkins, “and quite in his nat'ral + way, too,—gloomy like, you remember, Cyrus,” appealingly to her + husband,—“that that was his curse.” + </p> + <p> + The smile that flickered around Clarence's mouth faded, however, as he + caught sight of Phoebe's pleading, interrogating eyes. It was really too + bad. Whatever change had come over the rascal it was too evident that his + previous belligerent personality had had its full effect upon the simple + girl, and that, hereafter, one pair of honest eyes would be wistfully + following him. + </p> + <p> + Perplexed and indignant, Clarence again closely questioned her as to the + personnel of the trespassing party who had been seen once or twice since + passing over the field. He had at last elicited enough information to + identify one of them as Gilroy, the leader of the party that had invaded + Robles rancho. His cheek flushed. Even if they had wished to take a + theatrical and momentary revenge on Hooker for the passing treachery to + them which they had just discovered, although such retaliation was only + transitory, and they could not hold the land, it was an insult to Clarence + himself, whose tenant Jim was, and subversive of all their legally + acquired rights. He would confront this Gilroy at once; his half-wild + encampment was only a few miles away, just over the boundaries of the + Robles estate. Without stating his intention, he took leave of the Hopkins + family with the cheerful assurance that he would probably return with some + news of Hooker, and rode away. + </p> + <p> + The trail became more indistinct and unfrequented as it diverged from the + main road, and presently lost itself in the slope towards the east. The + horizon grew larger: there were faint bluish lines upon it which he knew + were distant mountains; beyond this a still fainter white line—the + Sierran snows. Presently he intersected a trail running south, and + remarked that it crossed the highway behind him, where he had once met the + two mysterious horsemen. They had evidently reached the terrace through + the wild oats by that trail. A little farther on were a few groups of + sheds and canvas tents in a bare and open space, with scattered cattle and + horsemen, exactly like an encampment, or the gathering of a country fair. + As Clarence rode down towards them he could see that his approach was + instantly observed, and that a simultaneous movement was made as if to + anticipate him. For the first time he realized the possible consequences + of his visit, single-handed, but it was too late to retrace his steps. + With a glance at his holster, he rode boldly forward to the nearest shed. + A dozen men hovered near him, but something in his quiet, determined + manner held them aloof. Gilroy was on the threshold in his shirtsleeves. A + single look showed him that Clarence was alone, and with a careless + gesture of his hand he warned away his own followers. + </p> + <p> + “You've got a sort of easy way of droppin' in whar you ain't invited, + Brant,” he said with a grim smile, which was not, however, without a + certain air of approval. “Got it from your father, didn't you?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know, but I don't believe HE ever thought it necessary to warn + twenty men of the approach of ONE,” replied Clarence, in the same tone. “I + had no time to stand on ceremony, for I have just come from Hooker's + quarter section at Fair Plains.” + </p> + <p> + Gilroy smiled again, and gazed abstractedly at the sky. + </p> + <p> + “You know as well as I do,” said Clarence, controlling his voice with an + effort, “that what you have done there will have to be undone, if you wish + to hold even those lawless men of yours together, or keep yourself and + them from being run into the brush like highwaymen. I've no fear for that. + Neither do I care to know what was your motive in doing it; but I can only + tell you that if it was retaliation, I alone was and still am responsible + for Hooker's action at the rancho. I came here to know just what you have + done with him, and, if necessary, to take his place.” + </p> + <p> + “You're just a little too previous in your talk, I reckon, Brant,” + returned Gilroy lazily, “and as to legality, I reckon we stand on the same + level with yourself, just here. Beginnin' with what you came for: as we + don't know where your Jim Hooker is, and as we ain't done anythin' to HIM, + we don't exackly see what we could do with YOU in his place. Ez to our + motives,—well, we've got a good deal to say about THAT. We reckoned + that he wasn't exackly the kind of man we wanted for a neighbor. His + pow'ful fightin' style didn't suit us peaceful folks, and we thought it + rather worked agin this new 'law and order' racket to have such a man + about, to say nuthin' of it prejudicin' quiet settlers. He had too many + revolvers for one man to keep his eye on, and was altogether too much + steeped in blood, so to speak, for ordinary washin' and domestic purposes! + His hull get up was too deathlike and clammy; so we persuaded him to + leave. We just went there, all of us, and exhorted him. We stayed round + there two days and nights, takin' turns, talkin' with him, nuthin' more, + only selecting subjects in his own style to please him, until he left! And + then, as we didn't see any use for his house there, we took it away. + Them's the cold facts, Brant,” he added, with a certain convincing + indifference that left no room for doubt, “and you can stand by 'em. Now, + workin' back to the first principle you laid down,—that we'll have + to UNDO what we've DONE,—we don't agree with you, for we've taken a + leaf outer your own book. We've got it here in black and white. We've got + a bill o' sale of Hooker's house and possession, and we're on the land in + place of him,—AS YOUR TENANTS.” He reentered the shanty, took a + piece of paper from a soap-box on the shell, and held it out to Clarence. + “Here it is. It's a fair and square deal, Brant. We gave him, as it says + here, a hundred dollars for it! No humbuggin', but the hard cash, by + Jiminy! AND HE TOOK THE MONEY.” + </p> + <p> + The ring of truth in the man's voice was as unmistakable as the signature + in Jim's own hand. Hooker had sold out! Clarence turned hastily away. + </p> + <p> + “We don't know where he went,” continued Gilroy grimly, “but I reckon you + ain't over anxious to see him NOW. And I kin tell ye something to ease + your mind,—he didn't require much persuadin'. And I kin tell ye + another, if ye ain't above takin' advice from folks that don't pertend to + give it,” he added, with the same curious look of interest in his face. + “You've done well to get shut of him, and if you got shut of a few more of + his kind that you trust to, you'd do better.” + </p> + <p> + As if to avoid noticing any angry reply from the young man, he reentered + the cabin and shut the door behind him. Clarence felt the uselessness of + further parley, and rode away. + </p> + <p> + But Gilroy's Parthian arrow rankled as he rode. He was not greatly shocked + at Jim's defection, for he was always fully conscious of his vanity and + weakness; but he was by no means certain that Jim's extravagance and + braggadocio, which he had found only amusing and, perhaps, even pathetic, + might not be as provocative and prejudicial to others as Gilroy had said. + But, like all sympathetic and unselfish natures, he sought to find some + excuse for his old companion's weakness in his own mistaken judgment. He + had no business to bring poor Jim on the land, to subject his singular + temperament to the temptations of such a life and such surroundings; he + should never have made use of his services at the rancho. He had done him + harm rather than good in his ill-advised, and, perhaps, SELFISH attempts + to help him. I have said that Gilroy's parting warning rankled in his + breast, but not ignobly. It wounded the surface of his sensitive nature, + but could not taint or corrupt the pure, wholesome blood of the gentleman + beneath it. For in Gilroy's warning he saw only his own shortcomings. A + strange fatality had marked his friendships. He had been no help to Jim; + he had brought no happiness to Susy or Mrs. Peyton, whose disagreement his + visit seemed to have accented. Thinking over the mysterious attack upon + himself, it now seemed to him possible that, in some obscure way, his + presence at the rancho had precipitated the more serious attack on Peyton. + If, as it had been said, there was some curse upon his inheritance from + his father, he seemed to have made others share it with him. He was riding + onward abstractedly, with his head sunk on his breast and his eyes fixed + upon some vague point between his horse's sensitive ears, when a sudden, + intelligent, forward pricking of them startled him, and an apparition + arose from the plain before him that seemed to sweep all other sense away. + </p> + <p> + It was the figure of a handsome young horseman as abstracted as himself, + but evidently on better terms with his own personality. He was dark + haired, sallow cheeked, and blue eyed,—the type of the old Spanish + Californian. A burnt-out cigarette was in his mouth, and he was riding a + roan mustang with the lazy grace of his race. But what arrested Clarence's + attention more than his picturesque person was the narrow, flexible, long + coil of gray horse-hair riata which hung from his saddle-bow, but whose + knotted and silver-beaded terminating lash he was swirling idly in his + narrow brown hand. Clarence knew and instantly recognized it as the + ordinary fanciful appendage of a gentleman rider, used for tethering his + horse on lonely plains, and always made the object of the most lavish + expenditure of decoration and artistic skill. But he was as suddenly + filled with a blind, unreasoning sense of repulsion and fury, and lifted + his eyes to the man as he approached. What the stranger saw in Clarence's + blazing eyes no one but himself knew, for his own became fixed and + staring; his sallow cheeks grew lanker and livid; his careless, jaunty + bearing stiffened into rigidity, and swerving his horse to one side he + suddenly passed Clarence at a furious gallop. The young American wheeled + quickly, and for an instant his knees convulsively gripped the flanks of + his horse to follow. But the next moment he recalled himself, and with an + effort began to collect his thoughts. What was he intending to do, and for + what reason! He had met hundreds of such horsemen before, and caparisoned + and accoutred like this, even to the riata. And he certainly was not + dressed like either of the mysterious horsemen whom he had overheard that + moonlight evening. He looked back; the stranger had already slackened his + pace, and was slowly disappearing. Clarence turned and rode on his way. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IX. + </h2> + <p> + Without disclosing the full extent of Jim's defection and desertion, + Clarence was able to truthfully assure the Hopkins family of his personal + safety, and to promise that he would continue his quest, and send them + further news of the absentee. He believed it would be found that Jim had + been called away on some important business, but that not daring to leave + his new shanty exposed and temptingly unprotected, he had made a virtue of + necessity by selling it to his neighbors, intending to build a better + house on its site after his return. Having comforted Phoebe, and + impulsively conceived further plans for restoring Jim to her,—happily + without any recurrence of his previous doubts as to his own efficacy as a + special Providence,—he returned to the rancho. If he thought again + of Jim's defection and Gilroy's warning, it was only to strengthen himself + to a clearer perception of his unselfish duty and singleness of purpose. + He would give up brooding, apply himself more practically to the + management of the property, carry out his plans for the foundation of a + Landlords' Protective League for the southern counties, become a candidate + for the Legislature, and, in brief, try to fill Peyton's place in the + county as he had at the rancho. He would endeavor to become better + acquainted with the half-breed laborers on the estate and avoid the + friction between them and the Americans; he was conscious that he had not + made that use of his early familiarity with their ways and language which + he might have done. If, occasionally, the figure of the young Spaniard + whom he had met on the lonely road obtruded itself on him, it was always + with the instinctive premonition that he would meet him again, and the + mystery of the sudden repulsion be in some way explained. Thus Clarence! + But the momentary impulse that had driven him to Fair Plains, the + eagerness to set his mind at rest regarding Susy and her relatives, he had + utterly forgotten. + </p> + <p> + Howbeit some of the energy and enthusiasm that he breathed into these + various essays made their impression. He succeeded in forming the + Landlords' League; under a commission suggested by him the straggling + boundaries of Robles and the adjacent claims were resurveyed, defined, and + mutually protected; even the lawless Gilroy, from extending an amused + toleration to the young administrator, grew to recognize and accept him; + the peons and vacqueros began to have faith in a man who acknowledged them + sufficiently to rebuild the ruined Mission Chapel on the estate, and save + them the long pilgrimage to Santa Inez on Sundays and saints' days; the + San Francisco priest imported from Clarence's old college at San Jose, and + an habitual guest at Clarence's hospitable board, was grateful enough to + fill his flock with loyalty to the young padron. + </p> + <p> + He had returned from a long drive one afternoon, and had just thrown + himself into an easy-chair with the comfortable consciousness of a rest + fairly earned. The dull embers of a fire occasionally glowed in the + oven-like hearth, although the open casement of a window let in the soft + breath of the southwest trades. The angelus had just rung from the + restored chapel, and, mellowed by distance, seemed to Clarence to lend + that repose to the wind-swept landscape that it had always lacked. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly his quick ear detected the sound of wheels in the ruts of the + carriage way. Usually his visitors to the casa came on horseback, and + carts and wagons used only the lower road. As the sound approached nearer, + an odd fancy filled his heart with unaccountable pleasure. Could it be + Mrs. Peyton making an unexpected visit to the rancho? He held his breath. + The vehicle was now rolling on into the patio. The clatter of hoofs and a + halt were followed by the accents of women's voices. One seemed familiar. + He rose quickly, as light footsteps ran along the corridor, and then the + door opened impetuously to the laughing face of Susy! + </p> + <p> + He came towards her hastily, yet with only the simple impulse of + astonishment. He had no thought of kissing her, but as he approached, she + threw her charming head archly to one side, with a mischievous knitting of + her brows and a significant gesture towards the passage, that indicated + the proximity of a stranger and the possibility of interruption. + </p> + <p> + “Hush! Mrs. McClosky's here,” she whispered. + </p> + <p> + “Mrs. McClosky?” repeated Clarence vaguely. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, of course,” impatiently. “My Aunt Jane. Silly! We just cut away down + here to surprise you. Aunty's never seen the place, and here was a good + chance.” + </p> + <p> + “And your mother—Mrs. Peyton? Has she—does she?”—stammered + Clarence. + </p> + <p> + “Has she—does she?” mimicked Susy, with increasing impatience. “Why, + of course she DOESN'T know anything about it. She thinks I'm visiting Mary + Rogers at Oakland. And I am—AFTERWARDS,” she laughed. “I just wrote + to Aunt Jane to meet me at Alameda, and we took the stage to Santa Inez + and drove on here in a buggy. Wasn't it real fun? Tell me, Clarence! You + don't say anything! Tell me—wasn't it real fun?” + </p> + <p> + This was all so like her old, childlike, charming, irresponsible self, + that Clarence, troubled and bewildered as he was, took her hands and drew + her like a child towards him. + </p> + <p> + “Of course,” she went on, yet stopping to smell a rosebud in his + buttonhole, “I have a perfect right to come to my own home, goodness + knows! and if I bring my own aunt, a married woman, with me,—although,” + loftily, “there may be a young unmarried gentleman alone there,—still + I fail to see any impropriety in it!” + </p> + <p> + He was still holding her; but in that instant her manner had completely + changed again; the old Susy seemed to have slipped away and evaded him, + and he was retaining only a conscious actress in his arms. + </p> + <p> + “Release me, Mr. Brant, please,” she said, with a languid affected glance + behind her; “we are not alone.” + </p> + <p> + Then, as the rustling of a skirt sounded nearer in the passage, she seemed + to change back to her old self once more, and with a lightning flash of + significance whispered,— + </p> + <p> + “She knows everything!” + </p> + <p> + To add to Clarence's confusion, the woman who entered cast a quick glance + of playful meaning on the separating youthful pair. She was an ineffective + blonde with a certain beauty that seemed to be gradually succumbing to the + ravages of paint and powder rather than years; her dress appeared to have + suffered from an equally unwise excess of ornamentation and trimming, and + she gave the general impression of having been intended for exhibition in + almost any other light than the one in which she happened to be. There + were two or three mud-stains on the laces of her sleeve and underskirt + that were obtrusively incongruous. Her voice, which had, however, a ring + of honest intention in it, was somewhat over-strained, and evidently had + not yet adjusted itself to the low-ceilinged, conventual-like building. + </p> + <p> + “There, children, don't mind me! I know I'm not on in this scene, but I + got nervous waiting there, in what you call the 'salon,' with only those + Greaser servants staring round me in a circle, like a regular chorus. My! + but it's anteek here—regular anteek—Spanish.” Then, with a + glance at Clarence, “So this is Clarence Brant,—your Clarence? + Interduce me, Susy.” + </p> + <p> + In his confusion of indignation, pain, and even a certain conception of + the grim ludicrousness of the situation, Clarence grasped despairingly at + the single sentence of Susy's. “In my own home.” Surely, at least, it was + HER OWN HOME, and as he was only the business agent of her adopted mother, + he had no right to dictate to her under what circumstances she should + return to it, or whom she should introduce there. In her independence and + caprice Susy might easily have gone elsewhere with this astounding + relative, and would Mrs. Peyton like it better? Clinging to this idea, his + instinct of hospitality asserted itself. He welcomed Mrs. McClosky with + nervous effusion:— + </p> + <p> + “I am only Mrs. Peyton's major domo here, but any guest of her DAUGHTER'S + is welcome.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Mrs. McClosky, with ostentatious archness, “I reckon Susy and + I understand your position here, and you've got a good berth of it. But we + won't trouble you much on Mrs. Peyton's account, will we, Susy? And now + she and me will just take a look around the shanty,—it is real old + Spanish anteek, ain't it?—and sorter take stock of it, and you young + folks will have to tear yourselves apart for a while, and play propriety + before me. You've got to be on your good behavior while I'm here, I can + tell you! I'm a heavy old 'doo-anna.' Ain't I, Susy? School-ma'ms and + mother superiors ain't in the game with ME for discipline.” + </p> + <p> + She threw her arms around the young girl's waist and drew her towards her + affectionately, an action that slightly precipitated some powder upon the + black dress of her niece. Susy glanced mischievously at Clarence, but + withdrew her eyes presently to let them rest with unmistakable + appreciation and admiration on her relative. A pang shot through + Clarence's breast. He had never seen her look in that way at Mrs. Peyton. + Yet here was this stranger, provincial, overdressed, and extravagant, + whose vulgarity was only made tolerable through her good humor, who had + awakened that interest which the refined Mrs. Peyton had never yet been + able to touch. As Mrs. McClosky swept out of the room with Susy he turned + away with a sinking heart. + </p> + <p> + Yet it was necessary that the Spanish house servants should not suspect + this treason to their mistress, and Clarence stopped their childish + curiosity about the stranger with a careless and easy acceptance of Susy's + sudden visit in the light of an ordinary occurrence, and with a + familiarity towards Mrs. McClosky which became the more distasteful to him + in proportion as he saw that it was evidently agreeable to her. But, + easily responsive, she became speedily confidential. Without a single + question from himself, or a contributing remark from Susy, in half an hour + she had told him her whole history. How, as Jane Silsbee, an elder sister + of Susy's mother, she had early eloped from the paternal home in Kansas + with McClosky, a strolling actor. How she had married him and gone on the + stage under his stage name, effectively preventing any recognition by her + family. How, coming to California, where her husband had become manager of + the theatre at Sacramento, she was indignant to find that her only + surviving relation, a sister-in-law, living in the same place, had for a + money consideration given up all claim to the orphaned Susy, and how she + had resolved to find out “if the poor child was happy.” How she succeeded + in finding out that she was not happy. How she wrote to her, and even met + her secretly at San Francisco and Oakland, and how she had undertaken this + journey partly for “a lark,” and partly to see Clarence and the property. + There was no doubt of the speaker's sincerity; with this outrageous candor + there was an equal obliviousness of any indelicacy in her conduct towards + Mrs. Peyton that seemed hopeless. Yet he must talk plainly to her; he must + say to her what he could not say to Susy; upon HER Mrs. Peyton's happiness—he + believed he was thinking of Susy's also—depended. He must take the + first opportunity of speaking to her alone. + </p> + <p> + That opportunity came sooner than he had expected. After dinner, Mrs. + McClosky turned to Susy, and playfully telling her that she had “to talk + business” with Mr. Brant, bade her go to the salon and await her. When the + young girl left the room, she looked at Clarence, and, with that + assumption of curtness with which coarse but kindly natures believe they + overcome the difficulty of delicate subjects, said abruptly:— + </p> + <p> + “Well, young man, now what's all this between you and Susy? I'm looking + after her interests—same as if she was my own girl. If you've got + anything to say, now's your time. And don't you shilly-shally too long + over it, either, for you might as well know that a girl like that can have + her pick and choice, and be beholden to no one; and when she don't care to + choose, there's me and my husband ready to do for her all the same. We + mightn't be able to do the anteek Spanish Squire, but we've got our own + line of business, and it's a comfortable one.” + </p> + <p> + To have this said to him under the roof of Mrs. Peyton, from whom, in his + sensitiveness, he had thus far jealously guarded his own secret, was even + more than Clarence's gentleness could stand, and fixed his wavering + resolution. + </p> + <p> + “I don't think we quite understand each other, Mrs. McClosky,” he said + coldly, but with glittering eyes. “I have certainly something to say to + you; if it is not on a subject as pleasant as the one you propose, it is, + nevertheless, one that I think you and I are more competent to discuss + together.” + </p> + <p> + Then, with quiet but unrelenting directness, he pointed out to her that + Susy was a legally adopted daughter of Mrs. Peyton, and, as a minor, + utterly under her control; that Mrs. Peyton had no knowledge of any + opposing relatives; and that Susy had not only concealed the fact from + her, but that he was satisfied that Mrs. Peyton did not even know of + Susy's discontent and alienation; that she had tenderly and carefully + brought up the helpless orphan as her own child, and even if she had not + gained her affection was at least entitled to her obedience and respect; + that while Susy's girlish caprice and inexperience excused HER conduct, + Mrs. Peyton and her friends would have a right to expect more + consideration from a person of Mrs. McClosky's maturer judgment. That for + these reasons, and as the friend of Mrs. Peyton, whom he could alone + recognize as Susy's guardian and the arbiter of her affections, he must + decline to discuss the young girl with any reference to himself or his own + intentions. + </p> + <p> + An unmistakable flush asserted itself under the lady's powder. + </p> + <p> + “Suit yourself, young man, suit yourself,” she said, with equally direct + resentment and antagonism; “only mebbee you'll let me tell you that Jim + McClosky ain't no fool, and mebbee knows what lawyers think of an + arrangement with a sister-in-law that leaves a real sister out! Mebbee + that's a 'Sister's title' you ain't thought of, Mr. Brant! And mebbee + you'll find out that your chance o' gettin' Mrs. Peyton's consent ain't as + safe to gamble on as you reckon it is. And mebbee, what's more to the + purpose, if you DID get it, it might not be just the trump card to fetch + Susy with! And to wind up, Mr. Brant, when you DO have to come down to the + bed-rock and me and Jim McClosky, you may find out that him and me have + discovered a better match for Susy than the son of old Ham Brant, who is + trying to play the Spanish grandee off his father's money on a couple of + women. And we mayn't have to go far to do it—or to get THE REAL + THING, Mr. Brant!” + </p> + <p> + Too heartsick and disgusted to even notice the slur upon himself or the + import of her last words, Clarence only rose and bowed as she jumped up + from the table. But as she reached the door he said, half appealingly:— + </p> + <p> + “Whatever are your other intentions, Mrs. McClosky, as we are both Susy's + guests, I beg you will say nothing of this to her while we are here, and + particularly that you will not allow her to think for a moment that I have + discussed MY relations to her with anybody.” + </p> + <p> + She flung herself out of the door without a reply; but on entering the + dark low-ceilinged drawing-room she was surprised to find that Susy was + not there. She was consequently obliged to return to the veranda, where + Clarence had withdrawn, and to somewhat ostentatiously demand of the + servants that Susy should be sent to her room at once. But the young girl + was not in her own room, and was apparently nowhere to be found. Clarence, + who had now fully determined as a last resource to make a direct appeal to + Susy herself, listened to this fruitless search with some concern. She + could not have gone out in the rain, which was again falling. She might be + hiding somewhere to avoid a recurrence of the scene she had perhaps partly + overheard. He turned into the corridor that led to Mrs. Peyton's boudoir. + As he knew that it was locked, he was surprised to see by the dim light of + the hanging lamp that a duplicate key to the one in his desk was in the + lock. It must be Susy's, and the young girl had probably taken refuge + there. He knocked gently. There was a rustle in the room and the sound of + a chair being moved, but no reply. Impelled by a sudden instinct he opened + the door, and was met by a cool current of air from some open window. At + the same moment the figure of Susy approached him from the semi-darkness + of the interior. + </p> + <p> + “I did not know you were here,” said Clarence, much relieved, he knew not + why, “but I am glad, for I wanted to speak with you alone for a few + moments.” + </p> + <p> + She did not reply, but he drew a match from his pocket and lit the two + candles which he knew stood on the table. The wick of one was still warm, + as if it had been recently extinguished. As the light slowly radiated, he + could see that she was regarding him with an air of affected unconcern, + but a somewhat heightened color. It was like her, and not inconsistent + with his idea that she had come there to avoid an after scene with Mrs. + McClosky or himself, or perhaps both. The room was not disarranged in any + way. The window that was opened was the casement of the deep embrasured + one in the rear wall, and the light curtain before it still swayed + occasionally in the night wind. + </p> + <p> + “I'm afraid I had a row with your aunt, Susy,” he began lightly, in his + old familiar way; “but I had to tell her I didn't think her conduct to + Mrs. Peyton was exactly the square thing towards one who had been as + devoted to you as she has been.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, for goodness' sake, don't go over all that again,” said Susy + impatiently. “I've had enough of it.” + </p> + <p> + Clarence flashed, but recovered himself. + </p> + <p> + “Then you overheard what I said, and know what I think,” he said calmly. + </p> + <p> + “I knew it BEFORE,” said the young girl, with a slight supercilious toss + of the head, and yet a certain abstraction of manner as she went to the + window and closed it. “Anybody could see it! I know you always wanted me + to stay here with Mrs. Peyton, and be coddled and monitored and catechised + and shut up away from any one, until YOU had been coddled and monitored + and catechised by somebody else sufficiently to suit her ideas of your + being a fit husband for me. I told aunty it was no use our coming here to—to”— + </p> + <p> + “To do what?” asked Clarence. + </p> + <p> + “To put some spirit into you,” said the young girl, turning upon him + sharply; “to keep you from being tied to that woman's apron-strings. To + keep her from making a slave of you as she would of me. But it is of no + use. Mary Rogers was right when she said you had no wish to please anybody + but Mrs. Peyton, and no eyes for anybody but her. And if it hadn't been + too ridiculous, considering her age and yours, she'd say you were dead in + love with her.” + </p> + <p> + For an instant Clarence felt the blood rush to his face and then sink + away, leaving him pale and cold. The room, which had seemed to whirl + around him, and then fade away, returned with appalling distinctness,—the + distinctness of memory,—and a vision of the first day that he had + seen Mrs. Peyton sitting there, as he seemed to see her now. For the first + time there flashed upon him the conviction that the young girl had spoken + the truth, and had brusquely brushed the veil from his foolish eyes. He + WAS in love with Mrs. Peyton! That was what his doubts and hesitation + regarding Susy meant. That alone was the source, secret, and limit of his + vague ambition. + </p> + <p> + But with the conviction came a singular calm. In the last few moments he + seemed to have grown older, to have loosed the bonds of old companionship + with Susy, and the later impression she had given him of her mature + knowledge, and moved on far beyond her years and experience. And it was + with an authority that was half paternal, and in a voice he himself + scarcely recognized, that he said:— + </p> + <p> + “If I did not know you were prejudiced by a foolish and indiscreet woman, + I should believe that you were trying to insult me as you have your + adopted mother, and would save you the pain of doing both in HER house by + leaving it now and forever. But because I believe you are controlled + against your best instinct by that woman, I shall remain here with you to + frustrate her as best I can, or until I am able to lay everything before + Mrs. Peyton except the foolish speech you have just made.” + </p> + <p> + The young girl laughed. “Why not THAT one too, while you're about it? See + what she'll say.” + </p> + <p> + “I shall tell her,” continued Clarence calmly, “only what YOU yourself + have made it necessary for me to tell her to save you from folly and + disgrace, and only enough to spare her the mortification of hearing it + first from her own servants.” + </p> + <p> + “Hearing WHAT from her own servants? What do you mean? How dare you?” + demanded the young girl sharply. + </p> + <p> + She was quite real in her anxiety now, although her attitude of virtuous + indignation struck him as being like all her emotional expression, namely, + acting. + </p> + <p> + “I mean that the servants know of your correspondence with Mrs. McClosky, + and that she claims to be your aunt,” returned Clarence. “They know that + you confided to Pepita. They believe that either Mrs. McClosky or you have + seen”— + </p> + <p> + He had stopped suddenly. He was about to say that the servants + (particularly Incarnacion) knew that Pedro had boasted of having met Susy, + when, for the first time, the tremendous significance of what he had + hitherto considered as merely an idle falsehood flashed upon him. + </p> + <p> + “Seen whom?” repeated Susy in a higher voice, impatiently stamping her + foot. + </p> + <p> + Clarence looked at her, and in her excited, questioning face saw a + confirmation of his still half-formed suspicions. In his own abrupt pause + and knitted eyebrows she must have read his thoughts also. Their eyes met. + Her violet pupils dilated, trembled, and then quickly shifted as she + suddenly stiffened into an attitude of scornful indifference, almost + grotesque in its unreality. His eyes slowly turned to the window, the + door, the candles on the table and the chair before it, and then came back + to her face again. Then he drew a deep breath. + </p> + <p> + “I give no heed to the idle gossip of servants, Susy,” he said slowly. “I + have no belief that you have ever contemplated anything worse than an act + of girlish folly, or the gratification of a passing caprice. Neither do I + want to appeal to you or frighten you, but I must tell you now, that I + know certain facts that might make such a simple act of folly monstrous, + inconceivable in YOU, and almost accessory to a crime! I can tell you no + more. But so satisfied am I of such a possibility, that I shall not + scruple to take any means—the strongest—to prevent even the + remotest chance of it. Your aunt has been looking for you; you had better + go to her now. I will close the room and lock the door. Meantime, I should + advise you not to sit so near an open window with a candle at night in + this locality. Even if it might not be dangerous for you, it might be + fatal to the foolish creatures it might attract.” + </p> + <p> + He took the key from the door as he held it open for her to pass out. She + uttered a shrill little laugh, like a nervous, mischievous child, and, + slipping out of her previous artificial attitude as if it had been a + mantle, ran out of the room. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER X. + </h2> + <p> + As Susy's footsteps died away, Clarence closed the door, walked to the + window, and examined it closely. The bars had been restored since he had + wrenched them off to give ingress to the family on the day of recapture. + He glanced around the room; nothing seemed to have been disturbed. + Nevertheless he was uneasy. The suspicions of a frank, trustful nature + when once aroused are apt to be more general and far-reaching than the + specific distrusts of the disingenuous, for they imply the overthrow of a + whole principle and not a mere detail. Clarence's conviction that Susy had + seen Pedro recently since his dismissal led him into the wildest surmises + of her motives. It was possible that without her having reason to suspect + Pedro's greater crime, he might have confided to her his intention of + reclaiming the property and installing her as the mistress and chatelaine + of the rancho. The idea was one that might have appealed to Susy's + theatrical imagination. He recalled Mrs. McClosky's sneer at his own + pretensions and her vague threats of a rival of more lineal descent. The + possible infidelity of Susy to himself touched him lightly when the first + surprise was over; indeed, it scarcely could be called infidelity, if she + knew and believed Mary Rogers's discovery; and the conviction that he and + she had really never loved each other now enabled him, as he believed, to + look at her conduct dispassionately. Yet it was her treachery to Mrs. + Peyton and not to himself that impressed him most, and perhaps made him + equally unjust, through his affections. + </p> + <p> + He extinguished the candles, partly from some vague precautions he could + not explain, and partly to think over his fears in the abstraction and + obscurity of the semi-darkness. The higher windows suffused a faint light + on the ceiling, and, assisted by the dark lantern-like glow cast on the + opposite wall by the tunnel of the embrasured window, the familiar + outlines of the room and its furniture came back to him. Somewhat in this + fashion also, in the obscurity and quiet, came back to him the events he + had overlooked and forgotten. He recalled now some gossip of the servants, + and hints dropped by Susy of a violent quarrel between Peyton and Pedro, + which resulted in Pedro's dismissal, but which now seemed clearly + attributable to some graver cause than inattention and insolence. He + recalled Mary Rogers's playful pleasantries with Susy about Pedro, and + Susy's mysterious air, which he had hitherto regarded only as part of her + exaggeration. He remembered Mrs. Peyton's unwarrantable uneasiness about + Susy, which he had either overlooked or referred entirely to himself; she + must have suspected something. To his quickened imagination, in this ruin + of his faith and trust, he believed that Hooker's defection was either + part of the conspiracy, or that he had run away to avoid being implicated + with Susy in its discovery. This, too, was the significance of Gilroy's + parting warning. He and Mrs. Peyton alone had been blind and confiding in + the midst of this treachery, and even HE had been blind to his own real + affections. + </p> + <p> + The wind had risen again, and the faint light on the opposite wall grew + tremulous and shifting with the movement of the foliage without. But + presently the glow became quite obliterated, as if by the intervention of + some opaque body outside the window. He rose hurriedly and went to the + casement. But at the same moment he fancied he heard the jamming of a door + or window in quite another direction, and his examination of the casement + before him showed him only the silver light of the thinly clouded sky + falling uninterruptedly through the bars and foliage on the interior of + the whitewashed embrasure. Then a conception of his mistake flashed across + him. The line of the casa was long, straggling, and exposed elsewhere; why + should the attempt to enter or communicate with any one within be confined + only to this single point? And why not satisfy himself at once if any + trespassers were lounging around the walls, and then confront them boldly + in the open? Their discovery and identification was as important as the + defeat of their intentions. + </p> + <p> + He relit the candle, and, placing it on a small table by the wall beyond + the visual range of the window, rearranged the curtain so that, while it + permitted the light to pass out, it left the room in shadow. He then + opened the door softly, locked it behind him, and passed noiselessly into + the hall. Susy's and Mrs. McClosky's rooms were at the further end of the + passage, but between them and the boudoir was the open patio, and the low + murmur of the voices of servants, who still lingered until he should + dismiss them for the night. Turning back, he moved silently down the + passage, until he reached the narrow arched door to the garden. This he + unlocked and opened with the same stealthy caution. The rain had + recommenced. Not daring to risk a return to his room, he took from a peg + in the recess an old waterproof cloak and “sou'wester” of Peyton's, which + still hung there, and passed out into the night, locking the door behind + him. To keep the knowledge of his secret patrol from the stablemen, he did + not attempt to take out his own horse, but trusted to find some vacquero's + mustang in the corral. By good luck an old “Blue Grass” hack of Peyton's, + nearest the stockade as he entered, allowed itself to be quickly caught. + Using its rope headstall for a bridle, Clarence vaulted on its bare back, + and paced cautiously out into the road. Here he kept the curve of the long + line of stockade until he reached the outlying field where, half hidden in + the withered, sapless, but still standing stalks of grain, he slowly began + a circuit of the casa. + </p> + <p> + The misty gray dome above him, which an invisible moon seemed to have + quicksilvered over, alternately lightened and darkened with passing gusts + of fine rain. Nevertheless he could see the outline of the broad + quadrangle of the house quite distinctly, except on the west side, where a + fringe of writhing willows beat the brown adobe walls with their imploring + arms at every gust. Elsewhere nothing moved; the view was uninterrupted to + where the shining, watery sky met the equally shining, watery plain. He + had already made a half circuit of the house, and was still noiselessly + picking his way along the furrows, muffled with soaked and broken-down + blades, and the velvety upspringing of the “volunteer” growth, when + suddenly, not fifty yards before him, without sound or warning, a figure + rode out of the grain upon the open crossroad, and deliberately halted + with a listless, abstracted, waiting air. Clarence instantly recognized + one of his own vacqueros, an undersized half-breed, but he as instantly + divined that he was only an outpost or confederate, stationed to give the + alarm. The same precaution had prevented each hearing the other, and the + lesser height of the vacquero had rendered him indistinguishable as he + preceded Clarence among the grain. As the young man made no doubt that the + real trespasser was nearer the casa, along the line of willows, he wheeled + to intercept him without alarming his sentry. Unfortunately, his horse + answered the rope bridle clumsily, and splashed in striking out. The + watcher quickly raised his head, and Clarence knew that his only chance + was now to suppress him. Determined to do this at any hazard, with a + threatening gesture he charged boldly down upon him. + </p> + <p> + But he had not crossed half the distance between them when the man uttered + an appalling cry, so wild and despairing that it seemed to chill even the + hot blood in Clarence's veins, and dashed frenziedly down the cross-road + into the interminable plain. Before Clarence could determine if that cry + was a signal or an involuntary outburst, it was followed instantly by the + sound of frightened and struggling hoofs clattering against the wall of + the casa, and a swaying of the shrubbery near the back gate of the patio. + Here was his real quarry! Without hesitation he dug his heels into the + flanks of his horse and rode furiously towards it. As he approached, a + long tremor seemed to pass through the shrubbery, with the retreating + sound of horse hoofs. The unseen trespasser had evidently taken the alarm + and was fleeing, and Clarence dashed in pursuit. Following the sound, for + the shrubbery hid the fugitive from view, he passed the last wall of the + casa; but it soon became evident that the unknown had the better horse. + The hoof-beats grew fainter and fainter, and at times appeared even to + cease, until his own approach started them again, eventually to fade away + in the distance. In vain Clarence dug his heels into the flanks of his + heavier steed, and regretted his own mustang; and when at last he reached + the edge of the thicket he had lost both sight and sound of the fugitive. + The descent to the lower terrace lay before him empty and desolate. The + man had escaped! + </p> + <p> + He turned slowly back with baffled anger and vindictiveness. However, he + had prevented something, although he knew not what. The principal had got + away, but he had identified his confederate, and for the first time held a + clue to his mysterious visitant. There was no use to alarm the household, + which did not seem to have been disturbed. The trespassers were far away + by this time, and the attempt would hardly be repeated that night. He made + his way quietly back to the corral, let loose his horse, and regained the + casa unobserved. He unlocked the arched door in the wall, reentered the + darkened passage, stopped a moment to open the door of the boudoir, glance + at the closely fastened casement, and extinguish the still burning candle, + and, relocking the door securely, made his way to his own room. + </p> + <p> + But he could not sleep. The whole incident, over so quickly, had + nevertheless impressed him deeply, and yet like a dream. The strange yell + of the vacquero still rang in his ears, but with an unearthly and + superstitious significance that was even more dreamlike in its meaning. He + awakened from a fitful slumber to find the light of morning in the room, + and Incarnacion standing by his bedside. + </p> + <p> + The yellow face of the steward was greenish with terror, and his lips were + dry. + </p> + <p> + “Get up, Senor Clarencio; get up at once, my master. Strange things have + happened. Mother of God protect us!” + </p> + <p> + Clarence rolled to his feet, with the events of the past night struggling + back upon his consciousness. + </p> + <p> + “What mean you, Nascio?” he said, grasping the man's arm, which was still + mechanically making the sign of the cross, as he muttered incoherently. + “Speak, I command you!” + </p> + <p> + “It is Jose, the little vacquero, who is even now at the padre's house, + raving as a lunatic, stricken as a madman with terror! He has seen him,—the + dead alive! Save us!” + </p> + <p> + “Are you mad yourself, Nascio?” said Clarence. “Whom has he seen?” + </p> + <p> + “Whom? God help us! the old padron—Senor Peyton himself! He rushed + towards him here, in the patio, last night—out of the air, the sky, + the ground, he knew not,—his own self, wrapped in his old storm + cloak and hat, and riding his own horse,—erect, terrible, and + menacing, with an awful hand upholding a rope—so! He saw him with + these eyes, as I see you. What HE said to him, God knows! The priest, + perhaps, for he has made confession!” + </p> + <p> + In a flash of intelligence Clarence comprehended all. He rose grimly and + began to dress himself. + </p> + <p> + “Not a word of this to the women,—to any one, Nascio, dost thou + understand?” he said curtly. “It may be that Jose has been partaking too + freely of aguardiente,—it is possible. I will see the priest myself. + But what possesses thee? Collect thyself, good Nascio.” + </p> + <p> + But the man was still trembling. + </p> + <p> + “It is not all,—Mother of God! it is not all, master!” he stammered, + dropping to his knees and still crossing himself. “This morning, beside + the corral, they find the horse of Pedro Valdez splashed and spattered on + saddle and bridle, and in the stirrup,—dost thou hear? the STIRRUP,—hanging, + the torn-off boot of Valdez! Ah, God! The same as HIS! Now do you + understand? It is HIS vengeance. No! Jesu forgive me! it is the vengeance + of God!” + </p> + <p> + Clarence was staggered. + </p> + <p> + “And you have not found Valdez? You have looked for him?” he said, + hurriedly throwing on his clothes. + </p> + <p> + “Everywhere,—all over the plain. The whole rancho has been out since + sunrise,—here and there and everywhere. And there is nothing! Of + course not. What would you?” He pointed solemnly to the ground. + </p> + <p> + “Nonsense!” said Clarence, buttoning his coat and seizing his hat. “Follow + me.” + </p> + <p> + He ran down the passage, followed by Incarnacion, through the excited, + gesticulating crowd of servants in the patio, and out of the back gate. He + turned first along the wall of the casa towards the barred window of the + boudoir. Then a cry came from Incarnacion. + </p> + <p> + They ran quickly forward. Hanging from the grating of the window, like a + mass of limp and saturated clothes, was the body of Pedro Valdez, with one + unbooted foot dangling within an inch of the ground. His head was passed + inside the grating and fixed as at that moment when the first spring of + the frightened horse had broken his neck between the bars as in a garrote, + and the second plunge of the terrified animal had carried off his boot in + the caught stirrup when it escaped. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XI. + </h2> + <p> + The winter rains were over and gone, and the whole long line of + Californian coast was dashed with color. There were miles of yellow and + red poppies, leagues of lupines that painted the gently rounded hills with + soft primary hues, and long continuous slopes, like low mountain systems, + of daisies and dandelions. At Sacramento it was already summer; the yellow + river was flashing and intolerable; the tule and marsh grasses were lush + and long; the bloom of cottonwood and sycamore whitened the outskirts of + the city, and as Cyrus Hopkins and his daughter Phoebe looked from the + veranda of the Placer Hotel, accustomed as they were to the cool trade + winds of the coast valleys, they felt homesick from the memory of eastern + heats. + </p> + <p> + Later, when they were surveying the long dinner tables at the table d'hote + with something of the uncomfortable and shamefaced loneliness of the + provincial, Phoebe uttered a slight cry and clutched her father's arm. Mr. + Hopkins stayed the play of his squared elbows and glanced inquiringly at + his daughter's face. There was a pretty animation in it, as she pointed to + a figure that had just entered. It was that of a young man attired in the + extravagance rather than the taste of the prevailing fashion, which did + not, however, in the least conceal a decided rusticity of limb and + movement. A long mustache, which looked unkempt, even in its pomatumed + stiffness, and lank, dark hair that had bent but never curled under the + barber's iron, made him notable even in that heterogeneous assembly. + </p> + <p> + “That's he,” whispered Phoebe. + </p> + <p> + “Who?” said her father. + </p> + <p> + Alas for the inconsistencies of love! The blush came with the name and not + the vision. + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Hooker,” she stammered. + </p> + <p> + It was, indeed, Jim Hooker. But the role of his exaggeration was no longer + the same; the remorseful gloom in which he had been habitually steeped had + changed into a fatigued, yet haughty, fastidiousness more in keeping with + his fashionable garments. He was more peaceful, yet not entirely placable, + and, as he sat down at a side table and pulled down his striped cuffs with + his clasped fingers, he cast a glance of critical disapproval on the + general company. Nevertheless, he seemed to be furtively watchful of his + effect upon them, and as one or two whispered and looked towards him, his + consciousness became darkly manifest. + </p> + <p> + All of which might have intimidated the gentle Phoebe, but did not + discompose her father. He rose, and crossing over to Hooker's table, + clapped him heartily on the back. + </p> + <p> + “How do, Hooker? I didn't recognize you in them fine clothes, but Phoebe + guessed as how it was you.” + </p> + <p> + Flushed, disconcerted, irritated, but always in wholesome awe of Mr. + Hopkins, Jim returned his greeting awkwardly and half hysterically. How he + would have received the more timid Phoebe is another question. But Mr. + Hopkins, without apparently noticing these symptoms, went on:— + </p> + <p> + “We're only just down, Phoebe and me, and as I guess we'll want to talk + over old times, we'll come alongside o' you. Hold on, and I'll fetch her.” + </p> + <p> + The interval gave the unhappy Jim a chance to recover himself, to regain + his vanished cuffs, display his heavy watch-chain, curl his mustache, and + otherwise reassume his air of blase fastidiousness. But the transfer made, + Phoebe, after shaking hands, became speechless under these perfections. + Not so her father. + </p> + <p> + “If there's anything in looks, you seem to be prospering,” he said grimly; + “unless you're in the tailorin' line, and you're only showin' off stock. + What mout ye be doing?” + </p> + <p> + “Ye ain't bin long in Sacramento, I reckon?” suggested Jim, with + patronizing pity. + </p> + <p> + “No, we only came this morning,” returned Hopkins. + </p> + <p> + “And you ain't bin to the theatre?” continued Jim. + </p> + <p> + “No.” + </p> + <p> + “Nor moved much in—in—gin'ral fash'nable sassiety?” + </p> + <p> + “Not yet,” interposed Phoebe, with an air of faint apology. + </p> + <p> + “Nor seen any of them large posters on the fences, of 'The Prairie Flower; + or, Red-handed Dick,'—three-act play with five tableaux,—just + the biggest sensation out,—runnin' for forty nights,—money + turned away every night,—standin' room only?” continued Jim, with + prolonged toleration. + </p> + <p> + “No.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I play Red-handed Dick. I thought you might have seen it and + recognized me. All those people over there,” darkly indicating the long + table, “know me. A fellow can't stand it, you know, being stared at by + such a vulgar, low-bred lot. It's gettin' too fresh here. I'll have to + give the landlord notice and cut the whole hotel. They don't seem to have + ever seen a gentleman and a professional before.” + </p> + <p> + “Then you're a play-actor now?” said the farmer, in a tone which did not, + however, exhibit the exact degree of admiration which shone in Phoebe's + eyes. + </p> + <p> + “For the present,” said Jim, with lofty indifference. “You see I was in—in + partnership with McClosky, the manager, and I didn't like the style of the + chump that was doin' Red-handed Dick, so I offered to take his place one + night to show him how. And by Jinks! the audience, after that night, + wouldn't let anybody else play it,—wouldn't stand even the biggest, + highest-priced stars in it! I reckon,” he added gloomily, “I'll have to + run the darned thing in all the big towns in Californy,—if I don't + have to go East with it after all, just for the business. But it's an + awful grind on a man,—leaves him no time, along of the invitations + he gets, and what with being run after in the streets and stared at in the + hotels he don't get no privacy. There's men, and women, too, over at that + table, that just lie in wait for me here till I come, and don't lift their + eyes off me. I wonder they don't bring their opery-glasses with them.” + </p> + <p> + Concerned, sympathizing, and indignant, poor Phoebe turned her brown head + and honest eyes in that direction. But because they were honest, they + could not help observing that the other table did not seem to be paying + the slightest attention to the distinguished impersonator of Red-handed + Dick. Perhaps he had been overheard. + </p> + <p> + “Then that was the reason ye didn't come back to your location. I always + guessed it was because you'd got wind of the smash-up down there, afore we + did,” said Hopkins grimly. + </p> + <p> + “What smash-up?” asked Jim, with slightly resentful quickness. + </p> + <p> + “Why, the smash-up of the Sisters' title,—didn't you hear that?” + </p> + <p> + There was a slight movement of relief and a return of gloomy hauteur in + Jim's manner. + </p> + <p> + “No, we don't know much of what goes on in the cow counties, up here.” + </p> + <p> + “Ye mout, considerin' it concerns some o' your friends,” returned Hopkins + dryly. “For the Sisters' title went smash as soon as it was known that + Pedro Valdez—the man as started it—had his neck broken outside + the walls o' Robles Rancho; and they do say as this yer Brant, YOUR + friend, had suthin' to do with the breaking of it, though it was laid to + the ghost of old Peyton. Anyhow, there was such a big skeer that one of + the Greaser gang, who thought he'd seen the ghost, being a Papist, to save + his everlasting soul went to the priest and confessed. But the priest + wouldn't give him absolution until he'd blown the hull thing, and made it + public. And then it turned out that all the dockyments for the title, and + even the custom-house paper, were FORGED by Pedro Valdez, and put on the + market by his confederates. And that's just where YOUR friend, Clarence + Brant, comes in, for HE had bought up the whole title from them fellers. + Now, either, as some say, he was in the fraud from the beginnin', and + never paid anything, or else he was an all-fired fool, and had parted with + his money like one. Some allow that the reason was that he was awfully + sweet on Mrs. Peyton's adopted daughter, and ez the parents didn't approve + of him, he did THIS so as to get a holt over them by the property. But + he's a ruined man, anyway, now; for they say he's such a darned fool that + he's goin' to pay for all the improvements that the folks who bought under + him put into the land, and that'll take his last cent. I thought I'd tell + you that, for I suppose YOU'VE lost a heap in your improvements, and will + put in your claim?” + </p> + <p> + “I reckon I put nearly as much into it as Clar Brant did,” said Jim + gloomily, “but I ain't goin' to take a cent from him, or go back on him + now.” + </p> + <p> + The rascal could not resist this last mendacious opportunity, although he + was perfectly sincere in his renunciation, touched in his sympathy, and + there was even a film of moisture in his shifting eyes. + </p> + <p> + Phoebe was thrilled with the generosity of this noble being, who could be + unselfish even in his superior condition. She added softly:— + </p> + <p> + “And they say that the girl did not care for him at all, but was actually + going to run off with Pedro, when he stopped her and sent for Mrs. + Peyton.” + </p> + <p> + To her surprise, Jim's face flushed violently. + </p> + <p> + “It's all a dod-blasted lie,” he said, in a thick stage whisper. “It's + only the hogwash them Greasers and Pike County galoots ladle out to each + other around the stove in a county grocery. But,” recalling himself + loftily, and with a tolerant wave of his be-diamonded hand, “wot kin you + expect from one of them cow counties? They ain't satisfied till they drive + every gentleman out of the darned gopher-holes they call their 'kentry.'” + </p> + <p> + In her admiration of what she believed to be a loyal outburst for his + friend, Phoebe overlooked the implied sneer at her provincial home. But + her father went on with a perfunctory, exasperating, dusty aridity:— + </p> + <p> + “That mebbee ez mebbee, Mr. Hooker, but the story down in our precinct + goes that she gave Mrs. Peyton the slip,—chucked up her situation as + adopted darter, and went off with a queer sort of a cirkiss woman,—one + of her own KIN, and I reckon one of her own KIND.” + </p> + <p> + To this Mr. Hooker offered no further reply than a withering rebuke of the + waiter, a genteel abstraction, and a lofty change of subject. He pressed + upon them two tickets for the performance, of which he seemed to have a + number neatly clasped in an india-rubber band, and advised them to come + early. They would see him after the performance and sup together. He must + leave them now, as he had to be punctually at the theatre, and if he + lingered he should be pestered by interviewers. He withdrew under a + dazzling display of cuff and white handkerchief, and with that inward + swing of the arm and slight bowiness of the leg generally recognized in + his profession as the lounging exit of high comedy. + </p> + <p> + The mingling of awe and an uneasy sense of changed relations which that + meeting with Jim had brought to Phoebe was not lessened when she entered + the theatre with her father that evening, and even Mr. Hopkins seemed to + share her feelings. The theatre was large, and brilliant in decoration, + the seats were well filled with the same heterogeneous mingling she had + seen in the dining-room at the Placer Hotel, but in the parquet were some + fashionable costumes and cultivated faces. Mr. Hopkins was not altogether + so sure that Jim had been “only gassing.” But the gorgeous drop curtain, + representing an allegory of Californian prosperity and abundance, + presently uprolled upon a scene of Western life almost as striking in its + glaring unreality. From a rose-clad English cottage in a subtropical + landscape skipped “Rosalie, the Prairie Flower.” The briefest of skirts, + the most unsullied of stockings, the tiniest of slippers, and the few + diamonds that glittered on her fair neck and fingers, revealed at once the + simple and unpretending daughter of the American backwoodsman. A tumult of + delighted greeting broke from the audience. The bright color came to the + pink, girlish cheeks, gratified vanity danced in her violet eyes, and as + she piquantly bowed her acknowledgments, this great breath of praise + seemed to transfigure and possess her. A very young actor who represented + the giddy world in a straw hat and with an effeminate manner was + alternately petted and girded at by her during the opening exposition of + the plot, until the statement that a “dark destiny” obliged her to follow + her uncle in an emigrant train across the plains closed the act, + apparently extinguished him, and left HER the central figure. So far, she + evidently was the favorite. A singular aversion to her crept into the + heart of Phoebe. + </p> + <p> + But the second act brought an Indian attack upon the emigrant train, and + here “Rosalie” displayed the archest heroism and the pinkest and most + distracting self-possession, in marked contrast to the giddy worldling + who, having accompanied her apparently for comic purposes best known to + himself, cowered abjectly under wagons, and was pulled ignominiously out + of straw, until Red Dick swept out of the wings with a chosen band and a + burst of revolvers and turned the tide of victory. Attired as a + picturesque combination of the Neapolitan smuggler, river-bar miner, and + Mexican vacquero, Jim Hooker instantly began to justify the plaudits that + greeted him and the most sanguinary hopes of the audience. A gloomy but + fascinating cloud of gunpowder and dark intrigue from that moment hung + about the stage. + </p> + <p> + Yet in this sombre obscuration Rosalie had passed a happy six months, + coming out with her character and stockings equally unchanged and + unblemished, to be rewarded with the hand of Red Dick and the discovery of + her father, the governor of New Mexico, as a white-haired, but + objectionable vacquero, at the fall of the curtain. + </p> + <p> + Through this exciting performance Phoebe sat with a vague and increasing + sense of loneliness and distrust. She did not know that Hooker had added + to his ordinary inventive exaggeration the form of dramatic composition. + But she had early detected the singular fact that such shadowy outlines of + plot as the piece possessed were evidently based on his previous narrative + of his OWN experiences, and the saving of Susy Peyton—by himself! + There was the episode of their being lost on the plains, as he had already + related it to her, with the addition of a few years to Susy's age and some + vivid picturesqueness to himself as Red Dick. She was not, of course, + aware that the part of the giddy worldling was Jim's own conception of the + character of Clarence. But what, even to her provincial taste, seemed the + extravagance of the piece, she felt, in some way, reflected upon the + truthfulness of the story she had heard. It seemed to be a parody on + himself, and in the laughter which some of the most thrilling points + produced in certain of the audience, she heard an echo of her own doubts. + But even this she could have borne if Jim's confidence had not been given + to the general public; it was no longer HERS alone, she shared it with + them. And this strange, bold girl, who acted with him,—the “Blanche + Belville” of the bills,—how often he must have told HER the story, + and yet how badly she had learned it! It was not her own idea of it, nor + of HIM. In the last extravagant scene she turned her weary and half-shamed + eyes from the stage and looked around the theatre. Among a group of + loungers by the wall a face that seemed familiar was turned towards her + own with a look of kindly and sympathetic recognition. It was the face of + Clarence Brant. When the curtain fell, and she and her father rose to go, + he was at their side. He seemed older and more superior looking than she + had ever thought him before, and there was a gentle yet sad wisdom in his + eyes and voice that comforted her even while it made her feel like crying. + </p> + <p> + “You are satisfied that no harm has come to our friend,” he said + pleasantly. “Of course you recognized him?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes; we met him to-day,” said Phoebe. Her provincial pride impelled + her to keep up a show of security and indifference. “We are going to + supper with him.” + </p> + <p> + Clarence slightly lifted his brows. + </p> + <p> + “You are more fortunate than I am,” he said smilingly. “I only arrived + here at seven, and I must leave at midnight.” + </p> + <p> + Phoebe hesitated a moment, then said with affected carelessness:— + </p> + <p> + “What do you think of the young girl who plays with him? Do you know her? + Who is she?” + </p> + <p> + He looked at her quickly, and then said, with some surprise:— + </p> + <p> + “Did he not tell you?” + </p> + <p> + “She WAS the adopted daughter of Mrs. Peyton,—Miss Susan Silsbee,” + he said gravely. + </p> + <p> + “Then she DID run away from home as they said,” said Phoebe impulsively. + </p> + <p> + “Not EXACTLY as they said,” said Clarence gently. “She elected to make her + home with her aunt, Mrs. McClosky, who is the wife of the manager of this + theatre, and she adopted the profession a month ago. As it now appears + that there was some informality in the old articles of guardianship, Mrs. + Peyton would have been powerless to prevent her from doing either, even if + she had wished to.” + </p> + <p> + The infelicity of questioning Clarence regarding Susy suddenly flashed + upon the forgetful Phoebe, and she colored. Yet, although sad, he did not + look like a rejected lover. + </p> + <p> + “Of course, if she is here with her own relatives, that makes all the + difference,” she said gently. “It is protection.” + </p> + <p> + “Certainly,” said Clarence. + </p> + <p> + “And,” continued Phoebe hesitatingly, “she is playing with—with—an + old friend—Mr. Hooker!” + </p> + <p> + “That is quite proper, too, considering their relations,” said Clarence + tolerantly. + </p> + <p> + “I—don't—understand,” stammered Phoebe. + </p> + <p> + The slightly cynical smile on Clarence's face changed as he looked into + Phoebe's eyes. + </p> + <p> + “I've just heard that they are married,” he returned gently. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XII. + </h2> + <p> + Nowhere had the long season of flowers brought such glory as to the broad + plains and slopes of Robles Rancho. By some fortuitous chance of soil, or + flood, or drifting pollen, the three terraces had each taken a distinct + and separate blossom and tint of color. The straggling line of corral, the + crumbling wall of the old garden, the outlying chapel, and even the brown + walls of the casa itself, were half sunken in the tall racemes of crowding + lupines, until from the distance they seemed to be slowly settling in the + profundity of a dark-blue sea. The second terrace was a league-long flow + of gray and gold daisies, in which the cattle dazedly wandered mid-leg + deep. A perpetual sunshine of yellow dandelions lay upon the third. The + gentle slope to the dark-green canada was a broad cataract of crimson + poppies. Everywhere where water had stood, great patches of color had + taken its place. It seemed as if the rains had ceased only that the broken + heavens might drop flowers. + </p> + <p> + Never before had its beauty—a beauty that seemed built upon a cruel, + youthful, obliterating forgetfulness of the past—struck Clarence as + keenly as when he had made up his mind that he must leave the place + forever. For the tale of his mischance and ill-fortune, as told by + Hopkins, was unfortunately true. When he discovered that in his desire to + save Peyton's house by the purchase of the Sisters' title he himself had + been the victim of a gigantic fraud, he accepted the loss of the greater + part of his fortune with resignation, and was even satisfied by the + thought that he had at least effected the possession of the property for + Mrs. Peyton. But when he found that those of his tenants who had bought + under him had acquired only a dubious possession of their lands and no + title, he had unhesitatingly reimbursed them for their improvements with + the last of his capital. Only the lawless Gilroy had good-humoredly + declined. The quiet acceptance of the others did not, unfortunately, + preclude their settled belief that Clarence had participated in the fraud, + and that even now his restitution was making a dangerous precedent, + subversive of the best interests of the State, and discouraging to + immigration. Some doubted his sanity. Only one, struck with the sincerity + of his motive, hesitated to take his money, with a look of commiseration + on his face. + </p> + <p> + “Are you not satisfied?” asked Clarence, smiling. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, but”— + </p> + <p> + “But what?” + </p> + <p> + “Nothin'. Only I was thinkin' that a man like you must feel awful lonesome + in Calforny!” + </p> + <p> + Lonely he was, indeed; but his loneliness was not the loss of fortune nor + what it might bring. Perhaps he had never fully realized his wealth; it + had been an accident rather than a custom of his life, and when it had + failed in the only test he had made of its power, it is to be feared that + he only sentimentally regretted it. It was too early yet for him to + comprehend the veiled blessings of the catastrophe in its merciful + disruption of habits and ways of life; his loneliness was still the + hopeless solitude left by vanished ideals and overthrown idols. He was + satisfied that he had never cared for Susy, but he still cared for the + belief that he had. + </p> + <p> + After the discovery of Pedro's body that fatal morning, a brief but + emphatic interview between himself and Mrs. McClosky had followed. He had + insisted upon her immediately accompanying Susy and himself to Mrs. Peyton + in San Francisco. Horror-stricken and terrified at the catastrophe, and + frightened by the strange looks of the excited servants, they did not dare + to disobey him. He had left them with Mrs. Peyton in the briefest + preliminary interview, during which he spoke only of the catastrophe, + shielding the woman from the presumption of having provoked it, and urging + only the importance of settling the question of guardianship at once. It + was odd that Mrs. Peyton had been less disturbed than he imagined she + would be at even his charitable version of Susy's unfaithfulness to her; + it even seemed to him that she had already suspected it. But as he was + about to withdraw to leave her to meet them alone, she had stopped him + suddenly. + </p> + <p> + “What would you advise me to do?” + </p> + <p> + It was his first interview with her since the revelation of his own + feelings. He looked into the pleading, troubled eyes of the woman he now + knew he had loved, and stammered:— + </p> + <p> + “You alone can judge. Only you must remember that one cannot force an + affection any more than one can prevent it.” + </p> + <p> + He felt himself blushing, and, conscious of the construction of his words, + he even fancied that she was displeased. + </p> + <p> + “Then you have no preference?” she said, a little impatiently. + </p> + <p> + “None.” + </p> + <p> + She made a slight gesture with her handsome shoulders, but she only said, + “I should have liked to have pleased you in this,” and turned coldly away. + He had left without knowing the result of the interview; but a few days + later he received a letter from her stating that she had allowed Susy to + return to her aunt, and that she had resigned all claims to her + guardianship. + </p> + <p> + “It seemed to be a foregone conclusion,” she wrote; “and although I cannot + think such a change will be for her permanent welfare, it is her present + WISH, and who knows, indeed, if the change will be permanent? I have not + allowed the legal question to interfere with my judgment, although her + friends must know that she forfeits any claim upon the estate by her + action; but at the same time, in the event of her suitable marriage, I + should try to carry out what I believe would have been Mr. Peyton's + wishes.” + </p> + <p> + There were a few lines of postscript: “It seems to me that the change + would leave you more free to consult your own wishes in regard to + continuing your friendship with Susy, and upon such a footing as may + please you. I judge from Mrs. McClosky's conversation that she believed + you thought you were only doing your duty in reporting to me, and that the + circumstances had not altered the good terms in which you all three + formerly stood.” + </p> + <p> + Clarence had dropped the letter with a burning indignation that seemed to + sting his eyes until a scalding moisture hid the words before him. What + might not Susy have said? What exaggeration of his affection was she not + capable of suggesting? He recalled Mrs. McClosky, and remembered her easy + acceptance of him as Susy's lover. What had they told Mrs. Peyton? What + must be her opinion of his deceit towards herself? It was hard enough to + bear this before he knew he loved her. It was intolerable now! And this is + what she meant when she suggested that he should renew his old terms with + Susy; it was for HIM that this ill-disguised, scornful generosity in + regard to Susy's pecuniary expectations was intended. What should he do? + He would write to her, and indignantly deny any clandestine affection for + Susy. But could he do that, in honor, in truthfulness? Would it not be + better to write and confess all? Yes,—EVERYTHING. + </p> + <p> + Fortunately for his still boyish impulsiveness, it was at this time that + the discovery of his own financial ruin came to him. The inquest on the + body of Pedro Valdez and the confession of his confidant had revealed the + facts of the fraudulent title and forged testamentary documents. Although + it was correctly believed that Pedro had met his death in an escapade of + gallantry or intrigue, the coroner's jury had returned a verdict of + “accidental death,” and the lesser scandal was lost in the wider, + far-spreading disclosure of fraud. When he had resolved to assume all the + liabilities of his purchase, he was obliged to write to Mrs. Peyton and + confess his ruin. But he was glad to remind her that it did not alter HER + status or security; he had only given her the possession, and she would + revert to her original and now uncontested title. But as there was now no + reason for his continuing the stewardship, and as he must adopt some + profession and seek his fortune elsewhere, he begged her to relieve him of + his duty. Albeit written with a throbbing heart and suffused eyes, it was + a plain, business-like, and practical letter. Her reply was equally cool + and matter of fact. She was sorry to hear of his losses, although she + could not agree with him that they could logically sever his present + connection with the rancho, or that, placed upon another and distinctly + business footing, the occupation would not be as remunerative to him as + any other. But, of course, if he had a preference for some more + independent position, that was another question, although he would forgive + her for using the privilege of her years to remind him that his financial + and business success had not yet justified his independence. She would + also advise him not to decide hastily, or, at least, to wait until she had + again thoroughly gone over her husband's papers with her lawyer, in + reference to the old purchase of the Sisters' title, and the conditions + under which it was bought. She knew that Mr. Brant would not refuse this + as a matter of business, nor would that friendship, which she valued so + highly, allow him to imperil the possession of the rancho by leaving it at + such a moment. As soon as she had finished the examination of the papers, + she would write again. Her letter seemed to leave him no hope, if, indeed, + he had ever indulged in any. It was the practical kindliness of a woman of + business, nothing more. As to the examination of her husband's papers, + that was a natural precaution. He alone knew that they would give no + record of a transaction which had never occurred. He briefly replied that + his intention to seek another situation was unchanged, but that he would + cheerfully await the arrival of his successor. Two weeks passed. Then Mr. + Sanderson, Mrs. Peyton's lawyer, arrived, bringing an apologetic note from + Mrs. Peyton. She was so sorry her business was still delayed, but as she + had felt that she had no right to detain him entirely at Robles, she had + sent to Mr. Sanderson to TEMPORARILY relieve him, that he might be free to + look around him or visit San Francisco in reference to his own business, + only extracting a promise from him that he would return to Robles to meet + her at the end of the week, before settling upon anything. + </p> + <p> + The bitter smile with which Clarence had read thus far suddenly changed. + Some mysterious touch of unbusiness-like but womanly hesitation, that he + had never noticed in her previous letters, gave him a faint sense of + pleasure, as if her note had been perfumed. He had availed himself of the + offer. It was on this visit to Sacramento that he had accidentally + discovered the marriage of Susy and Hooker. + </p> + <p> + “It's a great deal better business for her to have a husband in the + 'profesh' if she's agoin' to stick to it,” said his informant, Mrs. + McClosky, “and she's nothing if she ain't business and profesh, Mr. Brant. + I never see a girl that was born for the stage—yes, you might say + jess cut out o' the boards of the stage—as that girl Susy is! And + that's jest what's the matter; and YOU know it, and I know it, and there + you are!” + </p> + <p> + It was with these experiences that Clarence was to-day reentering the + wooded and rocky gateway of the rancho from the high road of the canada; + but as he cantered up the first slope, through the drift of scarlet + poppies that almost obliterated the track, and the blue and yellow blooms + of the terraces again broke upon his view, he thought only of Mrs. + Peyton's pleasure in this changed aspect of her old home. She had told him + of it once before, and of her delight in it; and he had once thought how + happy he should be to see it with her. + </p> + <p> + The servant who took his horse told him that the senora had arrived that + morning from Santa Inez, bringing with her the two Senoritas Hernandez + from the rancho of Los Canejos, and that other guests were expected. And + there was the Senor Sanderson and his Reverence Padre Esteban. Truly an + affair of hospitality, the first since the padron died. Whatever dream + Clarence might have had of opportunities for confidential interview was + rudely dispelled. Yet Mrs. Peyton had left orders to be informed at once + of Don Clarencio's arrival. + </p> + <p> + As he crossed the patio and stepped upon the corridor he fancied he + already detected in the internal arrangements the subtle influence of Mrs. + Peyton's taste and the indefinable domination of the mistress. For an + instant he thought of anticipating the servant and seeking her in the + boudoir, but some instinct withheld him, and he turned into the study + which he had used as an office. It was empty; a few embers glimmered on + the hearth. At the same moment there was a light step behind him, and Mrs. + Peyton entered and closed the door behind her. She was very beautiful. + Although paler and thinner, there was an odd sort of animation about her, + so unlike her usual repose that it seemed almost feverish. + </p> + <p> + “I thought we could talk together a few moments before the guests arrive. + The house will be presently so full, and my duties as hostess commence.” + </p> + <p> + “I was—about to seek you—in—in the boudoir,” hesitated + Clarence. + </p> + <p> + She gave an impatient shiver. + </p> + <p> + “Good heavens, not there! I shall never go there again. I should fancy + every time I looked out of the window that I saw the head of that man + between the bars. No! I am only thankful that I wasn't here at the time, + and that I can keep my remembrance of the dear old place unchanged.” She + checked herself a little abruptly, and then added somewhat irrelevantly + but cheerfully, “Well, you have been away? What have you done?” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing,” said Clarence. + </p> + <p> + “Then you have kept your promise,” she said, with the same nervous + hilarity. + </p> + <p> + “I have returned here without making any other engagement,” he said + gravely; “but I have not altered my determination.” + </p> + <p> + She shrugged her shoulders again, or, as it seemed, the skin of her + tightly fitting black dress above them, with the sensitive shiver of a + highly groomed horse, and moved to the hearth as if for warmth; put her + slim, slippered foot upon the low fender, drawing, with a quick hand, the + whole width of her skirt behind her until it clingingly accented the long, + graceful curve from her hip to her feet. All this was so unlike her usual + fastidiousness and repose that he was struck by it. With her eyes on the + glowing embers of the hearth, and tentatively advancing her toe to its + warmth and drawing it away, she said:— + </p> + <p> + “Of course, you must please yourself. I am afraid I have no right except + that of habit and custom to keep you here; and you know,” she added, with + an only half-withheld bitterness, “that they are not always very effective + with young people who prefer to have the ordering of their own lives. But + I have something still to tell you before you finally decide. I have, as + you know, been looking over my—over Mr. Peyton's papers very + carefully. Well, as a result, I find, Mr. Brant, that there is no record + whatever of his wonderfully providential purchase of the Sisters' title + from you; that he never entered into any written agreement with you, and + never paid you a cent; and that, furthermore, his papers show me that he + never even contemplated it; nor, indeed, even knew of YOUR owning the + title when he died. Yes, Mr. Brant, it was all to YOUR foresight and + prudence, and YOUR generosity alone, that we owe our present possession of + the rancho. When you helped us into that awful window, it was YOUR house + we were entering; and if it had been YOU, and not those wretches, who had + chosen to shut the doors on us after the funeral, we could never have + entered here again. Don't deny it, Mr. Brant. I have suspected it a long + time, and when you spoke of changing YOUR position, I determined to find + out if it wasn't I who had to leave the house rather than you. One moment, + please. And I did find out, and it WAS I. Don't speak, please, yet. And + now,” she said, with a quick return to her previous nervous hilarity, + “knowing this, as you did, and knowing, too, that I would know it when I + examined the papers,—don't speak, I'm not through yet,—don't + you think that it was just a LITTLE cruel for you to try to hurry me, and + make me come here instead of your coming to ME in San Francisco, when I + gave you leave for that purpose?” + </p> + <p> + “But, Mrs. Peyton,” gasped Clarence. + </p> + <p> + “Please don't interrupt me,” said the lady, with a touch of her old + imperiousness, “for in a moment I must join my guests. When I found you + wouldn't tell me, and left it to me to find out, I could only go away as I + did, and really leave you to control what I believed was your own + property. And I thought, too, that I understood your motives, and, to be + frank with you, that worried me; for I believed I knew the disposition and + feelings of a certain person better than yourself.” + </p> + <p> + “One moment,” broke out Clarence, “you MUST hear me, now. Foolish and + misguided as that purchase may have been, I swear to you I had only one + motive in making it,—to save the homestead for you and your husband, + who had been my first and earliest benefactors. What the result of it was, + you, as a business woman, know; your friends know; your lawyer will tell + you the same. You owe me nothing. I have given you nothing but the + repossession of this property, which any other man could have done, and + perhaps less stupidly than I did. I would not have forced you to come here + to hear this if I had dreamed of your suspicions, or even if I had simply + understood that you would see me in San Francisco as I passed through.” + </p> + <p> + “Passed through? Where were you going?” she said quickly. + </p> + <p> + “To Sacramento.” + </p> + <p> + The abrupt change in her manner startled him to a recollection of Susy, + and he blushed. She bit her lips, and moved towards the window. + </p> + <p> + “Then you saw her?” she said, turning suddenly towards him. The inquiry of + her beautiful eyes was more imperative than her speech. + </p> + <p> + Clarence recognized quickly what he thought was his cruel blunder in + touching the half-healed wound of separation. But he had gone too far to + be other than perfectly truthful now. + </p> + <p> + “Yes; I saw her on the stage,” he said, with a return of his boyish + earnestness; “and I learned something which I wanted you to first hear + from me. She is MARRIED,—and to Mr. Hooker, who is in the same + theatrical company with her. But I want you to think, as I honestly do, + that it is the best for her. She has married in her profession, which is a + great protection and a help to her success, and she has married a man who + can look lightly upon certain qualities in her that others might not be so + lenient to. His worst faults are on the surface, and will wear away in + contact with the world, and he looks up to her as his superior. I gathered + this from her friend, for I did not speak with her myself; I did not go + there to see her. But as I expected to be leaving you soon, I thought it + only right that as I was the humble means of first bringing her into your + life, I should bring you this last news, which I suppose takes her out of + it forever. Only I want you to believe that YOU have nothing to regret, + and that SHE is neither lost nor unhappy.” + </p> + <p> + The expression of suspicious inquiry on her face when he began changed + gradually to perplexity as he continued, and then relaxed into a faint, + peculiar smile. But there was not the slightest trace of that pain, + wounded pride, indignation, or anger, that he had expected to see upon it. + </p> + <p> + “That means, I suppose, Mr. Brant, that YOU no longer care for her?” + </p> + <p> + The smile had passed, yet she spoke now with a half-real, half-affected + archness that was also unlike her. + </p> + <p> + “It means,” said Clarence with a white face, but a steady voice, “that I + care for her now as much as I ever cared for her, no matter to what folly + it once might have led me. But it means, also, that there was no time when + I was not able to tell it to YOU as frankly as I do now”— + </p> + <p> + “One moment, please,” she interrupted, and turned quickly towards the + door. She opened it and looked out. “I thought they were calling me,—and—I—I—MUST + go now, Mr. Brant. And without finishing my business either, or saying + half I had intended to say. But wait”—she put her hand to her head + in a pretty perplexity, “it's a moonlight night, and I'll propose after + dinner a stroll in the gardens, and you can manage to walk a little with + me.” She stopped again, returned, said, “It was very kind of you to think + of me at Sacramento,” held out her hand, allowed it to remain for an + instant, cool but acquiescent, in his warmer grasp, and with the same odd + youthfulness of movement and gesture slipped out of the door. + </p> + <p> + An hour later she was at the head of her dinner table, serene, beautiful, + and calm, in her elegant mourning, provokingly inaccessible in the sweet + deliberation of her widowed years; Padre Esteban was at her side with a + local magnate, who had known Peyton and his wife, while Donna Rosita and a + pair of liquid-tongued, childlike senoritas were near Clarence and + Sanderson. To the priest Mrs. Peyton spoke admiringly of the changes in + the rancho and the restoration of the Mission Chapel, and together they + had commended Clarence from the level of their superior passionless + reserve and years. Clarence felt hopelessly young and hopelessly lonely; + the naive prattle of the young girls beside him appeared infantine. In his + abstraction, he heard Mrs. Peyton allude to the beauty of the night, and + propose that after coffee and chocolate the ladies should put on their + wraps and go with her to the old garden. Clarence raised his eyes; she was + not looking at him, but there was a slight consciousness in her face that + was not there before, and the faintest color in her cheek, still + lingering, no doubt, from the excitement of conversation. + </p> + <p> + It was a cool, tranquil, dewless night when they at last straggled out, + mere black and white patches in the colorless moonlight. The brilliancy of + the flower-hued landscape was subdued under its passive, pale austerity; + even the gray and gold of the second terrace seemed dulled and confused. + At any other time Clarence might have lingered over this strange effect, + but his eyes followed only a tall figure, in a long striped burnous, that + moved gracefully beside the soutaned priest. As he approached, it turned + towards him. + </p> + <p> + “Ah! here you are. I just told Father Esteban that you talked of leaving + to-morrow, and that he would have to excuse me a few moments while you + showed me what you had done to the old garden.” + </p> + <p> + She moved beside him, and, with a hesitation that was not unlike a more + youthful timidity, slipped her hand through his arm. It was for the first + time, and, without thinking, he pressed it impulsively to his side. I have + already intimated that Clarence's reserve was at times qualified by + singular directness. + </p> + <p> + A few steps carried them out of hearing; a few more, and they seemed alone + in the world. The long adobe wall glanced away emptily beside them, and + was lost; the black shadows of the knotted pear-trees were beneath their + feet. They began to walk with the slight affectation of treading the + shadows as if they were patterns on a carpet. Clarence was voiceless, and + yet he seemed to be moving beside a spirit that must be first addressed. + </p> + <p> + But it was flesh and blood nevertheless. + </p> + <p> + “I interrupted you in something you were saying when I left the office,” + she said quietly. + </p> + <p> + “I was speaking of Susy,” returned Clarence eagerly; “and”— + </p> + <p> + “Then you needn't go on,” interrupted Mrs. Peyton quickly. “I understand + you, and believe you. I would rather talk of something else. We have not + yet arranged how I can make restitution to you for the capital you sank in + saving this place. You will be reasonable, Mr. Brant, and not leave me + with the shame and pain of knowing that you ruined yourself for the sake + of your old friends. For it is no more a sentimental idea of mine to feel + in this way than it is a fair and sensible one for you to imply that a + mere quibble of construction absolves me from responsibility. Mr. + Sanderson himself admits that the repossession you gave us is a fair and + legal basis for any arrangement of sharing or division of the property + with you, that might enable you to remain here and continue the work you + have so well begun. Have you no suggestion, or must it come from ME, Mr. + Brant?” + </p> + <p> + “Neither. Let us not talk of that now.” + </p> + <p> + She did not seem to notice the boyish doggedness of his speech, except so + far as it might have increased her inconsequent and nervously pitched + levity. + </p> + <p> + “Then suppose we speak of the Misses Hernandez, with whom you scarcely + exchanged a word at dinner, and whom I invited for you and your fluent + Spanish. They are charming girls, even if they are a little stupid. But + what can I do? If I am to live here, I must have a few young people around + me, if only to make the place cheerful for others. Do you know I have + taken a great fancy to Miss Rogers, and have asked her to visit me. I + think she is a good friend of yours, although perhaps she is a little shy. + What's the matter? You have nothing against her, have you?” + </p> + <p> + Clarence had stopped short. They had reached the end of the pear-tree + shadows. A few steps more would bring them to the fallen south wall of the + garden and the open moonlight beyond, but to the right an olive alley of + deeper shadow diverged. + </p> + <p> + “No,” he said, with slow deliberation; “I have to thank Mary Rogers for + having discovered something in me that I have been blindly, foolishly, and + hopelessly struggling with.” + </p> + <p> + “And, pray, what was that?” said Mrs. Peyton sharply. + </p> + <p> + “That I love you!” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Peyton was fairly startled. The embarrassment of any truth is apt to + be in its eternal abruptness, which no deviousness of tact or + circumlocution of diplomacy has ever yet surmounted. Whatever had been in + her heart, or mind, she was unprepared for this directness. The bolt had + dropped from the sky; they were alone; there was nothing between the stars + and the earth but herself and this man and this truth; it could not be + overlooked, surmounted, or escaped from. A step or two more would take her + out of the garden into the moonlight, but always into this awful frankness + of blunt and outspoken nature. She hesitated, and turned the corner into + the olive shadows. It was, perhaps, more dangerous; but less shameless, + and less like truckling. And the appallingly direct Clarence instantly + followed. + </p> + <p> + “I know you will despise me, hate me; and, perhaps, worst of all, + disbelieve me; but I swear to you, now, that I have always loved you,—yes, + ALWAYS! When first I came here, it was not to see my old playmate, but + YOU, for I had kept the memory of you as I first saw you when a boy, and + you have always been my ideal. I have thought of, dreamed of, worshiped, + and lived for no other woman. Even when I found Susy again, grown up here + at your side; even when I thought that I might, with your consent, marry + her, it was that I might be with YOU always; that I might be a part of + YOUR home, your family, and have a place with her in YOUR heart; for it + was you I loved, and YOU only. Don't laugh at me, Mrs. Peyton, it is the + truth, the whole truth, I am telling you. God help me!” + </p> + <p> + If she only COULD have laughed,—harshly, ironically, or even + mercifully and kindly! But it would not come. And she burst out:— + </p> + <p> + “I am not laughing. Good heavens, don't you see? It is ME you are making + ridiculous.” + </p> + <p> + “YOU ridiculous?” he said in a momentarily choked, half-stupefied voice. + “You—a beautiful woman, my superior in everything, the mistress of + these lands where I am only steward—made ridiculous, not by my + presumption, but by my confession? Was the saint you just now admired in + Father Esteban's chapel ridiculous because of the peon clowns who were + kneeling before it?” + </p> + <p> + “Hush! This is wicked! Stop!” + </p> + <p> + She felt she was now on firm ground, and made the most of it in voice and + manner. She must draw the line somewhere, and she would draw it between + passion and impiety. + </p> + <p> + “Not until I have told you all, and I MUST before I leave you. I loved you + when I came here,—even when your husband was alive. Don't be angry, + Mrs. Peyton; HE would not, and need not, have been angry; he would have + pitied the foolish boy, who, in the very innocence and ignorance of his + passion, might have revealed it to him as he did to everybody but ONE. And + yet, I sometimes think you might have guessed it, had you thought of me at + all. It must have been on my lips that day I sat with you in the boudoir. + I know that I was filled with it; with it and with you; with your + presence, with your beauty, your grace of heart and mind,—yes, Mrs. + Peyton, even with your own unrequited love for Susy. Only, then, I knew + not what it was.” + </p> + <p> + “But I think I can tell you what it was then, and now,” said Mrs. Peyton, + recovering her nervous little laugh, though it died a moment after on her + lips. “I remember it very well. You told me then that I REMINDED YOU OF + YOUR MOTHER. Well, I am not old enough to be your mother, Mr. Brant, but I + am old enough to have been, and might have been, the mother of your wife. + That was what you meant then; that is what you mean now. I was wrong to + accuse you of trying to make me ridiculous. I ask your pardon. Let us + leave it as it was that day in the boudoir, as it is NOW. Let me still + remind you of your mother,—I know she must have been a good woman to + have had so good a son,—and when you have found some sweet young + girl to make you happy, come to me for a mother's blessing, and we will + laugh at the recollection and misunderstanding of this evening.” + </p> + <p> + Her voice did not, however, exhibit that exquisite maternal tenderness + which the beatific vision ought to have called up, and the persistent + voice of Clarence could not be evaded in the shadow. + </p> + <p> + “I said you reminded me of my mother,” he went on at her side, “because I + knew her and lost her only as a child. She never was anything to me but a + memory, and yet an ideal of all that was sweet and lovable in woman. + Perhaps it was a dream of what she might have been when she was as young + in years as you. If it pleases you still to misunderstand me, it may + please you also to know that there is a reminder of her even in this. I + have no remembrance of a word of affection from her, nor a caress; I have + been as hopeless in my love for her who was my mother, as of the woman I + would make my wife.” + </p> + <p> + “But you have seen no one, you know no one, you are young, you scarcely + know your own self! You will forget this, you will forget ME! And if—if—I + should—listen to you, what would the world say, what would YOU + yourself say a few years hence? Oh, be reasonable. Think of it,—it + would be so wild,—so mad! so—so—utterly ridiculous!” + </p> + <p> + In proof of its ludicrous quality, two tears escaped her eyes in the + darkness. But Clarence caught the white flash of her withdrawn + handkerchief in the shadow, and captured her returning hand. It was + trembling, but did not struggle, and presently hushed itself to rest in + his. + </p> + <p> + “I'm not only a fool but a brute,” he said in a lower voice. “Forgive me. + I have given you pain,—you, for whom I would have died.” + </p> + <p> + They had both stopped. He was still holding her sleeping hand. His arm had + stolen around the burnous so softly that it followed the curves of her + figure as lightly as a fold of the garment, and was presumably unfelt. + Grief has its privileges, and suffering exonerates a questionable + situation. In another moment her fair head MIGHT have dropped upon his + shoulder. But an approaching voice uprose in the adjoining broad allee. It + might have been the world speaking through the voice of the lawyer + Sanderson. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, he is a good fellow, and an intelligent fellow, too, but a perfect + child in his experience of mankind.” + </p> + <p> + They both started, but Mrs. Peyton's hand suddenly woke up and grasped his + firmly. Then she said in a higher, but perfectly level tone:— + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I think with you we had better look at it again in the sunlight + to-morrow. But here come our friends; they have probably been waiting for + us to join them and go in.” + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + The wholesome freshness of early morning was in the room when Clarence + awoke, cleared and strengthened. His resolution had been made. He would + leave the rancho that morning, to enter the world again and seek his + fortune elsewhere. This was only right to HER, whose future it should + never be said he had imperiled by his folly and inexperience; and if, in a + year or two of struggle he could prove his right to address her again, he + would return. He had not spoken to her since they had parted in the + garden, with the grim truths of the lawyer ringing in his ears, but he had + written a few lines of farewell, to be given to her after he had left. He + was calm in his resolution, albeit a little pale and hollow-eyed for it. + </p> + <p> + He crept downstairs in the gray twilight of the scarce-awakened house, and + made his way to the stables. Saddling his horse, and mounting, he paced + forth into the crisp morning air. The sun, just risen, was everywhere + bringing out the fresh color of the flower-strewn terraces, as the last + night's shadows, which had hidden them, were slowly beaten back. He cast a + last look at the brown adobe quadrangle of the quiet house, just touched + with the bronzing of the sun, and then turned his face towards the + highway. As he passed the angle of the old garden he hesitated, but, + strong in his resolution, he put the recollection of last night behind + him, and rode by without raising his eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Clarence!” + </p> + <p> + It was HER voice. He wheeled his horse. She was standing behind the grille + in the old wall as he had seen her standing on the day he had ridden to + his rendezvous with Susy. A Spanish manta was thrown over her head and + shoulders, as if she had dressed hastily, and had run out to intercept him + while he was still in the stable. Her beautiful face was pale in its + black-hooded recess, and there were faint circles around her lovely eyes. + </p> + <p> + “You were going without saying 'goodby'!” she said softly. + </p> + <p> + She passed her slim white hand between the grating. Clarence leaped to the + ground, caught it, and pressed it to his lips. But he did not let it go. + </p> + <p> + “No! no!” she said, struggling to withdraw it. “It is better as it is—as—as + you have decided it to be. Only I could not let you go thus,—without + a word. There now,—go, Clarence, go. Please! Don't you see I am + behind these bars? Think of them as the years that separate us, my poor, + dear, foolish boy. Think of them as standing between us, growing closer, + heavier, and more cruel and hopeless as the years go on.” + </p> + <p> + Ah, well! they had been good bars a hundred and fifty years ago, when it + was thought as necessary to repress the innocence that was behind them as + the wickedness that was without. They had done duty in the convent at + Santa Inez, and the monastery of Santa Barbara, and had been brought + hither in Governor Micheltorrenas' time to keep the daughters of Robles + from the insidious contact of the outer world, when they took the air in + their cloistered pleasance. Guitars had tinkled against them in vain, and + they had withstood the stress and storm of love tokens. But, like many + other things which have had their day and time, they had retained their + semblance of power, even while rattling loosely in their sockets, only + because no one had ever thought of putting them to the test, and, in the + strong hand of Clarence, assisted, perhaps, by the leaning figure of Mrs. + Peyton, I grieve to say that the whole grille suddenly collapsed, became a + frame of tinkling iron, and then clanked, bar by bar, into the road. Mrs. + Peyton uttered a little cry and drew back, and Clarence, leaping the + ruins, caught her in his arms. + </p> + <p> + For a moment only, for she quickly withdrew from them, and although the + morning sunlight was quite rosy on her cheeks, she said gravely, pointing + to the dismantled opening:— + </p> + <p> + “I suppose you MUST stay now, for you never could leave me here alone and + defenseless.” + </p> + <p> + He stayed. And with this fulfillment of his youthful dreams the romance of + his young manhood seemed to be completed, and so closed the second volume + of this trilogy. But what effect that fulfillment of youth had upon his + maturer years, or the fortunes of those who were nearly concerned in it, + may be told in a later and final chronicle. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Susy, A Story of the Plains, by Bret Harte + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SUSY, A STORY OF THE PLAINS *** + +***** This file should be named 2495-h.htm or 2495-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/9/2495/ + +Produced by Donald Lainson; David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project +Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the Foundation” + or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the phrase “Project +Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase “Project Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +“Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, “Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.” + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +“Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right +of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + </body> +</html> diff --git a/2495.txt b/2495.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9194a5e --- /dev/null +++ b/2495.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5636 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Susy, A Story of the Plains, by Bret Harte + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Susy, A Story of the Plains + +Author: Bret Harte + +Release Date: May 16, 2006 [EBook #2495] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SUSY, A STORY OF THE PLAINS *** + + + + +Produced by Donald Lainson + + + + + +SUSY, A STORY OF THE PLAINS + + +By Bret Harte + + +From: "ARGONAUT EDITION" OF THE WORKS OF BRET HARTE, VOL. 7 + +P. F. COLLIER & SON + +NEW YORK + + + + +SUSY, A STORY OF THE PLAINS + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +Where the San Leandro turnpike stretches its dusty, hot, and +interminable length along the valley, at a point where the heat and dust +have become intolerable, the monotonous expanse of wild oats on either +side illimitable, and the distant horizon apparently remoter than ever, +it suddenly slips between a stunted thicket or hedge of "scrub oaks," +which until that moment had been undistinguishable above the long, +misty, quivering level of the grain. The thicket rising gradually in +height, but with a regular slope whose gradient had been determined +by centuries of western trade winds, presently becomes a fair wood of +live-oak, and a few hundred yards further at last assumes the aspect of +a primeval forest. A delicious coolness fills the air; the long, shadowy +aisles greet the aching eye with a soothing twilight; the murmur +of unseen brooks is heard, and, by a strange irony, the enormous, +widely-spaced stacks of wild oats are replaced by a carpet of +tiny-leaved mosses and chickweed at the roots of trees, and the minutest +clover in more open spaces. The baked and cracked adobe soil of the now +vanished plains is exchanged for a heavy red mineral dust and gravel, +rocks and boulders make their appearance, and at times the road is +crossed by the white veins of quartz. It is still the San Leandro +turnpike,--a few miles later to rise from this canada into the upper +plains again,--but it is also the actual gateway and avenue to the +Robles Rancho. When the departing visitors of Judge Peyton, now owner +of the rancho, reach the outer plains again, after twenty minutes' +drive from the house, the canada, rancho, and avenue have as completely +disappeared from view as if they had been swallowed up in the plain. + +A cross road from the turnpike is the usual approach to the casa or +mansion,--a long, low quadrangle of brown adobe wall in a bare but +gently sloping eminence. And here a second surprise meets the stranger. +He seems to have emerged from the forest upon another illimitable plain, +but one utterly trackless, wild, and desolate. It is, however, only +a lower terrace of the same valley, and, in fact, comprises the three +square leagues of the Robles Rancho. Uncultivated and savage as it +appears, given over to wild cattle and horses that sometimes sweep in +frightened bands around the very casa itself, the long south wall of the +corral embraces an orchard of gnarled pear-trees, an old vineyard, and +a venerable garden of olives and oranges. A manor, formerly granted by +Charles V. to Don Vincente Robles, of Andalusia, of pious and ascetic +memory, it had commended itself to Judge Peyton, of Kentucky, a modern +heretic pioneer of bookish tastes and secluded habits, who had bought it +of Don Vincente's descendants. Here Judge Peyton seemed to have +realized his idea of a perfect climate, and a retirement, half-studious, +half-active, with something of the seignioralty of the old slaveholder +that he had been. Here, too, he had seen the hope of restoring his +wife's health--for which he had undertaken the overland emigration--more +than fulfilled in Mrs. Peyton's improved physical condition, albeit +at the expense, perhaps, of some of the languorous graces of ailing +American wifehood. + +It was with a curious recognition of this latter fact that Judge Peyton +watched his wife crossing the patio or courtyard with her arm around the +neck of her adopted daughter "Suzette." A sudden memory crossed his mind +of the first day that he had seen them together,--the day that he had +brought the child and her boy-companion--two estrays from an emigrant +train on the plains--to his wife in camp. Certainly Mrs. Peyton was +stouter and stronger fibred; the wonderful Californian climate had +materialized her figure, as it had their Eastern fruits and flowers, but +it was stranger that "Susy"--the child of homelier frontier blood and +parentage, whose wholesome peasant plumpness had at first attracted +them--should have grown thinner and more graceful, and even seemed to +have gained the delicacy his wife had lost. Six years had imperceptibly +wrought this change; it had never struck him before so forcibly as on +this day of Susy's return from the convent school at Santa Clara for the +holidays. + +The woman and child had reached the broad veranda which, on one side of +the patio, replaced the old Spanish corridor. It was the single modern +innovation that Peyton had allowed himself when he had broken the +quadrangular symmetry of the old house with a wooden "annexe" or +addition beyond the walls. It made a pleasant lounging-place, shadowed +from the hot midday sun by sloping roofs and awnings, and sheltered from +the boisterous afternoon trade winds by the opposite side of the court. +But Susy did not seem inclined to linger there long that morning, in +spite of Mrs. Peyton's evident desire for a maternal tete-a-tete. The +nervous preoccupation and capricious ennui of an indulged child showed +in her pretty but discontented face, and knit her curved eyebrows, and +Peyton saw a look of pain pass over his wife's face as the young girl +suddenly and half-laughingly broke away and fluttered off towards the +old garden. + +Mrs. Peyton looked up and caught her husband's eye. + +"I am afraid Susy finds it more dull here every time she returns," she +said, with an apologetic smile. "I am glad she has invited one of her +school friends to come for a visit to-morrow. You know, yourself, John," +she added, with a slight partisan attitude, "that the lonely old house +and wild plain are not particularly lively for young people, however +much they may suit YOUR ways." + +"It certainly must be dull if she can't stand it for three weeks in +the year," said her husband dryly. "But we really cannot open the San +Francisco house for her summer vacation, nor can we move from the rancho +to a more fashionable locality. Besides, it will do her good to run +wild here. I can remember when she wasn't so fastidious. In fact, I was +thinking just now how changed she was from the day when we picked her +up"-- + +"How often am I to remind you, John," interrupted the lady, with some +impatience, "that we agreed never to speak of her past, or even to think +of her as anything but our own child. You know how it pains me! And the +poor dear herself has forgotten it, and thinks of us only as her own +parents. I really believe that if that wretched father and mother of +hers had not been killed by the Indians, or were to come to life again, +she would neither know them nor care for them. I mean, of course, +John," she said, averting her eyes from a slightly cynical smile on +her husband's face, "that it's only natural for young children to be +forgetful, and ready to take new impressions." + +"And as long, dear, as WE are not the subjects of this youthful +forgetfulness, and she isn't really finding US as stupid as the rancho," +replied her husband cheerfully, "I suppose we mustn't complain." + +"John, how can you talk such nonsense?" said Mrs. Peyton impatiently. +"But I have no fear of that," she added, with a slightly ostentatious +confidence. "I only wish I was as sure"-- + +"Of what?" + +"Of nothing happening that could take her from us. I do not mean death, +John,--like our first little one. That does not happen to one twice; but +I sometimes dread"-- + +"What? She's only fifteen, and it's rather early to think about the only +other inevitable separation,--marriage. Come, Ally, this is mere fancy. +She has been given up to us by her family,--at least, by all that we +know are left of them. I have legally adopted her. If I have not made +her my heiress, it is because I prefer to leave everything to YOU, and +I would rather she should know that she was dependent upon you for the +future than upon me." + +"And I can make a will in her favor if I want to?" said Mrs. Peyton +quickly. + +"Always," responded her husband smilingly; "but you have ample time to +think of that, I trust. Meanwhile I have some news for you which may +make Susy's visit to the rancho this time less dull to her. You remember +Clarence Brant, the boy who was with her when we picked her up, and who +really saved her life?" + +"No, I don't," said Mrs. Peyton pettishly, "nor do I want to! You know, +John, how distasteful and unpleasant it is for me to have those dreary, +petty, and vulgar details of the poor child's past life recalled, and, +thank Heaven, I have forgotten them except when you choose to drag +them before me. You agreed, long ago, that we were never to talk of the +Indian massacre of her parents, so that we could also ignore it before +her; then why do you talk of her vulgar friends, who are just as +unpleasant? Please let us drop the past." + +"Willingly, my dear; but, unfortunately, we cannot make others do it. +And this is a case in point. It appears that this boy, whom we brought +to Sacramento to deliver to a relative"-- + +"And who was a wicked little impostor,--you remember that yourself, +John, for he said that he was the son of Colonel Brant, and that he was +dead; and you know, and my brother Harry knew, that Colonel Brant was +alive all the time, and that he was lying, and Colonel Brant was not his +father," broke in Mrs. Peyton impatiently. + +"As it seems you do remember that much," said Peyton dryly, "it is only +just to him that I should tell you that it appears that he was not an +impostor. His story was TRUE. I have just learned that Colonel Brant WAS +actually his father, but had concealed his lawless life here, as well +as his identity, from the boy. He was really that vague relative to whom +Clarence was confided, and under that disguise he afterwards protected +the boy, had him carefully educated at the Jesuit College of San Jose, +and, dying two years ago in that filibuster raid in Mexico, left him a +considerable fortune." + +"And what has he to do with Susy's holidays?" said Mrs. Peyton, with +uneasy quickness. "John, you surely cannot expect her ever to meet this +common creature again, with his vulgar ways. His wretched associates +like that Jim Hooker, and, as you yourself admit, the blood of an +assassin, duelist, and--Heaven knows what kind of a pirate his father +wasn't at the last--in his veins! You don't believe that a lad of this +type, however much of his father's ill-gotten money he may have, can be +fit company for your daughter? You never could have thought of inviting +him here?" + +"I'm afraid that's exactly what I have done, Ally," said the smiling but +unmoved Peyton; "but I'm still more afraid that your conception of his +present condition is an unfair one, like your remembrance of his past. +Father Sobriente, whom I met at San Jose yesterday, says he is very +intelligent, and thoroughly educated, with charming manners and refined +tastes. His father's money, which they say was an investment for him in +Carson's Bank five years ago, is as good as any one's, and his father's +blood won't hurt him in California or the Southwest. At least, he is +received everywhere, and Don Juan Robinson was his guardian. Indeed, as +far as social status goes, it might be a serious question if the actual +daughter of the late John Silsbee, of Pike County, and the adopted +child of John Peyton was in the least his superior. As Father Sobriente +evidently knew Clarence's former companionship with Susy and her +parents, it would be hardly politic for us to ignore it or seem to be +ashamed of it. So I intrusted Sobriente with an invitation to young +Brant on the spot." + +Mrs. Peyton's impatience, indignation, and opposition, which had +successively given way before her husband's quiet, masterful good humor, +here took the form of a neurotic fatalism. She shook her head with +superstitious resignation. + +"Didn't I tell you, John, that I always had a dread of something +coming"-- + +"But if it comes in the shape of a shy young lad, I see nothing +singularly portentous in it. They have not met since they were quite +small; their tastes have changed; if they don't quarrel and fight they +may be equally bored with each other. Yet until then, in one way or +another, Clarence will occupy the young lady's vacant caprice, and +her school friend, Mary Rogers, will be here, you know, to divide +his attentions, and," added Peyton, with mock solemnity, "preserve the +interest of strict propriety. Shall I break it to her,--or will you?" + +"No,--yes," hesitated Mrs. Peyton; "perhaps I had better." + +"Very well, I leave his character in your hands; only don't prejudice +her into a romantic fancy for him." And Judge Peyton lounged smilingly +away. + +Then two little tears forced themselves from Mrs. Peyton's eyes. Again +she saw that prospect of uninterrupted companionship with Susy, upon +which each successive year she had built so many maternal hopes and +confidences, fade away before her. She dreaded the coming of Susy's +school friend, who shared her daughter's present thoughts and intimacy, +although she had herself invited her in a more desperate dread of the +child's abstracted, discontented eyes; she dreaded the advent of the boy +who had shared Susy's early life before she knew her; she dreaded the +ordeal of breaking the news and perhaps seeing that pretty animation +spring into her eyes, which she had begun to believe no solicitude or +tenderness of her own ever again awakened,--and yet she dreaded still +more that her husband should see it too. For the love of this recreated +woman, although not entirely materialized with her changed fibre, had +nevertheless become a coarser selfishness fostered by her loneliness and +limited experience. The maternal yearning left unsatisfied by the loss +of her first-born had never been filled by Susy's thoughtless acceptance +of it; she had been led astray by the child's easy transference of +dependence and the forgetfulness of youth, and was only now dimly +conscious of finding herself face to face with an alien nature. + +She started to her feet and followed the direction that Susy had taken. +For a moment she had to front the afternoon trade wind which chilled her +as it swept the plain beyond the gateway, but was stopped by the +adobe wall, above whose shelter the stunted treetops--through years of +exposure--slanted as if trimmed by gigantic shears. At first, looking +down the venerable alley of fantastic, knotted shapes, she saw no trace +of Susy. But half way down the gleam of a white skirt against a thicket +of dark olives showed her the young girl sitting on a bench in a +neglected arbor. In the midst of this formal and faded pageantry she +looked charmingly fresh, youthful, and pretty; and yet the unfortunate +woman thought that her attitude and expression at that moment suggested +more than her fifteen years of girlhood. Her golden hair still hung +unfettered over her straight, boy-like back and shoulders; her short +skirt still showed her childish feet and ankles; yet there seemed to be +some undefined maturity or a vague womanliness about her that stung Mrs. +Peyton's heart. The child was growing away from her, too! + +"Susy!" + +The young girl raised her head quickly; her deep violet eyes seemed also +to leap with a sudden suspicion, and with a half-mechanical, secretive +movement, that might have been only a schoolgirl's instinct, her right +hand had slipped a paper on which she was scribbling between the leaves +of her book. Yet the next moment, even while looking interrogatively +at her mother, she withdrew the paper quietly, tore it up into small +pieces, and threw them on the ground. + +But Mrs. Peyton was too preoccupied with her news to notice the +circumstance, and too nervous in her haste to be tactful. "Susy, your +father has invited that boy, Clarence Brant,--you know that creature +we picked up and assisted on the plains, when you were a mere baby,--to +come down here and make us a visit." + +Her heart seemed to stop beating as she gazed breathlessly at the girl. +But Susy's face, unchanged except for the alert, questioning eyes, +remained fixed for a moment; then a childish smile of wonder opened her +small red mouth, expanded it slightly as she said simply:-- + +"Lor, mar! He hasn't, really!" + +Inexpressibly, yet unreasonably reassured, Mrs. Peyton hurriedly +recounted her husband's story of Clarence's fortune, and was even +joyfully surprised into some fairness of statement. + +"But you don't remember him much, do you, dear? It was so long ago, +and--you are quite a young lady now," she added eagerly. + +The open mouth was still fixed; the wondering smile would have been +idiotic in any face less dimpled, rosy, and piquant than Susy's. After +a slight gasp, as if in still incredulous and partly reminiscent +preoccupation, she said without replying:-- + +"How funny! When is he coming?" + +"Day after to-morrow," returned Mrs. Peyton, with a contented smile. + +"And Mary Rogers will be here, too. It will be real fun for her." + +Mrs. Peyton was more than reassured. Half ashamed of her jealous fears, +she drew Susy's golden head towards her and kissed it. And the young +girl, still reminiscent, with smilingly abstracted toleration, returned +the caress. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +It was not thought inconsistent with Susy's capriciousness that she +should declare her intention the next morning of driving her pony buggy +to Santa Inez to anticipate the stage-coach and fetch Mary Rogers from +the station. Mrs. Peyton, as usual, supported the young lady's whim and +opposed her husband's objections. + +"Because the stage-coach happens to pass our gate, John, it is no reason +why Susy shouldn't drive her friend from Santa Inez if she prefers it. +It's only seven miles, and you can send Pedro to follow her on horseback +to see that she comes to no harm." + +"But that isn't Pedro's business," said Peyton. + +"He ought to be proud of the privilege," returned the lady, with a toss +of her head. + +Peyton smiled grimly, but yielded; and when the stage-coach drew up the +next afternoon at the Santa Inez Hotel, Susy was already waiting in her +pony carriage before it. Although the susceptible driver, expressman, +and passengers generally, charmed with this golden-haired vision, +would have gladly protracted the meeting of the two young friends, the +transfer of Mary Rogers from the coach to the carriage was effected with +considerable hauteur and youthful dignity by Susy. Even Mary Rogers, +two years Susy's senior, a serious brunette, whose good-humor did not, +however, impair her capacity for sentiment, was impressed and even +embarrassed by her demeanor; but only for a moment. When they had driven +from the hotel and were fairly hidden again in the dust of the outlying +plain, with the discreet Pedro hovering in the distance, Susy dropped +the reins, and, grasping her companion's arm, gasped, in tones of +dramatic intensity:-- + +"He's been heard from, and is coming HERE!" + +"Who?" + +A sickening sense that her old confidante had already lost touch with +her--they had been separated for nearly two weeks--might have passed +through Susy's mind. + +"Who?" she repeated, with a vicious shake of Mary's arm, "why, Clarence +Brant, of course." + +"No!" said Mary, vaguely. + +Nevertheless, Susy went on rapidly, as if to neutralize the effect of +her comrade's vacuity. + +"You never could have imagined it! Never! Even I, when mother told me, I +thought I should have fainted, and ALL would have been revealed!" + +"But," hesitated the still wondering confidante, "I thought that was all +over long ago. You haven't seen him nor heard from him since that day +you met accidentally at Santa Clara, two years ago, have you?" + +Susy's eyes shot a blue ray of dark but unutterable significance into +Mary's, and then were carefully averted. Mary Rogers, although perfectly +satisfied that Susy had never seen Clarence since, nevertheless +instantly accepted and was even thrilled with this artful suggestion +of a clandestine correspondence. Such was the simple faith of youthful +friendship. + +"Mother knows nothing of it, of course, and a word from you or him would +ruin everything," continued the breathless Susy. "That's why I came +to fetch you and warn you. You must see him first, and warn him at any +cost. If I hadn't run every risk to come here to-day, Heaven knows what +might have happened! What do you think of the ponies, dear? They're +my own, and the sweetest! This one's Susy, that one Clarence,--but +privately, you know. Before the world and in the stables he's only +Birdie." + +"But I thought you wrote to me that you called them 'Paul and +Virginie,'" said Mary doubtfully. + +"I do, sometimes," said Susy calmly. "But one has to learn to suppress +one's feelings, dear!" Then quickly, "I do so hate deceit, don't you? +Tell me, don't you think deceit perfectly hateful?" + +Without waiting for her friend's loyal assent, she continued rapidly: +"And he's just rolling in wealth! and educated, papa says, to the +highest degree!" + +"Then," began Mary, "if he's coming with your mother's consent, and if +you haven't quarreled, and it is not broken off, I should think you'd be +just delighted." + +But another quick flash from Susy's eyes dispersed these beatific +visions of the future. "Hush!" she said, with suppressed dramatic +intensity. "You know not what you say! There's an awful mystery hangs +over him. Mary Rogers," continued the young girl, approaching her small +mouth to her confidante's ear in an appalling whisper. "His father +was--a PIRATE! Yes--lived a pirate and was killed a pirate!" + +The statement, however, seemed to be partly ineffective. Mary Rogers was +startled but not alarmed, and even protested feebly. "But," she said, +"if the father's dead, what's that to do with Clarence? He was always +with your papa--so you told me, dear--or other people, and couldn't +catch anything from his own father. And I'm sure, dearest, he always +seemed nice and quiet." + +"Yes, SEEMED," returned Susy darkly, "but that's all you know! It was in +his BLOOD. You know it always is,--you read it in the books,--you +could see it in his eye. There were times, my dear, when he was +thwarted,--when the slightest attention from another person to me +revealed it! I have kept it to myself,--but think, dearest, of the +effects of jealousy on that passionate nature! Sometimes I tremble to +look back upon it." + +Nevertheless, she raised her hands and threw back her lovely golden mane +from her childish shoulders with an easy, untroubled gesture. It was +singular that Mary Rogers, leaning back comfortably in the buggy, also +accepted these heart-rending revelations with comfortably knitted +brows and luxuriously contented concern. If she found it difficult to +recognize in the picture just drawn by Susy the quiet, gentle, and sadly +reserved youth she had known, she said nothing. After a silence, lazily +watching the distant wheeling vacquero, she said:-- + +"And your father always sends an outrider like that with you? How nice! +So picturesque--and like the old Spanish days." + +"Hush!" said Susy, with another unutterable glance. + +But this time Mary was in full sympathetic communion with her friend, +and equal to any incoherent hiatus of revelation. + +"No!" she said promptly, "you don't mean it!" + +"Don't ask me, I daren't say anything to papa, for he'd be simply +furious. But there are times when we're alone, and Pedro wheels down so +near with SUCH a look in his black eyes, that I'm all in a tremble. It's +dreadful! They say he's a real Briones,--and he sometimes says something +in Spanish, ending with 'senorita,' but I pretend I don't understand." + +"And I suppose that if anything should happen to the ponies, he'd just +risk his life to save you." + +"Yes,--and it would be so awful,--for I just hate him!" + +"But if I was with you, dear, he couldn't expect you to be as grateful +as if you were alone. Susy!" she continued after a pause, "if you just +stirred up the ponies a little so as to make 'em go fast, perhaps he +might think they'd got away from you, and come dashing down here. It +would be so funny to see him,--wouldn't it?" + +The two girls looked at each other; their eyes sparkled already with +a fearful joy,--they drew a long breath of guilty anticipation. For a +moment Susy even believed in her imaginary sketch of Pedro's devotion. + +"Papa said I wasn't to use the whip except in a case of necessity," +she said, reaching for the slender silver-handled toy, and setting +her pretty lips together with the added determination of disobedience. +"G'long!"--and she laid the lash smartly on the shining backs of the +animals. + +They were wiry, slender brutes of Mojave Indian blood, only lately +broken to harness, and still undisciplined in temper. The lash sent +them rearing into the air, where, forgetting themselves in the slackened +traces and loose reins, they came down with a succession of bounds that +brought the light buggy leaping after them with its wheels scarcely +touching the ground. That unlucky lash had knocked away the bonds of +a few months' servitude and sent the half-broken brutes instinctively +careering with arched backs and kicking heels into the field towards the +nearest cover. + +Mary Rogers cast a hurried glance over her shoulder. Alas, they had +not calculated on the insidious levels of the terraced plain, and the +faithful Pedro had suddenly disappeared; the intervention of six inches +of rising wild oats had wiped him out of the prospect and their possible +salvation as completely as if he had been miles away. Nevertheless, +the girls were not frightened; perhaps they had not time. There was, +however, the briefest interval for the most dominant of feminine +emotions, and it was taken advantage of by Susy. + +"It was all YOUR fault, dear!" she gasped, as the forewheels of the +buggy, dropping into a gopher rut, suddenly tilted up the back of the +vehicle and shot its fair occupants into the yielding palisades of dusty +grain. The shock detached the whiffletree from the splinter-bar, snapped +the light pole, and, turning the now thoroughly frightened animals again +from their course, sent them, goaded by the clattering fragments, flying +down the turnpike. Half a mile farther on they overtook the gleaming +white canvas hood of a slowly moving wagon drawn by two oxen, and, +swerving again, the nearer pony stepped upon a trailing trace and +ingloriously ended their career by rolling himself and his companion in +the dust at the very feet of the peacefully plodding team. + +Equally harmless and inglorious was the catastrophe of Susy and her +friend. The strong, elastic stalks of the tall grain broke their fall +and enabled them to scramble to their feet, dusty, disheveled, but +unhurt, and even unstunned by the shock. Their first instinctive cries +over a damaged hat or ripped skirt were followed by the quick reaction +of childish laughter. They were alone; the very defection of Pedro +consoled them, in its absence of any witness to their disaster; even +their previous slight attitude to each other was forgotten. They groped +their way, pushing and panting, to the road again, where, beholding +the overset buggy with its wheels ludicrously in the air, they suddenly +seized and shook each other, and in an outburst of hilarious ecstasy, +fairly laughed until the tears came into their eyes. + +Then there was a breathless silence. + +"The stage will be coming by in a moment," composedly said Susy. "Fix +me, dear." + +Mary Rogers calmly walked around her friend, bestowing a practical +shake there, a pluck here, completely retying one bow and restoring an +engaging fullness to another, yet critically examining, with her head on +one side, the fascinating result. Then Susy performed the same function +for Mary with equal deliberation and deftness. Suddenly Mary started and +looked up. + +"It's coming," she said quickly, "and they've SEEN US." + +The expression of the faces of the two girls instantly changed. A +pained dignity and resignation, apparently born of the most harrowing +experiences and controlled only by perfect good breeding, was distinctly +suggested in their features and attitude as they stood patiently by the +wreck of their overturned buggy awaiting the oncoming coach. In sharp +contrast was the evident excitement among the passengers. A few rose +from their seats in their eagerness; as the stage pulled up in the road +beside the buggy four or five of the younger men leaped to the ground. + +"Are you hurt, miss?" they gasped sympathetically. + +Susy did not immediately reply, but ominously knitted her pretty +eyebrows as if repressing a spasm of pain. Then she said, "Not at all," +coldly, with the suggestion of stoically concealing some lasting or +perhaps fatal injury, and took the arm of Mary Rogers, who had, in the +mean time, established a touching yet graceful limp. + +Declining the proffered assistance of the passengers, they helped each +other into the coach, and freezingly requesting the driver to stop at +Mr. Peyton's gate, maintained a statuesque and impressive silence. At +the gates they got down, followed by the sympathetic glances of the +others. + +To all appearance their escapade, albeit fraught with dangerous +possibilities, had happily ended. But in the economy of human affairs, +as in nature, forces are not suddenly let loose without more or less +sympathetic disturbance which is apt to linger after the impelling +cause is harmlessly spent. The fright which the girls had unsuccessfully +attempted to produce in the heart of their escort had passed him to +become a panic elsewhere. Judge Peyton, riding near the gateway of his +rancho, was suddenly confronted by the spectacle of one of his vacqueros +driving on before him the two lassoed and dusty ponies, with a face that +broke into violent gesticulating at his master's quick interrogation. + +"Ah! Mother of God! It was an evil day! For the bronchos had run away, +upset the buggy, and had only been stopped by a brave Americano of an +ox-team, whose lasso was even now around their necks, to prove it, and +who had been dragged a matter of a hundred varas, like a calf, at their +heels. The senoritas,--ah! had he not already said they were safe, by +the mercy of Jesus!--picked up by the coach, and would be here at this +moment." + +"But where was Pedro all the time? What was he doing?" demanded Peyton, +with a darkened face and gathering anger. + +The vacquero looked at his master, and shrugged his shoulders +significantly. At any other time Peyton would have remembered that +Pedro, as the reputed scion of a decayed Spanish family, and claiming +superiority, was not a favorite with his fellow-retainers. But the +gesture, half of suggestion, half of depreciation, irritated Peyton +still more. + +"Well, where is this American who DID something when there wasn't a +man among you all able to stop a child's runaway ponies?" he said +sarcastically. "Let me see him." + +The vacquero became still more deprecatory. + +"Ah! He had driven on with his team towards San Antonio. He would not +stop to be thanked. But that was the whole truth. He, Incarnacion, could +swear to it as to the Creed. There was nothing more." + +"Take those beasts around the back way to the corral," said Peyton, +thoroughly enraged, "and not a word of this to any one at the casa, do +you hear? Not a word to Mrs. Peyton or the servants, or, by Heaven, I'll +clear the rancho of the whole lazy crew of you at once. Out of the way +there, and be off!" + +He spurred his horse past the frightened menial, and dashed down the +narrow lane that led to the gate. But, as Incarnacion had truly said, +"It was an evil day," for at the bottom of the lane, ambling slowly +along as he lazily puffed a yellow cigarette, appeared the figure of +the erring Pedro. Utterly unconscious of the accident, attributing the +disappearance of his charges to the inequalities of the plain, and, +in truth, little interested in what he firmly believed was his purely +artificial function, he had even made a larger circuit to stop at a +wayside fonda for refreshments. + +Unfortunately, there is no more illogical sequence of human emotion than +the exasperation produced by the bland manner of the unfortunate object +who has excited it, although that very unconcern may be the convincing +proof of innocence of intention. Judge Peyton, already influenced, was +furious at the comfortable obliviousness of his careless henchman, and +rode angrily towards him. Only a quick turn of Pedro's wrist kept the +two men from coming into collision. + +"Is this the way you attend to your duty?" demanded Peyton, in a thick, +suppressed voice, "Where is the buggy? Where is my daughter?" + +There was no mistaking Judge Peyton's manner, even if the reason of +it was not so clear to Pedro's mind, and his hot Latin blood flew +instinctively to his face. But for that, he might have shown some +concern or asked an explanation. As it was, he at once retorted with the +national shrug and the national half-scornful, half-lazy "Quien sabe?" + +"Who knows?" repeated Peyton, hotly. "I do! She was thrown out of her +buggy through your negligence and infernal laziness! The ponies ran +away, and were stopped by a stranger who wasn't afraid of risking +his bones, while you were limping around somewhere like a slouching, +cowardly coyote." + +The vacquero struggled a moment between blank astonishment and +inarticulate rage. At last he burst out:-- + +"I am no coyote! I was there! I saw no runaway!" + +"Don't lie to me, sir!" roared Peyton. "I tell you the buggy was +smashed, the girls were thrown out and nearly killed"--He stopped +suddenly. The sound of youthful laughter had come from the bottom of the +lane, where Susy Peyton and Mary Rogers, just alighted from the coach, +in the reaction of their previous constrained attitude, were flying +hilariously into view. A slight embarrassment crossed Peyton's face; a +still deeper flush of anger overspread Pedro's sullen cheek. + +Then Pedro found tongue again, his native one, rapidly, violently, +half incoherently. "Ah, yes! It had come to this. It seems he was not +a vacquero, a companion of the padrone on lands that had been his own +before the Americanos robbed him of it, but a servant, a lackey of +muchachas, an attendant on children to amuse them, or--why not?--an +appendage to his daughter's state! Ah, Jesus Maria! such a state! such a +muchacha! A picked-up foundling--a swineherd's daughter--to be +ennobled by his, Pedro's, attendance, and for whose vulgar, clownish +tricks,--tricks of a swineherd's daughter,--he, Pedro, was to be brought +to book and insulted as if she were of Hidalgo blood! Ah, Caramba! Don +Juan Peyton would find he could no more make a servant of him than he +could make a lady of her!" + +The two young girls were rapidly approaching. Judge Peyton spurred his +horse beside the vacquero's, and, swinging the long thong of his bridle +ominously in his clenched fingers, said, with a white face:-- + +"Vamos!" + +Pedro's hand slid towards his sash. Peyton only looked at him with a +rigid smile of scorn. + +"Or I'll lash you here before them both," he added in a lower voice. + +The vacquero met Peyton's relentless eyes with a yellow flash of hate, +drew his reins sharply, until his mustang, galled by the cruel bit, +reared suddenly as if to strike at the immovable American, then, +apparently with the same action, he swung it around on its hind legs, as +on a pivot, and dashed towards the corral at a furious gallop. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Meantime the heroic proprietor of the peaceful ox-team, whose valor +Incarnacion had so infelicitously celebrated, was walking listlessly in +the dust beside his wagon. At a first glance his slouching figure, taken +in connection with his bucolic conveyance, did not immediately suggest +a hero. As he emerged from the dusty cloud it could be seen that he was +wearing a belt from which a large dragoon revolver and hunting knife +were slung, and placed somewhat ostentatiously across the wagon seat +was a rifle. Yet the other contents of the wagon were of a singularly +inoffensive character, and even suggested articles of homely barter. +Culinary utensils of all sizes, tubs, scullery brushes, and clocks, with +several rolls of cheap carpeting and calico, might have been the wares +of some traveling vender. Yet, as they were only visible through a flap +of the drawn curtains of the canvas hood, they did not mitigate the +general aggressive effect of their owner's appearance. A red bandanna +handkerchief knotted and thrown loosely over his shoulders, a slouched +hat pulled darkly over a head of long tangled hair, which, however, +shadowed a round, comfortable face, scantily and youthfully bearded, +were part of these confusing inconsistencies. + +The shadows of the team wagon were already lengthening grotesquely over +the flat, cultivated fields, which for some time had taken the place of +the plains of wild oats in the branch road into which they had turned. +The gigantic shadow of the proprietor, occasionally projected before it, +was in characteristic exaggeration, and was often obliterated by a puff +of dust, stirred by the plodding hoofs of the peaceful oxen, and swept +across the field by the strong afternoon trades. The sun sank lower, +although a still potent presence above the horizon line; the creaking +wagon lumbered still heavily along. Yet at intervals its belligerent +proprietor would start up from his slouching, silent march, break out +into violent, disproportionate, but utterly ineffective objurgation +of his cattle, jump into the air and kick his heels together in some +paroxysm of indignation against them,--an act, however, which was +received always with heavy bovine indifference, the dogged scorn of +swaying, repudiating heads, or the dull contempt of lazily flicking +tails. + +Towards sunset one or two straggling barns and cottages indicated their +approach to the outskirts of a country town or settlement. Here the team +halted, as if the belligerent-looking teamster had felt his appearance +was inconsistent with an effeminate civilization, and the oxen were +turned into an open waste opposite a nondescript wooden tenement, half +farmhouse and half cabin, evidently of the rudest Western origin. He may +have recognized the fact that these "shanties" were not, as the ordinary +traveler might infer, the first rude shelter of the original pioneers +or settlers, but the later makeshifts of some recent Western immigrants +who, like himself, probably found themselves unequal to the settled +habits of the village, and who still retained their nomadic instincts. +It chanced, however, that the cabin at present was occupied by a New +England mechanic and his family, who had emigrated by ship around Cape +Horn, and who had no experience of the West, the plains, or its people. +It was therefore with some curiosity and a certain amount of fascinated +awe that the mechanic's only daughter regarded from the open door of her +dwelling the arrival of this wild and lawless-looking stranger. + +Meantime he had opened the curtains of the wagon and taken from its +interior a number of pots, pans, and culinary utensils, which he +proceeded to hang upon certain hooks that were placed on the outer ribs +of the board and the sides of the vehicle. To this he added a roll of +rag carpet, the end of which hung from the tailboard, and a roll of pink +calico temptingly displayed on the seat. The mystification and curiosity +of the young girl grew more intense at these proceedings. It looked +like the ordinary exhibition of a traveling peddler, but the gloomy +and embattled appearance of the man himself scouted so peaceful and +commonplace a suggestion. Under the pretense of chasing away a marauding +hen, she sallied out upon the waste near the wagon. It then became +evident that the traveler had seen her, and was not averse to her +interest in his movements, although he had not changed his attitude of +savage retrospection. An occasional ejaculation of suppressed passion, +as if the memory of some past conflict was too much for him, escaped him +even in this peaceful occupation. As this possibly caused the young girl +to still hover timidly in the distance, he suddenly entered the +wagon and reappeared carrying a tin bucket, with which he somewhat +ostentatiously crossed her path, his eyes darkly wandering as if seeking +something. + +"If you're lookin' for the spring, it's a spell furder on--by the +willows." + +It was a pleasant voice, the teamster thought, albeit with a dry, crisp, +New England accent unfamiliar to his ears. He looked into the depths +of an unlovely blue-check sunbonnet, and saw certain small, irregular +features and a sallow check, lit up by a pair of perfectly innocent, +trustful, and wondering brown eyes. Their timid possessor seemed to be a +girl of seventeen, whose figure, although apparently clad in one of her +mother's gowns, was still undeveloped and repressed by rustic hardship +and innutrition. As her eyes met his she saw that the face of this +gloomy stranger was still youthful, by no means implacable, and, even at +that moment, was actually suffused by a brick-colored blush! In matters +of mere intuition, the sex, even in its most rustic phase, is still our +superior; and this unsophisticated girl, as the trespasser stammered, +"Thank ye, miss," was instinctively emboldened to greater freedom. + +"Dad ain't tu hum, but ye kin have a drink o' milk if ye keer for it." + +She motioned shyly towards the cabin, and then led the way. The +stranger, with an inarticulate murmur, afterwards disguised as a cough, +followed her meekly. Nevertheless, by the time they had reached the +cabin he had shaken his long hair over his eyes again, and a dark +abstraction gathered chiefly in his eyebrows. But it did not efface from +the girl's mind the previous concession of a blush, and, although it +added to her curiosity, did not alarm her. He drank the milk awkwardly. +But by the laws of courtesy, even among the most savage tribes, she +felt he was, at that moment at least, harmless. A timid smile fluttered +around her mouth as she said:-- + +"When ye hung up them things I thought ye might be havin' suthing to +swap or sell. That is,"--with tactful politeness,--"mother was wantin' +a new skillet, and it would have been handy if you'd had one. But"--with +an apologetic glance at his equipments--"if it ain't your business, it's +all right, and no offense." + +"I've got a lot o' skillets," said the strange teamster, with marked +condescension, "and she can have one. They're all that's left outer a +heap o' trader's stuff captured by Injuns t'other side of Laramie. We +had a big fight to get 'em back. Lost two of our best men,--scalped at +Bloody Creek,--and had to drop a dozen redskins in their tracks,--me and +another man,--lyin' flat in er wagon and firin' under the flaps o' +the canvas. I don't know ez they waz wuth it," he added in gloomy +retrospect; "but I've got to get rid of 'em, I reckon, somehow, afore I +work over to Deadman's Gulch again." + +The young girl's eyes brightened timidly with a feminine mingling of +imaginative awe and personal, pitying interest. He was, after all, so +young and amiable looking for such hardships and adventures. And with +all this, he--this Indian fighter--was a little afraid of HER! + +"Then that's why you carry that knife and six-shooter?" she said. "But +you won't want 'em now, here in the settlement." + +"That's ez mebbe," said the stranger darkly. He paused, and then +suddenly, as if recklessly accepting a dangerous risk, unbuckled his +revolver and handed it abstractedly to the young girl. But the sheath +of the bowie-knife was a fixture in his body-belt, and he was obliged +to withdraw the glittering blade by itself, and to hand it to her in all +its naked terrors. The young girl received the weapons with a smiling +complacency. Upon such altars as these the skeptical reader will +remember that Mars had once hung his "battered shield," his lance, and +"uncontrolled crest." + +Nevertheless, the warlike teamster was not without embarrassment. +Muttering something about the necessity of "looking after his stock," +he achieved a hesitating bow, backed awkwardly out of the door, and +receiving from the conquering hands of the young girl his weapons again, +was obliged to carry them somewhat ingloriously in his hands across +the road, and put them on the wagon seat, where, in company with the +culinary articles, they seemed to lose their distinctively aggressive +character. Here, although his cheek was still flushed from his peaceful +encounter, his voice regained some of its hoarse severity as he drove +the oxen from the muddy pool into which they had luxuriantly wandered, +and brought their fodder from the wagon. Later, as the sun was setting, +he lit a corn-cob pipe, and somewhat ostentatiously strolled down the +road, with a furtive eye lingering upon the still open door of the +farmhouse. Presently two angular figures appeared from it, the farmer +and his wife, intent on barter. + +These he received with his previous gloomy preoccupation, and a slight +variation of the story he had told their daughter. It is possible +that his suggestive indifference piqued and heightened the bargaining +instincts of the woman, for she not only bought the skillet, but +purchased a clock and a roll of carpeting. Still more, in some effusion +of rustic courtesy, she extended an invitation to him to sup with them, +which he declined and accepted in the same embarrassed breath, returning +the proffered hospitality by confidentially showing them a couple of +dried scalps, presumably of Indian origin. It was in the same moment +of human weakness that he answered their polite query as to "what they +might call him," by intimating that his name was "Red Jim,"--a title of +achievement by which he was generally known, which for the present must +suffice them. But during the repast that followed this was shortened to +"Mister Jim," and even familiarly by the elders to plain "Jim." Only +the young girl habitually used the formal prefix in return for the "Miss +Phoebe" that he called her. + +With three such sympathetic and unexperienced auditors the gloomy +embarrassment of Red Jim was soon dissipated, although it could hardly +be said that he was generally communicative. Dark tales of Indian +warfare, of night attacks and wild stampedes, in which he had always +taken a prominent part, flowed freely from his lips, but little else +of his past history or present prospects. And even his narratives of +adventure were more or less fragmentary and imperfect in detail. + +"You woz saying," said the farmer, with slow, matter of fact, New +England deliberation, "ez how you guessed you woz beguiled amongst the +Injins by your Mexican partner, a pow'ful influential man, and yet you +woz the only one escaped the gen'ral slarterin'. How came the Injins to +kill HIM,--their friend?" + +"They didn't," returned Jim, with ominously averted eyes. + +"What became of him?" continued the farmer. + +Red Jim shadowed his eyes with his hand, and cast a dark glance of +scrutiny out of the doors and windows. The young girl perceived it with +timid, fascinated concern, and said hurriedly:-- + +"Don't ask him, father! Don't you see he mustn't tell?" + +"Not when spies may be hangin' round, and doggin' me at every step," +said Red Jim, as if reflecting, with another furtive glance towards +the already fading prospect without. "They've sworn to revenge him," he +added moodily. + +A momentary silence followed. The farmer coughed slightly, and looked +dubiously at his wife. But the two women had already exchanged feminine +glances of sympathy for this evident slayer of traitors, and were +apparently inclined to stop any adverse criticism. + +In the midst of which a shout was heard from the road. The farmer and +his family instinctively started. Red Jim alone remained unmoved,--a +fact which did not lessen the admiration of his feminine audience. The +host rose quickly, and went out. The figure of a horseman had halted +in the road, but after a few moments' conversation with the farmer they +both moved towards the house and disappeared. When the farmer returned, +it was to say that "one of them 'Frisco dandies, who didn't keer +about stoppin' at the hotel in the settlement," had halted to give his +"critter" a feed and drink that he might continue his journey. He had +asked him to come in while the horse was feeding, but the stranger had +"guessed he'd stretch his legs outside and smoke his cigar;" he might +have thought the company "not fine enough for him," but he was "civil +spoken enough, and had an all-fired smart hoss, and seemed to know how +to run him." To the anxious inquiries of his wife and daughter he added +that the stranger didn't seem like a spy or a Mexican; was "as young +as HIM," pointing to the moody Red Jim, "and a darned sight more +peaceful-like in style." + +Perhaps owing to the criticism of the farmer, perhaps from some still +lurking suspicion of being overheard by eavesdroppers, or possibly from +a humane desire to relieve the strained apprehension of the women, Red +Jim, as the farmer disappeared to rejoin the stranger, again dropped +into a lighter and gentler vein of reminiscence. He told them how, when +a mere boy, he had been lost from an emigrant train in company with a +little girl some years his junior. How, when they found themselves alone +on the desolate plain, with the vanished train beyond their reach, he +endeavored to keep the child from a knowledge of the real danger of +their position, and to soothe and comfort her. How he carried her on +his back, until, exhausted, he sank in a heap of sage-brush. How he was +surrounded by Indians, who, however, never suspected his hiding-place; +and how he remained motionless and breathless with the sleeping child +for three hours, until they departed. How, at the last moment, he had +perceived a train in the distance, and had staggered with her thither, +although shot at and wounded by the trainmen in the belief that he +was an Indian. How it was afterwards discovered that the child was the +long-lost daughter of a millionaire; how he had resolutely refused +any gratuity for saving her, and she was now a peerless young heiress, +famous in California. Whether this lighter tone of narrative suited him +better, or whether the active feminine sympathy of his auditors +helped him along, certain it was that his story was more coherent and +intelligible and his voice less hoarse and constrained than in his +previous belligerent reminiscences; his expression changed, and even his +features worked into something like gentler emotion. The bright eyes +of Phoebe, fastened upon him, turned dim with a faint moisture, and +her pale cheek took upon itself a little color. The mother, after +interjecting "Du tell," and "I wanter know," remained open-mouthed, +staring at her visitor. And in the silence that followed, a pleasant, +but somewhat melancholy voice came from the open door. + +"I beg your pardon, but I thought I couldn't be mistaken. It IS my old +friend, Jim Hooker!" + +Everybody started. Red Jim stumbled to his feet with an inarticulate and +hysteric exclamation. Yet the apparition that now stood in the doorway +was far from being terrifying or discomposing. It was evidently the +stranger,--a slender, elegantly-knit figure, whose upper lip was faintly +shadowed by a soft, dark mustache indicating early manhood, and whose +unstudied ease in his well-fitting garments bespoke the dweller of +cities. Good-looking and well-dressed, without the consciousness of +being either; self-possessed through easy circumstances, yet without +self-assertion; courteous by nature and instinct as well as from an +experience of granting favors, he might have been a welcome addition +to even a more critical company. But Red Jim, hurriedly seizing his +outstretched hand, instantly dragged him away from the doorway into the +road and out of hearing of his audience. + +"Did you hear what I was saying?" he asked hoarsely. + +"Well, yes,--I think so," returned the stranger, with a quiet smile. + +"Ye ain't goin' back on me, Clarence, are ye,--ain't goin' to gimme away +afore them, old pard, are ye?" said Jim, with a sudden change to almost +pathetic pleading. + +"No," returned the stranger, smiling. "And certainly not before that +interested young lady, Jim. But stop. Let me look at you." + +He held out both hands, took Jim's, spread them apart for a moment with +a boyish gesture, and, looking in his face, said half mischievously, +half sadly, "Yes, it's the same old Jim Hooker,--unchanged." + +"But YOU'RE changed,--reg'lar war paint, Big Injin style!" said Hooker, +looking up at him with an awkward mingling of admiration and envy. +"Heard you struck it rich with the old man, and was Mister Brant now!" + +"Yes," said Clarence gently, yet with a smile that had not only a tinge +of weariness but even of sadness in it. + +Unfortunately, the act, which was quite natural to Clarence's +sensitiveness, and indeed partly sprang from some concern in his old +companion's fortunes, translated itself by a very human process to +Hooker's consciousness as a piece of rank affectation. HE would have +been exalted and exultant in Clarence's place, consequently any other +exhibition was only "airs." Nevertheless, at the present moment Clarence +was to be placated. + +"You didn't mind my telling that story about your savin' Susy as my own, +did ye?" he said, with a hasty glance over his shoulder. "I only did it +to fool the old man and women-folks, and make talk. You won't blow on +me? Ye ain't mad about it?" + +It had crossed Clarence's memory that when they were both younger +Jim Hooker had once not only borrowed his story, but his name and +personality as well. Yet in his loyalty to old memories there was +mingled no resentment for past injury. "Of course not," he said, with a +smile that was, however, still thoughtful. "Why should I? Only I ought +to tell you that Susy Peyton is living with her adopted parents not ten +miles from here, and it might reach their ears. She's quite a young lady +now, and if I wouldn't tell her story to strangers, I don't think YOU +ought to, Jim." + +He said this so pleasantly that even the skeptical Jim forgot what he +believed were the "airs and graces" of self-abnegation, and said, +"Let's go inside, and I'll introduce you," and turned to the house. But +Clarence Brant drew back. "I'm going on as soon as my horse is fed, +for I'm on a visit to Peyton, and I intend to push as far as Santa Inez +still to-night. I want to talk with you about yourself, Jim," he +added gently; "your prospects and your future. I heard," he went on +hesitatingly, "that you were--at work--in a restaurant in San Francisco. +I'm glad to see that you are at least your own master here,"--he glanced +at the wagon. "You are selling things, I suppose? For yourself, or +another? Is that team yours? Come," he added, still pleasantly, but in +an older and graver voice, with perhaps the least touch of experienced +authority, "be frank, Jim. Which is it? Never mind what things you've +told IN THERE, tell ME the truth about yourself. Can I help you in any +way? Believe me, I should like to. We have been old friends, whatever +difference in our luck, I am yours still." + +Thus adjured, the redoubtable Jim, in a hoarse whisper, with a furtive +eye on the house, admitted that he was traveling for an itinerant +peddler, whom he expected to join later in the settlement; that he +had his own methods of disposing of his wares, and (darkly) that his +proprietor and the world generally had better not interfere with him; +that (with a return to more confidential lightness) he had already +"worked the Wild West Injin" business so successfully as to dispose of +his wares, particularly in yonder house, and might do even more if not +prematurely and wantonly "blown upon," "gone back on," or "given away." + +"But wouldn't you like to settle down on some bit of land like this, and +improve it for yourself?" said Clarence. "All these valley terraces are +bound to rise in value, and meantime you would be independent. It could +be managed, Jim. I think I could arrange it for you," he went on, with a +slight glow of youthful enthusiasm. "Write to me at Peyton's ranch, +and I'll see you when I come back, and we'll hunt up something for +you together." As Jim received the proposition with a kind of gloomy +embarrassment, he added lightly, with a glance at the farmhouse, "It +might be near HERE, you know; and you'd have pleasant neighbors, and +even eager listeners to your old adventures." + +"You'd better come in a minit before you go," said Jim, clumsily evading +a direct reply. Clarence hesitated a moment, and then yielded. For an +equal moment Jim Hooker was torn between secret jealousy of his old +comrade's graces and a desire to present them as familiar associations +of his own. But his vanity was quickly appeased. + +Need it be said that the two women received this fleck and foam of +a super-civilization they knew little of as almost an impertinence +compared to the rugged, gloomy, pathetic, and equally youthful hero of +an adventurous wilderness of which they knew still less? What availed +the courtesy and gentle melancholy of Clarence Brant beside the +mysterious gloom and dark savagery of Red Jim? Yet they received him +patronizingly, as one who was, like themselves, an admirer of manly +grace and power, and the recipient of Jim's friendship. The farmer alone +seemed to prefer Clarence, and yet the latter's tacit indorsement of Red +Jim, through his evident previous intimacy with him, impressed the man +in Jim's favor. All of which Clarence saw with that sensitive perception +which had given him an early insight into human weakness, yet still had +never shaken his youthful optimism. He smiled a little thoughtfully, but +was openly fraternal to Jim, courteous to his host and family, and, +as he rode away in the faint moonlight, magnificently opulent in his +largess to the farmer,--his first and only assertion of his position. + +The farmhouse, straggling barn, and fringe of dusty willows, the white +dome of the motionless wagon, with the hanging frying pans and kettles +showing in the moonlight like black silhouettes against the staring +canvas, all presently sank behind Clarence like the details of a dream, +and he was alone with the moon, the hazy mystery of the level, grassy +plain, and the monotony of the unending road. As he rode slowly along he +thought of that other dreary plain, white with alkali patches and brown +with rings of deserted camp-fires, known to his boyhood of deprivation, +dependency, danger, and adventure, oddly enough, with a strange delight; +and his later years of study, monastic seclusion, and final ease +and independence, with an easy sense of wasted existence and useless +waiting. He remembered his homeless childhood in the South, where +servants and slaves took the place of the father he had never known, +and the mother that he rarely saw; he remembered his abandonment to a +mysterious female relation, where his natural guardians seemed to +have overlooked and forgotten him, until he was sent, an all too young +adventurer, to work his passage on an overland emigrant train across the +plains; he remembered, as yesterday, the fears, the hopes, the dreams +and dangers of that momentous journey. He recalled his little playmate, +Susy, and their strange adventures--the whole incident that the +imaginative Jim Hooker had translated and rehearsed as his own--rose +vividly before him. He thought of the cruel end of that pilgrimage, +which again left him homeless and forgotten by even the relative he was +seeking in a strange land. He remembered his solitary journey to the +gold mines, taken with a boy's trust and a boy's fearlessness, and +the strange protector he had found there, who had news of his missing +kinsman; he remembered how this protector--whom he had at once +instinctively loved--transferred him to the house of this new-found +relation, who treated him kindly and sent him to the Jesuit school, but +who never awakened in him a feeling of kinship. He dreamed again of his +life at school, his accidental meeting with Susy at Santa Clara, the +keen revival of his boyish love for his old playmate, now a pretty +schoolgirl, the petted adopted child of wealthy parents. He recalled +the terrible shock that interrupted this boyish episode: the news of the +death of his protector, and the revelation that this hard, silent, and +mysterious man was his own father, whose reckless life and desperate +reputation had impelled him to assume a disguise. + +He remembered how his sudden accession to wealth and independence had +half frightened him, and had always left a lurking sensitiveness that +he was unfairly favored, by some mere accident, above his less lucky +companions. The rude vices of his old associates had made him impatient +of the feebler sensual indulgences of the later companions of +his luxury, and exposed their hollow fascinations; his sensitive +fastidiousness kept him clean among vulgar temptations; his clear +perceptions were never blinded by selfish sophistry. Meantime his +feeling for Susy remained unchanged. Pride had kept him from seeking the +Peytons. His present visit was as unpremeditated as Peyton's invitation +had been unlooked for by him. Yet he had not allowed himself to be +deceived. He knew that this courtesy was probably due to the change in +his fortune, although he had hoped it might have been some change in +their opinion brought about by Susy. But he would at least see +her again, not in the pretty, half-clandestine way she had thought +necessary, but openly and as her equal. + +In his rapid ride he seemed to have suddenly penetrated the peaceful +calm of the night. The restless irritation of the afternoon trade winds +had subsided; the tender moonlight had hushed and tranquilly possessed +the worried plain; the unending files of wild oats, far spaced and +distinct, stood erect and motionless as trees; something of the sedate +solemnity of a great forest seemed to have fallen upon their giant +stalks. There was no dew. In that light, dry air, the heavier dust no +longer rose beneath the heels of his horse, whose flying shadow passed +over the field like a cloud, leaving no trail or track behind it. In the +preoccupation of his thought and his breathless retrospect, the young +man had ridden faster than he intended, and he now checked his panting +horse. The influence of the night and the hushed landscape stole over +him; his thoughts took a gentler turn; in that dim, mysterious horizon +line before him, his future seemed to be dreamily peopled with airy, +graceful shapes that more or less took the likeness of Susy. She was +bright, coquettish, romantic, as he had last seen her; she was older, +graver, and thoughtfully welcome of him; or she was cold, distant, and +severely forgetful of the past. How would her adopted father and mother +receive him? Would they ever look upon him in the light of a suitor to +the young girl? He had no fear of Peyton,--he understood his own sex, +and, young as he was, knew already how to make himself respected; but +how could he overcome that instinctive aversion which Mrs. Peyton had +so often made him feel he had provoked? Yet in this dreamy hush of earth +and sky, what was not possible? His boyish heart beat high with daring +visions. + +He saw Mrs. Peyton in the porch, welcoming him with that maternal smile +which his childish longing had so often craved to share with Susy. +Peyton would be there, too,--Peyton, who had once pushed back his torn +straw hat to look approvingly in his boyish eyes; and Peyton, perhaps, +might be proud of him. + +Suddenly he started. A voice in his very ear! + +"Bah! A yoke of vulgar cattle grazing on lands that were thine by right +and law. Neither more nor less than that. And I tell thee, Pancho, like +cattle, to be driven off or caught and branded for one's own. Ha! There +are those who could swear to the truth of this on the Creed. Ay! and +bring papers stamped and signed by the governor's rubric to prove it. +And not that I hate them,--bah! what are those heretic swine to me? But +thou dost comprehend me? It galls and pricks me to see them swelling +themselves with stolen husks, and men like thee, Pancho, ousted from +their own land." + +Clarence had halted in utter bewilderment. No one was visible before +him, behind him, on either side. The words, in Spanish, came from the +air, the sky, the distant horizon, he knew not which. Was he still +dreaming? A strange shiver crept over his skin as if the air had grown +suddenly chill. Then another mysterious voice arose, incredulous, half +mocking, but equally distinct and clear. + +"Caramba! What is this? You are wandering, friend Pancho. You are still +smarting from his tongue. He has the grant confirmed by his brigand +government; he has the POSSESSION, stolen by a thief like himself; and +he has the Corregidors with him. For is he not one of them himself, this +Judge Peyton?" + +Peyton! Clarence felt the blood rush back to his face in astonishment +and indignation. His heels mechanically pressed his horse's flanks, and +the animal sprang forward. + +"Guarda! Mira!" said the voice again in a quicker, lower tone. But +this time it was evidently in the field beside him, and the heads and +shoulders of two horsemen emerged at the same moment from the tall ranks +of wild oats. The mystery was solved. The strangers had been making +their way along a lower level of the terraced plain, hidden by the +grain, not twenty yards away, and parallel with the road they were now +ascending to join. Their figures were alike formless in long striped +serapes, and their features undistinguishable under stiff black +sombreros. + +"Buenas noches, senor," said the second voice, in formal and cautious +deliberation. + +A sudden inspiration made Clarence respond in English, as if he had not +comprehended the stranger's words, "Eh?" + +"Gooda-nighta," repeated the stranger. + +"Oh, good-night," returned Clarence. They passed him. Their spurs +tinkled twice or thrice, their mustangs sprang forward, and the next +moment the loose folds of their serapes were fluttering at their sides +like wings in their flight. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +After the chill of a dewless night the morning sun was apt to look +ardently upon the Robles Rancho, if so strong an expression could +describe the dry, oven-like heat of a Californian coast-range valley. +Before ten o'clock the adobe wall of the patio was warm enough to permit +lingering vacqueros and idle peons to lean against it, and the exposed +annexe was filled with sharp, resinous odors from the oozing sap of +unseasoned "redwood" boards, warped and drying in the hot sunshine. Even +at that early hour the climbing Castilian roses were drooping against +the wooden columns of the new veranda, scarcely older than themselves, +and mingling an already faded spice with the aroma of baking wood and +the more material fragrance of steaming coffee, that seemed dominant +everywhere. + +In fact, the pretty breakfast-room, whose three broad windows, always +open to the veranda, gave an al fresco effect to every meal, was a +pathetic endeavor of the Southern-bred Peyton to emulate the soft, +luxurious, and open-air indolence of his native South, in a climate that +was not only not tropical, but even austere in its most fervid moments. +Yet, although cold draughts invaded it from the rear that morning, Judge +Peyton sat alone, between the open doors and windows, awaiting the +slow coming of his wife and the young ladies. He was not in an entirely +comfortable mood that morning. Things were not going on well at Robles. +That truculent vagabond, Pedro, had, the night before, taken himself off +with a curse that had frightened even the vacqueros, who most hated him +as a companion, but who now seemed inclined to regard his absence as an +injury done to their race. Peyton, uneasily conscious that his own anger +had been excited by an exaggerated conception of the accident, was +now, like most obstinate men, inclined to exaggerate the importance of +Pedro's insolence. He was well out of it to get rid of this quarrelsome +hanger-on, whose presumption and ill-humor threatened the discipline of +the rancho, yet he could not entirely forget that he had employed him +on account of his family claims, and from a desire to placate racial +jealousy and settle local differences. For the inferior Mexicans and +Indian half-breeds still regarded their old masters with affection; +were, in fact, more concerned for the integrity of their caste than +the masters were themselves, and the old Spanish families who had made +alliances with Americans, and shared their land with them, had rarely +succeeded in alienating their retainers with their lands. Certain +experiences in the proving of his grant before the Land Commission had +taught Peyton that they were not to be depended upon. And lately +there had been unpleasant rumors of the discovery of some unlooked-for +claimants to a division of the grant itself, which might affect his own +title. + +He looked up quickly as voices and light steps on the veranda at last +heralded the approach of his tardy household from the corridor. But, in +spite of his preoccupation, he was startled and even awkwardly impressed +with a change in Susy's appearance. She was wearing, for the first time, +a long skirt, and this sudden maturing of her figure struck him, as a +man, much more forcibly than it would probably have impressed a woman, +more familiar with details. He had not noticed certain indications of +womanhood, as significant, perhaps, in her carriage as her outlines, +which had been lately perfectly apparent to her mother and Mary, but +which were to him now, for the first time, indicated by a few inches of +skirt. She not only looked taller to his masculine eyes, but these few +inches had added to the mystery as well as the drapery of the goddess; +they were not so much the revelation of maturity as the suggestion that +it was HIDDEN. So impressed was he, that a half-serious lecture on her +yesterday's childishness, the outcome of his irritated reflections that +morning, died upon his lips. He felt he was no longer dealing with a +child. + +He welcomed them with that smile of bantering approbation, supposed to +keep down inordinate vanity, which for some occult reason one always +reserves for the members of one's own family. He was quite conscious +that Susy was looking very pretty in this new and mature frock, and that +as she stood beside his wife, far from ageing Mrs. Peyton's good looks +and figure, she appeared like an equal companion, and that they mutually +"became" one another. This, and the fact that they were all, including +Mary Rogers, in their freshest, gayest morning dresses, awakened a +half-humorous, half-real apprehension in his mind, that he was now +hopelessly surrounded by a matured sex, and in a weak minority. + +"I think I ought to have been prepared," he began grimly, "for this +addition to--to--the skirts of my family." + +"Why, John," returned Mrs. Peyton quickly; "do you mean to say +you haven't noticed that the poor child has for weeks been looking +positively indecent?" + +"Really, papa, I've been a sight to behold. Haven't I, Mary?" chimed in +Susy. + +"Yes, dear. Why, Judge, I've been wondering that Susy stood it so well, +and never complained." + +Peyton glanced around him at this compact feminine embattlement. It was +as he feared. Yet even here he was again at fault. + +"And," said Mrs. Peyton slowly, with the reserved significance of the +feminine postscript in her voice, "if that Mr. Brant is coming here +to-day, it would be just as well for him to see that SHE IS NO LONGER A +CHILD, AS WHEN HE KNEW HER." + +An hour later, good-natured Mary Rogers, in her character of "a +dear,"--which was usually indicated by the undertaking of small errands +for her friend,--was gathering roses from the old garden for Susy's +adornment, when she saw a vision which lingered with her for many a +day. She had stopped to look through the iron grille in the adobe wall, +across the open wind-swept plain. Miniature waves were passing over +the wild oats, with glittering disturbances here and there in the +depressions like the sparkling of green foam; the horizon line was +sharply defined against the hard, steel-blue sky; everywhere the +brand-new morning was shining with almost painted brilliancy; the vigor, +spirit, and even crudeness of youth were over all. The young girl was +dazzled and bewildered. Suddenly, as if blown out of the waving grain, +or an incarnation of the vivid morning, the bright and striking figure +of a youthful horseman flashed before the grille. It was Clarence Brant! +Mary Rogers had always seen him, in the loyalty of friendship, with +Susy's prepossessed eyes, yet she fancied that morning that he had +never looked so handsome before. Even the foppish fripperies of his +riding-dress and silver trappings seemed as much the natural expression +of conquering youth as the invincible morning sunshine. Perhaps it +might have been a reaction against Susy's caprice or some latent +susceptibility of her own; but a momentary antagonism to her friend +stirred even her kindly nature. What right had Susy to trifle with such +an opportunity? Who was SHE to hesitate over this gallant prince? + +But Prince Charming's quick eyes had detected her, and the next moment +his beautiful horse was beside the grating, and his ready hand of +greeting extended through the bars. + +"I suppose I am early and unexpected, but I slept at Santa Inez last +night, that I might ride over in the cool of the morning. My things are +coming by the stage-coach, later. It seemed such a slow way of coming +one's self." + +Mary Rogers's black eyes intimated that the way he had taken was the +right one, but she gallantly recovered herself and remembered her +position as confidante. And here was the opportunity of delivering +Susy's warning unobserved. She withdrew her hand from Clarence's frank +grasp, and passing it through the grating, patted the sleek, shining +flanks of his horse, with a discreet division of admiration. + +"And such a lovely creature, too! And Susy will be so delighted! and +oh, Mr. Brant, please, you're to say nothing of having met her at Santa +Clara. It's just as well not to begin with THAT here, for, you see" +(with a large, maternal manner), "you were both SO young then." + +Clarence drew a quick breath. It was the first check to his vision of +independence and equal footing! Then his invitation was NOT the outcome +of a continuous friendship revived by Susy, as he had hoped; the Peytons +had known nothing of his meeting with her, or perhaps they would not +have invited him. He was here as an impostor,--and all because Susy had +chosen to make a mystery of a harmless encounter, which might have +been explained, and which they might have even countenanced. He thought +bitterly of his old playmate for a brief moment,--as brief as Mary's +antagonism. The young girl noticed the change in his face, but +misinterpreted it. + +"Oh, there's no danger of its coming out if you don't say anything," she +said, quickly. "Ride on to the house, and don't wait for me. You'll find +them in the patio on the veranda." + +Clarence moved on, but not as spiritedly as before. Nevertheless there +was still dash enough about him and the animal he bestrode to stir into +admiration the few lounging vacqueros of a country which was apt to +judge the status of a rider by the quality of his horse. Nor was the +favorable impression confined to them alone. Peyton's gratification rang +out cheerily in his greeting:-- + +"Bravo, Clarence! You are here in true caballero style. Thanks for the +compliment to the rancho." + +For a moment the young man was transported back again to his boyhood, +and once more felt Peyton's approving hand pushing back the worn straw +hat from his childish forehead. A faint color rose to his cheeks; his +eyes momentarily dropped. The highest art could have done no more! The +slight aggressiveness of his youthful finery and picturesque good looks +was condoned at once; his modesty conquered where self-assertion might +have provoked opposition, and even Mrs. Peyton felt herself impelled +to come forward with an outstretched hand scarcely less frank than her +husband's. Then Clarence lifted his eyes. He saw before him the woman +to whom his childish heart had gone out with the inscrutable longing and +adoration of a motherless, homeless, companionless boy; the woman who +had absorbed the love of his playmate without sharing it with him; who +had showered her protecting and maternal caresses on Susy, a waif like +himself, yet had not only left his heart lonely and desolate, but had +even added to his childish distrust of himself the thought that he +had excited her aversion. He saw her more beautiful than ever in her +restored health, freshness of coloring, and mature roundness of outline. +He was unconsciously touched with a man's admiration for her without +losing his boyish yearnings and half-filial affection; in her new +materialistic womanhood his youthful imagination had lifted her to +a queen and goddess. There was all this appeal in his still boyish +eyes,--eyes that had never yet known shame or fear in the expression of +their emotions; there was all this in the gesture with which he lifted +Mrs. Peyton's fingers to his lips. The little group saw in this act only +a Spanish courtesy in keeping with his accepted role. But a thrill of +surprise, of embarrassment, of intense gratification passed over her. +For he had not even looked at Susy! + +Her relenting was graceful. She welcomed him with a winning smile. Then +she motioned pleasantly towards Susy. + +"But here is an older friend, Mr. Brant, whom you do not seem to +recognize,--Susy, whom you have not seen since she was a child." + +A quick flush rose to Clarence's cheek. The group smiled at this evident +youthful confession of some boyish admiration. But Clarence knew that +his truthful blood was merely resenting the deceit his lips were sealed +from divulging. He did not dare to glance at Susy; it added to the +general amusement that the young girl was obliged to present herself. +But in this interval she had exchanged glances with Mary Rogers, who had +rejoined the group, and she knew she was safe. She smiled with gracious +condescension at Clarence; observed, with the patronizing superiority +of age and established position, that he had GROWN, but had not greatly +changed, and, it is needless to say, again filled her mother's heart +with joy. Clarence, still intoxicated with Mrs. Peyton's kindliness, +and, perhaps, still embarrassed by remorse, had not time to remark the +girl's studied attitude. He shook hands with her cordially, and then, +in the quick reaction of youth, accepted with humorous gravity the +elaborate introduction to Mary Rogers by Susy, which completed this +little comedy. And if, with a woman's quickness, Mrs. Peyton detected a +certain lingering glance which passed between Mary Rogers and Clarence, +and misinterpreted it, it was only a part of that mystification into +which these youthful actors are apt to throw their mature audiences. + +"Confess, Ally," said Peyton, cheerfully, as the three young people +suddenly found their tongues with aimless vivacity and inconsequent +laughter, and started with unintelligible spirits for an exploration of +the garden, "confess now that your bete noir is really a very manly as +well as a very presentable young fellow. By Jove! the padres have made a +Spanish swell out of him without spoiling the Brant grit, either! +Come, now; you're not afraid that Susy's style will suffer from HIS +companionship. 'Pon my soul, she might borrow a little of his courtesy +to his elders without indelicacy. I only wish she had as sincere a way +of showing her respect for you as he has. Did you notice that he really +didn't seem to see anybody else but you at first? And yet you never were +a friend to him, like Susy." + +The lady tossed her head slightly, but smiled. + +"This is the first time he's seen Mary Rogers, isn't it?" she said +meditatively. + +"I reckon. But what's that to do with his politeness to you?" + +"And do her parents know him?" she continued, without replying. + +"How do I know? I suppose everybody has heard of him. Why?" + +"Because I think they've taken a fancy to each other." + +"What in the name of folly, Ally"--began the despairing Peyton. + +"When you invite a handsome, rich, and fascinating young man into the +company of young ladies, John," returned Mrs. Peyton, in her severest +manner, "you must not forget you owe a certain responsibility to the +parents. I shall certainly look after Miss Rogers." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +Although the three young people had left the veranda together, when they +reached the old garden Clarence and Susy found themselves considerably +in advance of Mary Rogers, who had become suddenly and deeply interested +in the beauty of a passion vine near the gate. At the first discovery of +their isolation their voluble exchange of information about themselves +and their occupations since their last meeting stopped simultaneously. +Clarence, who had forgotten his momentary irritation, and had recovered +his old happiness in her presence, was nevertheless conscious of some +other change in her than that suggested by the lengthened skirt and the +later and more delicate accentuation of her prettiness. It was not her +affectation of superiority and older social experience, for that was +only the outcome of what he had found charming in her as a child, and +which he still good-humoredly accepted; nor was it her characteristic +exaggeration of speech, which he still pleasantly recognized. It was +something else, vague and indefinite,--something that had been unnoticed +while Mary was with them, but had now come between them like some +unknown presence which had taken the confidante's place. He remained +silent, looking at her half-brightening cheek and conscious profile. +Then he spoke with awkward directness. + +"You are changed, Susy, more than in looks." + +"Hush," said the girl in a tragic whisper, with a warning gesture +towards the blandly unconscious Mary. + +"But," returned Clarence wonderingly, "she's your--our friend, you +know." + +"I DON'T know," said Susy, in a still deeper tone, "that is--oh, don't +ask me! But when you're always surrounded by spies, when you can't say +your soul is your own, you doubt everybody!" There was such a pretty +distress in her violet eyes and curving eyebrows, that Clarence, albeit +vague as to its origin and particulars, nevertheless possessed himself +of the little hand that was gesticulating dangerously near his own, and +pressed it sympathetically. Perhaps preoccupied with her emotions, she +did not immediately withdraw it, as she went on rapidly: "And if you +were cooped up here, day after day, behind these bars," pointing to the +grille, "you'd know what I suffer." + +"But"--began Clarence. + +"Hush!" said Susy, with a stamp of her little foot. + +Clarence, who had only wished to point out that the whole lower end of +the garden wall was in ruins and the grille really was no prevention, +"hushed." + +"And listen! Don't pay me much attention to-day, but talk to HER," +indicating the still discreet and distant Mary, "before father and +mother. Not a word to her of this confidence, Clarence. To-morrow ride +out alone on your beautiful horse, and come back by way of the woods, +beyond our turning, at four o'clock. There's a trail to the right of the +big madrono tree. Take that. Be careful and keep a good lookout, for she +mustn't see you." + +"Who mustn't see me?" said the puzzled Clarence. + +"Why, Mary, of course, you silly boy!" returned the girl impatiently. +"She'll be looking for ME. Go now, Clarence! Stop! Look at that lovely +big maiden's-blush up there," pointing to a pink-suffused specimen +of rose grandiflora hanging on the wall. "Get it, Clarence,--that +one,--I'll show you where,--there!" They had already plunged into the +leafy bramble, and, standing on tiptoe, with her hand on his shoulder +and head upturned, Susy's cheek had innocently approached Clarence's +own. At this moment Clarence, possibly through some confusion of color, +fragrance, or softness of contact, seemed to have availed himself of the +opportunity, in a way which caused Susy to instantly rejoin Mary Rogers +with affected dignity, leaving him to follow a few moments later with +the captured flower. + +Without trying to understand the reason of to-morrow's rendezvous, and +perhaps not altogether convinced of the reality of Susy's troubles, he, +however, did not find that difficulty in carrying out her other commands +which he had expected. Mrs. Peyton was still gracious, and, with +feminine tact, induced him to talk of himself, until she was presently +in possession of his whole history, barring the episode of his meeting +with Susy, since he had parted with them. He felt a strange satisfaction +in familiarly pouring out his confidences to this superior woman, +whom he had always held in awe. There was a new delight in her womanly +interest in his trials and adventures, and a subtle pleasure even in her +half-motherly criticism and admonition of some passages. I am afraid he +forgot Susy, who listened with the complacency of an exhibitor; Mary, +whose black eyes dilated alternately with sympathy for the performer and +deprecation of Mrs. Peyton's critical glances; and Peyton, who, however, +seemed lost in thought, and preoccupied. Clarence was happy. The softly +shaded lights in the broad, spacious, comfortably furnished drawing-room +shone on the group before him. It was a picture of refined domesticity +which the homeless Clarence had never known except as a vague, +half-painful, boyish remembrance; it was a realization of welcome that +far exceeded his wildest boyish vision of the preceding night. With that +recollection came another,--a more uneasy one. He remembered how that +vision had been interrupted by the strange voices in the road, and their +vague but ominous import to his host. A feeling of self-reproach came +over him. The threats had impressed him as only mere braggadocio,--he +knew the characteristic exaggeration of the race,--but perhaps he ought +to privately tell Peyton of the incident at once. + +The opportunity came later, when the ladies had retired, and Peyton, +wrapped in a poncho in a rocking-chair, on the now chilly veranda, +looked up from his reverie and a cigar. Clarence casually introduced the +incident, as if only for the sake of describing the supernatural effect +of the hidden voices, but he was concerned to see that Peyton was +considerably disturbed by their more material import. After questioning +him as to the appearance of the two men, his host said: "I don't mind +telling you, Clarence, that as far as that fellow's intentions go he is +quite sincere, although his threats are only borrowed thunder. He is +a man whom I have just dismissed for carelessness and insolence,--two +things that run in double harness in this country,--but I should be more +afraid to find him at my back on a dark night, alone on the plains; than +to confront him in daylight, in the witness box, against me. He was +only repeating a silly rumor that the title to this rancho and the nine +square leagues beyond would be attacked by some speculators." + +"But I thought your title was confirmed two years ago," said Clarence. + +"The GRANT was confirmed," returned Peyton, "which means that the +conveyance of the Mexican government of these lands to the ancestor of +Victor Robles was held to be legally proven by the United States Land +Commission, and a patent issued to all those who held under it. I and my +neighbors hold under it by purchase from Victor Robles, subject to the +confirmation of the Land Commission. But that confirmation was only +of Victor's GREAT-GRANDFATHER'S TITLE, and it is now alleged that as +Victor's father died without making a will, Victor has claimed and +disposed of property which he ought to have divided with his SISTERS. At +least, some speculating rascals in San Francisco have set up what they +call 'the Sisters' title,' and are selling it to actual settlers on +the unoccupied lands beyond. As, by the law, it would hold possession +against the mere ordinary squatters, whose only right is based, as you +know, on the presumption that there is NO TITLE CLAIMED, it gives the +possessor immunity to enjoy the use of the property until the case is +decided, and even should the original title hold good against his, the +successful litigant would probably be willing to pay for improvements +and possession to save the expensive and tedious process of ejectment." + +"But this does not affect YOU, who have already possession?" said +Clarence quickly. + +"No, not as far as THIS HOUSE and the lands I actually OCCUPY AND +CULTIVATE are concerned; and they know that I am safe to fight to the +last, and carry the case to the Supreme Court in that case, until +the swindle is exposed, or they drop it; but I may have to pay them +something to keep the squatters off my UNOCCUPIED land." + +"But you surely wouldn't recognize those rascals in any way?" said the +astonished Clarence. + +"As against other rascals? Why not?" returned Peyton grimly. "I only pay +for the possession which their sham title gives me to my own land. If by +accident that title obtains, I am still on the safe side." After a pause +he said, more gravely, "What you overheard, Clarence, shows me that the +plan is more forward than I had imagined, and that I may have to fight +traitors here." + +"I hope, sir," said Clarence, with a quick glow in his earnest +face, "that you'll let me help you. You thought I did once, you +remember,--with the Indians." + +There was so much of the old Clarence in his boyish appeal and eager, +questioning face that Peyton, who had been talking to him as a younger +but equal man of affairs, was startled into a smile, "You did, Clarence, +though the Indians butchered your friends, after all. I don't know, +though, but that your experiences with those Spaniards--you must have +known a lot of them when you were with Don Juan Robinson and at the +college--might be of service in getting at evidence, or smashing their +witnesses if it comes to a fight. But just now, MONEY is everything. +They must be bought OFF THE LAND if I have to mortgage it for the +purpose. That strikes you as a rather heroic remedy, Clarence, eh?" +he continued, in his old, half-bantering attitude towards Clarence's +inexperienced youth, "don't it?" + +But Clarence was not thinking of that. Another more audacious but +equally youthful and enthusiastic idea had taken possession of his mind, +and he lay awake half that night revolving it. It was true that it was +somewhat impractically mixed with his visions of Mrs. Peyton and Susy, +and even included his previous scheme of relief for the improvident and +incorrigible Hooker. But it gave a wonderful sincerity and happiness +to his slumbers that night, which the wiser and elder Peyton might have +envied, and I wot not was in the long run as correct and sagacious as +Peyton's sleepless cogitations. And in the early morning Mr. Clarence +Brant, the young capitalist, sat down to his traveling-desk and wrote +two clear-headed, logical, and practical business letters,--one to his +banker, and the other to his former guardian, Don Juan Robinson, as +his first step in a resolve that was, nevertheless, perhaps as wildly +quixotic and enthusiastic as any dream his boyish and unselfish heart +had ever indulged. + +At breakfast, in the charmed freedom of the domestic circle, Clarence +forgot Susy's capricious commands of yesterday, and began to address +himself to her in his old earnest fashion, until he was warned by +a significant knitting of the young lady's brows and monosyllabic +responses. But in his youthful loyalty to Mrs. Peyton, he was more +pained to notice Susy's occasional unconscious indifference to her +adopted mother's affectionate expression, and a more conscious disregard +of her wishes. So uneasy did he become, in his sensitive concern for +Mrs. Peyton's half-concealed mortification, that he gladly accepted +Peyton's offer to go with him to visit the farm and corral. As the +afternoon approached, with another twinge of self-reproach, he was +obliged to invent some excuse to decline certain hospitable plans +of Mrs. Peyton's for his entertainment, and at half past three stole +somewhat guiltily, with his horse, from the stables. But he had to pass +before the outer wall of the garden and grille, through which he had +seen Mary the day before. Raising his eyes mechanically, he was startled +to see Mrs. Peyton standing behind the grating, with her abstracted gaze +fixed upon the wind-tossed, level grain beyond her. She smiled as she +saw him, but there were traces of tears in her proud, handsome eyes. + +"You are going to ride?" she said pleasantly. + +"Y-e-es," stammered the shamefaced Clarence. + +She glanced at him wistfully. + +"You are right. The girls have gone away by themselves. Mr. Peyton has +ridden over to Santa Inez on this dreadful land business, and I suppose +you'd have found him a dull riding companion. It is rather stupid here. +I quite envy you, Mr. Brant, your horse and your freedom." + +"But, Mrs. Peyton," broke in Clarence, impulsively, "you have a horse--I +saw it, a lovely lady's horse--eating its head off in the stable. Won't +you let me run back and order it; and won't you, please, come out with +me for a good, long gallop?" + +He meant what he said. He had spoken quickly, impulsively, but with the +perfect understanding in his own mind that his proposition meant the +complete abandonment of his rendezvous with Susy. Mrs. Peyton was +astounded and slightly stirred with his earnestness, albeit unaware of +all it implied. + +"It's a great temptation, Mr. Brant," she said, with a playful smile, +which dazzled Clarence with its first faint suggestion of a refined +woman's coquetry; "but I'm afraid that Mr. Peyton would think me going +mad in my old age. No. Go on and enjoy your gallop, and if you should +see those giddy girls anywhere, send them home early for chocolate, +before the cold wind gets up." + +She turned, waved her slim white hand playfully in acknowledgment of +Clarence's bared head, and moved away. + +For the first few moments the young man tried to find relief in furious +riding, and in bullying his spirited horse. Then he pulled quickly up. +What was he doing? What was he going to do? What foolish, vapid deceit +was this that he was going to practice upon that noble, queenly, +confiding, generous woman? (He had already forgotten that she had always +distrusted him.) What a fool he was not to tell her half-jokingly that +he expected to meet Susy! But would he have dared to talk half-jokingly +to such a woman on such a topic? And would it have been honorable +without disclosing the WHOLE truth,--that they had met secretly before? +And was it fair to Susy?--dear, innocent, childish Susy! Yet something +must be done! It was such trivial, purposeless deceit, after all; for +this noble woman, Mrs. Peyton, so kind, so gentle, would never object +to his loving Susy and marrying her. And they would all live happily +together; and Mrs. Peyton would never be separated from them, but always +beaming tenderly upon them as she did just now in the garden. Yes, he +would have a serious understanding with Susy, and that would excuse the +clandestine meeting to-day. + +His rapid pace, meantime, had brought him to the imperceptible incline +of the terrace, and he was astonished, in turning in the saddle, to find +that the casa, corral, and outbuildings had completely vanished, and +that behind him rolled only the long sea of grain, which seemed to have +swallowed them in its yellowing depths. Before him lay the wooded ravine +through which the stagecoach passed, which was also the entrance to +the rancho, and there, too, probably, was the turning of which Susy had +spoken. But it was still early for the rendezvous; indeed, he was in +no hurry to meet her in his present discontented state, and he made a +listless circuit of the field, in the hope of discovering the phenomena +that had caused the rancho's mysterious disappearance. When he had +found that it was the effect of the different levels, his attention was +arrested by a multitude of moving objects in a still more distant +field, which proved to be a band of wild horses. In and out among +them, circling aimlessly, as it seemed to him, appeared two horsemen +apparently performing some mystic evolution. To add to their singular +performance, from time to time one of the flying herd, driven by the +horsemen far beyond the circle of its companions, dropped suddenly and +unaccountably in full career. The field closed over it as if it had been +swallowed up. In a few moments it appeared again, trotting peacefully +behind its former pursuer. It was some time before Clarence grasped the +meaning of this strange spectacle. Although the clear, dry atmosphere +sharply accented the silhouette-like outlines of the men and horses, so +great was the distance that the slender forty-foot lasso, which in +the skillful hands of the horsemen had effected these captures, was +COMPLETELY INVISIBLE! The horsemen were Peyton's vacqueros, making a +selection from the young horses for the market. He remembered now +that Peyton had told him that he might be obliged to raise money by +sacrificing some of his stock, and the thought brought back Clarence's +uneasiness as he turned again to the trail. Indeed, he was hardly in +the vein for a gentle tryst, as he entered the wooded ravine to seek the +madrono tree which was to serve as a guide to his lady's bower. + +A few rods further, under the cool vault filled with woodland spicing, +he came upon it. In its summer harlequin dress of scarlet and green, +with hanging bells of poly-tinted berries, like some personified sylvan +Folly, it seemed a fitting symbol of Susy's childish masquerade of +passion. Its bizarre beauty, so opposed to the sober gravity of the +sedate pines and hemlocks, made it an unmistakable landmark. Here he +dismounted and picketed his horse. And here, beside it, to the right, +ran the little trail crawling over mossy boulders; a narrow yellow track +through the carpet of pine needles between the closest file of trees; +an almost imperceptible streak across pools of chickweed at their roots, +and a brown and ragged swath through the ferns. As he went on, the +anxiety and uneasiness that had possessed him gave way to a languid +intoxication of the senses; the mysterious seclusion of these woodland +depths recovered the old influence they had exerted over his boyhood. He +was not returning to Susy, as much as to the older love of his youth, of +which she was, perhaps, only an incident. It was therefore with an odd +boyish thrill again that, coming suddenly upon a little hollow, like +a deserted nest, where the lost trail made him hesitate, he heard the +crackle of a starched skirt behind him, was conscious of the subtle odor +of freshly ironed and scented muslin, and felt the gentle pressure of +delicate fingers upon his eyes. + +"Susy!" + +"You silly boy! Where were you blundering to? Why didn't you look around +you?" + +"I thought I would hear your voices." + +"Whose voices, idiot?" + +"Yours and Mary's," returned Clarence innocently, looking round for the +confidante. + +"Oh, indeed! Then you wanted to see MARY? Well, she's looking for me +somewhere. Perhaps you'll go and find her, or shall I?" + +She was offering to pass him when he laid his hand on hers to detain +her. She instantly evaded it, and drew herself up to her full height, +incontestably displaying the dignity of the added inches to her skirt. +All this was charmingly like the old Susy, but it did not bid fair +to help him to a serious interview. And, looking at the pretty, pink, +mocking face before him, with the witchery of the woodland still upon +him, he began to think that he had better put it off. + +"Never mind about Mary," he said laughingly. "But you said you wanted to +see me, Susy; and here I am." + +"Said I wanted to see you?" repeated Susy, with her blue eyes lifted in +celestial scorn and wonderment. "Said I wanted to see you? Are you not +mistaken, Mr. Brant? Really, I imagined that you came here to see ME." + +With her fair head upturned, and the leaf of her scarlet lip temptingly +curled over, Clarence began to think this latest phase of her +extravagance the most fascinating. He drew nearer to her as he said +gently, "You know what I mean, Susy. You said yesterday you were +troubled. I thought you might have something to tell me." + +"I should think it was YOU who might have something to tell me after all +these years," she said poutingly, yet self-possessed. "But I suppose you +came here only to see Mary and mother. I'm sure you let them know that +plainly enough last evening." + +"But you said"--began the stupefied Clarence. + +"Never mind what I said. It's always what I say, never what YOU say; and +you don't say anything." + +The woodland influence must have been still very strong upon Clarence +that he did not discover in all this that, while Susy's general +capriciousness was unchanged, there was a new and singular insincerity +in her manifest acting. She was either concealing the existence of some +other real emotion, or assuming one that was absent. But he did not +notice it, and only replied tenderly:-- + +"But I want to say a great deal to you, Susy. I want to say that if you +still feel as I do, and as I have always felt, and you think you could +be happy as I would be if--if--we could be always together, we need not +conceal it from your mother and father any longer. I am old enough to +speak for myself, and I am my own master. Your mother has been very kind +to me,--so kind that it doesn't seem quite right to deceive her,--and +when I tell her that I love you, and that I want you to be my wife, I +believe she will give us her blessing." + +Susy uttered a strange little laugh, and with an assumption of coyness, +that was, however, still affected, stooped to pick a few berries from a +manzanita bush. + +"I'll tell you what she'll say, Clarence. She'll say you're frightfully +young, and so you are!" + +The young fellow tried to echo the laugh, but felt as if he had received +a blow. For the first time he was conscious of the truth: this girl, +whom he had fondly regarded as a child, had already passed him in the +race; she had become a woman before he was yet a man, and now stood +before him, maturer in her knowledge, and older in her understanding, of +herself and of him. This was the change that had perplexed him; this +was the presence that had come between them,--a Susy he had never known +before. + +She laughed at his changed expression, and then swung herself easily to +a sitting posture on the low projecting branch of a hemlock. The act +was still girlish, but, nevertheless, she looked down upon him in +a superior, patronizing way. "Now, Clarence," she said, with a +half-abstracted manner, "don't you be a big fool! If you talk that way +to mother, she'll only tell you to wait two or three years until you +know your own mind, and she'll pack me off to that horrid school again, +besides watching me like a cat every moment you are here. If you want +to stay here, and see me sometimes like this, you'll just behave as you +have done, and say nothing. Do you see? Perhaps you don't care to come, +or are satisfied with Mary and mother. Say so, then. Goodness knows, I +don't want to force you to come here." + +Modest and reserved as Clarence was generally, I fear that bashfulness +of approach to the other sex was not one of these indications. He walked +up to Susy with appalling directness, and passed his arm around her +waist. She did not move, but remained looking at him and his intruding +arm with a certain critical curiosity, as if awaiting some novel +sensation. At which he kissed her. She then slowly disengaged his arm, +and said:-- + +"Really, upon my word, Clarence," in perfectly level tones, and slipped +quietly to the ground. + +He again caught her in his arms, encircling her disarranged hair and +part of the beribboned hat hanging over her shoulder, and remained +for an instant holding her thus silently and tenderly. Then she freed +herself with an abstracted air, a half smile, and an unchanged color +except where her soft cheek had been abraded by his coat collar. + +"You're a bold, rude boy, Clarence," she said, putting back her hair +quietly, and straightening the brim of her hat. "Heaven knows where +you learned manners!" and then, from a safer distance, with the same +critical look in her violet eyes, "I suppose you think mother would +allow THAT if she knew it?" + +But Clarence, now completely subjugated, with the memory of the kiss +upon him and a heightened color, protested that he only wanted to make +their intercourse less constrained, and to have their relations, even +their engagement, recognized by her parents; still he would take her +advice. Only there was always the danger that if they were discovered +she would be sent back to the convent all the same, and his banishment, +instead of being the probation of a few years, would be a perpetual +separation. + +"We could always run away, Clarence," responded the young girl calmly. +"There's nothing the matter with THAT." + +Clarence was startled. The idea of desolating the sad, proud, handsome +Mrs. Peyton, whom he worshiped, and her kind husband, whom he was just +about to serve, was so grotesque and confusing, that he said hopelessly, +"Yes." + +"Of course," she continued, with the same odd affectation of coyness, +which was, however, distinctly uncalled for, as she eyed him from under +her broad hat, "you needn't come with me unless you like. I can run away +by myself,--if I want to! I've thought of it before. One can't stand +everything!" + +"But, Susy," said Clarence, with a swift remorseful recollection of her +confidence yesterday, "is there really anything troubles you? Tell me, +dear. What is it?" + +"Oh, nothing--EVERYTHING! It's no use,--YOU can't understand! YOU like +it, I know you do. I can see it; it's your style. But it's stupid, it's +awful, Clarence! With mamma snooping over you and around you all day, +with her 'dear child,' 'mamma's pet,' and 'What is it, dear?' and 'Tell +it all to your own mamma,' as if I would! And 'my own mamma,' indeed! As +if I didn't know, Clarence, that she ISN'T. And papa, caring for nothing +but this hideous, dreary rancho, and the huge, empty plains. It's worse +than school, for there, at least, when you went out, you could see +something besides cattle and horses and yellow-faced half-breeds! But +here--Lord! it's only a wonder I haven't run away before!" + +Startled and shocked as Clarence was at this revelation, accompanied as +it was by a hardness of manner that was new to him, the influence of +the young girl was still so strong upon him that he tried to evade it as +only an extravagance, and said with a faint smile, "But where would you +run to?" + +She looked at him cunningly, with her head on one side, and then said:-- + +"I have friends, and"-- + +She hesitated, pursing up her pretty lips. + +"And what?" + +"Relations." + +"Relations?" + +"Yes,--an aunt by marriage. She lives in Sacramento. She'd be overjoyed +to have me come to her. Her second husband has a theatre there." + +"But, Susy, what does Mrs. Peyton know of this?" + +"Nothing. Do you think I'd tell her, and have her buy them up as she has +my other relations? Do you suppose I don't know that I've been bought up +like a nigger?" + +She looked indignant, compressing her delicate little nostrils, and yet, +somehow, Clarence had the same singular impression that she was only +acting. + +The calling of a far-off voice came faintly through the wood. + +"That's Mary, looking for me," said Susy composedly. "You must go, now, +Clarence. Quick! Remember what I said,--and don't breathe a word of +this. Good-by." + +But Clarence was standing still, breathless, hopelessly disturbed, and +irresolute. Then he turned away mechanically towards the trail. + +"Well, Clarence?" + +She was looking at him half reproachfully, half coquettishly, with +smiling, parted lips. He hastened to forget himself and his troubles +upon them twice and thrice. Then she quickly disengaged herself, +whispered, "Go, now," and, as Mary's call was repeated, Clarence heard +her voice, high and clear, answering, "Here, dear," as he was plunging +into the thicket. + +He had scarcely reached the madrono tree again and remounted his horse, +before he heard the sound of hoofs approaching from the road. In +his present uneasiness he did not care to be discovered so near the +rendezvous, and drew back into the shadow until the horseman should +pass. It was Peyton, with a somewhat disturbed face, riding rapidly. +Still less was he inclined to join or immediately follow him, but he was +relieved when his host, instead of taking the direct road to the rancho, +through the wild oats, turned off in the direction of the corral. + +A moment later Clarence wheeled into the direct road, and presently +found himself in the long afternoon shadows through the thickest of the +grain. He was riding slowly, immersed in thought, when he was suddenly +startled by a hissing noise at his ear, and what seemed to be the +uncoiling stroke of a leaping serpent at his side. Instinctively he +threw himself forward on his horse's neck, and as the animal shied +into the grain, felt the crawling scrape and jerk of a horsehair lariat +across his back and down his horse's flanks. He reined in indignantly +and stood up in his stirrups. Nothing was to be seen above the level of +the grain. Beneath him the trailing riata had as noiselessly vanished +as if it had been indeed a gliding snake. Had he been the victim of a +practical joke, or of the blunder of some stupid vacquero? For he made +no doubt that it was the lasso of one of the performers he had watched +that afternoon. But his preoccupied mind did not dwell long upon it, and +by the time he had reached the wall of the old garden, the incident was +forgotten. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +Relieved of Clarence Brant's embarrassing presence, Jim Hooker did not, +however, refuse to avail himself of that opportunity to expound to the +farmer and his family the immense wealth, influence, and importance of +the friend who had just left him. Although Clarence's plan had suggested +reticence, Hooker could not forego the pleasure of informing them +that "Clar" Brant had just offered to let him into an extensive land +speculation. He had previously declined a large share or original +location in a mine of Clarence's, now worth a million, because it was +not "his style." But the land speculation in a country of unsettled +titles and lawless men, he need not remind them, required some +experience of border warfare. He would not say positively, although he +left them to draw their own conclusions with gloomy significance, that +this was why Clarence had sought him. With this dark suggestion, he took +leave of Mr. and Mrs. Hopkins and their daughter Phoebe the next day, +not without some natural human emotion, and peacefully drove his team +and wagon into the settlement of Fair Plains. + +He was not prepared, however, for a sudden realization of his +imaginative prospects. A few days after his arrival in Fair Plains, +he received a letter from Clarence, explaining that he had not time to +return to Hooker to consult him, but had, nevertheless, fulfilled his +promise, by taking advantage of an opportunity of purchasing the Spanish +"Sisters'" title to certain unoccupied lands near the settlement. As +these lands in part joined the section already preempted and occupied by +Hopkins, Clarence thought that Jim Hooker would choose that part for the +sake of his neighbor's company. He inclosed a draft on San Francisco, +for a sum sufficient to enable Jim to put up a cabin and "stock" the +property, which he begged he would consider in the light of a loan, to +be paid back in installments, only when the property could afford it. +At the same time, if Jim was in difficulty, he was to inform him. The +letter closed with a characteristic Clarence-like mingling of enthusiasm +and older wisdom. "I wish you luck, Jim, but I see no reason why you +should trust to it. I don't know of anything that could keep you from +making yourself independent of any one, if you go to work with a LONG +AIM and don't fritter away your chances on short ones. If I were you, +old fellow, I'd drop the Plains and the Indians out of my thoughts, or +at least out of my TALK, for a while; they won't help you in the long +run. The people who believe you will be jealous of you; those who don't, +will look down upon you, and if they get to questioning your little +Indian romances, Jim, they'll be apt to question your civilized facts. +That won't help you in the ranching business and that's your only real +grip now." For the space of two or three hours after this, Jim was +reasonably grateful and even subdued,--so much so that his employer, to +whom he confided his good fortune, frankly confessed that he believed +him from that unusual fact alone. Unfortunately, neither the practical +lesson conveyed in this grim admission, nor the sentiment of gratitude, +remained long with Jim. Another idea had taken possession of his fancy. +Although the land nominated in his bill of sale had been, except on the +occasion of his own temporary halt there, always unoccupied, +unsought, and unclaimed, and although he was amply protected by legal +certificates, he gravely collected a posse of three or four idlers from +Fair Plains, armed them at his own expense, and in the dead of night +took belligerent and forcible possession of the peaceful domain which +the weak generosity and unheroic dollars of Clarence had purchased for +him! A martial camp-fire tempered the chill night winds to the pulses of +the invaders, and enabled them to sleep on their arms in the field they +had won. The morning sun revealed to the astonished Hopkins family +the embattled plain beyond, with its armed sentries. Only then did Jim +hooker condescend to explain the reason of his warlike occupation, with +dark hints of the outlying "squatters" and "jumpers," whose incursions +their boldness alone had repulsed. The effect of this romantic situation +upon the two women, with the slight fascination of danger imported +into their quiet lives, may well be imagined. Possibly owing to some +incautious questioning by Mr. Hopkins, and some doubts of the discipline +and sincerity of his posse, Jim discharged them the next day; but +during the erection of his cabin by some peaceful carpenters from the +settlement, he returned to his gloomy preoccupation and the ostentatious +wearing of his revolvers. As an opulent and powerful neighbor, he took +his meals with the family while his house was being built, and generally +impressed them with a sense of security they had never missed. + +Meantime, Clarence, duly informed of the installation of Jim as his +tenant, underwent a severe trial. It was necessary for his plans that +this should be kept a secret at present, and this was no easy thing for +his habitually frank and open nature. He had once mentioned that he had +met Jim at the settlement, but the information was received with such +indifference by Susy, and such marked disfavor by Mrs. Peyton, that +he said no more. He accompanied Peyton in his rides around the rancho, +fully possessed himself of the details of its boundaries, the debatable +lands held by the enemy, and listened with beating pulses, but a hushed +tongue, to his host's ill-concealed misgivings. + +"You see, Clarence, that lower terrace?" he said, pointing to a +far-reaching longitudinal plain beyond the corral; "it extends from my +corral to Fair Plains. That is claimed by the sisters' title, and, as +things appear to be going, if a division of the land is made it will be +theirs. It's bad enough to have this best grazing land lying just on +the flanks of the corral held by these rascals at an absurd prohibitory +price, but I am afraid that it may be made to mean something even worse. +According to the old surveys, these terraces on different levels were +the natural divisions of the property,--one heir or his tenant taking +one, and another taking another,--an easy distinction that saved the +necessity of boundary fencing or monuments, and gave no trouble to +people who were either kinsmen or lived in lazy patriarchal concord. +That is the form of division they are trying to reestablish now. Well," +he continued, suddenly lifting his eyes to the young man's flushed face, +in some unconscious, sympathetic response to his earnest breathlessness, +"although my boundary line extends half a mile into that field, my house +and garden and corral ARE ACTUALLY UPON THAT TERRACE OR LEVEL." They +certainly appeared to Clarence to be on the same line as the long field +beyond. "If," went on Peyton, "such a decision is made, these men will +push on and claim the house and everything on the terrace." + +"But," said Clarence quickly, "you said their title was only valuable +where they have got or can give POSSESSION. You already have yours. They +can't take it from you except by force." + +"No," said Peyton grimly, "nor will they dare to do it as long as I live +to fight them." + +"But," persisted Clarence, with the same singular hesitancy of manner, +"why didn't you purchase possession of at least that part of the land +which lies so dangerously near your own house?" + +"Because it was held by squatters, who naturally preferred buying what +might prove a legal title to their land from these impostors than to +sell out their possession to ME at a fair price." + +"But couldn't you have bought from them both?" continued Clarence. + +"My dear Clarence, I am not a Croesus nor a fool. Only a man who was +both would attempt to treat with these rascals, who would now, of +course, insist that THEIR WHOLE claim should be bought up at their own +price, by the man who was most concerned in defeating them." + +He turned away a little impatiently. Fortunately he did not observe that +Clarence's averted face was crimson with embarrassment, and that a faint +smile hovered nervously about his mouth. + +Since his late rendezvous with Susy, Clarence had had no chance to +interrogate her further regarding her mysterious relative. That that +shadowy presence was more or less exaggerated, if not an absolute myth, +he more than half suspected, but of the discontent that had produced it, +or the recklessness it might provoke, there was no doubt. She might be +tempted to some act of folly. He wondered if Mary Rogers knew it. Yet, +with his sensitive ideas of loyalty, he would have shrunk from any +confidence with Mary regarding her friend's secrets, although he +fancied that Mary's dark eyes sometimes dwelt upon him with mournful +consciousness and premonition. He did not imagine the truth, that this +romantic contemplation was only the result of Mary's conviction that +Susy was utterly unworthy of his love. It so chanced one morning that +the vacquero who brought the post from Santa Inez arrived earlier than +usual, and so anticipated the two girls, who usually made a youthful +point of meeting him first as he passed the garden wall. The letter bag +was consequently delivered to Mrs. Peyton in the presence of the others, +and a look of consternation passed between the young girls. But +Mary quickly seized upon the bag as if with girlish and mischievous +impatience, opened it, and glanced within it. + +"There are only three letters for you," she said, handing them to +Clarence, with a quick look of significance, which he failed to +comprehend, "and nothing for me or Susy." + +"But," began the innocent Clarence, as his first glance at the letters +showed him that one was directed to Susy, "here is"-- + +A wicked pinch on his arm that was nearest Mary stopped his speech, and +he quickly put the letters in his pocket. + +"Didn't you understand that Susy don't want her mother to see that +letter?" asked Mary impatiently, when they were alone a moment later. + +"No," said Clarence simply, handing her the missive. + +Mary took it and turned it over in her hands. + +"It's in a man's handwriting," she said innocently. + +"I hadn't noticed it," returned Clarence with invincible naivete, "but +perhaps it is." + +"And you hand it over for me to give to Susy, and ain't a bit curious to +know who it's from?" + +"No," returned Clarence, opening his big eyes in smiling and apologetic +wonder. + +"Well," responded the young lady, with a long breath of melancholy +astonishment, "certainly, of all things you are--you really ARE!" With +which incoherency--apparently perfectly intelligible to herself--she +left him. She had not herself the slightest idea who the letter was +from; she only knew that Susy wanted it concealed. + +The incident made little impression on Clarence, except as part of the +general uneasiness he felt in regard to his old playmate. It seemed +so odd to him that this worry should come from HER,--that she herself +should form the one discordant note in the Arcadian dream that he had +found so sweet; in his previous imaginings it was the presence of Mrs. +Peyton which he had dreaded; she whose propinquity now seemed so full +of gentleness, reassurance, and repose. How worthy she seemed of any +sacrifice he could make for her! He had seen little of her for the last +two or three days, although her smile and greeting were always ready +for him. Poor Clarence did not dream that she had found from certain +incontestable signs and tokens, both in the young ladies and himself, +that he did not require watching, and that becoming more resigned to +Susy's indifference, which seemed so general and passive in quality, she +was no longer tortured by the sting of jealousy. + +Finding himself alone that afternoon, the young man had wandered +somewhat listlessly beyond the low adobe gateway. The habits of the +siesta obtained in a modified form at the rancho. After luncheon, its +masters and employees usually retired, not so much from the torrid +heat of the afternoon sun, but from the first harrying of the afternoon +trades, whose monotonous whistle swept round the walls. A straggling +passion vine near the gate beat and struggled against the wind. Clarence +had stopped near it, and was gazing with worried abstraction across the +tossing fields, when a soft voice called his name. + +It was a pleasant voice,--Mrs. Peyton's. He glanced back at the gateway; +it was empty. He looked quickly to the right and left; no one was there. + +The voice spoke again with the musical addition of a laugh; it seemed +to come from the passion vine. Ah, yes; behind it, and half overgrown +by its branches, was a long, narrow embrasured opening in the wall, +defended by the usual Spanish grating, and still further back, as in the +frame of a picture, the half length figure of Mrs. Peyton, very handsome +and striking, too, with a painted picturesqueness from the effect of the +checkered light and shade. + +"You looked so tired and bored out there," she said. "I am afraid you +are finding it very dull at the rancho. The prospect is certainly not +very enlivening from where you stand." + +Clarence protested with a visible pleasure in his eyes, as he held back +a spray before the opening. + +"If you are not afraid of being worse bored, come in here and talk +with me. You have never seen this part of the house, I think,--my own +sitting-room. You reach it from the hall in the gallery. But Lola or +Anita will show you the way." + +He reentered the gateway, and quickly found the hall,--a narrow, arched +passage, whose black, tunnel-like shadows were absolutely unaffected +by the vivid, colorless glare of the courtyard without, seen through an +opening at the end. The contrast was sharp, blinding, and distinct; +even the edges of the opening were black; the outer light halted on +the threshold and never penetrated within. The warm odor of verbena +and dried rose leaves stole from a half-open door somewhere in the +cloistered gloom. Guided by it, Clarence presently found himself on the +threshold of a low-vaulted room. Two other narrow embrasured windows +like the one he had just seen, and a fourth, wider latticed casement, +hung with gauze curtains, suffused the apartment with a clear, yet +mysterious twilight that seemed its own. The gloomy walls were warmed +by bright-fringed bookshelves, topped with trifles of light feminine +coloring and adornment. Low easy-chairs and a lounge, small fanciful +tables, a dainty desk, gayly colored baskets of worsteds or mysterious +kaleidoscopic fragments, and vases of flowers pervaded the apartment +with a mingled sense of grace and comfort. There was a womanly +refinement in its careless negligence, and even the delicate wrapper of +Japanese silk, gathered at the waist and falling in easy folds to the +feet of the graceful mistress of this charming disorder, looked a part +of its refined abandonment. + +Clarence hesitated as on the threshold of some sacred shrine. But Mrs. +Peyton, with her own hands, cleared a space for him on the lounge. + +"You will easily suspect from all this disorder, Mr. Brant, that I spend +a greater part of my time here, and that I seldom see much company. Mr. +Peyton occasionally comes in long enough to stumble over a footstool or +upset a vase, and I think Mary and Susy avoid it from a firm conviction +that there is work concealed in these baskets. But I have my books +here, and in the afternoons, behind these thick walls, one forgets the +incessant stir and restlessness of the dreadful winds outside. Just +now you were foolish enough to tempt them while you were nervous, or +worried, or listless. Take my word for it, it's a great mistake. There +is no more use fighting them, as I tell Mr. Peyton, than of fighting the +people born under them. I have my own opinion that these winds were +sent only to stir this lazy race of mongrels into activity, but they are +enough to drive us Anglo-Saxons into nervous frenzy. Don't you think +so? But you are young and energetic, and perhaps you are not affected by +them." + +She spoke pleasantly and playfully, yet with a certain nervous tension +of voice and manner that seemed to illustrate her theory. At least, +Clarence, in quick sympathy with her slightest emotion, was touched by +it. There is no more insidious attraction in the persons we admire, than +the belief that we know and understand their unhappiness, and that our +admiration for them is lifted higher than a mere mutual instinctive +sympathy with beauty or strength. This adorable woman had suffered. The +very thought aroused his chivalry. It loosened, also, I fear, his quick, +impulsive tongue. + +Oh, yes; he knew it. He had lived under this whip of air and sky for +three years, alone in a Spanish rancho, with only the native peons +around him, and scarcely speaking his own tongue even to his guardian. +He spent his mornings on horseback in fields like these, until the +vientos generales, as they called them, sprang up and drove him nearly +frantic; and his only relief was to bury himself among the books in his +guardian's library, and shut out the world,--just as she did. The smile +which hovered around the lady's mouth at that moment arrested Clarence, +with a quick remembrance of their former relative positions, and a +sudden conviction of his familiarity in suggesting an equality of +experience, and he blushed. But Mrs. Peyton diverted his embarrassment +with an air of interested absorption in his story, and said:-- + +"Then you know these people thoroughly, Mr. Brant? I am afraid that WE +do not." + +Clarence had already gathered that fact within the last few days, and, +with his usual impulsive directness, said so. A slight knitting of Mrs. +Peyton's brows passed off, however, as he quickly and earnestly went on +to say that it was impossible for the Peytons in their present relations +to the natives to judge them, or to be judged by them fairly. How they +were a childlike race, credulous and trustful, but, like all credulous +and trustful people, given to retaliate when imposed upon with a larger +insincerity, exaggeration, and treachery. How they had seen their houses +and lands occupied by strangers, their religion scorned, their customs +derided, their patriarchal society invaded by hollow civilization or +frontier brutality--all this fortified by incident and illustration, +the outcome of some youthful experience, and given with the glowing +enthusiasm of conviction. Mrs. Peyton listened with the usual divided +feminine interest between subject and speaker. + +Where did this rough, sullen boy--as she had known him--pick up this +delicate and swift perception, this reflective judgment, and this odd +felicity of expression? It was not possible that it was in him while he +was the companion of her husband's servants or the recognized "chum" of +the scamp Hooker. No. But if HE could have changed like this, why not +Susy? Mrs. Peyton, in the conservatism of her sex, had never been quite +free from fears of her adopted daughter's hereditary instincts; but, +with this example before her, she now took heart. Perhaps the change was +coming slowly; perhaps even now what she thought was indifference and +coldness was only some abnormal preparation or condition. But she only +smiled and said:-- + +"Then, if you think those people have been wronged, you are not on our +side, Mr. Brant?" + +What to an older and more worldly man would have seemed, and probably +was, only a playful reproach, struck Clarence deeply, and brought his +pent-up feelings to his lips. + +"YOU have never wronged them. You couldn't do it; it isn't in your +nature. I am on YOUR side, and for you and yours always, Mrs. Peyton. +From the first time I saw you on the plains, when I was brought, a +ragged boy, before you by your husband, I think I would gladly have +laid down my life for you. I don't mind telling you now that I was even +jealous of poor Susy, so anxious was I for the smallest share in your +thoughts, if only for a moment. You could have done anything with me you +wished, and I should have been happy,--far happier than I have been ever +since. I tell you this, Mrs. Peyton, now, because you have just doubted +if I might be 'on your side,' but I have been longing to tell it all to +you before, and it is that I am ready to do anything you want,--all you +want,--to be on YOUR SIDE and at YOUR SIDE, now and forever." + +He was so earnest and hearty, and above all so appallingly and +blissfully happy, in this relief of his feelings, smiling as if it were +the most natural thing in the world, and so absurdly unconscious of his +twenty-two years, his little brown curling mustache, the fire in +his wistful, yearning eyes, and, above all, of his clasped hands and +lover-like attitude, that Mrs. Peyton--at first rigid as stone, then +suffused to the eyes--cast a hasty glance round the apartment, put her +handkerchief to her face, and laughed like a girl. + +At which Clarence, by no means discomposed, but rather accepting her +emotion as perfectly natural, joined her heartily, and added:-- + +"It's so, Mrs. Peyton; I'm glad I told you. You don't mind it, do you?" + +But Mrs. Peyton had resumed her gravity, and perhaps a touch of her +previous misgivings. + +"I should certainly be very sorry," she said, looking at him critically, +"to object to your sharing your old friendship for your little playmate +with her parents and guardians, or to your expressing it to THEM as +frankly as to her." + +She saw the quick change in his mobile face and the momentary arrest of +its happy expression. She was frightened and yet puzzled. It was not the +sensitiveness of a lover at the mention of the loved one's name, and yet +it suggested an uneasy consciousness. If his previous impulsive outburst +had been prompted honestly, or even artfully, by his passion for Susy, +why had he looked so shocked when she spoke of her? + +But Clarence, whose emotion had been caused by the sudden recall of his +knowledge of Susy's own disloyalty to the woman whose searching eyes +were upon him, in his revulsion against the deceit was, for an instant, +upon the point of divulging all. Perhaps, if Mrs. Peyton had shown more +confidence, he would have done so, and materially altered the evolution +of this story. But, happily, it is upon these slight human weaknesses +that your romancer depends, and Clarence, with no other reason than the +instinctive sympathy of youth with youth in its opposition to wisdom and +experience, let the opportunity pass, and took the responsibility of it +out of the hands of this chronicler. + +Howbeit, to cover his confusion, he seized upon the second idea that was +in his mind, and stammered, "Susy! Yes, I wanted to speak to you about +her." Mrs. Peyton held her breath, but the young man went on, although +hesitatingly, with evident sincerity. "Have you heard from any of her +relations since--since--you adopted her?" + +It seemed a natural enough question, although not the sequitur she had +expected. "No," she said carelessly. "It was well understood, after the +nearest relation--an aunt by marriage--had signed her consent to Susy's +adoption, that there should be no further intercourse with the family. +There seemed to us no necessity for reopening the past, and Susy herself +expressed no desire." She stopped, and again fixing her handsome eyes on +Clarence, said, "Do you know any of them?" + +But Clarence by this time had recovered himself, and was able to answer +carelessly and truthfully that he did not. Mrs. Peyton, still regarding +him closely, added somewhat deliberately, "It matters little now what +relations she has; Mr. Peyton and I have complete legal control over her +until she is of age, and we can easily protect her from any folly of +her own or others, or from any of the foolish fancies that sometimes +overtake girls of her age and inexperience." + +To her utter surprise, however, Clarence uttered a faint sigh of relief, +and his face again recovered its expression of boyish happiness. "I'm +glad of it, Mrs. Peyton," he said heartily. "No one could understand +better what is for her interest in all things than yourself. Not," he +said, with hasty and equally hearty loyalty to his old playmate, "that +I think she would ever go against your wishes, or do anything that she +knows to be wrong, but she is very young and innocent,--as much of a +child as ever, don't you think so, Mrs. Peyton?" + +It was amusing, yet nevertheless puzzling, to hear this boyish young man +comment upon Susy's girlishness. And Clarence was serious, for he had +quite forgotten in Mrs. Peyton's presence the impression of superiority +which Susy had lately made upon him. But Mrs. Peyton returned to +the charge, or, rather, to an attack upon what she conceived to be +Clarence's old position. + +"I suppose she does seem girlish compared to Mary Rogers, who is a much +more reserved and quiet nature. But Mary is very charming, Mr. Brant, +and I am really delighted to have her here with Susy. She has such +lovely dark eyes and such good manners. She has been well brought up, +and it is easy to see that her friends are superior people. I must +write to them to thank them for her visit, and beg them to let her stay +longer. I think you said you didn't know them?" + +But Clarence, whose eyes had been thoughtfully and admiringly wandering +over every characteristic detail of the charming apartment, here raised +them to its handsome mistress, with an apologetic air and a "No" of such +unaffected and complete abstraction, that she was again dumbfounded. +Certainly, it could not be Mary in whom he was interested. + +Abandoning any further inquisition for the present, she let the talk +naturally fall upon the books scattered about the tables. The young +man knew them all far better than she did, with a cognate knowledge of +others of which she had never heard. She found herself in the attitude +of receiving information from this boy, whose boyishness, however, +seemed to have evaporated, whose tone had changed with the subject, and +who now spoke with the conscious reserve of knowledge. Decidedly, she +must have grown rusty in her seclusion. This came, she thought bitterly, +of living alone; of her husband's preoccupation with the property; of +Susy's frivolous caprices. At the end of eight years to be outstripped +by a former cattle-boy of her husband's, and to have her French +corrected in a matter of fact way by this recent pupil of the priests, +was really too bad! Perhaps he even looked down upon Susy! She smiled +dangerously but suavely. + +"You must have worked so hard to educate yourself from nothing, Mr. +Brant. You couldn't read, I think, when you first came to us. No? Could +you really? I know it has been very difficult for Susy to get on with +her studies in proportion. We had so much to first eradicate in the way +of manners, style, and habits of thought which the poor child had +picked up from her companions, and for which SHE was not responsible. +Of course, with a boy that does not signify," she added, with feline +gentleness. + +But the barbed speech glanced from the young man's smoothly smiling +abstraction. + +"Ah, yes. But those were happy days, Mrs. Peyton," he answered, with an +exasperating return of his previous boyish enthusiasm, "perhaps because +of our ignorance. I don't think that Susy and I are any happier for +knowing that the plains are not as flat as we believed they were, and +that the sun doesn't have to burn a hole in them every night when it +sets. But I know I believed that YOU knew everything. When I once saw +you smiling over a book in your hand, I thought it must be a different +one from any that I had ever seen, and perhaps made expressly for you. +I can see you there still. Do you know," quite confidentially, "that you +reminded me--of course YOU were much younger--of what I remembered of my +mother?" + +But Mrs. Peyton's reply of "Ah, indeed," albeit polite, indicated some +coldness and lack of animation. Clarence rose quickly, but cast a long +and lingering look around him. + +"You will come again, Mr. Brant," said the lady more graciously. "If you +are going to ride now, perhaps you would try to meet Mr. Peyton. He is +late already, and I am always uneasy when he is out alone,--particularly +on one of those half-broken horses, which they consider good enough for +riding here. YOU have ridden them before and understand them, but I am +afraid that's another thing WE have got to learn." + +When the young man found himself again confronting the glittering light +of the courtyard, he remembered the interview and the soft twilight of +the boudoir only as part of a pleasant dream. There was a rude awakening +in the fierce wind, which had increased with the lengthening shadows. +It seemed to sweep away the half-sensuous comfort that had pervaded +him, and made him coldly realize that he had done nothing to solve the +difficulties of his relations to Susy. He had lost the one chance of +confiding to Mrs. Peyton,--if he had ever really intended to do so. +It was impossible for him to do it hereafter without a confession of +prolonged deceit. + +He reached the stables impatiently, where his attention was attracted +by the sound of excited voices in the corral. Looking within, he was +concerned to see that one of the vacqueros was holding the dragging +bridle of a blown, dusty, and foam-covered horse, around whom a dozen +idlers were gathered. Even beneath its coating of dust and foam and +the half-displaced saddle blanket, Clarence immediately recognized the +spirited pinto mustang which Peyton had ridden that morning. + +"What's the matter?" said Clarence, from the gateway. + +The men fell apart, glancing at each other. One said quickly in +Spanish:-- + +"Say nothing to HIM. It is an affair of the house." + +But this brought Clarence down like a bombshell among them, not to be +overlooked in his equal command of their tongue and of them. "Ah! come, +now. What drunken piggishness is this? Speak!" + +"The padron has been--perhaps--thrown," stammered the first speaker. +"His horse arrives,--but he does not. We go to inform the senora." + +"No, you don't! mules and imbeciles! Do you want to frighten her to +death? Mount, every one of you, and follow me!" + +The men hesitated, but for only a moment. Clarence had a fine assortment +of Spanish epithets, expletives, and objurgations, gathered in his rodeo +experience at El Refugio, and laid them about him with such fervor +and discrimination that two or three mules, presumably with guilty +consciences, mistaking their direction, actually cowered against the +stockade of the corral in fear. In another moment the vacqueros had +hastily mounted, and, with Clarence at their head, were dashing down the +road towards Santa Inez. Here he spread them in open order in the grain, +on either side of the track, himself taking the road. + +They did not proceed very far. For when they had reached the gradual +slope which marked the decline to the second terrace, Clarence, obeying +an instinct as irresistible as it was unaccountable, which for the last +few moments had been forcing itself upon him, ordered a halt. The casa +and corral had already sunk in the plain behind them; it was the spot +where the lasso had been thrown at him a few evenings before! Bidding +the men converge slowly towards the road, he went on more cautiously, +with his eyes upon the track before him. Presently he stopped. There +was a ragged displacement of the cracked and crumbling soil and the +unmistakable scoop of kicking hoofs. As he stooped to examine them, one +of the men at the right uttered a shout. By the same strange instinct +Clarence knew that Peyton was found! + +He was, indeed, lying there among the wild oats at the right of the +road, but without trace of life or scarcely human appearance. His +clothes, where not torn and shredded away, were partly turned inside +out; his shoulders, neck, and head were a shapeless, undistinguishable +mask of dried earth and rags, like a mummy wrapping. His left boot was +gone. His large frame seemed boneless, and, except for the cerements of +his mud-stiffened clothing, was limp and sodden. + +Clarence raised his head suddenly from a quick examination of the body, +and looked at the men around him. One of them was already cantering +away. Clarence instantly threw himself on his horse, and, putting spurs +to the animal, drew a revolver from his holster and fired over the man's +head. The rider turned in his saddle, saw his pursuer, and pulled up. + +"Go back," said Clarence, "or my next shot won't MISS you." + +"I was only going to inform the senora," said the man with a shrug and a +forced smile. + +"I will do that," said Clarence grimly, driving him back with him +into the waiting circle; then turning to them he said slowly, with +deliberate, smileless irony, "And now, my brave gentlemen,--knights +of the bull and gallant mustang hunters,--I want to inform YOU that I +believe that Mr. Peyton was MURDERED, and if the man who killed him is +anywhere this side of hell, I intend to find him. Good! You understand +me! Now lift up the body,--you two, by the shoulders; you two, by the +feet. Let your horses follow. For I intend that you four shall carry +home your master in your arms, on foot. Now forward to the corral by the +back trail. Disobey me, or step out of line and"--He raised the revolver +ominously. + +If the change wrought in the dead man before them was weird and +terrifying, no less distinct and ominous was the change that, during the +last few minutes, had come over the living speaker. For it was no longer +the youthful Clarence who sat there, but a haggard, prematurely worn, +desperate-looking avenger, lank of cheek, and injected of eye, whose +white teeth glistened under the brown mustache and thin pale lips that +parted when his restrained breath now and then hurriedly escaped them. + +As the procession moved on, two men slunk behind with the horses. + +"Mother of God! Who is this wolf's whelp?" said Manuel. + +"Hush!" said his companion in a terrified whisper. "Have you not heard? +It is the son of Hamilton Brant, the assassin, the duelist,--he who +was fusiladed in Sonora." He made the sign of the cross quickly. "Jesus +Maria! Let them look out who have cause, for the blood of his father is +in him!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +What other speech passed between Clarence and Peyton's retainers was not +known, but not a word of the interview seemed to have been divulged by +those present. It was generally believed and accepted that Judge Peyton +met his death by being thrown from his half-broken mustang, and dragged +at its heels, and medical opinion, hastily summoned from Santa Inez +after the body had been borne to the corral, and stripped of its +hideous encasings, declared that the neck had been broken, and death had +followed instantaneously. An inquest was deemed unnecessary. + +Clarence had selected Mary to break the news to Mrs. Peyton, and the +frightened young girl was too much struck with the change still visible +in his face, and the half authority of his manner, to decline, or even +to fully appreciate the calamity that had befallen them. After the first +benumbing shock, Mrs. Peyton passed into that strange exaltation of +excitement brought on by the immediate necessity for action, followed by +a pallid calm, which the average spectator too often unfairly accepts as +incongruous, inadequate, or artificial. There had also occurred one +of those strange compensations that wait on Death or disrupture by +catastrophe: such as the rude shaking down of an unsettled life, the +forcible realization of what were vague speculations, the breaking of +old habits and traditions, and the unloosing of half-conscious bonds. +Mrs. Peyton, without insensibility to her loss or disloyalty to her +affections, nevertheless felt a relief to know that she was now really +Susy's guardian, free to order her new life wherever and under what +conditions she chose as most favorable to it, and that she could dispose +of this house that was wearying to her when Susy was away, and which +the girl herself had always found insupportable. She could settle this +question of Clarence's relations to her daughter out of hand without +advice or opposition. She had a brother in the East, who would be +summoned to take care of the property. This consideration for the living +pursued her, even while the dead man's presence still awed the hushed +house; it was in her thoughts as she stood beside his bier and adjusted +the flowers on his breast, which no longer moved for or against these +vanities; and it stayed with her even in the solitude of her darkened +room. + +But if Mrs. Peyton was deficient, it was Susy who filled the popular +idea of a mourner, and whose emotional attitude of a grief-stricken +daughter left nothing to be desired. It was she who, when the house was +filled with sympathizing friends from San Francisco and the few near +neighbors who had hurried with condolences, was overflowing in her +reminiscences of the dead man's goodness to her, and her own undying +affection; who recalled ominous things that he had said, and strange +premonitions of her own, the result of her ever-present filial anxiety; +it was she who had hurried home that afternoon, impelled with vague +fears of some impending calamity; it was she who drew a picture of +Peyton as a doting and almost too indulgent parent, which Mary Rogers +failed to recognize, and which brought back vividly to Clarence's +recollection her own childish exaggerations of the Indian massacre. I +am far from saying that she was entirely insincere or merely acting at +these moments; at times she was taken with a mild hysteria, brought on +by the exciting intrusion of this real event in her monotonous life, +by the attentions of her friends, the importance of her suffering as an +only child, and the advancement of her position as the heiress of the +Robles Rancho. If her tears were near the surface, they were at least +genuine, and filmed her violet eyes and reddened her pretty eyelids +quite as effectually as if they had welled from the depths of her being. +Her black frock lent a matured dignity to her figure, and paled her +delicate complexion with the refinement of suffering. Even Clarence was +moved in that dark and haggard abstraction that had settled upon him +since his strange outbreak over the body of his old friend. + +The extent of that change had not been noticed by Mrs. Peyton, who +had only observed that Clarence had treated her grief with a grave and +silent respect. She was grateful for that. A repetition of his boyish +impulsiveness would have been distasteful to her at such a moment. She +only thought him more mature and more subdued, and as the only man now +in her household his services had been invaluable in the emergency. + +The funeral had taken place at Santa Inez, where half the county +gathered to pay their last respects to their former fellow-citizen and +neighbor, whose legal and combative victories they had admired, and whom +death had lifted into a public character. The family were returning to +the house the same afternoon, Mrs. Peyton and the girls in one carriage, +the female house-servants in another, and Clarence on horseback. They +had reached the first plateau, and Clarence was riding a little in +advance, when an extraordinary figure, rising from the grain beyond, +began to gesticulate to him wildly. Checking the driver of the first +carriage, Clarence bore down upon the stranger. To his amazement it +was Jim Hooker. Mounted on a peaceful, unwieldy plough horse, he was +nevertheless accoutred and armed after his most extravagant fashion. +In addition to a heavy rifle across his saddle-bow he was weighted down +with a knife and revolvers. Clarence was in no mood for trifling, and +almost rudely demanded his business. + +"Gord, Clarence, it ain't foolin'. The Sisters' title was decided +yesterday." + +"I knew it, you fool! It's YOUR title! You were already on your land and +in possession. What the devil are you doing HERE?" + +"Yes,--but," stammered Jim, "all the boys holding that title moved up +here to 'make the division' and grab all they could. And I followed. And +I found out that they were going to grab Judge Peyton's house, because +it was on the line, if they could, and findin' you was all away, by Gord +THEY DID! and they're in it! And I stoled out and rode down here to warn +ye." + +He stopped, looked at Clarence, glanced darkly around him and then down +on his accoutrements. Even in that supreme moment of sincerity, he could +not resist the possibilities of the situation. + +"It's as much as my life's worth," he said gloomily. "But," with a dark +glance at his weapons, "I'll sell it dearly." + +"Jim!" said Clarence, in a terrible voice, "you're not lying again?" + +"No," said Jim hurriedly. "I swear it, Clarence! No! Honest Injin this +time. And look. I'll help you. They ain't expectin' you yet, and they +think ye'll come by the road. Ef I raised a scare off there by the +corral, while you're creepin' ROUND BY THE BACK, mebbe you could get in +while they're all lookin' for ye in front, don't you see? I'll raise a +big row, and they needn't know but what ye've got wind of it and brought +a party with you from Santa Inez." + +In a flash Clarence had wrought a feasible plan out of Jim's fantasy. + +"Good," he said, wringing his old companion's hand. "Go back quietly +now; hang round the corral, and when you see the carriage climbing the +last terrace raise your alarm. Don't mind how loud it is, there'll be +nobody but the servants in the carriages." + +He rode quickly back to the first carriage, at whose window Mrs. +Peyton's calm face was already questioning him. He told her briefly and +concisely of the attack, and what he proposed to do. + +"You have shown yourself so strong in matters of worse moment than +this," he added quietly, "that I have no fears for your courage. I have +only to ask you to trust yourself to me, to put you back at once in your +own home. Your presence there, just now, is the one important thing, +whatever happens afterwards." + +She recognized his maturer tone and determined manner, and nodded +assent. More than that, a faint fire came into her handsome eyes; the +two girls kindled their own at that flaming beacon, and sat with flushed +checks and suspended, indignant breath. They were Western Americans, and +not over much used to imposition. + +"You must get down before we raise the hill, and follow me on foot +through the grain. I was thinking," he added, turning to Mrs. Peyton, +"of your boudoir window." + +She had been thinking of it, too, and nodded. + +"The vine has loosened the bars," he said. + +"If it hasn't, we must squeeze through them," she returned simply. + +At the end of the terrace Clarence dismounted, and helped them from the +carriage. He then gave directions to the coachmen to follow the road +slowly to the corral in front of the casa, and tied his horse behind +the second carriage. Then, with Mrs. Peyton and the two young girls, he +plunged into the grain. + +It was hot, it was dusty, their thin shoes slipped in the crumbling +adobe, and the great blades caught in their crape draperies, but they +uttered no complaint. Whatever ulterior thought was in their minds, they +were bent only on one thing at that moment,--on entering the house at +any hazard. Mrs. Peyton had lived long enough on the frontier to know +the magic power of POSSESSION. Susy already was old enough to feel the +acute feminine horror of the profanation of her own belongings by alien +hands. Clarence, more cognizant of the whole truth than the others, was +equally silent and determined; and Mary Rogers was fired with the zeal +of loyalty. + +Suddenly a series of blood-curdling yells broke from the direction +of the corral, and they stopped. But Clarence at once recognized the +well-known war-whoop imitation of Jim Hooker,--infinitely more gruesome +and appalling than the genuine aboriginal challenge. A half dozen shots +fired in quick succession had evidently the same friendly origin. + +"Now is our time," said Clarence eagerly. "We must run for the house." + +They had fortunately reached by this time the angle of the adobe wall of +the casa, and the long afternoon shadows of the building were in their +favor. They pressed forward eagerly with the sounds of Jim Hooker's sham +encounter still in their ears, mingled with answering shouts of defiance +from strange voices within the building towards the front. + +They rapidly skirted the wall, even passing boldly before the back +gateway, which seemed empty and deserted, and the next moment stood +beside the narrow window of the boudoir. Clarence's surmises were +correct; the iron grating was not only loose, but yielded to a vigorous +wrench, the vine itself acting as a lever to pull out the rusty bars. +The young man held out his hand, but Mrs. Peyton, with the sudden +agility of a young girl, leaped into the window, followed by Mary and +Susy. The inner casement yielded to her touch; the next moment they +were within the room. Then Mrs. Peyton's flushed and triumphant face +reappeared at the window. + +"It's all right; the men are all in the courtyard, or in the front of +the house. The boudoir door is strong, and we can bolt them out." + +"It won't be necessary," said Clarence quietly; "you will not be +disturbed." + +"But are you not coming in?" she asked timidly, holding the window open. + +Clarence looked at her with his first faint smile since Peyton's death. + +"Of course I am, but not in THAT way. I am going in by THE FRONT GATE." + +She would have detained him, but, with a quick wave of his hand, he left +her, and ran swiftly around the wall of the casa toward the front. The +gate was half open; a dozen excited men were gathered before it and in +the archway, and among them, whitened with dust, blackened with powder, +and apparently glutted with rapine, and still holding a revolver in his +hand, was Jim Hooker! As Clarence approached, the men quickly retreated +inside the gate and closed it, but not before he had exchanged a meaning +glance with Jim. When he reached the gate, a man from within roughly +demanded his business. + +"I wish to see the leader of this party," said Clarence quietly. + +"I reckon you do," returned the man, with a short laugh. "But I +kalkilate HE don't return the compliment." + +"He probably will when he reads this note to his employer," continued +Clarence still coolly, selecting a paper from his pocketbook. It was +addressed to Francisco Robles, Superintendent of the Sisters' Title, and +directed him to give Mr. Clarence Brant free access to the property and +the fullest information concerning it. The man took it, glanced at it, +looked again at Clarence, and then passed the paper to a third man among +the group in the courtyard. The latter read it, and approached the gate +carelessly. + +"Well, what do you want?" + +"I am afraid you have the advantage of me in being able to transact +business through bars," said Clarence, with slow but malevolent +distinctness, "and as mine is important, I think you had better open the +gate to me." + +The slight laugh that his speech had evoked from the bystanders was +checked as the leader retorted angrily:-- + +"That's all very well; but how do I know that you're the man represented +in that letter? Pancho Robles may know you, but I don't." + +"That you can find out very easily," said Clarence. "There is a man +among your party who knows me,--Mr. Hooker. Ask him." + +The man turned, with a quick mingling of surprise and suspicion, to the +gloomy, imperturbable Hooker. Clarence could not hear the reply of that +young gentleman, but it was evidently not wanting in his usual dark, +enigmatical exaggeration. The man surlily opened the gate. + +"All the same," he said, still glancing suspiciously at Hooker, "I don't +see what HE'S got to do with you." + +"A great deal," said Clarence, entering the courtyard, and stepping into +the veranda; "HE'S ONE OF MY TENANTS." + +"Your WHAT?" said the man, with a coarse laugh of incredulity. + +"My tenants," repeated Clarence, glancing around the courtyard +carelessly. Nevertheless, he was relieved to notice that the three +or four Mexicans of the party did not seem to be old retainers of the +rancho. There was no evidence of the internal treachery he had feared. + +"Your TENANTS!" echoed the man, with an uneasy glance at the faces of +the others. + +"Yes," said Clarence, with business brevity; "and, for the matter of +that, although I have no reason to be particularly proud of it, SO ARE +YOU ALL. You ask my business here. It seems to be the same as yours,--to +hold possession of this house! With this difference, however," he +continued, taking a document from his pocket. "Here is the certificate, +signed by the County Clerk, of the bill of sale of the entire Sisters' +title to ME. It includes the whole two leagues from Fair Plains to +the old boundary line of this rancho, which you forcibly entered this +morning. There is the document; examine it if you like. The only shadow +of a claim you could have to this property you would have to derive from +ME. The only excuse you could have for this act of lawlessness would +be orders from ME. And all that you have done this morning is only the +assertion of MY legal right to this house. If I disavow your act, as I +might, I leave you as helpless as any tramp that was ever kicked from +a doorstep,--as any burglar that was ever collared on the fence by a +constable." + +It was the truth. There was no denying the authority of the document, +the facts of the situation, or its ultimate power and significance. +There was consternation, stupefaction, and even a half-humorous +recognition of the absurdity of their position on most of the faces +around him. Incongruous as the scene was, it was made still more +grotesque by the attitude of Jim Hooker. Ruthlessly abandoning the +party of convicted trespassers, he stalked gloomily over to the side +of Clarence, with the air of having been all the time scornfully in +the secret and a mien of wearied victoriousness, and thus halting, he +disdainfully expectorated tobacco juice on the ground between him +and his late companions, as if to form a line of demarcation. The +few Mexicans began to edge towards the gateway. This defection of his +followers recalled the leader, who was no coward, to himself again. + +"Shut the gate, there!" he shouted. + +As its two sides clashed together again, he turned deliberately to +Clarence. + +"That's all very well, young man, as regards the TITLE. You may have +BOUGHT up the land, and legally own every square inch of howling +wilderness between this and San Francisco, and I wish you joy of +your d--d fool's bargain; you may have got a whole circus like that," +pointing to the gloomy Jim, "at your back. But with all your money and +all your friends you've forgotten one thing. You haven't got possession, +and we have." + +"That's just where we differ," said Clarence coolly, "for if you take +the trouble to examine the house, you will see that it is already in +possession of Mrs. Peyton,--MY TENANT." + +He paused to give effect to his revelations. But he was, nevertheless, +unprepared for an unrehearsed dramatic situation. Mrs. Peyton, who had +been tired of waiting, and was listening in the passage, at the mention +of her name, entered the gallery, followed by the young ladies. The +slight look of surprise upon her face at the revelation she had just +heard of Clarence's ownership, only gave the suggestion of her having +been unexpectedly disturbed in her peaceful seclusion. One of the +Mexicans turned pale, with a frightened glance at the passage, as if he +expected the figure of the dead man to follow. + +The group fell back. The game was over,--and lost. No one recognized it +more quickly than the gamblers themselves. More than that, desperate and +lawless as they were, they still retained the chivalry of Western men, +and every hat was slowly doffed to the three black figures that stood +silently in the gallery. And even apologetic speech began to loosen the +clenched teeth of the discomfited leader. + +"We--were--told there was no one in the house," he stammered. + +"And it was the truth," said a pert, youthful, yet slightly affected +voice. "For we climbed into the window just as you came in at the gate." + +It was Susy's words that stung their ears again; but it was Susy's +pretty figure, suddenly advanced and in a slightly theatrical attitude, +that checked their anger. There had been a sudden ominous silence, +as the whole plot of rescue seemed to be revealed to them in those +audacious words. But a sense of the ludicrous, which too often was the +only perception that ever mitigated the passions of such assemblies, +here suddenly asserted itself. The leader burst into a loud laugh, which +was echoed by the others, and, with waving hats, the whole party swept +peacefully out through the gate. + +"But what does all this mean about YOUR purchasing the land, Mr. Brant?" +said Mrs. Peyton quickly, fixing her eyes intently on Clarence. + +A faint color--the useless protest of his truthful blood--came to his +cheek. + +"The house is YOURS, and yours alone, Mrs. Peyton. The purchase of the +sisters' title was a private arrangement between Mr. Peyton and myself, +in view of an emergency like this." + +She did not, however, take her proud, searching eyes from his face, and +he was forced to turn away. + +"It was SO like dear, good, thoughtful papa," said Susy. "Why, bless +me," in a lower voice, "if that isn't that lying old Jim Hooker standing +there by the gate!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +Judge Peyton had bequeathed his entire property unconditionally to his +wife. But his affairs were found to be greatly in disorder, and his +papers in confusion, and although Mrs. Peyton could discover no actual +record of the late transaction with Mr. Brant, which had saved her the +possession of the homestead, it was evident that he had spent large sums +in speculative attempts to maintain the integrity of his estate. That +enormous domain, although perfectly unencumbered, had been nevertheless +unremunerative, partly through the costs of litigation and partly +through the systematic depredations to which its great size and long +line of unprotected boundary had subjected it. It had been invaded +by squatters and "jumpers," who had sown and reaped crops without +discovery; its cattle and wild horses had strayed or been driven beyond +its ill-defined and hopeless limits. Against these difficulties the +widow felt herself unable and unwilling to contend, and with the advice +of her friends and her lawyer, she concluded to sell the estate, except +that portion covered by the Sisters' title, which, with the homestead, +had been reconveyed to her by Clarence. She retired with Susy to the +house in San Francisco, leaving Clarence to occupy and hold the casa, +with her servants, for her until order was restored. The Robles Rancho +thus became the headquarters of the new owner of the Sisters' title, +from which he administered its affairs, visited its incumbencies, +overlooked and surveyed its lands, and--occasionally--collected its +rents. There were not wanting critics who averred that these were +scarcely remunerative, and that the young San Francisco fine gentleman, +who was only Hamilton Brant's son, after all, yet who wished to ape +the dignity and degree of a large landholder, had made a very foolish +bargain. I grieve to say that one of his own tenants, namely, Jim +Hooker, in his secret heart inclined to that belief, and looked upon +Clarence's speculation as an act of far-seeing and inordinate vanity. + +Indeed, the belligerent Jim had partly--and of course darkly--intimated +something of this to Susy in their brief reunion at the casa during +the few days that followed its successful reoccupation. And Clarence, +remembering her older caprices, and her remark on her first recognition +of him, was quite surprised at the easy familiarity of her reception +of this forgotten companion of their childhood. But he was still more +concerned in noticing, for the first time, a singular sympathetic +understanding of each other, and an odd similarity of occasional action +and expression between them. It was a part of this monstrous peculiarity +that neither the sympathy nor the likeness suggested any particular +friendship or amity in the pair, but rather a mutual antagonism and +suspicion. Mrs. Peyton, coldly polite to Clarence's former COMPANION, +but condescendingly gracious to his present TENANT and retainer, did not +notice it, preoccupied with the annoyance and pain of Susy's frequent +references to the old days of their democratic equality. + +"You don't remember, Jim, the time that you painted my face in the +wagon, and got me up as an Indian papoose?" she said mischievously. + +But Jim, who had no desire to recall his previous humble position before +Mrs. Peyton or Clarence, was only vaguely responsive. Clarence, although +joyfully touched at this seeming evidence of Susy's loyalty to the past, +nevertheless found himself even more acutely pained at the distress +it caused Mrs. Peyton, and was as relieved as she was by Hooker's +reticence. For he had seen little of Susy since Peyton's death, and +there had been no repetition of their secret interviews. Neither had he, +nor she as far as he could judge, noticed the omission. He had been more +than usually kind, gentle, and protecting in his manner towards her, +with little reference, however, to any response from her, yet he was +vaguely conscious of some change in his feelings. He attributed it, when +he thought of it at all, to the exciting experiences through which he +had passed; to some sentiment of responsibility to his dead friend; and +to another secret preoccupation that was always in his mind. He believed +it would pass in time. Yet he felt a certain satisfaction that she was +no longer able to trouble him, except, of course, when she pained Mrs. +Peyton, and then he was half conscious of taking the old attitude of +the dead husband in mediating between them. Yet so great was his +inexperience that he believed, with pathetic simplicity of perception, +that all this was due to the slow maturing of his love for her, and +that he was still able to make her happy. But this was something to +be thought of later. Just now Providence seemed to have offered him a +vocation and a purpose that his idle adolescence had never known. He did +not dream that his capacity for patience was only the slow wasting of +his love. + +Meantime that more wonderful change and recreation of the Californian +landscape, so familiar, yet always so young, had come to the rancho. The +league-long terrace that had yellowed, whitened, and wasted for half a +year beneath a staring, monotonous sky, now under sailing clouds, flying +and broken shafts of light, and sharply defined lines of rain, had taken +a faint hue of resurrection. The dust that had muffled the roads and +byways, and choked the low oaks that fringed the sunken canada, had +long since been laid. The warm, moist breath of the southwest trades had +softened the hard, dry lines of the landscape, and restored its color as +of a picture over which a damp sponge had been passed. The broad expanse +of plateau before the casa glistened and grew dark. The hidden woods of +the canada, cleared and strengthened in their solitude, dripped along +the trails and hollows that were now transformed into running streams. +The distinguishing madrono near the entrance to the rancho had changed +its crimson summer suit and masqueraded in buff and green. + +Yet there were leaden days, when half the prospect seemed to be seen +through palisades of rain; when the slight incline between the terraces +became a tumultuous cascade, and the surest hoofs slipped on trails of +unctuous mud; when cattle were bogged a few yards from the highway, and +the crossing of the turnpike road was a dangerous ford. There were +days of gale and tempest, when the shriveled stalks of giant oats were +stricken like trees, and lay across each other in rigid angles, and +a roar as of the sea came up from the writhing treetops in the sunken +valley. There were long weary nights of steady downpour, hammering +on the red tiles of the casa, and drumming on the shingles of the +new veranda, which was more terrible to be borne. Alone, but for the +servants, and an occasional storm-stayed tenant from Fair Plains, +Clarence might have, at such times, questioned the effect of this +seclusion upon his impassioned nature. But he had already been +accustomed to monastic seclusion in his boyish life at El Refugio, and +he did not reflect that, for that very reason, its indulgences might +have been dangerous. From time to time letters reached him from the +outer world of San Francisco,--a few pleasant lines from Mrs. Peyton, in +answer to his own chronicle of his half stewardship, giving the news of +the family, and briefly recounting their movements. She was afraid that +Susy's sensitive nature chafed under the restriction of mourning in the +gay city, but she trusted to bring her back for a change to Robles when +the rains were over. This was a poor substitute for those brief, happy +glimpses of the home circle which had so charmed him, but he accepted +it stoically. He wandered over the old house, from which the perfume +of domesticity seemed to have evaporated, yet, notwithstanding Mrs. +Peyton's playful permission, he never intruded upon the sanctity of the +boudoir, and kept it jealously locked. + +He was sitting in Peyton's business room one morning, when Incarnacion +entered. Clarence had taken a fancy to this Indian, half steward, half +vacquero, who had reciprocated it with a certain dog-like fidelity, +but also a feline indirectness that was part of his nature. He had been +early prepossessed with Clarence through a kinsman at El Refugio, where +the young American's generosity had left a romantic record among the +common people. He had been pleased to approve of his follies before +the knowledge of his profitless and lordly land purchase had commended +itself to him as corroborative testimony. "Of true hidalgo blood, mark +you," he had said oracularly. "Wherefore was his father sacrificed by +mongrels! As to the others, believe me,--bah!" + +He stood there, sombrero in hand, murky and confidential, steaming +through his soaked serape and exhaling a blended odor of equine +perspiration and cigarette smoke. + +"It was, perhaps, as the master had noticed, a brigand's own day! +Bullying, treacherous, and wicked! It blew you off your horse if you so +much as lifted your arms and let the wind get inside your serape; and as +for the mud,--caramba! in fifty varas your forelegs were like bears, and +your hoofs were earthen plasters!" + +Clarence knew that Incarnacion had not sought him with mere +meteorological information, and patiently awaited further developments. +The vacquero went on:-- + +"But one of the things this beast of a weather did was to wash down the +stalks of the grain, and to clear out the trough and hollows between, +and to make level the fields, and--look you! to uncover the stones and +rubbish and whatever the summer dust had buried. Indeed, it was even as +a miracle that Jose Mendez one day, after the first showers, came upon +a silver button from his calzas, which he had lost in the early summer. +And it was only that morning that, remembering how much and with what +fire Don Clarencio had sought the missing boot from the foot of the +Senor Peyton when his body was found, he, Incarnacion, had thought he +would look for it on the falda of the second terrace. And behold, Mother +of God it was there! Soaked with mud and rain, but the same as when the +senor was alive. To the very spur!" + +He drew the boot from beneath his serape and laid it before Clarence. +The young man instantly recognized it, in spite of its weather-beaten +condition and its air of grotesque and drunken inconsistency to the +usually trim and correct appearance of Peyton when alive. "It is the +same," he said, in a low voice. + +"Good!" said Incarnacion. "Now, if Don Clarencio will examine the +American spur, he will see--what? A few horse-hairs twisted and caught +in the sharp points of the rowel. Good! Is it the hair of the horse that +Senor rode? Clearly not; and in truth not. It is too long for the flanks +and belly of the horse; it is not the same color as the tail and the +mane. How comes it there? It comes from the twisted horsehair rope of a +riata, and not from the braided cowhide thongs of the regular lasso of a +vacquero. The lasso slips not much, but holds; the riata slips much and +strangles." + +"But Mr. Peyton was not strangled," said Clarence quickly. + +"No, for the noose of the riata was perhaps large,--who knows? It +might have slipped down his arms, pinioned him, and pulled him off. +Truly!--such has been known before. Then on the ground it slipped again, +or he perhaps worked it off to his feet where it caught on his spur, and +then he was dragged until the boot came off, and behold! he was dead." + +This had been Clarence's own theory of the murder, but he had only +half confided it to Incarnacion. He silently examined the spur with the +accusing horse-hair, and placed it in his desk. Incarnacion continued:-- + +"There is not a vacquero in the whole rancho who has a horse-hair riata. +We use the braided cowhide; it is heavier and stronger; it is for +the bull and not the man. The horse-hair riata comes from over the +range--south." + +There was a dead silence, broken only by the drumming of the rain upon +the roof of the veranda. Incarnacion slightly shrugged his shoulders. + +"Don Clarencio does not know the southern county? Francisco Robles, +cousin of the 'Sisters,'--he they call 'Pancho,'--comes from the south. +Surely when Don Clarencio bought the title he saw Francisco, for he was +the steward?" + +"I dealt only with the actual owners and through my bankers in San +Francisco," returned Clarence abstractedly. + +Incarnacion looked through the yellow corners of his murky eyes at his +master. + +"Pedro Valdez, who was sent away by Senor Peyton, is the foster-brother +of Francisco. They were much together. Now that Francisco is rich from +the gold Don Clarencio paid for the title, they come not much together. +But Pedro is rich, too. Mother of God! He gambles and is a fine +gentleman. He holds his head high,--even over the Americanos he gambles +with. Truly, they say he can shoot with the best of them. He boasts and +swells himself, this Pedro! He says if all the old families were like +him, they would drive those western swine back over the mountains +again." + +Clarence raised his eyes, caught a subtle yellow flash from +Incarnacion's, gazed at him suddenly, and rose. + +"I don't think I have ever seen him," he said quietly. "Thank you for +bringing me the spur. But keep the knowledge of it to yourself, good +Nascio, for the present." + +Nascio nevertheless still lingered. Perceiving which, Clarence handed +him a cigarette and proceeded to light one himself. He knew that the +vacquero would reroll his, and that that always deliberate occupation +would cover and be an excuse for further confidence. + +"The Senora Peyton does not perhaps meet this Pedro in the society of +San Francisco?" + +"Surely not. The senora is in mourning and goes not out in society, nor +would she probably go anywhere where she would meet a dismissed servant +of her husband." + +Incarnacion slowly lit his cigarette, and said between the puffs, "And +the senorita--she would not meet him?" + +"Assuredly not." + +"And," continued Incarnacion, throwing down the match and putting his +foot on it, "if this boaster, this turkey-cock, says she did, you could +put him out like that?" + +"Certainly," said Clarence, with an easy confidence he was, however, far +from feeling, "if he really SAID it--which I doubt." + +"Ah, truly," said Incarnacion; "who knows? It may be another Senorita +Silsbee." + +"The senora's adopted daughter is called MISS PEYTON, friend Nascio. You +forget yourself," said Clarence quietly. + +"Ah, pardon!" said Incarnacion with effusive apology; "but she was born +Silsbee. Everybody knows it; she herself has told it to Pepita. The +Senor Peyton bequeathed his estate to the Senora Peyton. He named +not the senorita! Eh, what would you? It is the common cackle of the +barnyard. But I say 'Mees Silsbee.' For look you. There is a Silsbee of +Sacramento, the daughter of her aunt, who writes letters to her. Pepita +has seen them! And possibly it is only that Mees of whom the brigand +Pedro boasts." + +"Possibly," said Clarence, "but as far as this rancho is concerned, +friend Nascio, thou wilt understand--and I look to thee to make the +others understand--that there is no Senorita SILSBEE here, only the +Senorita PEYTON, the respected daughter of the senora thy mistress!" He +spoke with the quaint mingling of familiarity and paternal gravity of +the Spanish master--a faculty he had acquired at El Refugio in a like +vicarious position, and which never failed as a sign of authority. "And +now," he added gravely, "get out of this, friend, with God's blessing, +and see that thou rememberest what I told thee." + +The retainer, with equal gravity, stepped backwards, saluted with his +sombrero until the stiff brim scraped the floor, and then solemnly +withdrew. + +Left to himself, Clarence remained for an instant silent and thoughtful +before the oven-like hearth. So! everybody knew Susy's real relations to +the Peytons, and everybody but Mrs. Peyton, perhaps, knew that she +was secretly corresponding with some one of her own family. In other +circumstances he might have found some excuse for this assertion of her +independence and love of her kindred, but in her attitude towards Mrs. +Peyton it seemed monstrous. It appeared impossible that Mrs. Peyton +should not have heard of it, or suspected the young girl's disaffection. +Perhaps she had,--it was another burden laid upon her shoulders,--but +the proud woman had kept it to herself. A film of moisture came across +his eyes. I fear he thought less of the suggestion of Susy's secret +meeting with Pedro, or Incarnacion's implied suspicions that Pedro was +concerned in Peyton's death, than of this sentimental possibility. He +knew that Pedro had been hated by the others on account of his position; +he knew the instinctive jealousies of the race and their predisposition +to extravagant misconstruction. From what he had gathered, and +particularly from the voices he had overheard on the Fair Plains Road, +it seemed to him that Pedro was more capable of mercenary intrigue than +physical revenge. He was not aware of the irrevocable affront put upon +Pedro by Peyton, and he had consequently attached no importance to +Peyton's own half-scornful intimation of the only kind of retaliation +that Pedro would be likely to take. The unsuccessful attempt upon +himself he had always thought might have been an accident, or if it was +really a premeditated assault, it might have been intended actually for +HIMSELF and not Peyton, as he had first thought, and his old friend had +suffered for HIM, through some mistake of the assailant. The purpose, +which alone seemed wanting, might have been to remove Clarence as a +possible witness who had overheard their conspiracy--how much of it they +did not know--on the Fair Plains Road that night. The only clue he held +to the murderer in the spur locked in his desk, merely led him beyond +the confines of the rancho, but definitely nowhere else. It was, +however, some relief to know that the crime was not committed by one of +Peyton's retainers, nor the outcome of domestic treachery. + +After some consideration he resolved to seek Jim Hooker, who might be +possessed of some information respecting Susy's relations, either from +the young girl's own confidences or from Jim's personal knowledge of the +old frontier families. From a sense of loyalty to Susy and Mrs. Peyton, +he had never alluded to the subject before him, but since the young +girl's own indiscretion had made it a matter of common report, however +distasteful it was to his own feelings, he felt he could not plead the +sense of delicacy for her. He had great hopes in what he had always +believed was only her exaggeration of fact as well as feeling. And he +had an instinctive reliance on her fellow poseur's ability to detect it. +A few days later, when he found he could safely leave the rancho alone, +he rode to Fair Plains. + +The floods were out along the turnpike road, and even seemed to have +increased since his last journey. The face of the landscape had changed +again. One of the lower terraces had become a wild mere of sedge and +reeds. The dry and dusty bed of a forgotten brook had reappeared, a +full-banked river, crossing the turnpike and compelling a long detour +before the traveler could ford it. But as he approached the Hopkins +farm and the opposite clearing and cabin of Jim Hooker, he was quite +unprepared for a still more remarkable transformation. The cabin, a +three-roomed structure, and its cattle-shed had entirely disappeared! +There were no traces or signs of inundation. The land lay on a gentle +acclivity above the farm and secure from the effects of the flood, and +a part of the ploughed and cleared land around the site of the cabin +showed no evidence of overflow on its black, upturned soil. But +the house was gone! Only a few timbers too heavy to be removed, +the blighting erasions of a few months of occupation, and the dull, +blackened area of the site itself were to be seen. The fence alone was +intact. + +Clarence halted before it, perplexed and astonished. Scarcely two weeks +had elapsed since he had last visited it and sat beneath its roof with +Jim, and already its few ruins had taken upon themselves the look of +years of abandonment and decay. The wild land seemed to have thrown off +its yoke of cultivation in a night, and nature rioted again with all its +primal forces over the freed soil. Wild oats and mustard were springing +already in the broken furrows, and lank vines were slimily spreading +over a few scattered but still unseasoned and sappy shingles. Some +battered tin cans and fragments of old clothing looked as remote as if +they had been relics of the earliest immigration. + +Clarence turned inquiringly towards the Hopkins farmhouse across the +road. His arrival, however, had already been noticed, as the door of the +kitchen opened in an anticipatory fashion, and he could see the slight +figure of Phoebe Hopkins in the doorway, backed by the overlooking heads +and shoulders of her parents. The face of the young girl was pale and +drawn with anxiety, at which Clarence's simple astonishment took a shade +of concern. + +"I am looking for Mr. Hooker," he said uneasily. "And I don't seem to be +able to find either him or his house." + +"And you don't know what's gone of him?" said the girl quickly. + +"No; I haven't seen him for two weeks." + +"There, I told you so!" said the girl, turning nervously to her parents. +"I knew it. He hasn't seen him for two weeks." Then, looking almost +tearfully at Clarence's face, she said, "No more have we." + +"But," said Clarence impatiently, "something must have happened. Where +is his house?" + +"Taken away by them jumpers," interrupted the old farmer; "a lot of +roughs that pulled it down and carted it off in a jiffy before our very +eyes without answerin' a civil question to me or her. But he wasn't +there, nor before, nor since." + +"No," added the old woman, with flashing eyes, "or he'd let 'em have +what ther' was in his six-shooters." + +"No, he wouldn't, mother," said the girl impatiently, "he'd CHANGED, and +was agin all them ideas of force and riotin'. He was for peace and +law all the time. Why, the day before we missed him he was tellin' me +California never would be decent until people obeyed the laws and the +titles were settled. And for that reason, because he wouldn't fight +agin the law, or without the consent of the law, they've killed him, or +kidnapped him away." + +The girl's lips quivered, and her small brown hands twisted the edges of +her blue checked apron. Although this new picture of Jim's peacefulness +was as astounding and unsatisfactory as his own disappearance, there was +no doubt of the sincerity of poor Phoebe's impression. + +In vain did Clarence point out to them there must be some mistake; that +the trespassers--the so-called jumpers--really belonged to the same +party as Hooker, and would have no reason to dispossess him; that, in +fact, they were all HIS, Clarence's, tenants. In vain he assured them of +Hooker's perfect security in possession; that he could have driven the +intruders away by the simple exhibition of his lease, or that he could +have even called a constable from the town of Fair Plains to protect him +from mere lawlessness. In vain did he assure them of his intention to +find his missing friend, and reinstate him at any cost. The conviction +that the unfortunate young man had been foully dealt with was fixed in +the minds of the two women. For a moment Clarence himself was staggered +by it. + +"You see," said the young girl, with a kindling face, "the day before +he came back from Robles, ther' were some queer men hangin' round his +cabin, but as they were the same kind that went off with him the day the +Sisters' title was confirmed, we thought nothing of it. But when he +came back from you he seemed worried and anxious, and wasn't a bit like +himself. We thought perhaps he'd got into some trouble there, or been +disappointed. He hadn't, had he, Mr. Brant?" continued Phoebe, with an +appealing look. + +"By no means," said Clarence warmly. "On the contrary, he was able to do +his friends good service there, and was successful in what he attempted. +Mrs. Peyton was very grateful. Of course he told you what had happened, +and what he did for us," continued Clarence, with a smile. + +He had already amused himself on the way with a fanciful conception +of the exaggerated account Jim had given of his exploits. But the +bewildered girl shook her head. + +"No, he didn't tell us ANYTHING." + +Clarence was really alarmed. This unprecedented abstention of Hooker's +was portentous. + +"He didn't say anything but what I told you about law and order," +she went on; "but that same night we heard a good deal of talking and +shouting in the cabin and around it. And the next day he was talking +with father, and wanting to know how HE kept his land without trouble +from outsiders." + +"And I said," broke in Hopkins, "that I guessed folks didn't bother a +man with women folks around, and that I kalkilated that I wasn't quite +as notorious for fightin' as he was." + +"And he said," also interrupted Mrs. Hopkins, "and quite in his nat'ral +way, too,--gloomy like, you remember, Cyrus," appealingly to her +husband,--"that that was his curse." + +The smile that flickered around Clarence's mouth faded, however, as he +caught sight of Phoebe's pleading, interrogating eyes. It was really too +bad. Whatever change had come over the rascal it was too evident that +his previous belligerent personality had had its full effect upon the +simple girl, and that, hereafter, one pair of honest eyes would be +wistfully following him. + +Perplexed and indignant, Clarence again closely questioned her as to the +personnel of the trespassing party who had been seen once or twice since +passing over the field. He had at last elicited enough information to +identify one of them as Gilroy, the leader of the party that had invaded +Robles rancho. His cheek flushed. Even if they had wished to take a +theatrical and momentary revenge on Hooker for the passing treachery to +them which they had just discovered, although such retaliation was +only transitory, and they could not hold the land, it was an insult +to Clarence himself, whose tenant Jim was, and subversive of all their +legally acquired rights. He would confront this Gilroy at once; his +half-wild encampment was only a few miles away, just over the boundaries +of the Robles estate. Without stating his intention, he took leave of +the Hopkins family with the cheerful assurance that he would probably +return with some news of Hooker, and rode away. + +The trail became more indistinct and unfrequented as it diverged from +the main road, and presently lost itself in the slope towards the east. +The horizon grew larger: there were faint bluish lines upon it which he +knew were distant mountains; beyond this a still fainter white line--the +Sierran snows. Presently he intersected a trail running south, and +remarked that it crossed the highway behind him, where he had once met +the two mysterious horsemen. They had evidently reached the terrace +through the wild oats by that trail. A little farther on were a +few groups of sheds and canvas tents in a bare and open space, with +scattered cattle and horsemen, exactly like an encampment, or the +gathering of a country fair. As Clarence rode down towards them he could +see that his approach was instantly observed, and that a simultaneous +movement was made as if to anticipate him. For the first time he +realized the possible consequences of his visit, single-handed, but it +was too late to retrace his steps. With a glance at his holster, he rode +boldly forward to the nearest shed. A dozen men hovered near him, but +something in his quiet, determined manner held them aloof. Gilroy was +on the threshold in his shirtsleeves. A single look showed him that +Clarence was alone, and with a careless gesture of his hand he warned +away his own followers. + +"You've got a sort of easy way of droppin' in whar you ain't invited, +Brant," he said with a grim smile, which was not, however, without a +certain air of approval. "Got it from your father, didn't you?" + +"I don't know, but I don't believe HE ever thought it necessary to warn +twenty men of the approach of ONE," replied Clarence, in the same tone. +"I had no time to stand on ceremony, for I have just come from Hooker's +quarter section at Fair Plains." + +Gilroy smiled again, and gazed abstractedly at the sky. + +"You know as well as I do," said Clarence, controlling his voice with +an effort, "that what you have done there will have to be undone, if you +wish to hold even those lawless men of yours together, or keep yourself +and them from being run into the brush like highwaymen. I've no fear for +that. Neither do I care to know what was your motive in doing it; but I +can only tell you that if it was retaliation, I alone was and still am +responsible for Hooker's action at the rancho. I came here to know just +what you have done with him, and, if necessary, to take his place." + +"You're just a little too previous in your talk, I reckon, Brant," +returned Gilroy lazily, "and as to legality, I reckon we stand on the +same level with yourself, just here. Beginnin' with what you came for: +as we don't know where your Jim Hooker is, and as we ain't done anythin' +to HIM, we don't exackly see what we could do with YOU in his place. +Ez to our motives,--well, we've got a good deal to say about THAT. +We reckoned that he wasn't exackly the kind of man we wanted for a +neighbor. His pow'ful fightin' style didn't suit us peaceful folks, and +we thought it rather worked agin this new 'law and order' racket to have +such a man about, to say nuthin' of it prejudicin' quiet settlers. +He had too many revolvers for one man to keep his eye on, and was +altogether too much steeped in blood, so to speak, for ordinary washin' +and domestic purposes! His hull get up was too deathlike and clammy; so +we persuaded him to leave. We just went there, all of us, and exhorted +him. We stayed round there two days and nights, takin' turns, talkin' +with him, nuthin' more, only selecting subjects in his own style to +please him, until he left! And then, as we didn't see any use for his +house there, we took it away. Them's the cold facts, Brant," he added, +with a certain convincing indifference that left no room for doubt, "and +you can stand by 'em. Now, workin' back to the first principle you laid +down,--that we'll have to UNDO what we've DONE,--we don't agree with +you, for we've taken a leaf outer your own book. We've got it here +in black and white. We've got a bill o' sale of Hooker's house and +possession, and we're on the land in place of him,--AS YOUR TENANTS." +He reentered the shanty, took a piece of paper from a soap-box on the +shell, and held it out to Clarence. "Here it is. It's a fair and square +deal, Brant. We gave him, as it says here, a hundred dollars for it! No +humbuggin', but the hard cash, by Jiminy! AND HE TOOK THE MONEY." + +The ring of truth in the man's voice was as unmistakable as the +signature in Jim's own hand. Hooker had sold out! Clarence turned +hastily away. + +"We don't know where he went," continued Gilroy grimly, "but I reckon +you ain't over anxious to see him NOW. And I kin tell ye something to +ease your mind,--he didn't require much persuadin'. And I kin tell ye +another, if ye ain't above takin' advice from folks that don't pertend +to give it," he added, with the same curious look of interest in his +face. "You've done well to get shut of him, and if you got shut of a few +more of his kind that you trust to, you'd do better." + +As if to avoid noticing any angry reply from the young man, he reentered +the cabin and shut the door behind him. Clarence felt the uselessness of +further parley, and rode away. + +But Gilroy's Parthian arrow rankled as he rode. He was not greatly +shocked at Jim's defection, for he was always fully conscious of +his vanity and weakness; but he was by no means certain that Jim's +extravagance and braggadocio, which he had found only amusing and, +perhaps, even pathetic, might not be as provocative and prejudicial +to others as Gilroy had said. But, like all sympathetic and unselfish +natures, he sought to find some excuse for his old companion's weakness +in his own mistaken judgment. He had no business to bring poor Jim on +the land, to subject his singular temperament to the temptations of +such a life and such surroundings; he should never have made use of his +services at the rancho. He had done him harm rather than good in his +ill-advised, and, perhaps, SELFISH attempts to help him. I have said +that Gilroy's parting warning rankled in his breast, but not ignobly. +It wounded the surface of his sensitive nature, but could not taint or +corrupt the pure, wholesome blood of the gentleman beneath it. For in +Gilroy's warning he saw only his own shortcomings. A strange fatality +had marked his friendships. He had been no help to Jim; he had brought +no happiness to Susy or Mrs. Peyton, whose disagreement his visit seemed +to have accented. Thinking over the mysterious attack upon himself, it +now seemed to him possible that, in some obscure way, his presence at +the rancho had precipitated the more serious attack on Peyton. If, as +it had been said, there was some curse upon his inheritance from his +father, he seemed to have made others share it with him. He was riding +onward abstractedly, with his head sunk on his breast and his eyes fixed +upon some vague point between his horse's sensitive ears, when a sudden, +intelligent, forward pricking of them startled him, and an apparition +arose from the plain before him that seemed to sweep all other sense +away. + +It was the figure of a handsome young horseman as abstracted as himself, +but evidently on better terms with his own personality. He was dark +haired, sallow cheeked, and blue eyed,--the type of the old Spanish +Californian. A burnt-out cigarette was in his mouth, and he was riding +a roan mustang with the lazy grace of his race. But what arrested +Clarence's attention more than his picturesque person was the narrow, +flexible, long coil of gray horse-hair riata which hung from his +saddle-bow, but whose knotted and silver-beaded terminating lash he +was swirling idly in his narrow brown hand. Clarence knew and instantly +recognized it as the ordinary fanciful appendage of a gentleman rider, +used for tethering his horse on lonely plains, and always made the +object of the most lavish expenditure of decoration and artistic +skill. But he was as suddenly filled with a blind, unreasoning sense +of repulsion and fury, and lifted his eyes to the man as he approached. +What the stranger saw in Clarence's blazing eyes no one but himself +knew, for his own became fixed and staring; his sallow cheeks grew +lanker and livid; his careless, jaunty bearing stiffened into rigidity, +and swerving his horse to one side he suddenly passed Clarence at a +furious gallop. The young American wheeled quickly, and for an instant +his knees convulsively gripped the flanks of his horse to follow. But +the next moment he recalled himself, and with an effort began to collect +his thoughts. What was he intending to do, and for what reason! He had +met hundreds of such horsemen before, and caparisoned and accoutred like +this, even to the riata. And he certainly was not dressed like either of +the mysterious horsemen whom he had overheard that moonlight evening. He +looked back; the stranger had already slackened his pace, and was slowly +disappearing. Clarence turned and rode on his way. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +Without disclosing the full extent of Jim's defection and desertion, +Clarence was able to truthfully assure the Hopkins family of his +personal safety, and to promise that he would continue his quest, and +send them further news of the absentee. He believed it would be found +that Jim had been called away on some important business, but that not +daring to leave his new shanty exposed and temptingly unprotected, he +had made a virtue of necessity by selling it to his neighbors, intending +to build a better house on its site after his return. Having comforted +Phoebe, and impulsively conceived further plans for restoring Jim to +her,--happily without any recurrence of his previous doubts as to his +own efficacy as a special Providence,--he returned to the rancho. If he +thought again of Jim's defection and Gilroy's warning, it was only to +strengthen himself to a clearer perception of his unselfish duty and +singleness of purpose. He would give up brooding, apply himself more +practically to the management of the property, carry out his plans +for the foundation of a Landlords' Protective League for the southern +counties, become a candidate for the Legislature, and, in brief, try +to fill Peyton's place in the county as he had at the rancho. He would +endeavor to become better acquainted with the half-breed laborers on +the estate and avoid the friction between them and the Americans; he was +conscious that he had not made that use of his early familiarity with +their ways and language which he might have done. If, occasionally, the +figure of the young Spaniard whom he had met on the lonely road obtruded +itself on him, it was always with the instinctive premonition that he +would meet him again, and the mystery of the sudden repulsion be in some +way explained. Thus Clarence! But the momentary impulse that had driven +him to Fair Plains, the eagerness to set his mind at rest regarding Susy +and her relatives, he had utterly forgotten. + +Howbeit some of the energy and enthusiasm that he breathed into these +various essays made their impression. He succeeded in forming the +Landlords' League; under a commission suggested by him the straggling +boundaries of Robles and the adjacent claims were resurveyed, defined, +and mutually protected; even the lawless Gilroy, from extending an +amused toleration to the young administrator, grew to recognize and +accept him; the peons and vacqueros began to have faith in a man who +acknowledged them sufficiently to rebuild the ruined Mission Chapel on +the estate, and save them the long pilgrimage to Santa Inez on Sundays +and saints' days; the San Francisco priest imported from Clarence's +old college at San Jose, and an habitual guest at Clarence's hospitable +board, was grateful enough to fill his flock with loyalty to the young +padron. + +He had returned from a long drive one afternoon, and had just thrown +himself into an easy-chair with the comfortable consciousness of a rest +fairly earned. The dull embers of a fire occasionally glowed in the +oven-like hearth, although the open casement of a window let in the +soft breath of the southwest trades. The angelus had just rung from the +restored chapel, and, mellowed by distance, seemed to Clarence to lend +that repose to the wind-swept landscape that it had always lacked. + +Suddenly his quick ear detected the sound of wheels in the ruts of the +carriage way. Usually his visitors to the casa came on horseback, and +carts and wagons used only the lower road. As the sound approached +nearer, an odd fancy filled his heart with unaccountable pleasure. Could +it be Mrs. Peyton making an unexpected visit to the rancho? He held his +breath. The vehicle was now rolling on into the patio. The clatter of +hoofs and a halt were followed by the accents of women's voices. One +seemed familiar. He rose quickly, as light footsteps ran along the +corridor, and then the door opened impetuously to the laughing face of +Susy! + +He came towards her hastily, yet with only the simple impulse of +astonishment. He had no thought of kissing her, but as he approached, +she threw her charming head archly to one side, with a mischievous +knitting of her brows and a significant gesture towards the passage, +that indicated the proximity of a stranger and the possibility of +interruption. + +"Hush! Mrs. McClosky's here," she whispered. + +"Mrs. McClosky?" repeated Clarence vaguely. + +"Yes, of course," impatiently. "My Aunt Jane. Silly! We just cut away +down here to surprise you. Aunty's never seen the place, and here was a +good chance." + +"And your mother--Mrs. Peyton? Has she--does she?"--stammered Clarence. + +"Has she--does she?" mimicked Susy, with increasing impatience. "Why, of +course she DOESN'T know anything about it. She thinks I'm visiting Mary +Rogers at Oakland. And I am--AFTERWARDS," she laughed. "I just wrote to +Aunt Jane to meet me at Alameda, and we took the stage to Santa Inez +and drove on here in a buggy. Wasn't it real fun? Tell me, Clarence! You +don't say anything! Tell me--wasn't it real fun?" + +This was all so like her old, childlike, charming, irresponsible self, +that Clarence, troubled and bewildered as he was, took her hands and +drew her like a child towards him. + +"Of course," she went on, yet stopping to smell a rosebud in his +buttonhole, "I have a perfect right to come to my own home, goodness +knows! and if I bring my own aunt, a married woman, with me,--although," +loftily, "there may be a young unmarried gentleman alone there,--still I +fail to see any impropriety in it!" + +He was still holding her; but in that instant her manner had completely +changed again; the old Susy seemed to have slipped away and evaded him, +and he was retaining only a conscious actress in his arms. + +"Release me, Mr. Brant, please," she said, with a languid affected +glance behind her; "we are not alone." + +Then, as the rustling of a skirt sounded nearer in the passage, she +seemed to change back to her old self once more, and with a lightning +flash of significance whispered,-- + +"She knows everything!" + +To add to Clarence's confusion, the woman who entered cast a quick +glance of playful meaning on the separating youthful pair. She was an +ineffective blonde with a certain beauty that seemed to be gradually +succumbing to the ravages of paint and powder rather than years; +her dress appeared to have suffered from an equally unwise excess of +ornamentation and trimming, and she gave the general impression of +having been intended for exhibition in almost any other light than the +one in which she happened to be. There were two or three mud-stains +on the laces of her sleeve and underskirt that were obtrusively +incongruous. Her voice, which had, however, a ring of honest intention +in it, was somewhat over-strained, and evidently had not yet adjusted +itself to the low-ceilinged, conventual-like building. + +"There, children, don't mind me! I know I'm not on in this scene, but I +got nervous waiting there, in what you call the 'salon,' with only those +Greaser servants staring round me in a circle, like a regular chorus. +My! but it's anteek here--regular anteek--Spanish." Then, with a glance +at Clarence, "So this is Clarence Brant,--your Clarence? Interduce me, +Susy." + +In his confusion of indignation, pain, and even a certain conception of +the grim ludicrousness of the situation, Clarence grasped despairingly +at the single sentence of Susy's. "In my own home." Surely, at least, it +was HER OWN HOME, and as he was only the business agent of her adopted +mother, he had no right to dictate to her under what circumstances +she should return to it, or whom she should introduce there. In her +independence and caprice Susy might easily have gone elsewhere with this +astounding relative, and would Mrs. Peyton like it better? Clinging to +this idea, his instinct of hospitality asserted itself. He welcomed Mrs. +McClosky with nervous effusion:-- + +"I am only Mrs. Peyton's major domo here, but any guest of her +DAUGHTER'S is welcome." + +"Yes," said Mrs. McClosky, with ostentatious archness, "I reckon Susy +and I understand your position here, and you've got a good berth of it. +But we won't trouble you much on Mrs. Peyton's account, will we, Susy? +And now she and me will just take a look around the shanty,--it is real +old Spanish anteek, ain't it?--and sorter take stock of it, and you +young folks will have to tear yourselves apart for a while, and play +propriety before me. You've got to be on your good behavior while +I'm here, I can tell you! I'm a heavy old 'doo-anna.' Ain't I, Susy? +School-ma'ms and mother superiors ain't in the game with ME for +discipline." + +She threw her arms around the young girl's waist and drew her towards +her affectionately, an action that slightly precipitated some powder +upon the black dress of her niece. Susy glanced mischievously at +Clarence, but withdrew her eyes presently to let them rest with +unmistakable appreciation and admiration on her relative. A pang shot +through Clarence's breast. He had never seen her look in that way at +Mrs. Peyton. Yet here was this stranger, provincial, overdressed, and +extravagant, whose vulgarity was only made tolerable through her good +humor, who had awakened that interest which the refined Mrs. Peyton had +never yet been able to touch. As Mrs. McClosky swept out of the room +with Susy he turned away with a sinking heart. + +Yet it was necessary that the Spanish house servants should not suspect +this treason to their mistress, and Clarence stopped their childish +curiosity about the stranger with a careless and easy acceptance of +Susy's sudden visit in the light of an ordinary occurrence, and with a +familiarity towards Mrs. McClosky which became the more distasteful to +him in proportion as he saw that it was evidently agreeable to her. But, +easily responsive, she became speedily confidential. Without a single +question from himself, or a contributing remark from Susy, in half an +hour she had told him her whole history. How, as Jane Silsbee, an elder +sister of Susy's mother, she had early eloped from the paternal home +in Kansas with McClosky, a strolling actor. How she had married him +and gone on the stage under his stage name, effectively preventing any +recognition by her family. How, coming to California, where her husband +had become manager of the theatre at Sacramento, she was indignant to +find that her only surviving relation, a sister-in-law, living in the +same place, had for a money consideration given up all claim to the +orphaned Susy, and how she had resolved to find out "if the poor child +was happy." How she succeeded in finding out that she was not happy. +How she wrote to her, and even met her secretly at San Francisco and +Oakland, and how she had undertaken this journey partly for "a lark," +and partly to see Clarence and the property. There was no doubt of the +speaker's sincerity; with this outrageous candor there was an equal +obliviousness of any indelicacy in her conduct towards Mrs. Peyton that +seemed hopeless. Yet he must talk plainly to her; he must say to her +what he could not say to Susy; upon HER Mrs. Peyton's happiness--he +believed he was thinking of Susy's also--depended. He must take the +first opportunity of speaking to her alone. + +That opportunity came sooner than he had expected. After dinner, Mrs. +McClosky turned to Susy, and playfully telling her that she had "to talk +business" with Mr. Brant, bade her go to the salon and await her. When +the young girl left the room, she looked at Clarence, and, with that +assumption of curtness with which coarse but kindly natures believe they +overcome the difficulty of delicate subjects, said abruptly:-- + +"Well, young man, now what's all this between you and Susy? I'm looking +after her interests--same as if she was my own girl. If you've got +anything to say, now's your time. And don't you shilly-shally too long +over it, either, for you might as well know that a girl like that can +have her pick and choice, and be beholden to no one; and when she don't +care to choose, there's me and my husband ready to do for her all the +same. We mightn't be able to do the anteek Spanish Squire, but we've got +our own line of business, and it's a comfortable one." + +To have this said to him under the roof of Mrs. Peyton, from whom, in +his sensitiveness, he had thus far jealously guarded his own secret, was +even more than Clarence's gentleness could stand, and fixed his wavering +resolution. + +"I don't think we quite understand each other, Mrs. McClosky," he said +coldly, but with glittering eyes. "I have certainly something to say to +you; if it is not on a subject as pleasant as the one you propose, +it is, nevertheless, one that I think you and I are more competent to +discuss together." + +Then, with quiet but unrelenting directness, he pointed out to her that +Susy was a legally adopted daughter of Mrs. Peyton, and, as a minor, +utterly under her control; that Mrs. Peyton had no knowledge of any +opposing relatives; and that Susy had not only concealed the fact from +her, but that he was satisfied that Mrs. Peyton did not even know of +Susy's discontent and alienation; that she had tenderly and carefully +brought up the helpless orphan as her own child, and even if she had not +gained her affection was at least entitled to her obedience and respect; +that while Susy's girlish caprice and inexperience excused HER +conduct, Mrs. Peyton and her friends would have a right to expect more +consideration from a person of Mrs. McClosky's maturer judgment. That +for these reasons, and as the friend of Mrs. Peyton, whom he could alone +recognize as Susy's guardian and the arbiter of her affections, he must +decline to discuss the young girl with any reference to himself or his +own intentions. + +An unmistakable flush asserted itself under the lady's powder. + +"Suit yourself, young man, suit yourself," she said, with equally direct +resentment and antagonism; "only mebbee you'll let me tell you that +Jim McClosky ain't no fool, and mebbee knows what lawyers think of an +arrangement with a sister-in-law that leaves a real sister out! Mebbee +that's a 'Sister's title' you ain't thought of, Mr. Brant! And mebbee +you'll find out that your chance o' gettin' Mrs. Peyton's consent ain't +as safe to gamble on as you reckon it is. And mebbee, what's more to the +purpose, if you DID get it, it might not be just the trump card to fetch +Susy with! And to wind up, Mr. Brant, when you DO have to come down to +the bed-rock and me and Jim McClosky, you may find out that him and me +have discovered a better match for Susy than the son of old Ham Brant, +who is trying to play the Spanish grandee off his father's money on a +couple of women. And we mayn't have to go far to do it--or to get THE +REAL THING, Mr. Brant!" + +Too heartsick and disgusted to even notice the slur upon himself or the +import of her last words, Clarence only rose and bowed as she jumped up +from the table. But as she reached the door he said, half appealingly:-- + +"Whatever are your other intentions, Mrs. McClosky, as we are both +Susy's guests, I beg you will say nothing of this to her while we are +here, and particularly that you will not allow her to think for a moment +that I have discussed MY relations to her with anybody." + +She flung herself out of the door without a reply; but on entering the +dark low-ceilinged drawing-room she was surprised to find that Susy was +not there. She was consequently obliged to return to the veranda, where +Clarence had withdrawn, and to somewhat ostentatiously demand of the +servants that Susy should be sent to her room at once. But the young +girl was not in her own room, and was apparently nowhere to be found. +Clarence, who had now fully determined as a last resource to make a +direct appeal to Susy herself, listened to this fruitless search with +some concern. She could not have gone out in the rain, which was again +falling. She might be hiding somewhere to avoid a recurrence of the +scene she had perhaps partly overheard. He turned into the corridor +that led to Mrs. Peyton's boudoir. As he knew that it was locked, he was +surprised to see by the dim light of the hanging lamp that a duplicate +key to the one in his desk was in the lock. It must be Susy's, and the +young girl had probably taken refuge there. He knocked gently. There was +a rustle in the room and the sound of a chair being moved, but no reply. +Impelled by a sudden instinct he opened the door, and was met by a cool +current of air from some open window. At the same moment the figure of +Susy approached him from the semi-darkness of the interior. + +"I did not know you were here," said Clarence, much relieved, he knew +not why, "but I am glad, for I wanted to speak with you alone for a few +moments." + +She did not reply, but he drew a match from his pocket and lit the two +candles which he knew stood on the table. The wick of one was still +warm, as if it had been recently extinguished. As the light slowly +radiated, he could see that she was regarding him with an air of +affected unconcern, but a somewhat heightened color. It was like her, +and not inconsistent with his idea that she had come there to avoid an +after scene with Mrs. McClosky or himself, or perhaps both. The room was +not disarranged in any way. The window that was opened was the casement +of the deep embrasured one in the rear wall, and the light curtain +before it still swayed occasionally in the night wind. + +"I'm afraid I had a row with your aunt, Susy," he began lightly, in his +old familiar way; "but I had to tell her I didn't think her conduct to +Mrs. Peyton was exactly the square thing towards one who had been as +devoted to you as she has been." + +"Oh, for goodness' sake, don't go over all that again," said Susy +impatiently. "I've had enough of it." + +Clarence flashed, but recovered himself. + +"Then you overheard what I said, and know what I think," he said calmly. + +"I knew it BEFORE," said the young girl, with a slight supercilious toss +of the head, and yet a certain abstraction of manner as she went to the +window and closed it. "Anybody could see it! I know you always wanted +me to stay here with Mrs. Peyton, and be coddled and monitored and +catechised and shut up away from any one, until YOU had been coddled and +monitored and catechised by somebody else sufficiently to suit her +ideas of your being a fit husband for me. I told aunty it was no use our +coming here to--to"-- + +"To do what?" asked Clarence. + +"To put some spirit into you," said the young girl, turning upon him +sharply; "to keep you from being tied to that woman's apron-strings. To +keep her from making a slave of you as she would of me. But it is of +no use. Mary Rogers was right when she said you had no wish to please +anybody but Mrs. Peyton, and no eyes for anybody but her. And if it +hadn't been too ridiculous, considering her age and yours, she'd say you +were dead in love with her." + +For an instant Clarence felt the blood rush to his face and then sink +away, leaving him pale and cold. The room, which had seemed to +whirl around him, and then fade away, returned with appalling +distinctness,--the distinctness of memory,--and a vision of the first +day that he had seen Mrs. Peyton sitting there, as he seemed to see her +now. For the first time there flashed upon him the conviction that the +young girl had spoken the truth, and had brusquely brushed the veil from +his foolish eyes. He WAS in love with Mrs. Peyton! That was what his +doubts and hesitation regarding Susy meant. That alone was the source, +secret, and limit of his vague ambition. + +But with the conviction came a singular calm. In the last few moments +he seemed to have grown older, to have loosed the bonds of old +companionship with Susy, and the later impression she had given him of +her mature knowledge, and moved on far beyond her years and experience. +And it was with an authority that was half paternal, and in a voice he +himself scarcely recognized, that he said:-- + +"If I did not know you were prejudiced by a foolish and indiscreet +woman, I should believe that you were trying to insult me as you have +your adopted mother, and would save you the pain of doing both in HER +house by leaving it now and forever. But because I believe you are +controlled against your best instinct by that woman, I shall remain +here with you to frustrate her as best I can, or until I am able to lay +everything before Mrs. Peyton except the foolish speech you have just +made." + +The young girl laughed. "Why not THAT one too, while you're about it? +See what she'll say." + +"I shall tell her," continued Clarence calmly, "only what YOU yourself +have made it necessary for me to tell her to save you from folly and +disgrace, and only enough to spare her the mortification of hearing it +first from her own servants." + +"Hearing WHAT from her own servants? What do you mean? How dare you?" +demanded the young girl sharply. + +She was quite real in her anxiety now, although her attitude of virtuous +indignation struck him as being like all her emotional expression, +namely, acting. + +"I mean that the servants know of your correspondence with Mrs. +McClosky, and that she claims to be your aunt," returned Clarence. "They +know that you confided to Pepita. They believe that either Mrs. McClosky +or you have seen"-- + +He had stopped suddenly. He was about to say that the servants +(particularly Incarnacion) knew that Pedro had boasted of having met +Susy, when, for the first time, the tremendous significance of what he +had hitherto considered as merely an idle falsehood flashed upon him. + +"Seen whom?" repeated Susy in a higher voice, impatiently stamping her +foot. + +Clarence looked at her, and in her excited, questioning face saw a +confirmation of his still half-formed suspicions. In his own abrupt +pause and knitted eyebrows she must have read his thoughts also. Their +eyes met. Her violet pupils dilated, trembled, and then quickly shifted +as she suddenly stiffened into an attitude of scornful indifference, +almost grotesque in its unreality. His eyes slowly turned to the window, +the door, the candles on the table and the chair before it, and then +came back to her face again. Then he drew a deep breath. + +"I give no heed to the idle gossip of servants, Susy," he said slowly. +"I have no belief that you have ever contemplated anything worse than an +act of girlish folly, or the gratification of a passing caprice. Neither +do I want to appeal to you or frighten you, but I must tell you now, +that I know certain facts that might make such a simple act of folly +monstrous, inconceivable in YOU, and almost accessory to a crime! I can +tell you no more. But so satisfied am I of such a possibility, that I +shall not scruple to take any means--the strongest--to prevent even +the remotest chance of it. Your aunt has been looking for you; you had +better go to her now. I will close the room and lock the door. Meantime, +I should advise you not to sit so near an open window with a candle at +night in this locality. Even if it might not be dangerous for you, it +might be fatal to the foolish creatures it might attract." + +He took the key from the door as he held it open for her to pass out. +She uttered a shrill little laugh, like a nervous, mischievous child, +and, slipping out of her previous artificial attitude as if it had been +a mantle, ran out of the room. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +As Susy's footsteps died away, Clarence closed the door, walked to the +window, and examined it closely. The bars had been restored since he had +wrenched them off to give ingress to the family on the day of recapture. +He glanced around the room; nothing seemed to have been disturbed. +Nevertheless he was uneasy. The suspicions of a frank, trustful nature +when once aroused are apt to be more general and far-reaching than the +specific distrusts of the disingenuous, for they imply the overthrow of +a whole principle and not a mere detail. Clarence's conviction that Susy +had seen Pedro recently since his dismissal led him into the wildest +surmises of her motives. It was possible that without her having reason +to suspect Pedro's greater crime, he might have confided to her his +intention of reclaiming the property and installing her as the mistress +and chatelaine of the rancho. The idea was one that might have appealed +to Susy's theatrical imagination. He recalled Mrs. McClosky's sneer +at his own pretensions and her vague threats of a rival of more lineal +descent. The possible infidelity of Susy to himself touched him lightly +when the first surprise was over; indeed, it scarcely could be called +infidelity, if she knew and believed Mary Rogers's discovery; and the +conviction that he and she had really never loved each other now enabled +him, as he believed, to look at her conduct dispassionately. Yet it was +her treachery to Mrs. Peyton and not to himself that impressed him most, +and perhaps made him equally unjust, through his affections. + +He extinguished the candles, partly from some vague precautions he could +not explain, and partly to think over his fears in the abstraction and +obscurity of the semi-darkness. The higher windows suffused a faint +light on the ceiling, and, assisted by the dark lantern-like glow +cast on the opposite wall by the tunnel of the embrasured window, +the familiar outlines of the room and its furniture came back to him. +Somewhat in this fashion also, in the obscurity and quiet, came back +to him the events he had overlooked and forgotten. He recalled now some +gossip of the servants, and hints dropped by Susy of a violent quarrel +between Peyton and Pedro, which resulted in Pedro's dismissal, but which +now seemed clearly attributable to some graver cause than inattention +and insolence. He recalled Mary Rogers's playful pleasantries with Susy +about Pedro, and Susy's mysterious air, which he had hitherto +regarded only as part of her exaggeration. He remembered Mrs. Peyton's +unwarrantable uneasiness about Susy, which he had either overlooked or +referred entirely to himself; she must have suspected something. To his +quickened imagination, in this ruin of his faith and trust, he believed +that Hooker's defection was either part of the conspiracy, or that he +had run away to avoid being implicated with Susy in its discovery. +This, too, was the significance of Gilroy's parting warning. He and +Mrs. Peyton alone had been blind and confiding in the midst of this +treachery, and even HE had been blind to his own real affections. + +The wind had risen again, and the faint light on the opposite wall grew +tremulous and shifting with the movement of the foliage without. But +presently the glow became quite obliterated, as if by the intervention +of some opaque body outside the window. He rose hurriedly and went to +the casement. But at the same moment he fancied he heard the jamming of +a door or window in quite another direction, and his examination of +the casement before him showed him only the silver light of the thinly +clouded sky falling uninterruptedly through the bars and foliage on the +interior of the whitewashed embrasure. Then a conception of his mistake +flashed across him. The line of the casa was long, straggling, and +exposed elsewhere; why should the attempt to enter or communicate +with any one within be confined only to this single point? And why not +satisfy himself at once if any trespassers were lounging around the +walls, and then confront them boldly in the open? Their discovery and +identification was as important as the defeat of their intentions. + +He relit the candle, and, placing it on a small table by the wall beyond +the visual range of the window, rearranged the curtain so that, while +it permitted the light to pass out, it left the room in shadow. He then +opened the door softly, locked it behind him, and passed noiselessly +into the hall. Susy's and Mrs. McClosky's rooms were at the further end +of the passage, but between them and the boudoir was the open patio, and +the low murmur of the voices of servants, who still lingered until he +should dismiss them for the night. Turning back, he moved silently down +the passage, until he reached the narrow arched door to the garden. +This he unlocked and opened with the same stealthy caution. The rain had +recommenced. Not daring to risk a return to his room, he took from a +peg in the recess an old waterproof cloak and "sou'wester" of Peyton's, +which still hung there, and passed out into the night, locking the +door behind him. To keep the knowledge of his secret patrol from the +stablemen, he did not attempt to take out his own horse, but trusted to +find some vacquero's mustang in the corral. By good luck an old "Blue +Grass" hack of Peyton's, nearest the stockade as he entered, allowed +itself to be quickly caught. Using its rope headstall for a bridle, +Clarence vaulted on its bare back, and paced cautiously out into the +road. Here he kept the curve of the long line of stockade until he +reached the outlying field where, half hidden in the withered, sapless, +but still standing stalks of grain, he slowly began a circuit of the +casa. + +The misty gray dome above him, which an invisible moon seemed to have +quicksilvered over, alternately lightened and darkened with passing +gusts of fine rain. Nevertheless he could see the outline of the broad +quadrangle of the house quite distinctly, except on the west side, +where a fringe of writhing willows beat the brown adobe walls with their +imploring arms at every gust. Elsewhere nothing moved; the view was +uninterrupted to where the shining, watery sky met the equally shining, +watery plain. He had already made a half circuit of the house, and was +still noiselessly picking his way along the furrows, muffled with soaked +and broken-down blades, and the velvety upspringing of the "volunteer" +growth, when suddenly, not fifty yards before him, without sound or +warning, a figure rode out of the grain upon the open crossroad, and +deliberately halted with a listless, abstracted, waiting air. Clarence +instantly recognized one of his own vacqueros, an undersized half-breed, +but he as instantly divined that he was only an outpost or confederate, +stationed to give the alarm. The same precaution had prevented each +hearing the other, and the lesser height of the vacquero had rendered +him indistinguishable as he preceded Clarence among the grain. As the +young man made no doubt that the real trespasser was nearer the casa, +along the line of willows, he wheeled to intercept him without alarming +his sentry. Unfortunately, his horse answered the rope bridle clumsily, +and splashed in striking out. The watcher quickly raised his head, and +Clarence knew that his only chance was now to suppress him. Determined +to do this at any hazard, with a threatening gesture he charged boldly +down upon him. + +But he had not crossed half the distance between them when the man +uttered an appalling cry, so wild and despairing that it seemed to chill +even the hot blood in Clarence's veins, and dashed frenziedly down the +cross-road into the interminable plain. Before Clarence could determine +if that cry was a signal or an involuntary outburst, it was followed +instantly by the sound of frightened and struggling hoofs clattering +against the wall of the casa, and a swaying of the shrubbery near the +back gate of the patio. Here was his real quarry! Without hesitation he +dug his heels into the flanks of his horse and rode furiously towards +it. As he approached, a long tremor seemed to pass through the +shrubbery, with the retreating sound of horse hoofs. The unseen +trespasser had evidently taken the alarm and was fleeing, and Clarence +dashed in pursuit. Following the sound, for the shrubbery hid the +fugitive from view, he passed the last wall of the casa; but it soon +became evident that the unknown had the better horse. The hoof-beats +grew fainter and fainter, and at times appeared even to cease, until +his own approach started them again, eventually to fade away in the +distance. In vain Clarence dug his heels into the flanks of his heavier +steed, and regretted his own mustang; and when at last he reached the +edge of the thicket he had lost both sight and sound of the fugitive. +The descent to the lower terrace lay before him empty and desolate. The +man had escaped! + +He turned slowly back with baffled anger and vindictiveness. However, +he had prevented something, although he knew not what. The principal had +got away, but he had identified his confederate, and for the first time +held a clue to his mysterious visitant. There was no use to alarm the +household, which did not seem to have been disturbed. The trespassers +were far away by this time, and the attempt would hardly be repeated +that night. He made his way quietly back to the corral, let loose his +horse, and regained the casa unobserved. He unlocked the arched door in +the wall, reentered the darkened passage, stopped a moment to open +the door of the boudoir, glance at the closely fastened casement, and +extinguish the still burning candle, and, relocking the door securely, +made his way to his own room. + +But he could not sleep. The whole incident, over so quickly, had +nevertheless impressed him deeply, and yet like a dream. The strange +yell of the vacquero still rang in his ears, but with an unearthly and +superstitious significance that was even more dreamlike in its meaning. +He awakened from a fitful slumber to find the light of morning in the +room, and Incarnacion standing by his bedside. + +The yellow face of the steward was greenish with terror, and his lips +were dry. + +"Get up, Senor Clarencio; get up at once, my master. Strange things have +happened. Mother of God protect us!" + +Clarence rolled to his feet, with the events of the past night +struggling back upon his consciousness. + +"What mean you, Nascio?" he said, grasping the man's arm, which +was still mechanically making the sign of the cross, as he muttered +incoherently. "Speak, I command you!" + +"It is Jose, the little vacquero, who is even now at the padre's house, +raving as a lunatic, stricken as a madman with terror! He has seen +him,--the dead alive! Save us!" + +"Are you mad yourself, Nascio?" said Clarence. "Whom has he seen?" + +"Whom? God help us! the old padron--Senor Peyton himself! He rushed +towards him here, in the patio, last night--out of the air, the sky, the +ground, he knew not,--his own self, wrapped in his old storm cloak and +hat, and riding his own horse,--erect, terrible, and menacing, with an +awful hand upholding a rope--so! He saw him with these eyes, as I see +you. What HE said to him, God knows! The priest, perhaps, for he has +made confession!" + +In a flash of intelligence Clarence comprehended all. He rose grimly and +began to dress himself. + +"Not a word of this to the women,--to any one, Nascio, dost thou +understand?" he said curtly. "It may be that Jose has been partaking too +freely of aguardiente,--it is possible. I will see the priest myself. +But what possesses thee? Collect thyself, good Nascio." + +But the man was still trembling. + +"It is not all,--Mother of God! it is not all, master!" he stammered, +dropping to his knees and still crossing himself. "This morning, beside +the corral, they find the horse of Pedro Valdez splashed and spattered +on saddle and bridle, and in the stirrup,--dost thou hear? the +STIRRUP,--hanging, the torn-off boot of Valdez! Ah, God! The same as +HIS! Now do you understand? It is HIS vengeance. No! Jesu forgive me! it +is the vengeance of God!" + +Clarence was staggered. + +"And you have not found Valdez? You have looked for him?" he said, +hurriedly throwing on his clothes. + +"Everywhere,--all over the plain. The whole rancho has been out since +sunrise,--here and there and everywhere. And there is nothing! Of course +not. What would you?" He pointed solemnly to the ground. + +"Nonsense!" said Clarence, buttoning his coat and seizing his hat. +"Follow me." + +He ran down the passage, followed by Incarnacion, through the excited, +gesticulating crowd of servants in the patio, and out of the back gate. +He turned first along the wall of the casa towards the barred window of +the boudoir. Then a cry came from Incarnacion. + +They ran quickly forward. Hanging from the grating of the window, like +a mass of limp and saturated clothes, was the body of Pedro Valdez, with +one unbooted foot dangling within an inch of the ground. His head was +passed inside the grating and fixed as at that moment when the first +spring of the frightened horse had broken his neck between the bars as +in a garrote, and the second plunge of the terrified animal had carried +off his boot in the caught stirrup when it escaped. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +The winter rains were over and gone, and the whole long line of +Californian coast was dashed with color. There were miles of yellow and +red poppies, leagues of lupines that painted the gently rounded hills +with soft primary hues, and long continuous slopes, like low mountain +systems, of daisies and dandelions. At Sacramento it was already summer; +the yellow river was flashing and intolerable; the tule and marsh +grasses were lush and long; the bloom of cottonwood and sycamore +whitened the outskirts of the city, and as Cyrus Hopkins and his +daughter Phoebe looked from the veranda of the Placer Hotel, accustomed +as they were to the cool trade winds of the coast valleys, they felt +homesick from the memory of eastern heats. + +Later, when they were surveying the long dinner tables at the table +d'hote with something of the uncomfortable and shamefaced loneliness of +the provincial, Phoebe uttered a slight cry and clutched her father's +arm. Mr. Hopkins stayed the play of his squared elbows and glanced +inquiringly at his daughter's face. There was a pretty animation in it, +as she pointed to a figure that had just entered. It was that of a young +man attired in the extravagance rather than the taste of the prevailing +fashion, which did not, however, in the least conceal a decided +rusticity of limb and movement. A long mustache, which looked unkempt, +even in its pomatumed stiffness, and lank, dark hair that had bent but +never curled under the barber's iron, made him notable even in that +heterogeneous assembly. + +"That's he," whispered Phoebe. + +"Who?" said her father. + +Alas for the inconsistencies of love! The blush came with the name and +not the vision. + +"Mr. Hooker," she stammered. + +It was, indeed, Jim Hooker. But the role of his exaggeration was no +longer the same; the remorseful gloom in which he had been habitually +steeped had changed into a fatigued, yet haughty, fastidiousness more +in keeping with his fashionable garments. He was more peaceful, yet not +entirely placable, and, as he sat down at a side table and pulled down +his striped cuffs with his clasped fingers, he cast a glance of critical +disapproval on the general company. Nevertheless, he seemed to be +furtively watchful of his effect upon them, and as one or two whispered +and looked towards him, his consciousness became darkly manifest. + +All of which might have intimidated the gentle Phoebe, but did not +discompose her father. He rose, and crossing over to Hooker's table, +clapped him heartily on the back. + +"How do, Hooker? I didn't recognize you in them fine clothes, but Phoebe +guessed as how it was you." + +Flushed, disconcerted, irritated, but always in wholesome awe of Mr. +Hopkins, Jim returned his greeting awkwardly and half hysterically. How +he would have received the more timid Phoebe is another question. But +Mr. Hopkins, without apparently noticing these symptoms, went on:-- + +"We're only just down, Phoebe and me, and as I guess we'll want to talk +over old times, we'll come alongside o' you. Hold on, and I'll fetch +her." + +The interval gave the unhappy Jim a chance to recover himself, to regain +his vanished cuffs, display his heavy watch-chain, curl his mustache, +and otherwise reassume his air of blase fastidiousness. But the transfer +made, Phoebe, after shaking hands, became speechless under these +perfections. Not so her father. + +"If there's anything in looks, you seem to be prospering," he said +grimly; "unless you're in the tailorin' line, and you're only showin' +off stock. What mout ye be doing?" + +"Ye ain't bin long in Sacramento, I reckon?" suggested Jim, with +patronizing pity. + +"No, we only came this morning," returned Hopkins. + +"And you ain't bin to the theatre?" continued Jim. + +"No." + +"Nor moved much in--in--gin'ral fash'nable sassiety?" + +"Not yet," interposed Phoebe, with an air of faint apology. + +"Nor seen any of them large posters on the fences, of 'The Prairie +Flower; or, Red-handed Dick,'--three-act play with five tableaux,--just +the biggest sensation out,--runnin' for forty nights,--money turned +away every night,--standin' room only?" continued Jim, with prolonged +toleration. + +"No." + +"Well, I play Red-handed Dick. I thought you might have seen it and +recognized me. All those people over there," darkly indicating the long +table, "know me. A fellow can't stand it, you know, being stared at by +such a vulgar, low-bred lot. It's gettin' too fresh here. I'll have to +give the landlord notice and cut the whole hotel. They don't seem to +have ever seen a gentleman and a professional before." + +"Then you're a play-actor now?" said the farmer, in a tone which did +not, however, exhibit the exact degree of admiration which shone in +Phoebe's eyes. + +"For the present," said Jim, with lofty indifference. "You see I was +in--in partnership with McClosky, the manager, and I didn't like the +style of the chump that was doin' Red-handed Dick, so I offered to take +his place one night to show him how. And by Jinks! the audience, after +that night, wouldn't let anybody else play it,--wouldn't stand even the +biggest, highest-priced stars in it! I reckon," he added gloomily, "I'll +have to run the darned thing in all the big towns in Californy,--if I +don't have to go East with it after all, just for the business. But it's +an awful grind on a man,--leaves him no time, along of the invitations +he gets, and what with being run after in the streets and stared at in +the hotels he don't get no privacy. There's men, and women, too, over +at that table, that just lie in wait for me here till I come, and don't +lift their eyes off me. I wonder they don't bring their opery-glasses +with them." + +Concerned, sympathizing, and indignant, poor Phoebe turned her brown +head and honest eyes in that direction. But because they were honest, +they could not help observing that the other table did not seem to be +paying the slightest attention to the distinguished impersonator of +Red-handed Dick. Perhaps he had been overheard. + +"Then that was the reason ye didn't come back to your location. I always +guessed it was because you'd got wind of the smash-up down there, afore +we did," said Hopkins grimly. + +"What smash-up?" asked Jim, with slightly resentful quickness. + +"Why, the smash-up of the Sisters' title,--didn't you hear that?" + +There was a slight movement of relief and a return of gloomy hauteur in +Jim's manner. + +"No, we don't know much of what goes on in the cow counties, up here." + +"Ye mout, considerin' it concerns some o' your friends," returned +Hopkins dryly. "For the Sisters' title went smash as soon as it was +known that Pedro Valdez--the man as started it--had his neck broken +outside the walls o' Robles Rancho; and they do say as this yer Brant, +YOUR friend, had suthin' to do with the breaking of it, though it was +laid to the ghost of old Peyton. Anyhow, there was such a big skeer +that one of the Greaser gang, who thought he'd seen the ghost, being a +Papist, to save his everlasting soul went to the priest and confessed. +But the priest wouldn't give him absolution until he'd blown the +hull thing, and made it public. And then it turned out that all the +dockyments for the title, and even the custom-house paper, were FORGED +by Pedro Valdez, and put on the market by his confederates. And that's +just where YOUR friend, Clarence Brant, comes in, for HE had bought up +the whole title from them fellers. Now, either, as some say, he was in +the fraud from the beginnin', and never paid anything, or else he was an +all-fired fool, and had parted with his money like one. Some allow +that the reason was that he was awfully sweet on Mrs. Peyton's adopted +daughter, and ez the parents didn't approve of him, he did THIS so as +to get a holt over them by the property. But he's a ruined man, anyway, +now; for they say he's such a darned fool that he's goin' to pay for all +the improvements that the folks who bought under him put into the land, +and that'll take his last cent. I thought I'd tell you that, for I +suppose YOU'VE lost a heap in your improvements, and will put in your +claim?" + +"I reckon I put nearly as much into it as Clar Brant did," said Jim +gloomily, "but I ain't goin' to take a cent from him, or go back on him +now." + +The rascal could not resist this last mendacious opportunity, although +he was perfectly sincere in his renunciation, touched in his sympathy, +and there was even a film of moisture in his shifting eyes. + +Phoebe was thrilled with the generosity of this noble being, who could +be unselfish even in his superior condition. She added softly:-- + +"And they say that the girl did not care for him at all, but was +actually going to run off with Pedro, when he stopped her and sent for +Mrs. Peyton." + +To her surprise, Jim's face flushed violently. + +"It's all a dod-blasted lie," he said, in a thick stage whisper. "It's +only the hogwash them Greasers and Pike County galoots ladle out to +each other around the stove in a county grocery. But," recalling himself +loftily, and with a tolerant wave of his be-diamonded hand, "wot kin +you expect from one of them cow counties? They ain't satisfied till they +drive every gentleman out of the darned gopher-holes they call their +'kentry.'" + +In her admiration of what she believed to be a loyal outburst for his +friend, Phoebe overlooked the implied sneer at her provincial home. But +her father went on with a perfunctory, exasperating, dusty aridity:-- + +"That mebbee ez mebbee, Mr. Hooker, but the story down in our precinct +goes that she gave Mrs. Peyton the slip,--chucked up her situation as +adopted darter, and went off with a queer sort of a cirkiss woman,--one +of her own KIN, and I reckon one of her own KIND." + +To this Mr. Hooker offered no further reply than a withering rebuke of +the waiter, a genteel abstraction, and a lofty change of subject. He +pressed upon them two tickets for the performance, of which he seemed to +have a number neatly clasped in an india-rubber band, and advised +them to come early. They would see him after the performance and sup +together. He must leave them now, as he had to be punctually at the +theatre, and if he lingered he should be pestered by interviewers. He +withdrew under a dazzling display of cuff and white handkerchief, +and with that inward swing of the arm and slight bowiness of the leg +generally recognized in his profession as the lounging exit of high +comedy. + +The mingling of awe and an uneasy sense of changed relations which that +meeting with Jim had brought to Phoebe was not lessened when she entered +the theatre with her father that evening, and even Mr. Hopkins seemed to +share her feelings. The theatre was large, and brilliant in decoration, +the seats were well filled with the same heterogeneous mingling she had +seen in the dining-room at the Placer Hotel, but in the parquet were +some fashionable costumes and cultivated faces. Mr. Hopkins was not +altogether so sure that Jim had been "only gassing." But the gorgeous +drop curtain, representing an allegory of Californian prosperity and +abundance, presently uprolled upon a scene of Western life almost as +striking in its glaring unreality. From a rose-clad English cottage in +a subtropical landscape skipped "Rosalie, the Prairie Flower." The +briefest of skirts, the most unsullied of stockings, the tiniest of +slippers, and the few diamonds that glittered on her fair neck and +fingers, revealed at once the simple and unpretending daughter of the +American backwoodsman. A tumult of delighted greeting broke from the +audience. The bright color came to the pink, girlish cheeks, gratified +vanity danced in her violet eyes, and as she piquantly bowed her +acknowledgments, this great breath of praise seemed to transfigure and +possess her. A very young actor who represented the giddy world in +a straw hat and with an effeminate manner was alternately petted and +girded at by her during the opening exposition of the plot, until the +statement that a "dark destiny" obliged her to follow her uncle in an +emigrant train across the plains closed the act, apparently extinguished +him, and left HER the central figure. So far, she evidently was the +favorite. A singular aversion to her crept into the heart of Phoebe. + +But the second act brought an Indian attack upon the emigrant train, and +here "Rosalie" displayed the archest heroism and the pinkest and most +distracting self-possession, in marked contrast to the giddy worldling +who, having accompanied her apparently for comic purposes best known to +himself, cowered abjectly under wagons, and was pulled ignominiously out +of straw, until Red Dick swept out of the wings with a chosen band and +a burst of revolvers and turned the tide of victory. Attired as a +picturesque combination of the Neapolitan smuggler, river-bar miner, +and Mexican vacquero, Jim Hooker instantly began to justify the plaudits +that greeted him and the most sanguinary hopes of the audience. A gloomy +but fascinating cloud of gunpowder and dark intrigue from that moment +hung about the stage. + +Yet in this sombre obscuration Rosalie had passed a happy six months, +coming out with her character and stockings equally unchanged and +unblemished, to be rewarded with the hand of Red Dick and the discovery +of her father, the governor of New Mexico, as a white-haired, but +objectionable vacquero, at the fall of the curtain. + +Through this exciting performance Phoebe sat with a vague and increasing +sense of loneliness and distrust. She did not know that Hooker had added +to his ordinary inventive exaggeration the form of dramatic composition. +But she had early detected the singular fact that such shadowy outlines +of plot as the piece possessed were evidently based on his previous +narrative of his OWN experiences, and the saving of Susy Peyton--by +himself! There was the episode of their being lost on the plains, as +he had already related it to her, with the addition of a few years to +Susy's age and some vivid picturesqueness to himself as Red Dick. She +was not, of course, aware that the part of the giddy worldling was +Jim's own conception of the character of Clarence. But what, even to +her provincial taste, seemed the extravagance of the piece, she felt, in +some way, reflected upon the truthfulness of the story she had heard. It +seemed to be a parody on himself, and in the laughter which some of the +most thrilling points produced in certain of the audience, she heard +an echo of her own doubts. But even this she could have borne if Jim's +confidence had not been given to the general public; it was no longer +HERS alone, she shared it with them. And this strange, bold girl, who +acted with him,--the "Blanche Belville" of the bills,--how often he must +have told HER the story, and yet how badly she had learned it! It was +not her own idea of it, nor of HIM. In the last extravagant scene she +turned her weary and half-shamed eyes from the stage and looked around +the theatre. Among a group of loungers by the wall a face that +seemed familiar was turned towards her own with a look of kindly and +sympathetic recognition. It was the face of Clarence Brant. When the +curtain fell, and she and her father rose to go, he was at their side. +He seemed older and more superior looking than she had ever thought him +before, and there was a gentle yet sad wisdom in his eyes and voice that +comforted her even while it made her feel like crying. + +"You are satisfied that no harm has come to our friend," he said +pleasantly. "Of course you recognized him?" + +"Oh, yes; we met him to-day," said Phoebe. Her provincial pride impelled +her to keep up a show of security and indifference. "We are going to +supper with him." + +Clarence slightly lifted his brows. + +"You are more fortunate than I am," he said smilingly. "I only arrived +here at seven, and I must leave at midnight." + +Phoebe hesitated a moment, then said with affected carelessness:-- + +"What do you think of the young girl who plays with him? Do you know +her? Who is she?" + +He looked at her quickly, and then said, with some surprise:-- + +"Did he not tell you?" + +"She WAS the adopted daughter of Mrs. Peyton,--Miss Susan Silsbee," he +said gravely. + +"Then she DID run away from home as they said," said Phoebe impulsively. + +"Not EXACTLY as they said," said Clarence gently. "She elected to make +her home with her aunt, Mrs. McClosky, who is the wife of the manager +of this theatre, and she adopted the profession a month ago. As it +now appears that there was some informality in the old articles of +guardianship, Mrs. Peyton would have been powerless to prevent her from +doing either, even if she had wished to." + +The infelicity of questioning Clarence regarding Susy suddenly flashed +upon the forgetful Phoebe, and she colored. Yet, although sad, he did +not look like a rejected lover. + +"Of course, if she is here with her own relatives, that makes all the +difference," she said gently. "It is protection." + +"Certainly," said Clarence. + +"And," continued Phoebe hesitatingly, "she is playing with--with--an old +friend--Mr. Hooker!" + +"That is quite proper, too, considering their relations," said Clarence +tolerantly. + +"I--don't--understand," stammered Phoebe. + +The slightly cynical smile on Clarence's face changed as he looked into +Phoebe's eyes. + +"I've just heard that they are married," he returned gently. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +Nowhere had the long season of flowers brought such glory as to the +broad plains and slopes of Robles Rancho. By some fortuitous chance of +soil, or flood, or drifting pollen, the three terraces had each taken a +distinct and separate blossom and tint of color. The straggling line of +corral, the crumbling wall of the old garden, the outlying chapel, and +even the brown walls of the casa itself, were half sunken in the tall +racemes of crowding lupines, until from the distance they seemed to be +slowly settling in the profundity of a dark-blue sea. The second terrace +was a league-long flow of gray and gold daisies, in which the cattle +dazedly wandered mid-leg deep. A perpetual sunshine of yellow dandelions +lay upon the third. The gentle slope to the dark-green canada was a +broad cataract of crimson poppies. Everywhere where water had stood, +great patches of color had taken its place. It seemed as if the rains +had ceased only that the broken heavens might drop flowers. + +Never before had its beauty--a beauty that seemed built upon a cruel, +youthful, obliterating forgetfulness of the past--struck Clarence as +keenly as when he had made up his mind that he must leave the place +forever. For the tale of his mischance and ill-fortune, as told by +Hopkins, was unfortunately true. When he discovered that in his desire +to save Peyton's house by the purchase of the Sisters' title he himself +had been the victim of a gigantic fraud, he accepted the loss of the +greater part of his fortune with resignation, and was even satisfied by +the thought that he had at least effected the possession of the property +for Mrs. Peyton. But when he found that those of his tenants who had +bought under him had acquired only a dubious possession of their +lands and no title, he had unhesitatingly reimbursed them for their +improvements with the last of his capital. Only the lawless Gilroy had +good-humoredly declined. The quiet acceptance of the others did +not, unfortunately, preclude their settled belief that Clarence had +participated in the fraud, and that even now his restitution was making +a dangerous precedent, subversive of the best interests of the State, +and discouraging to immigration. Some doubted his sanity. Only one, +struck with the sincerity of his motive, hesitated to take his money, +with a look of commiseration on his face. + +"Are you not satisfied?" asked Clarence, smiling. + +"Yes, but"-- + +"But what?" + +"Nothin'. Only I was thinkin' that a man like you must feel awful +lonesome in Calforny!" + +Lonely he was, indeed; but his loneliness was not the loss of fortune +nor what it might bring. Perhaps he had never fully realized his wealth; +it had been an accident rather than a custom of his life, and when it +had failed in the only test he had made of its power, it is to be feared +that he only sentimentally regretted it. It was too early yet for him +to comprehend the veiled blessings of the catastrophe in its merciful +disruption of habits and ways of life; his loneliness was still the +hopeless solitude left by vanished ideals and overthrown idols. He was +satisfied that he had never cared for Susy, but he still cared for the +belief that he had. + +After the discovery of Pedro's body that fatal morning, a brief but +emphatic interview between himself and Mrs. McClosky had followed. He +had insisted upon her immediately accompanying Susy and himself to +Mrs. Peyton in San Francisco. Horror-stricken and terrified at the +catastrophe, and frightened by the strange looks of the excited +servants, they did not dare to disobey him. He had left them with Mrs. +Peyton in the briefest preliminary interview, during which he spoke only +of the catastrophe, shielding the woman from the presumption of having +provoked it, and urging only the importance of settling the question +of guardianship at once. It was odd that Mrs. Peyton had been less +disturbed than he imagined she would be at even his charitable version +of Susy's unfaithfulness to her; it even seemed to him that she had +already suspected it. But as he was about to withdraw to leave her to +meet them alone, she had stopped him suddenly. + +"What would you advise me to do?" + +It was his first interview with her since the revelation of his own +feelings. He looked into the pleading, troubled eyes of the woman he now +knew he had loved, and stammered:-- + +"You alone can judge. Only you must remember that one cannot force an +affection any more than one can prevent it." + +He felt himself blushing, and, conscious of the construction of his +words, he even fancied that she was displeased. + +"Then you have no preference?" she said, a little impatiently. + +"None." + +She made a slight gesture with her handsome shoulders, but she only +said, "I should have liked to have pleased you in this," and turned +coldly away. He had left without knowing the result of the interview; +but a few days later he received a letter from her stating that she had +allowed Susy to return to her aunt, and that she had resigned all claims +to her guardianship. + +"It seemed to be a foregone conclusion," she wrote; "and although I +cannot think such a change will be for her permanent welfare, it is her +present WISH, and who knows, indeed, if the change will be permanent? +I have not allowed the legal question to interfere with my judgment, +although her friends must know that she forfeits any claim upon the +estate by her action; but at the same time, in the event of her suitable +marriage, I should try to carry out what I believe would have been Mr. +Peyton's wishes." + +There were a few lines of postscript: "It seems to me that the change +would leave you more free to consult your own wishes in regard to +continuing your friendship with Susy, and upon such a footing as may +please you. I judge from Mrs. McClosky's conversation that she believed +you thought you were only doing your duty in reporting to me, and that +the circumstances had not altered the good terms in which you all three +formerly stood." + +Clarence had dropped the letter with a burning indignation that seemed +to sting his eyes until a scalding moisture hid the words before him. +What might not Susy have said? What exaggeration of his affection was +she not capable of suggesting? He recalled Mrs. McClosky, and remembered +her easy acceptance of him as Susy's lover. What had they told Mrs. +Peyton? What must be her opinion of his deceit towards herself? It was +hard enough to bear this before he knew he loved her. It was intolerable +now! And this is what she meant when she suggested that he should +renew his old terms with Susy; it was for HIM that this ill-disguised, +scornful generosity in regard to Susy's pecuniary expectations was +intended. What should he do? He would write to her, and indignantly deny +any clandestine affection for Susy. But could he do that, in honor, +in truthfulness? Would it not be better to write and confess all? +Yes,--EVERYTHING. + +Fortunately for his still boyish impulsiveness, it was at this time that +the discovery of his own financial ruin came to him. The inquest on the +body of Pedro Valdez and the confession of his confidant had revealed +the facts of the fraudulent title and forged testamentary documents. +Although it was correctly believed that Pedro had met his death in an +escapade of gallantry or intrigue, the coroner's jury had returned a +verdict of "accidental death," and the lesser scandal was lost in the +wider, far-spreading disclosure of fraud. When he had resolved to assume +all the liabilities of his purchase, he was obliged to write to Mrs. +Peyton and confess his ruin. But he was glad to remind her that it did +not alter HER status or security; he had only given her the possession, +and she would revert to her original and now uncontested title. But as +there was now no reason for his continuing the stewardship, and as he +must adopt some profession and seek his fortune elsewhere, he begged her +to relieve him of his duty. Albeit written with a throbbing heart and +suffused eyes, it was a plain, business-like, and practical letter. Her +reply was equally cool and matter of fact. She was sorry to hear of his +losses, although she could not agree with him that they could logically +sever his present connection with the rancho, or that, placed upon +another and distinctly business footing, the occupation would not be as +remunerative to him as any other. But, of course, if he had a preference +for some more independent position, that was another question, although +he would forgive her for using the privilege of her years to remind +him that his financial and business success had not yet justified his +independence. She would also advise him not to decide hastily, or, at +least, to wait until she had again thoroughly gone over her husband's +papers with her lawyer, in reference to the old purchase of the Sisters' +title, and the conditions under which it was bought. She knew that Mr. +Brant would not refuse this as a matter of business, nor would that +friendship, which she valued so highly, allow him to imperil the +possession of the rancho by leaving it at such a moment. As soon as she +had finished the examination of the papers, she would write again. Her +letter seemed to leave him no hope, if, indeed, he had ever indulged +in any. It was the practical kindliness of a woman of business, nothing +more. As to the examination of her husband's papers, that was a +natural precaution. He alone knew that they would give no record of +a transaction which had never occurred. He briefly replied that his +intention to seek another situation was unchanged, but that he would +cheerfully await the arrival of his successor. Two weeks passed. Then +Mr. Sanderson, Mrs. Peyton's lawyer, arrived, bringing an apologetic +note from Mrs. Peyton. She was so sorry her business was still delayed, +but as she had felt that she had no right to detain him entirely at +Robles, she had sent to Mr. Sanderson to TEMPORARILY relieve him, that +he might be free to look around him or visit San Francisco in reference +to his own business, only extracting a promise from him that he would +return to Robles to meet her at the end of the week, before settling +upon anything. + +The bitter smile with which Clarence had read thus far suddenly changed. +Some mysterious touch of unbusiness-like but womanly hesitation, that +he had never noticed in her previous letters, gave him a faint sense of +pleasure, as if her note had been perfumed. He had availed himself of +the offer. It was on this visit to Sacramento that he had accidentally +discovered the marriage of Susy and Hooker. + +"It's a great deal better business for her to have a husband in the +'profesh' if she's agoin' to stick to it," said his informant, Mrs. +McClosky, "and she's nothing if she ain't business and profesh, Mr. +Brant. I never see a girl that was born for the stage--yes, you might +say jess cut out o' the boards of the stage--as that girl Susy is! And +that's jest what's the matter; and YOU know it, and I know it, and there +you are!" + +It was with these experiences that Clarence was to-day reentering the +wooded and rocky gateway of the rancho from the high road of the canada; +but as he cantered up the first slope, through the drift of scarlet +poppies that almost obliterated the track, and the blue and yellow +blooms of the terraces again broke upon his view, he thought only of +Mrs. Peyton's pleasure in this changed aspect of her old home. She had +told him of it once before, and of her delight in it; and he had once +thought how happy he should be to see it with her. + +The servant who took his horse told him that the senora had arrived that +morning from Santa Inez, bringing with her the two Senoritas Hernandez +from the rancho of Los Canejos, and that other guests were expected. And +there was the Senor Sanderson and his Reverence Padre Esteban. Truly an +affair of hospitality, the first since the padron died. Whatever dream +Clarence might have had of opportunities for confidential interview was +rudely dispelled. Yet Mrs. Peyton had left orders to be informed at once +of Don Clarencio's arrival. + +As he crossed the patio and stepped upon the corridor he fancied he +already detected in the internal arrangements the subtle influence of +Mrs. Peyton's taste and the indefinable domination of the mistress. For +an instant he thought of anticipating the servant and seeking her in the +boudoir, but some instinct withheld him, and he turned into the study +which he had used as an office. It was empty; a few embers glimmered on +the hearth. At the same moment there was a light step behind him, +and Mrs. Peyton entered and closed the door behind her. She was +very beautiful. Although paler and thinner, there was an odd sort of +animation about her, so unlike her usual repose that it seemed almost +feverish. + +"I thought we could talk together a few moments before the guests +arrive. The house will be presently so full, and my duties as hostess +commence." + +"I was--about to seek you--in--in the boudoir," hesitated Clarence. + +She gave an impatient shiver. + +"Good heavens, not there! I shall never go there again. I should fancy +every time I looked out of the window that I saw the head of that man +between the bars. No! I am only thankful that I wasn't here at the time, +and that I can keep my remembrance of the dear old place unchanged." She +checked herself a little abruptly, and then added somewhat irrelevantly +but cheerfully, "Well, you have been away? What have you done?" + +"Nothing," said Clarence. + +"Then you have kept your promise," she said, with the same nervous +hilarity. + +"I have returned here without making any other engagement," he said +gravely; "but I have not altered my determination." + +She shrugged her shoulders again, or, as it seemed, the skin of her +tightly fitting black dress above them, with the sensitive shiver of a +highly groomed horse, and moved to the hearth as if for warmth; put her +slim, slippered foot upon the low fender, drawing, with a quick hand, +the whole width of her skirt behind her until it clingingly accented the +long, graceful curve from her hip to her feet. All this was so unlike +her usual fastidiousness and repose that he was struck by it. With her +eyes on the glowing embers of the hearth, and tentatively advancing her +toe to its warmth and drawing it away, she said:-- + +"Of course, you must please yourself. I am afraid I have no right except +that of habit and custom to keep you here; and you know," she added, +with an only half-withheld bitterness, "that they are not always very +effective with young people who prefer to have the ordering of their own +lives. But I have something still to tell you before you finally decide. +I have, as you know, been looking over my--over Mr. Peyton's papers very +carefully. Well, as a result, I find, Mr. Brant, that there is no record +whatever of his wonderfully providential purchase of the Sisters' title +from you; that he never entered into any written agreement with you, and +never paid you a cent; and that, furthermore, his papers show me that +he never even contemplated it; nor, indeed, even knew of YOUR owning +the title when he died. Yes, Mr. Brant, it was all to YOUR foresight and +prudence, and YOUR generosity alone, that we owe our present possession +of the rancho. When you helped us into that awful window, it was YOUR +house we were entering; and if it had been YOU, and not those wretches, +who had chosen to shut the doors on us after the funeral, we could never +have entered here again. Don't deny it, Mr. Brant. I have suspected it a +long time, and when you spoke of changing YOUR position, I determined to +find out if it wasn't I who had to leave the house rather than you. One +moment, please. And I did find out, and it WAS I. Don't speak, please, +yet. And now," she said, with a quick return to her previous nervous +hilarity, "knowing this, as you did, and knowing, too, that I would know +it when I examined the papers,--don't speak, I'm not through yet,--don't +you think that it was just a LITTLE cruel for you to try to hurry me, +and make me come here instead of your coming to ME in San Francisco, +when I gave you leave for that purpose?" + +"But, Mrs. Peyton," gasped Clarence. + +"Please don't interrupt me," said the lady, with a touch of her old +imperiousness, "for in a moment I must join my guests. When I found you +wouldn't tell me, and left it to me to find out, I could only go away +as I did, and really leave you to control what I believed was your own +property. And I thought, too, that I understood your motives, and, to be +frank with you, that worried me; for I believed I knew the disposition +and feelings of a certain person better than yourself." + +"One moment," broke out Clarence, "you MUST hear me, now. Foolish and +misguided as that purchase may have been, I swear to you I had only one +motive in making it,--to save the homestead for you and your husband, +who had been my first and earliest benefactors. What the result of it +was, you, as a business woman, know; your friends know; your lawyer will +tell you the same. You owe me nothing. I have given you nothing but the +repossession of this property, which any other man could have done, and +perhaps less stupidly than I did. I would not have forced you to come +here to hear this if I had dreamed of your suspicions, or even if I had +simply understood that you would see me in San Francisco as I passed +through." + +"Passed through? Where were you going?" she said quickly. + +"To Sacramento." + +The abrupt change in her manner startled him to a recollection of Susy, +and he blushed. She bit her lips, and moved towards the window. + +"Then you saw her?" she said, turning suddenly towards him. The inquiry +of her beautiful eyes was more imperative than her speech. + +Clarence recognized quickly what he thought was his cruel blunder in +touching the half-healed wound of separation. But he had gone too far to +be other than perfectly truthful now. + +"Yes; I saw her on the stage," he said, with a return of his boyish +earnestness; "and I learned something which I wanted you to first +hear from me. She is MARRIED,--and to Mr. Hooker, who is in the same +theatrical company with her. But I want you to think, as I honestly do, +that it is the best for her. She has married in her profession, which is +a great protection and a help to her success, and she has married a man +who can look lightly upon certain qualities in her that others might +not be so lenient to. His worst faults are on the surface, and will wear +away in contact with the world, and he looks up to her as his superior. +I gathered this from her friend, for I did not speak with her myself; I +did not go there to see her. But as I expected to be leaving you soon, +I thought it only right that as I was the humble means of first bringing +her into your life, I should bring you this last news, which I suppose +takes her out of it forever. Only I want you to believe that YOU have +nothing to regret, and that SHE is neither lost nor unhappy." + +The expression of suspicious inquiry on her face when he began changed +gradually to perplexity as he continued, and then relaxed into a faint, +peculiar smile. But there was not the slightest trace of that pain, +wounded pride, indignation, or anger, that he had expected to see upon +it. + +"That means, I suppose, Mr. Brant, that YOU no longer care for her?" + +The smile had passed, yet she spoke now with a half-real, half-affected +archness that was also unlike her. + +"It means," said Clarence with a white face, but a steady voice, "that +I care for her now as much as I ever cared for her, no matter to what +folly it once might have led me. But it means, also, that there was no +time when I was not able to tell it to YOU as frankly as I do now"-- + +"One moment, please," she interrupted, and turned quickly towards +the door. She opened it and looked out. "I thought they were calling +me,--and--I--I--MUST go now, Mr. Brant. And without finishing my +business either, or saying half I had intended to say. But wait"--she +put her hand to her head in a pretty perplexity, "it's a moonlight +night, and I'll propose after dinner a stroll in the gardens, and you +can manage to walk a little with me." She stopped again, returned, said, +"It was very kind of you to think of me at Sacramento," held out her +hand, allowed it to remain for an instant, cool but acquiescent, in his +warmer grasp, and with the same odd youthfulness of movement and gesture +slipped out of the door. + +An hour later she was at the head of her dinner table, serene, +beautiful, and calm, in her elegant mourning, provokingly inaccessible +in the sweet deliberation of her widowed years; Padre Esteban was at +her side with a local magnate, who had known Peyton and his wife, while +Donna Rosita and a pair of liquid-tongued, childlike senoritas were near +Clarence and Sanderson. To the priest Mrs. Peyton spoke admiringly of +the changes in the rancho and the restoration of the Mission Chapel, and +together they had commended Clarence from the level of their superior +passionless reserve and years. Clarence felt hopelessly young and +hopelessly lonely; the naive prattle of the young girls beside him +appeared infantine. In his abstraction, he heard Mrs. Peyton allude to +the beauty of the night, and propose that after coffee and chocolate +the ladies should put on their wraps and go with her to the old garden. +Clarence raised his eyes; she was not looking at him, but there was +a slight consciousness in her face that was not there before, and +the faintest color in her cheek, still lingering, no doubt, from the +excitement of conversation. + +It was a cool, tranquil, dewless night when they at last straggled out, +mere black and white patches in the colorless moonlight. The brilliancy +of the flower-hued landscape was subdued under its passive, pale +austerity; even the gray and gold of the second terrace seemed dulled +and confused. At any other time Clarence might have lingered over this +strange effect, but his eyes followed only a tall figure, in a long +striped burnous, that moved gracefully beside the soutaned priest. As he +approached, it turned towards him. + +"Ah! here you are. I just told Father Esteban that you talked of leaving +to-morrow, and that he would have to excuse me a few moments while you +showed me what you had done to the old garden." + +She moved beside him, and, with a hesitation that was not unlike a more +youthful timidity, slipped her hand through his arm. It was for the +first time, and, without thinking, he pressed it impulsively to his +side. I have already intimated that Clarence's reserve was at times +qualified by singular directness. + +A few steps carried them out of hearing; a few more, and they seemed +alone in the world. The long adobe wall glanced away emptily beside +them, and was lost; the black shadows of the knotted pear-trees were +beneath their feet. They began to walk with the slight affectation of +treading the shadows as if they were patterns on a carpet. Clarence was +voiceless, and yet he seemed to be moving beside a spirit that must be +first addressed. + +But it was flesh and blood nevertheless. + +"I interrupted you in something you were saying when I left the office," +she said quietly. + +"I was speaking of Susy," returned Clarence eagerly; "and"-- + +"Then you needn't go on," interrupted Mrs. Peyton quickly. "I understand +you, and believe you. I would rather talk of something else. We have not +yet arranged how I can make restitution to you for the capital you sank +in saving this place. You will be reasonable, Mr. Brant, and not leave +me with the shame and pain of knowing that you ruined yourself for the +sake of your old friends. For it is no more a sentimental idea of mine +to feel in this way than it is a fair and sensible one for you to imply +that a mere quibble of construction absolves me from responsibility. Mr. +Sanderson himself admits that the repossession you gave us is a fair and +legal basis for any arrangement of sharing or division of the property +with you, that might enable you to remain here and continue the work you +have so well begun. Have you no suggestion, or must it come from ME, Mr. +Brant?" + +"Neither. Let us not talk of that now." + +She did not seem to notice the boyish doggedness of his speech, except +so far as it might have increased her inconsequent and nervously pitched +levity. + +"Then suppose we speak of the Misses Hernandez, with whom you scarcely +exchanged a word at dinner, and whom I invited for you and your fluent +Spanish. They are charming girls, even if they are a little stupid. +But what can I do? If I am to live here, I must have a few young people +around me, if only to make the place cheerful for others. Do you know I +have taken a great fancy to Miss Rogers, and have asked her to visit me. +I think she is a good friend of yours, although perhaps she is a little +shy. What's the matter? You have nothing against her, have you?" + +Clarence had stopped short. They had reached the end of the pear-tree +shadows. A few steps more would bring them to the fallen south wall +of the garden and the open moonlight beyond, but to the right an olive +alley of deeper shadow diverged. + +"No," he said, with slow deliberation; "I have to thank Mary Rogers for +having discovered something in me that I have been blindly, foolishly, +and hopelessly struggling with." + +"And, pray, what was that?" said Mrs. Peyton sharply. + +"That I love you!" + +Mrs. Peyton was fairly startled. The embarrassment of any truth is +apt to be in its eternal abruptness, which no deviousness of tact or +circumlocution of diplomacy has ever yet surmounted. Whatever had been +in her heart, or mind, she was unprepared for this directness. The bolt +had dropped from the sky; they were alone; there was nothing between the +stars and the earth but herself and this man and this truth; it could +not be overlooked, surmounted, or escaped from. A step or two more would +take her out of the garden into the moonlight, but always into this +awful frankness of blunt and outspoken nature. She hesitated, and turned +the corner into the olive shadows. It was, perhaps, more dangerous; +but less shameless, and less like truckling. And the appallingly direct +Clarence instantly followed. + +"I know you will despise me, hate me; and, perhaps, worst of all, +disbelieve me; but I swear to you, now, that I have always loved +you,--yes, ALWAYS! When first I came here, it was not to see my old +playmate, but YOU, for I had kept the memory of you as I first saw +you when a boy, and you have always been my ideal. I have thought of, +dreamed of, worshiped, and lived for no other woman. Even when I found +Susy again, grown up here at your side; even when I thought that I +might, with your consent, marry her, it was that I might be with YOU +always; that I might be a part of YOUR home, your family, and have a +place with her in YOUR heart; for it was you I loved, and YOU only. +Don't laugh at me, Mrs. Peyton, it is the truth, the whole truth, I am +telling you. God help me!" + +If she only COULD have laughed,--harshly, ironically, or even mercifully +and kindly! But it would not come. And she burst out:-- + +"I am not laughing. Good heavens, don't you see? It is ME you are making +ridiculous." + +"YOU ridiculous?" he said in a momentarily choked, half-stupefied voice. +"You--a beautiful woman, my superior in everything, the mistress +of these lands where I am only steward--made ridiculous, not by my +presumption, but by my confession? Was the saint you just now admired in +Father Esteban's chapel ridiculous because of the peon clowns who were +kneeling before it?" + +"Hush! This is wicked! Stop!" + +She felt she was now on firm ground, and made the most of it in voice +and manner. She must draw the line somewhere, and she would draw it +between passion and impiety. + +"Not until I have told you all, and I MUST before I leave you. I loved +you when I came here,--even when your husband was alive. Don't be angry, +Mrs. Peyton; HE would not, and need not, have been angry; he would have +pitied the foolish boy, who, in the very innocence and ignorance of his +passion, might have revealed it to him as he did to everybody but ONE. +And yet, I sometimes think you might have guessed it, had you thought of +me at all. It must have been on my lips that day I sat with you in the +boudoir. I know that I was filled with it; with it and with you; with +your presence, with your beauty, your grace of heart and mind,--yes, +Mrs. Peyton, even with your own unrequited love for Susy. Only, then, I +knew not what it was." + +"But I think I can tell you what it was then, and now," said Mrs. +Peyton, recovering her nervous little laugh, though it died a moment +after on her lips. "I remember it very well. You told me then that +I REMINDED YOU OF YOUR MOTHER. Well, I am not old enough to be your +mother, Mr. Brant, but I am old enough to have been, and might have +been, the mother of your wife. That was what you meant then; that +is what you mean now. I was wrong to accuse you of trying to make me +ridiculous. I ask your pardon. Let us leave it as it was that day in the +boudoir, as it is NOW. Let me still remind you of your mother,--I know +she must have been a good woman to have had so good a son,--and when +you have found some sweet young girl to make you happy, come to me for +a mother's blessing, and we will laugh at the recollection and +misunderstanding of this evening." + +Her voice did not, however, exhibit that exquisite maternal tenderness +which the beatific vision ought to have called up, and the persistent +voice of Clarence could not be evaded in the shadow. + +"I said you reminded me of my mother," he went on at her side, "because +I knew her and lost her only as a child. She never was anything to me +but a memory, and yet an ideal of all that was sweet and lovable in +woman. Perhaps it was a dream of what she might have been when she was +as young in years as you. If it pleases you still to misunderstand me, +it may please you also to know that there is a reminder of her even +in this. I have no remembrance of a word of affection from her, nor a +caress; I have been as hopeless in my love for her who was my mother, as +of the woman I would make my wife." + +"But you have seen no one, you know no one, you are young, you scarcely +know your own self! You will forget this, you will forget ME! And +if--if--I should--listen to you, what would the world say, what would +YOU yourself say a few years hence? Oh, be reasonable. Think of it,--it +would be so wild,--so mad! so--so--utterly ridiculous!" + +In proof of its ludicrous quality, two tears escaped her eyes in +the darkness. But Clarence caught the white flash of her withdrawn +handkerchief in the shadow, and captured her returning hand. It was +trembling, but did not struggle, and presently hushed itself to rest in +his. + +"I'm not only a fool but a brute," he said in a lower voice. "Forgive +me. I have given you pain,--you, for whom I would have died." + +They had both stopped. He was still holding her sleeping hand. His arm +had stolen around the burnous so softly that it followed the curves +of her figure as lightly as a fold of the garment, and was presumably +unfelt. Grief has its privileges, and suffering exonerates a +questionable situation. In another moment her fair head MIGHT have +dropped upon his shoulder. But an approaching voice uprose in the +adjoining broad allee. It might have been the world speaking through the +voice of the lawyer Sanderson. + +"Yes, he is a good fellow, and an intelligent fellow, too, but a perfect +child in his experience of mankind." + +They both started, but Mrs. Peyton's hand suddenly woke up and grasped +his firmly. Then she said in a higher, but perfectly level tone:-- + +"Yes, I think with you we had better look at it again in the sunlight +to-morrow. But here come our friends; they have probably been waiting +for us to join them and go in." + +* * * * * + +The wholesome freshness of early morning was in the room when Clarence +awoke, cleared and strengthened. His resolution had been made. He would +leave the rancho that morning, to enter the world again and seek his +fortune elsewhere. This was only right to HER, whose future it should +never be said he had imperiled by his folly and inexperience; and if, in +a year or two of struggle he could prove his right to address her again, +he would return. He had not spoken to her since they had parted in the +garden, with the grim truths of the lawyer ringing in his ears, but he +had written a few lines of farewell, to be given to her after he +had left. He was calm in his resolution, albeit a little pale and +hollow-eyed for it. + +He crept downstairs in the gray twilight of the scarce-awakened house, +and made his way to the stables. Saddling his horse, and mounting, +he paced forth into the crisp morning air. The sun, just risen, was +everywhere bringing out the fresh color of the flower-strewn terraces, +as the last night's shadows, which had hidden them, were slowly beaten +back. He cast a last look at the brown adobe quadrangle of the quiet +house, just touched with the bronzing of the sun, and then turned his +face towards the highway. As he passed the angle of the old garden he +hesitated, but, strong in his resolution, he put the recollection of +last night behind him, and rode by without raising his eyes. + +"Clarence!" + +It was HER voice. He wheeled his horse. She was standing behind the +grille in the old wall as he had seen her standing on the day he had +ridden to his rendezvous with Susy. A Spanish manta was thrown over her +head and shoulders, as if she had dressed hastily, and had run out to +intercept him while he was still in the stable. Her beautiful face was +pale in its black-hooded recess, and there were faint circles around her +lovely eyes. + +"You were going without saying 'goodby'!" she said softly. + +She passed her slim white hand between the grating. Clarence leaped to +the ground, caught it, and pressed it to his lips. But he did not let it +go. + +"No! no!" she said, struggling to withdraw it. "It is better as it +is--as--as you have decided it to be. Only I could not let you go +thus,--without a word. There now,--go, Clarence, go. Please! Don't you +see I am behind these bars? Think of them as the years that separate +us, my poor, dear, foolish boy. Think of them as standing between us, +growing closer, heavier, and more cruel and hopeless as the years go +on." + +Ah, well! they had been good bars a hundred and fifty years ago, when it +was thought as necessary to repress the innocence that was behind them +as the wickedness that was without. They had done duty in the convent +at Santa Inez, and the monastery of Santa Barbara, and had been brought +hither in Governor Micheltorrenas' time to keep the daughters of Robles +from the insidious contact of the outer world, when they took the air +in their cloistered pleasance. Guitars had tinkled against them in vain, +and they had withstood the stress and storm of love tokens. But, like +many other things which have had their day and time, they had retained +their semblance of power, even while rattling loosely in their sockets, +only because no one had ever thought of putting them to the test, and, +in the strong hand of Clarence, assisted, perhaps, by the leaning +figure of Mrs. Peyton, I grieve to say that the whole grille suddenly +collapsed, became a frame of tinkling iron, and then clanked, bar by +bar, into the road. Mrs. Peyton uttered a little cry and drew back, and +Clarence, leaping the ruins, caught her in his arms. + +For a moment only, for she quickly withdrew from them, and although +the morning sunlight was quite rosy on her cheeks, she said gravely, +pointing to the dismantled opening:-- + +"I suppose you MUST stay now, for you never could leave me here alone +and defenseless." + +He stayed. And with this fulfillment of his youthful dreams the romance +of his young manhood seemed to be completed, and so closed the second +volume of this trilogy. But what effect that fulfillment of youth +had upon his maturer years, or the fortunes of those who were nearly +concerned in it, may be told in a later and final chronicle. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Susy, A Story of the Plains, by Bret Harte + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SUSY, A STORY OF THE PLAINS *** + +***** This file should be named 2495.txt or 2495.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/9/2495/ + +Produced by Donald Lainson + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/2495.zip b/2495.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bc87eca --- /dev/null +++ b/2495.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4dd4867 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #2495 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2495) diff --git a/old/susy10.txt b/old/susy10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..929f4bb --- /dev/null +++ b/old/susy10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5782 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Susy, A Story of the Plains +by Bret Harte +#18 in our series by Bret Harte + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. We need your donations. + + +Susy, A Story of the Plains + +by Bret Harte + +February, 2001 [Etext #2495] + + +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Susy, A Story of the Plains by Bret Harte +******This file should be named susy10.txt or susy10.zip****** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, susy11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, susy10a.txt + + +This etext was prepared by Donald Lainson, charlie@idirect.com. + +Project Gutenberg Etexts are usually created from multiple editions, +all of which are in the Public Domain in the United States, unless a +copyright notice is included. Therefore, we usually do NOT keep any +of these books in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +We are now trying to release all our books one month in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. + +Please note: neither this list nor its contents are final till +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. To be sure you have an +up to date first edition [xxxxx10x.xxx] please check file sizes +in the first week of the next month. Since our ftp program has +a bug in it that scrambles the date [tried to fix and failed] a +look at the file size will have to do, but we will try to see a +new copy has at least one byte more or less. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. This +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If our value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour this year as we release thirty-six text +files per month, or 432 more Etexts in 1999 for a total of 2000+ +If these reach just 10% of the computerized population, then the +total should reach over 200 billion Etexts given away this year. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext +Files by December 31, 2001. [10,000 x 100,000,000 = 1 Trillion] +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only ~5% of the present number of computer users. + +At our revised rates of production, we will reach only one-third +of that goal by the end of 2001, or about 3,333 Etexts unless we +manage to get some real funding; currently our funding is mostly +from Michael Hart's salary at Carnegie-Mellon University, and an +assortment of sporadic gifts; this salary is only good for a few +more years, so we are looking for something to replace it, as we +don't want Project Gutenberg to be so dependent on one person. + +We need your donations more than ever! + + +All donations should be made to "Project Gutenberg/CMU": and are +tax deductible to the extent allowable by law. (CMU = Carnegie- +Mellon University). + +For these and other matters, please mail to: + +Project Gutenberg +P. O. Box 2782 +Champaign, IL 61825 + +When all other email fails. . .try our Executive Director: +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> +hart@pobox.com forwards to hart@prairienet.org and archive.org +if your mail bounces from archive.org, I will still see it, if +it bounces from prairienet.org, better resend later on. . . . + +We would prefer to send you this information by email. + +****** + +To access Project Gutenberg etexts, use any Web browser +to view http://promo.net/pg. This site lists Etexts by +author and by title, and includes information about how +to get involved with Project Gutenberg. You could also +download our past Newsletters, or subscribe here. This +is one of our major sites, please email hart@pobox.com, +for a more complete list of our various sites. + +To go directly to the etext collections, use FTP or any +Web browser to visit a Project Gutenberg mirror (mirror +sites are available on 7 continents; mirrors are listed +at http://promo.net/pg). + +Mac users, do NOT point and click, typing works better. + +Example FTP session: + +ftp metalab.unc.edu +login: anonymous +password: your@login +cd pub/docs/books/gutenberg +cd etext90 through etext99 etext00 and etext01 +dir [to see files] +get or mget [to get files. . .set bin for zip files] +GET GUTINDEX.?? [to get a year's listing of books, e.g., GUTINDEX.99] +GET GUTINDEX.ALL [to get a listing of ALL books] + +*** + +**Information prepared by the Project Gutenberg legal advisor** + +(Three Pages) + + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you can distribute copies of this etext if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this etext on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG- +tm etexts, is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor +Michael S. Hart through the Project Gutenberg Association at +Carnegie-Mellon University (the "Project"). Among other +things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext +under the Project's "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] the Project (and any other party you may receive this +etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold the Project, its directors, +officers, members and agents harmless from all liability, cost +and expense, including legal fees, that arise directly or +indirectly from any of the following that you do or cause: +[1] distribution of this etext, [2] alteration, modification, +or addition to the etext, or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + etext or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word pro- + cessing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the etext (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Project of 20% of the + net profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Association/Carnegie-Mellon + University" within the 60 days following each + date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) + your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, +scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty +free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution +you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg +Association / Carnegie-Mellon University". + +We are planning on making some changes in our donation structure +in 2000, so you might want to email me, hart@pobox.com beforehand. + + + + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + + + + +SUSY, A STORY OF THE PLAINS + +by + +Bret Harte + + +From: "ARGONAUT EDITION" OF THE WORKS OF BRET HARTE, VOL. 7 + +P. F. COLLIER & SON + +NEW YORK + + + +SUSY, A STORY OF THE PLAINS + + +CHAPTER I. + + +Where the San Leandro turnpike stretches its dusty, hot, and +interminable length along the valley, at a point where the heat and +dust have become intolerable, the monotonous expanse of wild oats on +either side illimitable, and the distant horizon apparently remoter +than ever, it suddenly slips between a stunted thicket or hedge of +"scrub oaks," which until that moment had been undistinguishable +above the long, misty, quivering level of the grain. The thicket +rising gradually in height, but with a regular slope whose gradient +had been determined by centuries of western trade winds, presently +becomes a fair wood of live-oak, and a few hundred yards further at +last assumes the aspect of a primeval forest. A delicious coolness +fills the air; the long, shadowy aisles greet the aching eye with a +soothing twilight; the murmur of unseen brooks is heard, and, by a +strange irony, the enormous, widely-spaced stacks of wild oats are +replaced by a carpet of tiny-leaved mosses and chickweed at the +roots of trees, and the minutest clover in more open spaces. The +baked and cracked adobe soil of the now vanished plains is exchanged +for a heavy red mineral dust and gravel, rocks and boulders make +their appearance, and at times the road is crossed by the white +veins of quartz. It is still the San Leandro turnpike,--a few miles +later to rise from this canada into the upper plains again,--but it +is also the actual gateway and avenue to the Robles Rancho. When +the departing visitors of Judge Peyton, now owner of the rancho, +reach the outer plains again, after twenty minutes' drive from the +house, the canada, rancho, and avenue have as completely disappeared +from view as if they had been swallowed up in the plain. + +A cross road from the turnpike is the usual approach to the casa or +mansion,--a long, low quadrangle of brown adobe wall in a bare but +gently sloping eminence. And here a second surprise meets the +stranger. He seems to have emerged from the forest upon another +illimitable plain, but one utterly trackless, wild, and desolate. +It is, however, only a lower terrace of the same valley, and, in +fact, comprises the three square leagues of the Robles Rancho. +Uncultivated and savage as it appears, given over to wild cattle and +horses that sometimes sweep in frightened bands around the very casa +itself, the long south wall of the corral embraces an orchard of +gnarled pear-trees, an old vineyard, and a venerable garden of +olives and oranges. A manor, formerly granted by Charles V. to Don +Vincente Robles, of Andalusia, of pious and ascetic memory, it had +commended itself to Judge Peyton, of Kentucky, a modern heretic +pioneer of bookish tastes and secluded habits, who had bought it of +Don Vincente's descendants. Here Judge Peyton seemed to have +realized his idea of a perfect climate, and a retirement, half- +studious, half-active, with something of the seignioralty of the old +slaveholder that he had been. Here, too, he had seen the hope of +restoring his wife's health--for which he had undertaken the +overland emigration--more than fulfilled in Mrs. Peyton's improved +physical condition, albeit at the expense, perhaps, of some of the +languorous graces of ailing American wifehood. + +It was with a curious recognition of this latter fact that Judge +Peyton watched his wife crossing the patio or courtyard with her arm +around the neck of her adopted daughter "Suzette." A sudden memory +crossed his mind of the first day that he had seen them together,-- +the day that he had brought the child and her boy-companion--two +estrays from an emigrant train on the plains--to his wife in camp. +Certainly Mrs. Peyton was stouter and stronger fibred; the wonderful +Californian climate had materialized her figure, as it had their +Eastern fruits and flowers, but it was stranger that "Susy"--the +child of homelier frontier blood and parentage, whose wholesome +peasant plumpness had at first attracted them--should have grown +thinner and more graceful, and even seemed to have gained the +delicacy his wife had lost. Six years had imperceptibly wrought +this change; it had never struck him before so forcibly as on this +day of Susy's return from the convent school at Santa Clara for the +holidays. + +The woman and child had reached the broad veranda which, on one side +of the patio, replaced the old Spanish corridor. It was the single +modern innovation that Peyton had allowed himself when he had broken +the quadrangular symmetry of the old house with a wooden "annexe" or +addition beyond the walls. It made a pleasant lounging-place, +shadowed from the hot midday sun by sloping roofs and awnings, and +sheltered from the boisterous afternoon trade winds by the opposite +side of the court. But Susy did not seem inclined to linger there +long that morning, in spite of Mrs. Peyton's evident desire for a +maternal tete-a-tete. The nervous preoccupation and capricious +ennui of an indulged child showed in her pretty but discontented +face, and knit her curved eyebrows, and Peyton saw a look of pain +pass over his wife's face as the young girl suddenly and half- +laughingly broke away and fluttered off towards the old garden. + +Mrs. Peyton looked up and caught her husband's eye. + +"I am afraid Susy finds it more dull here every time she returns," +she said, with an apologetic smile. "I am glad she has invited one +of her school friends to come for a visit to-morrow. You know, +yourself, John," she added, with a slight partisan attitude, "that +the lonely old house and wild plain are not particularly lively for +young people, however much they may suit YOUR ways." + +"It certainly must be dull if she can't stand it for three weeks in +the year," said her husband dryly. "But we really cannot open the +San Francisco house for her summer vacation, nor can we move from +the rancho to a more fashionable locality. Besides, it will do her +good to run wild here. I can remember when she wasn't so +fastidious. In fact, I was thinking just now how changed she was +from the day when we picked her up"-- + +"How often am I to remind you, John," interrupted the lady, with +some impatience, "that we agreed never to speak of her past, or even +to think of her as anything but our own child. You know how it +pains me! And the poor dear herself has forgotten it, and thinks of +us only as her own parents. I really believe that if that wretched +father and mother of hers had not been killed by the Indians, or +were to come to life again, she would neither know them nor care for +them. I mean, of course, John," she said, averting her eyes from a +slightly cynical smile on her husband's face, "that it's only +natural for young children to be forgetful, and ready to take new +impressions." + +"And as long, dear, as WE are not the subjects of this youthful +forgetfulness, and she isn't really finding US as stupid as the +rancho," replied her husband cheerfully, "I suppose we mustn't +complain." + +"John, how can you talk such nonsense?" said Mrs. Peyton impatiently. +"But I have no fear of that," she added, with a slightly ostentatious +confidence. "I only wish I was as sure"-- + +"Of what?" + +"Of nothing happening that could take her from us. I do not mean +death, John,--like our first little one. That does not happen to +one twice; but I sometimes dread"-- + +"What? She's only fifteen, and it's rather early to think about the +only other inevitable separation,--marriage. Come, Ally, this is +mere fancy. She has been given up to us by her family,--at least, +by all that we know are left of them. I have legally adopted her. +If I have not made her my heiress, it is because I prefer to leave +everything to YOU, and I would rather she should know that she was +dependent upon you for the future than upon me." + +"And I can make a will in her favor if I want to?" said Mrs. Peyton +quickly. + +"Always," responded her husband smilingly; "but you have ample time +to think of that, I trust. Meanwhile I have some news for you which +may make Susy's visit to the rancho this time less dull to her. You +remember Clarence Brant, the boy who was with her when we picked her +up, and who really saved her life?" + +"No, I don't," said Mrs. Peyton pettishly, "nor do I want to! You +know, John, how distasteful and unpleasant it is for me to have +those dreary, petty, and vulgar details of the poor child's past +life recalled, and, thank Heaven, I have forgotten them except when +you choose to drag them before me. You agreed, long ago, that we +were never to talk of the Indian massacre of her parents, so that we +could also ignore it before her; then why do you talk of her vulgar +friends, who are just as unpleasant? Please let us drop the past." + +"Willingly, my dear; but, unfortunately, we cannot make others do +it. And this is a case in point. It appears that this boy, whom we +brought to Sacramento to deliver to a relative"-- + +"And who was a wicked little impostor,--you remember that yourself, +John, for he said that he was the son of Colonel Brant, and that he +was dead; and you know, and my brother Harry knew, that Colonel +Brant was alive all the time, and that he was lying, and Colonel +Brant was not his father," broke in Mrs. Peyton impatiently. + +"As it seems you do remember that much," said Peyton dryly, "it is +only just to him that I should tell you that it appears that he was +not an impostor. His story was TRUE. I have just learned that +Colonel Brant WAS actually his father, but had concealed his lawless +life here, as well as his identity, from the boy. He was really +that vague relative to whom Clarence was confided, and under that +disguise he afterwards protected the boy, had him carefully educated +at the Jesuit College of San Jose, and, dying two years ago in that +filibuster raid in Mexico, left him a considerable fortune." + +"And what has he to do with Susy's holidays?" said Mrs. Peyton, with +uneasy quickness. "John, you surely cannot expect her ever to meet +this common creature again, with his vulgar ways. His wretched +associates like that Jim Hooker, and, as you yourself admit, the +blood of an assassin, duelist, and--Heaven knows what kind of a +pirate his father wasn't at the last--in his veins! You don't +believe that a lad of this type, however much of his father's ill- +gotten money he may have, can be fit company for your daughter? You +never could have thought of inviting him here?" + +"I'm afraid that's exactly what I have done, Ally," said the smiling +but unmoved Peyton; "but I'm still more afraid that your conception +of his present condition is an unfair one, like your remembrance of +his past. Father Sobriente, whom I met at San Jose yesterday, says +he is very intelligent, and thoroughly educated, with charming +manners and refined tastes. His father's money, which they say was +an investment for him in Carson's Bank five years ago, is as good as +any one's, and his father's blood won't hurt him in California or +the Southwest. At least, he is received everywhere, and Don Juan +Robinson was his guardian. Indeed, as far as social status goes, it +might be a serious question if the actual daughter of the late John +Silsbee, of Pike County, and the adopted child of John Peyton was in +the least his superior. As Father Sobriente evidently knew +Clarence's former companionship with Susy and her parents, it would +be hardly politic for us to ignore it or seem to be ashamed of it. +So I intrusted Sobriente with an invitation to young Brant on the +spot." + +Mrs. Peyton's impatience, indignation, and opposition, which had +successively given way before her husband's quiet, masterful good +humor, here took the form of a neurotic fatalism. She shook her +head with superstitious resignation. + +"Didn't I tell you, John, that I always had a dread of something +coming"-- + +"But if it comes in the shape of a shy young lad, I see nothing +singularly portentous in it. They have not met since they were +quite small; their tastes have changed; if they don't quarrel and +fight they may be equally bored with each other. Yet until then, in +one way or another, Clarence will occupy the young lady's vacant +caprice, and her school friend, Mary Rogers, will be here, you know, +to divide his attentions, and," added Peyton, with mock solemnity, +preserve the interest of strict propriety. Shall I break it to +her,--or will you?" + +"No,--yes," hesitated Mrs. Peyton; "perhaps I had better." + +"Very well, I leave his character in your hands; only don't +prejudice her into a romantic fancy for him." And Judge Peyton +lounged smilingly away. + +Then two little tears forced themselves from Mrs. Peyton's eyes. +Again she saw that prospect of uninterrupted companionship with +Susy, upon which each successive year she had built so many maternal +hopes and confidences, fade away before her. She dreaded the coming +of Susy's school friend, who shared her daughter's present thoughts +and intimacy, although she had herself invited her in a more +desperate dread of the child's abstracted, discontented eyes; she +dreaded the advent of the boy who had shared Susy's early life +before she knew her; she dreaded the ordeal of breaking the news and +perhaps seeing that pretty animation spring into her eyes, which she +had begun to believe no solicitude or tenderness of her own ever +again awakened,--and yet she dreaded still more that her husband +should see it too. For the love of this recreated woman, although +not entirely materialized with her changed fibre, had nevertheless +become a coarser selfishness fostered by her loneliness and limited +experience. The maternal yearning left unsatisfied by the loss of +her first-born had never been filled by Susy's thoughtless +acceptance of it; she had been led astray by the child's easy +transference of dependence and the forgetfulness of youth, and was +only now dimly conscious of finding herself face to face with an +alien nature. + +She started to her feet and followed the direction that Susy had +taken. For a moment she had to front the afternoon trade wind which +chilled her as it swept the plain beyond the gateway, but was +stopped by the adobe wall, above whose shelter the stunted treetops-- +through years of exposure--slanted as if trimmed by gigantic +shears. At first, looking down the venerable alley of fantastic, +knotted shapes, she saw no trace of Susy. But half way down the +gleam of a white skirt against a thicket of dark olives showed her +the young girl sitting on a bench in a neglected arbor. In the +midst of this formal and faded pageantry she looked charmingly +fresh, youthful, and pretty; and yet the unfortunate woman thought +that her attitude and expression at that moment suggested more than +her fifteen years of girlhood. Her golden hair still hung +unfettered over her straight, boy-like back and shoulders; her short +skirt still showed her childish feet and ankles; yet there seemed to +be some undefined maturity or a vague womanliness about her that +stung Mrs. Peyton's heart. The child was growing away from her, +too! + +"Susy!" + +The young girl raised her head quickly; her deep violet eyes seemed +also to leap with a sudden suspicion, and with a half-mechanical, +secretive movement, that might have been only a schoolgirl's +instinct, her right hand had slipped a paper on which she was +scribbling between the leaves of her book. Yet the next moment, +even while looking interrogatively at her mother, she withdrew the +paper quietly, tore it up into small pieces, and threw them on the +ground. + +But Mrs. Peyton was too preoccupied with her news to notice the +circumstance, and too nervous in her haste to be tactful. "Susy, +your father has invited that boy, Clarence Brant,--you know that +creature we picked up and assisted on the plains, when you were a +mere baby,--to come down here and make us a visit." + +Her heart seemed to stop beating as she gazed breathlessly at the +girl. But Susy's face, unchanged except for the alert, questioning +eyes, remained fixed for a moment; then a childish smile of wonder +opened her small red mouth, expanded it slightly as she said +simply:-- + +"Lor, mar! He hasn't, really!" + +Inexpressibly, yet unreasonably reassured, Mrs. Peyton hurriedly +recounted her husband's story of Clarence's fortune, and was even +joyfully surprised into some fairness of statement. + +"But you don't remember him much, do you, dear? It was so long ago, +and--you are quite a young lady now," she added eagerly. + +The open mouth was still fixed; the wondering smile would have been +idiotic in any face less dimpled, rosy, and piquant than Susy's. +After a slight gasp, as if in still incredulous and partly +reminiscent preoccupation, she said without replying:-- + +"How funny! When is he coming?" + +"Day after to-morrow," returned Mrs. Peyton, with a contented smile. + +"And Mary Rogers will be here, too. It will be real fun for her." + +Mrs. Peyton was more than reassured. Half ashamed of her jealous +fears, she drew Susy's golden head towards her and kissed it. And +the young girl, still reminiscent, with smilingly abstracted +toleration, returned the caress. + + +CHAPTER II. + + +It was not thought inconsistent with Susy's capriciousness that she +should declare her intention the next morning of driving her pony +buggy to Santa Inez to anticipate the stage-coach and fetch Mary +Rogers from the station. Mrs. Peyton, as usual, supported the young +lady's whim and opposed her husband's objections. + +"Because the stage-coach happens to pass our gate, John, it is no +reason why Susy shouldn't drive her friend from Santa Inez if she +prefers it. It's only seven miles, and you can send Pedro to follow +her on horseback to see that she comes to no harm." + +"But that isn't Pedro's business," said Peyton. + +"He ought to be proud of the privilege," returned the lady, with a +toss of her head. + +Peyton smiled grimly, but yielded; and when the stage-coach drew up +the next afternoon at the Santa Inez Hotel, Susy was already waiting +in her pony carriage before it. Although the susceptible driver, +expressman, and passengers generally, charmed with this golden- +haired vision, would have gladly protracted the meeting of the two +young friends, the transfer of Mary Rogers from the coach to the +carriage was effected with considerable hauteur and youthful dignity +by Susy. Even Mary Rogers, two years Susy's senior, a serious +brunette, whose good-humor did not, however, impair her capacity for +sentiment, was impressed and even embarrassed by her demeanor; but +only for a moment. When they had driven from the hotel and were +fairly hidden again in the dust of the outlying plain, with the +discreet Pedro hovering in the distance, Susy dropped the reins, +and, grasping her companion's arm, gasped, in tones of dramatic +intensity:-- + +"He's been heard from, and is coming HERE!" + +"Who?" + +A sickening sense that her old confidante had already lost touch +with her--they had been separated for nearly two weeks--might have +passed through Susy's mind. + +"Who?" she repeated, with a vicious shake of Mary's arm, "why, +Clarence Brant, of course." + +"No!" said Mary, vaguely. + +Nevertheless, Susy went on rapidly, as if to neutralize the effect +of her comrade's vacuity. + +"You never could have imagined it! Never! Even I, when mother told +me, I thought I should have fainted, and ALL would have been +revealed!" + +"But," hesitated the still wondering confidante, "I thought that was +all over long ago. You haven't seen him nor heard from him since +that day you met accidentally at Santa Clara, two years ago, have +you?" + +Susy's eyes shot a blue ray of dark but unutterable significance +into Mary's, and then were carefully averted. Mary Rogers, although +perfectly satisfied that Susy had never seen Clarence since, +nevertheless instantly accepted and was even thrilled with this +artful suggestion of a clandestine correspondence. Such was the +simple faith of youthful friendship. + +"Mother knows nothing of it, of course, and a word from you or him +would ruin everything," continued the breathless Susy. "That's why +I came to fetch you and warn you. You must see him first, and warn +him at any cost. If I hadn't run every risk to come here to-day, +Heaven knows what might have happened! What do you think of the +ponies, dear? They're my own, and the sweetest! This one's Susy, +that one Clarence,--but privately, you know. Before the world and +in the stables he's only Birdie." + +"But I thought you wrote to me that you called them 'Paul and +Virginie,'" said Mary doubtfully. + +"I do, sometimes," said Susy calmly. "But one has to learn to +suppress one's feelings, dear!" Then quickly, "I do so hate deceit, +don't you? Tell me, don't you think deceit perfectly hateful?" + +Without waiting for her friend's loyal assent, she continued +rapidly: "And he's just rolling in wealth! and educated, papa says, +to the highest degree!" + +"Then," began Mary, "if he's coming with your mother's consent, and +if you haven't quarreled, and it is not broken off, I should think +you'd be just delighted." + +But another quick flash from Susy's eyes dispersed these beatific +visions of the future. "Hush!" she said, with suppressed dramatic +intensity. "You know not what you say! There's an awful mystery +hangs over him. Mary Rogers," continued the young girl, approaching +her small mouth to her confidante's ear in an appalling whisper. +"His father was--a PIRATE! Yes--lived a pirate and was killed a +pirate!" + +The statement, however, seemed to be partly ineffective. Mary +Rogers was startled but not alarmed, and even protested feebly. +"But," she said, "if the father's dead, what's that to do with +Clarence? He was always with your papa--so you told me, dear--or +other people, and couldn't catch anything from his own father. And +I'm sure, dearest, he always seemed nice and quiet." + +"Yes, SEEMED," returned Susy darkly, "but that's all you know! It +was in his BLOOD. You know it always is,--you read it in the +books,--you could see it in his eye. There were times, my dear, +when he was thwarted,--when the slightest attention from another +person to me revealed it! I have kept it to myself,--but think, +dearest, of the effects of jealousy on that passionate nature! +Sometimes I tremble to look back upon it." + +Nevertheless, she raised her hands and threw back her lovely golden +mane from her childish shoulders with an easy, untroubled gesture. +It was singular that Mary Rogers, leaning back comfortably in the +buggy, also accepted these heart-rending revelations with +comfortably knitted brows and luxuriously contented concern. If she +found it difficult to recognize in the picture just drawn by Susy +the quiet, gentle, and sadly reserved youth she had known, she said +nothing. After a silence, lazily watching the distant wheeling +vacquero, she said:-- + +"And your father always sends an outrider like that with you? How +nice! So picturesque--and like the old Spanish days." + +"Hush!" said Susy, with another unutterable glance. + +But this time Mary was in full sympathetic communion with her +friend, and equal to any incoherent hiatus of revelation. + +"No!" she said promptly, "you don't mean it!" + +"Don't ask me, I daren't say anything to papa, for he'd be simply +furious. But there are times when we're alone, and Pedro wheels +down so near with SUCH a look in his black eyes, that I'm all in a +tremble. It's dreadful! They say he's a real Briones,--and he +sometimes says something in Spanish, ending with 'senorita,' but I +pretend I don't understand." + +"And I suppose that if anything should happen to the ponies, he'd +just risk his life to save you." + +"Yes,--and it would be so awful,--for I just hate him!" + +"But if I was with you, dear, he couldn't expect you to be as +grateful as if you were alone. Susy!" she continued after a pause, +"if you just stirred up the ponies a little so as to make 'em go +fast, perhaps he might think they'd got away from you, and come +dashing down here. It would be so funny to see him,--wouldn't it?" + +The two girls looked at each other; their eyes sparkled already with +a fearful joy,--they drew a long breath of guilty anticipation. For +a moment Susy even believed in her imaginary sketch of Pedro's +devotion. + +"Papa said I wasn't to use the whip except in a case of necessity," +she said, reaching for the slender silver-handled toy, and setting +her pretty lips together with the added determination of +disobedience. "G'long!"--and she laid the lash smartly on the +shining backs of the animals. + +They were wiry, slender brutes of Mojave Indian blood, only lately +broken to harness, and still undisciplined in temper. The lash sent +them rearing into the air, where, forgetting themselves in the +slackened traces and loose reins, they came down with a succession +of bounds that brought the light buggy leaping after them with its +wheels scarcely touching the ground. That unlucky lash had knocked +away the bonds of a few months' servitude and sent the half-broken +brutes instinctively careering with arched backs and kicking heels +into the field towards the nearest cover. + +Mary Rogers cast a hurried glance over her shoulder. Alas, they had +not calculated on the insidious levels of the terraced plain, and +the faithful Pedro had suddenly disappeared; the intervention of six +inches of rising wild oats had wiped him out of the prospect and +their possible salvation as completely as if he had been miles away. +Nevertheless, the girls were not frightened; perhaps they had not +time. There was, however, the briefest interval for the most +dominant of feminine emotions, and it was taken advantage of by +Susy. + +"It was all YOUR fault, dear!" she gasped, as the forewheels of the +buggy, dropping into a gopher rut, suddenly tilted up the back of +the vehicle and shot its fair occupants into the yielding palisades +of dusty grain. The shock detached the whiffletree from the +splinter-bar, snapped the light pole, and, turning the now +thoroughly frightened animals again from their course, sent them, +goaded by the clattering fragments, flying down the turnpike. Half +a mile farther on they overtook the gleaming white canvas hood of a +slowly moving wagon drawn by two oxen, and, swerving again, the +nearer pony stepped upon a trailing trace and ingloriously ended +their career by rolling himself and his companion in the dust at the +very feet of the peacefully plodding team. + +Equally harmless and inglorious was the catastrophe of Susy and her +friend. The strong, elastic stalks of the tall grain broke their +fall and enabled them to scramble to their feet, dusty, disheveled, +but unhurt, and even unstunned by the shock. Their first +instinctive cries over a damaged hat or ripped skirt were followed +by the quick reaction of childish laughter. They were alone; the +very defection of Pedro consoled them, in its absence of any witness +to their disaster; even their previous slight attitude to each other +was forgotten. They groped their way, pushing and panting, to the +road again, where, beholding the overset buggy with its wheels +ludicrously in the air, they suddenly seized and shook each other, +and in an outburst of hilarious ecstasy, fairly laughed until the +tears came into their eyes. + +Then there was a breathless silence. + +"The stage will be coming by in a moment," composedly said Susy. +"Fix me, dear." + +Mary Rogers calmly walked around her friend, bestowing a practical +shake there, a pluck here, completely retying one bow and restoring +an engaging fullness to another, yet critically examining, with her +head on one side, the fascinating result. Then Susy performed the +same function for Mary with equal deliberation and deftness. +Suddenly Mary started and looked up. + +"It's coming," she said quickly, "and they've SEEN US." + +The expression of the faces of the two girls instantly changed. A +pained dignity and resignation, apparently born of the most +harrowing experiences and controlled only by perfect good breeding, +was distinctly suggested in their features and attitude as they +stood patiently by the wreck of their overturned buggy awaiting the +oncoming coach. In sharp contrast was the evident excitement among +the passengers. A few rose from their seats in their eagerness; as +the stage pulled up in the road beside the buggy four or five of the +younger men leaped to the ground. + +"Are you hurt, miss?" they gasped sympathetically. + +Susy did not immediately reply, but ominously knitted her pretty +eyebrows as if repressing a spasm of pain. Then she said, "Not at +all," coldly, with the suggestion of stoically concealing some +lasting or perhaps fatal injury, and took the arm of Mary Rogers, +who had, in the mean time, established a touching yet graceful limp. + +Declining the proffered assistance of the passengers, they helped +each other into the coach, and freezingly requesting the driver to +stop at Mr. Peyton's gate, maintained a statuesque and impressive +silence. At the gates they got down, followed by the sympathetic +glances of the others. + +To all appearance their escapade, albeit fraught with dangerous +possibilities, had happily ended. But in the economy of human +affairs, as in nature, forces are not suddenly let loose without +more or less sympathetic disturbance which is apt to linger after +the impelling cause is harmlessly spent. The fright which the girls +had unsuccessfully attempted to produce in the heart of their escort +had passed him to become a panic elsewhere. Judge Peyton, riding +near the gateway of his rancho, was suddenly confronted by the +spectacle of one of his vacqueros driving on before him the two +lassoed and dusty ponies, with a face that broke into violent +gesticulating at his master's quick interrogation. + +"Ah! Mother of God! It was an evil day! For the bronchos had run +away, upset the buggy, and had only been stopped by a brave +Americano of an ox-team, whose lasso was even now around their +necks, to prove it, and who had been dragged a matter of a hundred +varas, like a calf, at their heels. The senoritas,--ah! had he not +already said they were safe, by the mercy of Jesus!--picked up by +the coach, and would be here at this moment." + +"But where was Pedro all the time? What was he doing?" demanded +Peyton, with a darkened face and gathering anger. + +The vacquero looked at his master, and shrugged his shoulders +significantly. At any other time Peyton would have remembered that +Pedro, as the reputed scion of a decayed Spanish family, and +claiming superiority, was not a favorite with his fellow-retainers. +But the gesture, half of suggestion, half of depreciation, irritated +Peyton still more. + +"Well, where is this American who DID something when there wasn't a +man among you all able to stop a child's runaway ponies?" he said +sarcastically. "Let me see him." + +The vacquero became still more deprecatory. + +"Ah! He had driven on with his team towards San Antonio. He would +not stop to be thanked. But that was the whole truth. He, +Incarnacion, could swear to it as to the Creed. There was nothing +more." + +"Take those beasts around the back way to the corral," said Peyton, +thoroughly enraged, "and not a word of this to any one at the casa, +do you hear? Not a word to Mrs. Peyton or the servants, or, by +Heaven, I'll clear the rancho of the whole lazy crew of you at once. +Out of the way there, and be off!" + +He spurred his horse past the frightened menial, and dashed down the +narrow lane that led to the gate. But, as Incarnacion had truly +said, "It was an evil day," for at the bottom of the lane, ambling +slowly along as he lazily puffed a yellow cigarette, appeared the +figure of the erring Pedro. Utterly unconscious of the accident, +attributing the disappearance of his charges to the inequalities of +the plain, and, in truth, little interested in what he firmly +believed was his purely artificial function, he had even made a +larger circuit to stop at a wayside fonda for refreshments. + +Unfortunately, there is no more illogical sequence of human emotion +than the exasperation produced by the bland manner of the +unfortunate object who has excited it, although that very unconcern +may be the convincing proof of innocence of intention. Judge +Peyton, already influenced, was furious at the comfortable +obliviousness of his careless henchman, and rode angrily towards +him. Only a quick turn of Pedro's wrist kept the two men from +coming into collision. + +"Is this the way you attend to your duty?" demanded Peyton, in a +thick, suppressed voice, "Where is the buggy? Where is my +daughter?" + +There was no mistaking Judge Peyton's manner, even if the reason of +it was not so clear to Pedro's mind, and his hot Latin blood flew +instinctively to his face. But for that, he might have shown some +concern or asked an explanation. As it was, he at once retorted +with the national shrug and the national half-scornful, half-lazy +"Quien sabe?" + +"Who knows?" repeated Peyton, hotly. "I do! She was thrown out of +her buggy through your negligence and infernal laziness! The ponies +ran away, and were stopped by a stranger who wasn't afraid of +risking his bones, while you were limping around somewhere like a +slouching, cowardly coyote." + +The vacquero struggled a moment between blank astonishment and +inarticulate rage. At last he burst out:-- + +"I am no coyote! I was there! I saw no runaway!" + +"Don't lie to me, sir!" roared Peyton. "I tell you the buggy was +smashed, the girls were thrown out and nearly killed"-- He stopped +suddenly. The sound of youthful laughter had come from the bottom +of the lane, where Susy Peyton and Mary Rogers, just alighted from +the coach, in the reaction of their previous constrained attitude, +were flying hilariously into view. A slight embarrassment crossed +Peyton's face; a still deeper flush of anger overspread Pedro's +sullen cheek. + +Then Pedro found tongue again, his native one, rapidly, violently, +half incoherently. "Ah, yes! It had come to this. It seems he was +not a vacquero, a companion of the padrone on lands that had been +his own before the Americanos robbed him of it, but a servant, a +lackey of muchachas, an attendant on children to amuse them, or--why +not?--an appendage to his daughter's state! Ah, Jesus Maria! such a +state! such a muchacha! A picked-up foundling--a swineherd's +daughter--to be ennobled by his, Pedro's, attendance, and for whose +vulgar, clownish tricks,--tricks of a swineherd's daughter,--he, +Pedro, was to be brought to book and insulted as if she were of +Hidalgo blood! Ah, Caramba! Don Juan Peyton would find he could no +more make a servant of him than he could make a lady of her!" + +The two young girls were rapidly approaching. Judge Peyton spurred +his horse beside the vacquero's, and, swinging the long thong of his +bridle ominously in his clenched fingers, said, with a white face:-- + +"Vamos!" + +Pedro's hand slid towards his sash. Peyton only looked at him with +a rigid smile of scorn. + +"Or I'll lash you here before them both," he added in a lower voice. + +The vacquero met Peyton's relentless eyes with a yellow flash of +hate, drew his reins sharply, until his mustang, galled by the cruel +bit, reared suddenly as if to strike at the immovable American, +then, apparently with the same action, he swung it around on its +hind legs, as on a pivot, and dashed towards the corral at a furious +gallop. + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Meantime the heroic proprietor of the peaceful ox-team, whose valor +Incarnacion had so infelicitously celebrated, was walking listlessly +in the dust beside his wagon. At a first glance his slouching +figure, taken in connection with his bucolic conveyance, did not +immediately suggest a hero. As he emerged from the dusty cloud it +could be seen that he was wearing a belt from which a large dragoon +revolver and hunting knife were slung, and placed somewhat +ostentatiously across the wagon seat was a rifle. Yet the other +contents of the wagon were of a singularly inoffensive character, +and even suggested articles of homely barter. Culinary utensils of +all sizes, tubs, scullery brushes, and clocks, with several rolls of +cheap carpeting and calico, might have been the wares of some +traveling vender. Yet, as they were only visible through a flap of +the drawn curtains of the canvas hood, they did not mitigate the +general aggressive effect of their owner's appearance. A red +bandanna handkerchief knotted and thrown loosely over his shoulders, +a slouched hat pulled darkly over a head of long tangled hair, +which, however, shadowed a round, comfortable face, scantily and +youthfully bearded, were part of these confusing inconsistencies. + +The shadows of the team wagon were already lengthening grotesquely +over the flat, cultivated fields, which for some time had taken the +place of the plains of wild oats in the branch road into which they +had turned. The gigantic shadow of the proprietor, occasionally +projected before it, was in characteristic exaggeration, and was +often obliterated by a puff of dust, stirred by the plodding hoofs +of the peaceful oxen, and swept across the field by the strong +afternoon trades. The sun sank lower, although a still potent +presence above the horizon line; the creaking wagon lumbered still +heavily along. Yet at intervals its belligerent proprietor would +start up from his slouching, silent march, break out into violent, +disproportionate, but utterly ineffective objurgation of his cattle, +jump into the air and kick his heels together in some paroxysm of +indignation against them,--an act, however, which was received +always with heavy bovine indifference, the dogged scorn of swaying, +repudiating heads, or the dull contempt of lazily flicking tails. + +Towards sunset one or two straggling barns and cottages indicated +their approach to the outskirts of a country town or settlement. +Here the team halted, as if the belligerent-looking teamster had +felt his appearance was inconsistent with an effeminate +civilization, and the oxen were turned into an open waste opposite a +nondescript wooden tenement, half farmhouse and half cabin, +evidently of the rudest Western origin. He may have recognized the +fact that these "shanties" were not, as the ordinary traveler might +infer, the first rude shelter of the original pioneers or settlers, +but the later makeshifts of some recent Western immigrants who, like +himself, probably found themselves unequal to the settled habits of +the village, and who still retained their nomadic instincts. It +chanced, however, that the cabin at present was occupied by a New +England mechanic and his family, who had emigrated by ship around +Cape Horn, and who had no experience of the West, the plains, or its +people. It was therefore with some curiosity and a certain amount +of fascinated awe that the mechanic's only daughter regarded from +the open door of her dwelling the arrival of this wild and lawless- +looking stranger. + +Meantime he had opened the curtains of the wagon and taken from its +interior a number of pots, pans, and culinary utensils, which he +proceeded to hang upon certain hooks that were placed on the outer +ribs of the board and the sides of the vehicle. To this he added a +roll of rag carpet, the end of which hung from the tailboard, and a +roll of pink calico temptingly displayed on the seat. The +mystification and curiosity of the young girl grew more intense at +these proceedings. It looked like the ordinary exhibition of a +traveling peddler, but the gloomy and embattled appearance of the +man himself scouted so peaceful and commonplace a suggestion. Under +the pretense of chasing away a marauding hen, she sallied out upon +the waste near the wagon. It then became evident that the traveler +had seen her, and was not averse to her interest in his movements, +although he had not changed his attitude of savage retrospection. +An occasional ejaculation of suppressed passion, as if the memory of +some past conflict was too much for him, escaped him even in this +peaceful occupation. As this possibly caused the young girl to +still hover timidly in the distance, he suddenly entered the wagon +and reappeared carrying a tin bucket, with which he somewhat +ostentatiously crossed her path, his eyes darkly wandering as if +seeking something. + +"If you're lookin' for the spring, it's a spell furder on--by the +willows." + +It was a pleasant voice, the teamster thought, albeit with a dry, +crisp, New England accent unfamiliar to his ears. He looked into +the depths of an unlovely blue-check sunbonnet, and saw certain +small, irregular features and a sallow check, lit up by a pair of +perfectly innocent, trustful, and wondering brown eyes. Their timid +possessor seemed to be a girl of seventeen, whose figure, although +apparently clad in one of her mother's gowns, was still undeveloped +and repressed by rustic hardship and innutrition. As her eyes met +his she saw that the face of this gloomy stranger was still +youthful, by no means implacable, and, even at that moment, was +actually suffused by a brick-colored blush! In matters of mere +intuition, the sex, even in its most rustic phase, is still our +superior; and this unsophisticated girl, as the trespasser +stammered, "Thank ye, miss," was instinctively emboldened to greater +freedom. + +"Dad ain't tu hum, but ye kin have a drink o' milk if ye keer for +it." + +She motioned shyly towards the cabin, and then led the way. The +stranger, with an inarticulate murmur, afterwards disguised as a +cough, followed her meekly. Nevertheless, by the time they had +reached the cabin he had shaken his long hair over his eyes again, +and a dark abstraction gathered chiefly in his eyebrows. But it did +not efface from the girl's mind the previous concession of a blush, +and, although it added to her curiosity, did not alarm her. He +drank the milk awkwardly. But by the laws of courtesy, even among +the most savage tribes, she felt he was, at that moment at least, +harmless. A timid smile fluttered around her mouth as she said:-- + +"When ye hung up them things I thought ye might be havin' suthing to +swap or sell. That is,"--with tactful politeness,--"mother was +wantin' a new skillet, and it would have been handy if you'd had +one. But"--with an apologetic glance at his equipments--"if it +ain't your business, it's all right, and no offense." + +"I've got a lot o' skillets," said the strange teamster, with marked +condescension, "and she can have one. They're all that's left outer +a heap o' trader's stuff captured by Injuns t'other side of Laramie. +We had a big fight to get 'em back. Lost two of our best men,-- +scalped at Bloody Creek,--and had to drop a dozen redskins in their +tracks,--me and another man,--lyin' flat in er wagon and firin' +under the flaps o' the canvas. I don't know ez they waz wuth it," +he added in gloomy retrospect; "but I've got to get rid of 'em, I +reckon, somehow, afore I work over to Deadman's Gulch again." + +The young girl's eyes brightened timidly with a feminine mingling of +imaginative awe and personal, pitying interest. He was, after all, +so young and amiable looking for such hardships and adventures. And +with all this, he--this Indian fighter--was a little afraid of HER! + +"Then that's why you carry that knife and six-shooter?" she said. +"But you won't want 'em now, here in the settlement." + +"That's ez mebbe," said the stranger darkly. He paused, and then +suddenly, as if recklessly accepting a dangerous risk, unbuckled his +revolver and handed it abstractedly to the young girl. But the +sheath of the bowie-knife was a fixture in his body-belt, and he was +obliged to withdraw the glittering blade by itself, and to hand it +to her in all its naked terrors. The young girl received the +weapons with a smiling complacency. Upon such altars as these the +skeptical reader will remember that Mars had once hung his "battered +shield," his lance, and "uncontrolled crest." + +Nevertheless, the warlike teamster was not without embarrassment. +Muttering something about the necessity of "looking after his +stock," he achieved a hesitating bow, backed awkwardly out of the +door, and receiving from the conquering hands of the young girl his +weapons again, was obliged to carry them somewhat ingloriously in +his hands across the road, and put them on the wagon seat, where, in +company with the culinary articles, they seemed to lose their +distinctively aggressive character. Here, although his cheek was +still flushed from his peaceful encounter, his voice regained some +of its hoarse severity as he drove the oxen from the muddy pool into +which they had luxuriantly wandered, and brought their fodder from +the wagon. Later, as the sun was setting, he lit a corn-cob pipe, +and somewhat ostentatiously strolled down the road, with a furtive +eye lingering upon the still open door of the farmhouse. Presently +two angular figures appeared from it, the farmer and his wife, +intent on barter. + +These he received with his previous gloomy preoccupation, and a +slight variation of the story he had told their daughter. It is +possible that his suggestive indifference piqued and heightened the +bargaining instincts of the woman, for she not only bought the +skillet, but purchased a clock and a roll of carpeting. Still more, +in some effusion of rustic courtesy, she extended an invitation to +him to sup with them, which he declined and accepted in the same +embarrassed breath, returning the proffered hospitality by +confidentially showing them a couple of dried scalps, presumably of +Indian origin. It was in the same moment of human weakness that he +answered their polite query as to "what they might call him," by +intimating that his name was "Red Jim,"--a title of achievement by +which he was generally known, which for the present must suffice +them. But during the repast that followed this was shortened to +"Mister Jim," and even familiarly by the elders to plain "Jim." +Only the young girl habitually used the formal prefix in return for +the "Miss Phoebe" that he called her. + +With three such sympathetic and unexperienced auditors the gloomy +embarrassment of Red Jim was soon dissipated, although it could +hardly be said that he was generally communicative. Dark tales of +Indian warfare, of night attacks and wild stampedes, in which he had +always taken a prominent part, flowed freely from his lips, but +little else of his past history or present prospects. And even his +narratives of adventure were more or less fragmentary and imperfect +in detail. + +"You woz saying," said the farmer, with slow, matter of fact, New +England deliberation, "ez how you guessed you woz beguiled amongst +the Injins by your Mexican partner, a pow'ful influential man, and +yet you woz the only one escaped the gen'ral slarterin'. How came +the Injins to kill HIM,--their friend?" + +"They didn't," returned Jim, with ominously averted eyes. + +"What became of him?" continued the farmer. + +Red Jim shadowed his eyes with his hand, and cast a dark glance of +scrutiny out of the doors and windows. The young girl perceived it +with timid, fascinated concern, and said hurriedly:-- + +"Don't ask him, father! Don't you see he mustn't tell?" + +"Not when spies may be hangin' round, and doggin' me at every step," +said Red Jim, as if reflecting, with another furtive glance towards +the already fading prospect without. "They've sworn to revenge +him," he added moodily. + +A momentary silence followed. The farmer coughed slightly, and +looked dubiously at his wife. But the two women had already +exchanged feminine glances of sympathy for this evident slayer of +traitors, and were apparently inclined to stop any adverse +criticism. + +In the midst of which a shout was heard from the road. The farmer +and his family instinctively started. Red Jim alone remained +unmoved,--a fact which did not lessen the admiration of his feminine +audience. The host rose quickly, and went out. The figure of a +horseman had halted in the road, but after a few moments' +conversation with the farmer they both moved towards the house and +disappeared. When the farmer returned, it was to say that "one of +them 'Frisco dandies, who didn't keer about stoppin' at the hotel +in the settlement," had halted to give his "critter" a feed and +drink that he might continue his journey. He had asked him to come +in while the horse was feeding, but the stranger had "guessed he'd +stretch his legs outside and smoke his cigar;" he might have thought +the company "not fine enough for him," but he was "civil spoken +enough, and had an all-fired smart hoss, and seemed to know how to +run him." To the anxious inquiries of his wife and daughter he +added that the stranger didn't seem like a spy or a Mexican; was "as +young as HIM," pointing to the moody Red Jim, "and a darned sight +more peaceful-like in style." + +Perhaps owing to the criticism of the farmer, perhaps from some +still lurking suspicion of being overheard by eavesdroppers, or +possibly from a humane desire to relieve the strained apprehension +of the women, Red Jim, as the farmer disappeared to rejoin the +stranger, again dropped into a lighter and gentler vein of +reminiscence. He told them how, when a mere boy, he had been lost +from an emigrant train in company with a little girl some years his +junior. How, when they found themselves alone on the desolate +plain, with the vanished train beyond their reach, he endeavored to +keep the child from a knowledge of the real danger of their +position, and to soothe and comfort her. How he carried her on his +back, until, exhausted, he sank in a heap of sage-brush. How he was +surrounded by Indians, who, however, never suspected his hiding- +place; and how he remained motionless and breathless with the +sleeping child for three hours, until they departed. How, at the +last moment, he had perceived a train in the distance, and had +staggered with her thither, although shot at and wounded by the +trainmen in the belief that he was an Indian. How it was afterwards +discovered that the child was the long-lost daughter of a +millionaire; how he had resolutely refused any gratuity for saving +her, and she was now a peerless young heiress, famous in California. +Whether this lighter tone of narrative suited him better, or whether +the active feminine sympathy of his auditors helped him along, +certain it was that his story was more coherent and intelligible and +his voice less hoarse and constrained than in his previous +belligerent reminiscences; his expression changed, and even his +features worked into something like gentler emotion. The bright +eyes of Phoebe, fastened upon him, turned dim with a faint moisture, +and her pale cheek took upon itself a little color. The mother, +after interjecting "Du tell," and "I wanter know," remained open- +mouthed, staring at her visitor. And in the silence that followed, +a pleasant, but somewhat melancholy voice came from the open door. + +"I beg your pardon, but I thought I couldnt be mistaken. It IS my +old friend, Jim Hooker!" + +Everybody started. Red Jim stumbled to his feet with an +inarticulate and hysteric exclamation. Yet the apparition that now +stood in the doorway was far from being terrifying or discomposing. +It was evidently the stranger,--a slender, elegantly-knit figure, +whose upper lip was faintly shadowed by a soft, dark mustache +indicating early manhood, and whose unstudied ease in his well- +fitting garments bespoke the dweller of cities. Good-looking and +well-dressed, without the consciousness of being either; self- +possessed through easy circumstances, yet without self-assertion; +courteous by nature and instinct as well as from an experience of +granting favors, he might have been a welcome addition to even a +more critical company. But Red Jim, hurriedly seizing his +outstretched hand, instantly dragged him away from the doorway into +the road and out of hearing of his audience. + +"Did you hear what I was saying?" he asked hoarsely. + +"Well, yes,--I think so," returned the stranger, with a quiet smile. + +"Ye ain't goin' back on me, Clarence, are ye,--ain't goin' to gimme +away afore them, old pard, are ye?" said Jim, with a sudden change +to almost pathetic pleading. + +"No," returned the stranger, smiling. "And certainly not before +that interested young lady, Jim. But stop. Let me look at you." + +He held out both hands, took Jim's, spread them apart for a moment +with a boyish gesture, and, looking in his face, said half +mischievously, half sadly, "Yes, it's the same old Jim Hooker,-- +unchanged." + +"But YOU'RE changed,--reg'lar war paint, Big Injin style!" said +Hooker, looking up at him with an awkward mingling of admiration and +envy. "Heard you struck it rich with the old man, and was Mister +Brant now!" + +"Yes," said Clarence gently, yet with a smile that had not only a +tinge of weariness but even of sadness in it. + +Unfortunately, the act, which was quite natural to Clarence's +sensitiveness, and indeed partly sprang from some concern in his old +companion's fortunes, translated itself by a very human process to +Hooker's consciousness as a piece of rank affectation. HE would +have been exalted and exultant in Clarence's place, consequently any +other exhibition was only "airs." Nevertheless, at the present +moment Clarence was to be placated. + +"You didn't mind my telling that story about your savin' Susy as my +own, did ye?" he said, with a hasty glance over his shoulder. "I +only did it to fool the old man and women-folks, and make talk. You +won't blow on me? Ye ain't mad about it?" + +It had crossed Clarence's memory that when they were both younger +Jim Hooker had once not only borrowed his story, but his name and +personality as well. Yet in his loyalty to old memories there was +mingled no resentment for past injury. "Of course not," he said, +with a smile that was, however, still thoughtful. "Why should I? +Only I ought to tell you that Susy Peyton is living with her adopted +parents not ten miles from here, and it might reach their ears. +She's quite a young lady now, and if I wouldn't tell her story to +strangers, I don't think YOU ought to, Jim." + +He said this so pleasantly that even the skeptical Jim forgot what +he believed were the "airs and graces" of self-abnegation, and said, +"Let's go inside, and I'll introduce you," and turned to the house. +But Clarence Brant drew back. "I'm going on as soon as my horse is +fed, for I'm on a visit to Peyton, and I intend to push as far as +Santa Inez still to-night. I want to talk with you about yourself, +Jim," he added gently; "your prospects and your future. I heard," +he went on hesitatingly, "that you were--at work--in a restaurant in +San Francisco. I'm glad to see that you are at least your own +master here,"--he glanced at the wagon. "You are selling things, I +suppose? For yourself, or another? Is that team yours? Come," he +added, still pleasantly, but in an older and graver voice, with +perhaps the least touch of experienced authority, "be frank, Jim. +Which is it? Never mind what things you've told IN THERE, tell ME +the truth about yourself. Can I help you in any way? Believe me, I +should like to. We have been old friends, whatever difference in +our luck, I am yours still." + +Thus adjured, the redoubtable Jim, in a hoarse whisper, with a +furtive eye on the house, admitted that he was traveling for an +itinerant peddler, whom he expected to join later in the settlement; +that he had his own methods of disposing of his wares, and (darkly) +that his proprietor and the world generally had better not interfere +with him; that (with a return to more confidential lightness) he had +already "worked the Wild West Injin" business so successfully as to +dispose of his wares, particularly in yonder house, and might do +even more if not prematurely and wantonly "blown upon," "gone back +on," or "given away." + +"But wouldn't you like to settle down on some bit of land like this, +and improve it for yourself?" said Clarence. "All these valley +terraces are bound to rise in value, and meantime you would be +independent. It could be managed, Jim. I think I could arrange it +for you," he went on, with a slight glow of youthful enthusiasm. +"Write to me at Peyton's ranch, and I'll see you when I come back, +and we'll hunt up something for you together." As Jim received the +proposition with a kind of gloomy embarrassment, he added lightly, +with a glance at the farmhouse, "It might be near HERE, you know; +and you'd have pleasant neighbors, and even eager listeners to your +old adventures." + +"You'd better come in a minit before you go," said Jim, clumsily +evading a direct reply. Clarence hesitated a moment, and then +yielded. For an equal moment Jim Hooker was torn between secret +jealousy of his old comrade's graces and a desire to present them as +familiar associations of his own. But his vanity was quickly +appeased. + +Need it be said that the two women received this fleck and foam of a +super-civilization they knew little of as almost an impertinence +compared to the rugged, gloomy, pathetic, and equally youthful hero +of an adventurous wilderness of which they knew still less? What +availed the courtesy and gentle melancholy of Clarence Brant beside +the mysterious gloom and dark savagery of Red Jim? Yet they +received him patronizingly, as one who was, like themselves, an +admirer of manly grace and power, and the recipient of Jim's +friendship. The farmer alone seemed to prefer Clarence, and yet the +latter's tacit indorsement of Red Jim, through his evident previous +intimacy with him, impressed the man in Jim's favor. All of which +Clarence saw with that sensitive perception which had given him an +early insight into human weakness, yet still had never shaken his +youthful optimism. He smiled a little thoughtfully, but was openly +fraternal to Jim, courteous to his host and family, and, as he rode +away in the faint moonlight, magnificently opulent in his largess to +the farmer,--his first and only assertion of his position. + +The farmhouse, straggling barn, and fringe of dusty willows, the +white dome of the motionless wagon, with the hanging frying pans and +kettles showing in the moonlight like black silhouettes against the +staring canvas, all presently sank behind Clarence like the details +of a dream, and he was alone with the moon, the hazy mystery of the +level, grassy plain, and the monotony of the unending road. As he +rode slowly along he thought of that other dreary plain, white with +alkali patches and brown with rings of deserted camp-fires, known to +his boyhood of deprivation, dependency, danger, and adventure, oddly +enough, with a strange delight; and his later years of study, +monastic seclusion, and final ease and independence, with an easy +sense of wasted existence and useless waiting. He remembered his +homeless childhood in the South, where servants and slaves took the +place of the father he had never known, and the mother that he +rarely saw; he remembered his abandonment to a mysterious female +relation, where his natural guardians seemed to have overlooked and +forgotten him, until he was sent, an all too young adventurer, to +work his passage on an overland emigrant train across the plains; he +remembered, as yesterday, the fears, the hopes, the dreams and +dangers of that momentous journey. He recalled his little playmate, +Susy, and their strange adventures--the whole incident that the +imaginative Jim Hooker had translated and rehearsed as his own--rose +vividly before him. He thought of the cruel end of that pilgrimage, +which again left him homeless and forgotten by even the relative he +was seeking in a strange land. He remembered his solitary journey +to the gold mines, taken with a boy's trust and a boy's fearlessness, +and the strange protector he had found there, who had news of his +missing kinsman; he remembered how this protector--whom he had at +once instinctively loved--transferred him to the house of this +new-found relation, who treated him kindly and sent him to the +Jesuit school, but who never awakened in him a feeling of kinship. +He dreamed again of his life at school, his accidental meeting with +Susy at Santa Clara, the keen revival of his boyish love for his old +playmate, now a pretty schoolgirl, the petted adopted child of +wealthy parents. He recalled the terrible shock that interrupted +this boyish episode: the news of the death of his protector, and the +revelation that this hard, silent, and mysterious man was his own +father, whose reckless life and desperate reputation had impelled +him to assume a disguise. + +He remembered how his sudden accession to wealth and independence +had half frightened him, and had always left a lurking sensitiveness +that he was unfairly favored, by some mere accident, above his less +lucky companions. The rude vices of his old associates had made him +impatient of the feebler sensual indulgences of the later companions +of his luxury, and exposed their hollow fascinations; his sensitive +fastidiousness kept him clean among vulgar temptations; his clear +perceptions were never blinded by selfish sophistry. Meantime his +feeling for Susy remained unchanged. Pride had kept him from +seeking the Peytons. His present visit was as unpremeditated as +Peyton's invitation had been unlooked for by him. Yet he had not +allowed himself to be deceived. He knew that this courtesy was +probably due to the change in his fortune, although he had hoped it +might have been some change in their opinion brought about by Susy. +But he would at least see her again, not in the pretty, half- +clandestine way she had thought necessary, but openly and as her +equal. + +In his rapid ride he seemed to have suddenly penetrated the peaceful +calm of the night. The restless irritation of the afternoon trade +winds had subsided; the tender moonlight had hushed and tranquilly +possessed the worried plain; the unending files of wild oats, far +spaced and distinct, stood erect and motionless as trees; something +of the sedate solemnity of a great forest seemed to have fallen upon +their giant stalks. There was no dew. In that light, dry air, the +heavier dust no longer rose beneath the heels of his horse, whose +flying shadow passed over the field like a cloud, leaving no trail +or track behind it. In the preoccupation of his thought and his +breathless retrospect, the young man had ridden faster than he +intended, and he now checked his panting horse. The influence of +the night and the hushed landscape stole over him; his thoughts took +a gentler turn; in that dim, mysterious horizon line before him, his +future seemed to be dreamily peopled with airy, graceful shapes that +more or less took the likeness of Susy. She was bright, coquettish, +romantic, as he had last seen her; she was older, graver, and +thoughtfully welcome of him; or she was cold, distant, and severely +forgetful of the past. How would her adopted father and mother +receive him? Would they ever look upon him in the light of a suitor +to the young girl? He had no fear of Peyton,--he understood his own +sex, and, young as he was, knew already how to make himself +respected; but how could he overcome that instinctive aversion which +Mrs. Peyton had so often made him feel he had provoked? Yet in this +dreamy hush of earth and sky, what was not possible? His boyish +heart beat high with daring visions. + +He saw Mrs. Peyton in the porch, welcoming him with that maternal +smile which his childish longing had so often craved to share with +Susy. Peyton would be there, too,--Peyton, who had once pushed back +his torn straw hat to look approvingly in his boyish eyes; and +Peyton, perhaps, might be proud of him. + +Suddenly he started. A voice in his very ear! + +"Bah! A yoke of vulgar cattle grazing on lands that were thine by +right and law. Neither more nor less than that. And I tell thee, +Pancho, like cattle, to be driven off or caught and branded for +one's own. Ha! There are those who could swear to the truth of +this on the Creed. Ay! and bring papers stamped and signed by the +governor's rubric to prove it. And not that I hate them,--bah! what +are those heretic swine to me? But thou dost comprehend me? It +galls and pricks me to see them swelling themselves with stolen +husks, and men like thee, Pancho, ousted from their own land." + +Clarence had halted in utter bewilderment. No one was visible +before him, behind him, on either side. The words, in Spanish, came +from the air, the sky, the distant horizon, he knew not which. Was +he still dreaming? A strange shiver crept over his skin as if the +air had grown suddenly chill. Then another mysterious voice arose, +incredulous, half mocking, but equally distinct and clear. + +"Caramba! What is this? You are wandering, friend Pancho. You are +still smarting from his tongue. He has the grant confirmed by his +brigand government; he has the POSSESSION, stolen by a thief like +himself; and he has the Corregidors with him. For is he not one of +them himself, this Judge Peyton?" + +Peyton! Clarence felt the blood rush back to his face in +astonishment and indignation. His heels mechanically pressed his +horse's flanks, and the animal sprang forward. + +"Guarda! Mira!" said the voice again in a quicker, lower tone. But +this time it was evidently in the field beside him, and the heads +and shoulders of two horsemen emerged at the same moment from the +tall ranks of wild oats. The mystery was solved. The strangers had +been making their way along a lower level of the terraced plain, +hidden by the grain, not twenty yards away, and parallel with the +road they were now ascending to join. Their figures were alike +formless in long striped serapes, and their features undistinguishable +under stiff black sombreros. + +"Buenas noches, senor," said the second voice, in formal and +cautious deliberation. + +A sudden inspiration made Clarence respond in English, as if he had +not comprehended the stranger's words, "Eh?" + +"Gooda-nighta," repeated the stranger. + +"Oh, good-night," returned Clarence. They passed him. Their spurs +tinkled twice or thrice, their mustangs sprang forward, and the next +moment the loose folds of their serapes were fluttering at their +sides like wings in their flight. + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +After the chill of a dewless night the morning sun was apt to look +ardently upon the Robles Rancho, if so strong an expression could +describe the dry, oven-like heat of a Californian coast-range +valley. Before ten o'clock the adobe wall of the patio was warm +enough to permit lingering vacqueros and idle peons to lean against +it, and the exposed annexe was filled with sharp, resinous odors +from the oozing sap of unseasoned "redwood" boards, warped and +drying in the hot sunshine. Even at that early hour the climbing +Castilian roses were drooping against the wooden columns of the new +veranda, scarcely older than themselves, and mingling an already +faded spice with the aroma of baking wood and the more material +fragrance of steaming coffee, that seemed dominant everywhere. + +In fact, the pretty breakfast-room, whose three broad windows, +always open to the veranda, gave an al fresco effect to every meal, +was a pathetic endeavor of the Southern-bred Peyton to emulate the +soft, luxurious, and open-air indolence of his native South, in a +climate that was not only not tropical, but even austere in its most +fervid moments. Yet, although cold draughts invaded it from the +rear that morning, Judge Peyton sat alone, between the open doors +and windows, awaiting the slow coming of his wife and the young +ladies. He was not in an entirely comfortable mood that morning. +Things were not going on well at Robles. That truculent vagabond, +Pedro, had, the night before, taken himself off with a curse that +had frightened even the vacqueros, who most hated him as a +companion, but who now seemed inclined to regard his absence as an +injury done to their race. Peyton, uneasily conscious that his own +anger had been excited by an exaggerated conception of the accident, +was now, like most obstinate men, inclined to exaggerate the +importance of Pedro's insolence. He was well out of it to get rid +of this quarrelsome hanger-on, whose presumption and ill-humor +threatened the discipline of the rancho, yet he could not entirely +forget that he had employed him on account of his family claims, and +from a desire to placate racial jealousy and settle local differences. +For the inferior Mexicans and Indian half-breeds still regarded +their old masters with affection; were, in fact, more concerned for +the integrity of their caste than the masters were themselves, and +the old Spanish families who had made alliances with Americans, and +shared their land with them, had rarely succeeded in alienating +their retainers with their lands. Certain experiences in the +proving of his grant before the Land Commission had taught Peyton +that they were not to be depended upon. And lately there had been +unpleasant rumors of the discovery of some unlooked-for claimants to +a division of the grant itself, which might affect his own title. + +He looked up quickly as voices and light steps on the veranda at +last heralded the approach of his tardy household from the corridor. +But, in spite of his preoccupation, he was startled and even +awkwardly impressed with a change in Susy's appearance. She was +wearing, for the first time, a long skirt, and this sudden maturing +of her figure struck him, as a man, much more forcibly than it would +probably have impressed a woman, more familiar with details. He had +not noticed certain indications of womanhood, as significant, +perhaps, in her carriage as her outlines, which had been lately +perfectly apparent to her mother and Mary, but which were to him +now, for the first time, indicated by a few inches of skirt. She +not only looked taller to his masculine eyes, but these few inches +had added to the mystery as well as the drapery of the goddess; they +were not so much the revelation of maturity as the suggestion that +it was HIDDEN. So impressed was he, that a half-serious lecture on +her yesterday's childishness, the outcome of his irritated +reflections that morning, died upon his lips. He felt he was no +longer dealing with a child. + +He welcomed them with that smile of bantering approbation, supposed +to keep down inordinate vanity, which for some occult reason one +always reserves for the members of one's own family. He was quite +conscious that Susy was looking very pretty in this new and mature +frock, and that as she stood beside his wife, far from ageing Mrs. +Peyton's good looks and figure, she appeared like an equal +companion, and that they mutually "became" one another. This, and +the fact that they were all, including Mary Rogers, in their +freshest, gayest morning dresses, awakened a half-humorous, half- +real apprehension in his mind, that he was now hopelessly surrounded +by a matured sex, and in a weak minority. + +"I think I ought to have been prepared," he began grimly, "for this +addition to--to--the skirts of my family." + +"Why, John," returned Mrs. Peyton quickly; "do you mean to say you +haven't noticed that the poor child has for weeks been looking +positively indecent?" + +"Really, papa, I've been a sight to behold. Haven't I, Mary?" +chimed in Susy. + +"Yes, dear. Why, Judge, I've been wondering that Susy stood it so +well, and never complained." + +Peyton glanced around him at this compact feminine embattlement. It +was as he feared. Yet even here he was again at fault. + +"And," said Mrs. Peyton slowly, with the reserved significance of +the feminine postscript in her voice, "if that Mr. Brant is coming +here to-day, it would be just as well for him to see that SHE IS NO +LONGER A CHILD, AS WHEN HE KNEW HER." + +An hour later, good-natured Mary Rogers, in her character of "a +dear,"--which was usually indicated by the undertaking of small +errands for her friend,--was gathering roses from the old garden for +Susy's adornment, when she saw a vision which lingered with her for +many a day. She had stopped to look through the iron grille in the +adobe wall, across the open wind-swept plain. Miniature waves were +passing over the wild oats, with glittering disturbances here and +there in the depressions like the sparkling of green foam; the +horizon line was sharply defined against the hard, steel-blue sky; +everywhere the brand-new morning was shining with almost painted +brilliancy; the vigor, spirit, and even crudeness of youth were over +all. The young girl was dazzled and bewildered. Suddenly, as if +blown out of the waving grain, or an incarnation of the vivid +morning, the bright and striking figure of a youthful horseman +flashed before the grille. It was Clarence Brant! Mary Rogers had +always seen him, in the loyalty of friendship, with Susy's +prepossessed eyes, yet she fancied that morning that he had never +looked so handsome before. Even the foppish fripperies of his +riding-dress and silver trappings seemed as much the natural +expression of conquering youth as the invincible morning sunshine. +Perhaps it might have been a reaction against Susy's caprice or some +latent susceptibility of her own; but a momentary antagonism to her +friend stirred even her kindly nature. What right had Susy to +trifle with such an opportunity? Who was SHE to hesitate over this +gallant prince? + +But Prince Charming's quick eyes had detected her, and the next +moment his beautiful horse was beside the grating, and his ready +hand of greeting extended through the bars. + +"I suppose I am early and unexpected, but I slept at Santa Inez last +night, that I might ride over in the cool of the morning. My things +are coming by the stage-coach, later. It seemed such a slow way of +coming one's self." + +Mary Rogers's black eyes intimated that the way he had taken was the +right one, but she gallantly recovered herself and remembered her +position as confidante. And here was the opportunity of delivering +Susy's warning unobserved. She withdrew her hand from Clarence's +frank grasp, and passing it through the grating, patted the sleek, +shining flanks of his horse, with a discreet division of admiration. + +"And such a lovely creature, too! And Susy will be so delighted! +and oh, Mr. Brant, please, you're to say nothing of having met her +at Santa Clara. It's just as well not to begin with THAT here, for, +you see" (with a large, maternal manner), "you were both SO young +then." + +Clarence drew a quick breath. It was the first check to his vision +of independence and equal footing! Then his invitation was NOT the +outcome of a continuous friendship revived by Susy, as he had hoped; +the Peytons had known nothing of his meeting with her, or perhaps +they would not have invited him. He was here as an impostor,--and +all because Susy had chosen to make a mystery of a harmless +encounter, which might have been explained, and which they might +have even countenanced. He thought bitterly of his old playmate for +a brief moment,--as brief as Mary's antagonism. The young girl +noticed the change in his face, but misinterpreted it. + +"Oh, there's no danger of its coming out if you don't say anything," +she said, quickly. "Ride on to the house, and don't wait for me. +You'll find them in the patio on the veranda." + +Clarence moved on, but not as spiritedly as before. Nevertheless +there was still dash enough about him and the animal he bestrode to +stir into admiration the few lounging vacqueros of a country which +was apt to judge the status of a rider by the quality of his horse. +Nor was the favorable impression confined to them alone. Peyton's +gratification rang out cheerily in his greeting:-- + +"Bravo, Clarence! You are here in true caballero style. Thanks for +the compliment to the rancho." + +For a moment the young man was transported back again to his +boyhood, and once more felt Peyton's approving hand pushing back the +worn straw hat from his childish forehead. A faint color rose to +his cheeks; his eyes momentarily dropped. The highest art could +have done no more! The slight aggressiveness of his youthful finery +and picturesque good looks was condoned at once; his modesty +conquered where self-assertion might have provoked opposition, and +even Mrs. Peyton felt herself impelled to come forward with an +outstretched hand scarcely less frank than her husband's. Then +Clarence lifted his eyes. He saw before him the woman to whom his +childish heart had gone out with the inscrutable longing and +adoration of a motherless, homeless, companionless boy; the woman +who had absorbed the love of his playmate without sharing it with +him; who had showered her protecting and maternal caresses on Susy, +a waif like himself, yet had not only left his heart lonely and +desolate, but had even added to his childish distrust of himself the +thought that he had excited her aversion. He saw her more beautiful +than ever in her restored health, freshness of coloring, and mature +roundness of outline. He was unconsciously touched with a man's +admiration for her without losing his boyish yearnings and half- +filial affection; in her new materialistic womanhood his youthful +imagination had lifted her to a queen and goddess. There was all +this appeal in his still boyish eyes,--eyes that had never yet known +shame or fear in the expression of their emotions; there was all +this in the gesture with which he lifted Mrs. Peyton's fingers to +his lips. The little group saw in this act only a Spanish courtesy +in keeping with his accepted role. But a thrill of surprise, of +embarrassment, of intense gratification passed over her. For he had +not even looked at Susy! + +Her relenting was graceful. She welcomed him with a winning smile. +Then she motioned pleasantly towards Susy. + +"But here is an older friend, Mr. Brant, whom you do not seem to +recognize,--Susy, whom you have not seen since she was a child." + +A quick flush rose to Clarence's cheek. The group smiled at this +evident youthful confession of some boyish admiration. But Clarence +knew that his truthful blood was merely resenting the deceit his +lips were sealed from divulging. He did not dare to glance at Susy; +it added to the general amusement that the young girl was obliged to +present herself. But in this interval she had exchanged glances +with Mary Rogers, who had rejoined the group, and she knew she was +safe. She smiled with gracious condescension at Clarence; observed, +with the patronizing superiority of age and established position, +that he had GROWN, but had not greatly changed, and, it is needless +to say, again filled her mother's heart with joy. Clarence, still +intoxicated with Mrs. Peyton's kindliness, and, perhaps, still +embarrassed by remorse, had not time to remark the girl's studied +attitude. He shook hands with her cordially, and then, in the quick +reaction of youth, accepted with humorous gravity the elaborate +introduction to Mary Rogers by Susy, which completed this little +comedy. And if, with a woman's quickness, Mrs. Peyton detected a +certain lingering glance which passed between Mary Rogers and +Clarence, and misinterpreted it, it was only a part of that +mystification into which these youthful actors are apt to throw +their mature audiences. + +"Confess, Ally," said Peyton, cheerfully, as the three young people +suddenly found their tongues with aimless vivacity and inconsequent +laughter, and started with unintelligible spirits for an exploration +of the garden, "confess now that your bete noir is really a very +manly as well as a very presentable young fellow. By Jove! the +padres have made a Spanish swell out of him without spoiling the +Brant grit, either! Come, now; you're not afraid that Susy's style +will suffer from HIS companionship. 'Pon my soul, she might borrow +a little of his courtesy to his elders without indelicacy. I only +wish she had as sincere a way of showing her respect for you as he +has. Did you notice that he really didn't seem to see anybody else +but you at first? And yet you never were a friend to him, like +Susy." + +The lady tossed her head slightly, but smiled. + +"This is the first time he's seen Mary Rogers, isn't it?" she said +meditatively. + +"I reckon. But what's that to do with his politeness to you?" + +"And do her parents know him?" she continued, without replying. + +"How do I know? I suppose everybody has heard of him. Why?" + +"Because I think they've taken a fancy to each other." + +"What in the name of folly, Ally"--began the despairing Peyton. + +"When you invite a handsome, rich, and fascinating young man into +the company of young ladies, John," returned Mrs. Peyton, in her +severest manner, "you must not forget you owe a certain responsibility +to the parents. I shall certainly look after Miss Rogers." + + +CHAPTER V. + + +Although the three young people had left the veranda together, when +they reached the old garden Clarence and Susy found themselves +considerably in advance of Mary Rogers, who had become suddenly and +deeply interested in the beauty of a passion vine near the gate. At +the first discovery of their isolation their voluble exchange of +information about themselves and their occupations since their last +meeting stopped simultaneously. Clarence, who had forgotten his +momentary irritation, and had recovered his old happiness in her +presence, was nevertheless conscious of some other change in her +than that suggested by the lengthened skirt and the later and more +delicate accentuation of her prettiness. It was not her affectation +of superiority and older social experience, for that was only the +outcome of what he had found charming in her as a child, and which +he still good-humoredly accepted; nor was it her characteristic +exaggeration of speech, which he still pleasantly recognized. It +was something else, vague and indefinite,--something that had been +unnoticed while Mary was with them, but had now come between them +like some unknown presence which had taken the confidante's place. +He remained silent, looking at her half-brightening cheek and +conscious profile. Then he spoke with awkward directness. + +"You are changed, Susy, more than in looks." + +"Hush," said the girl in a tragic whisper, with a warning gesture +towards the blandly unconscious Mary. + +"But," returned Clarence wonderingly, "she's your--our friend, you +know." + +"I DON'T know," said Susy, in a still deeper tone, "that is--oh, +don't ask me! But when you're always surrounded by spies, when you +can't say your soul is your own, you doubt everybody!" There was +such a pretty distress in her violet eyes and curving eyebrows, that +Clarence, albeit vague as to its origin and particulars, +nevertheless possessed himself of the little hand that was +gesticulating dangerously near his own, and pressed it +sympathetically. Perhaps preoccupied with her emotions, she did not +immediately withdraw it, as she went on rapidly: "And if you were +cooped up here, day after day, behind these bars," pointing to the +grille, "you'd know what I suffer." + +"But"--began Clarence. + +"Hush!" said Susy, with a stamp of her little foot. + +Clarence, who had only wished to point out that the whole lower end +of the garden wall was in ruins and the grille really was no +prevention, "hushed." + +"And listen! Don't pay me much attention to-day, but talk to HER," +indicating the still discreet and distant Mary, "before father and +mother. Not a word to her of this confidence, Clarence. To-morrow +ride out alone on your beautiful horse, and come back by way of the +woods, beyond our turning, at four o'clock. There's a trail to the +right of the big madrono tree. Take that. Be careful and keep a +good lookout, for she mustn't see you." + +"Who mustn't see me?" said the puzzled Clarence. + +"Why, Mary, of course, you silly boy!" returned the girl +impatiently. "She'll be looking for ME. Go now, Clarence! Stop! +Look at that lovely big maiden's-blush up there," pointing to a +pink-suffused specimen of rose grandiflora hanging on the wall. +"Get it, Clarence,--that one,--I'll show you where,--there!" They +had already plunged into the leafy bramble, and, standing on tiptoe, +with her hand on his shoulder and head upturned, Susy's cheek had +innocently approached Clarence's own. At this moment Clarence, +possibly through some confusion of color, fragrance, or softness of +contact, seemed to have availed himself of the opportunity, in a way +which caused Susy to instantly rejoin Mary Rogers with affected +dignity, leaving him to follow a few moments later with the captured +flower. + +Without trying to understand the reason of to-morrow's rendezvous, +and perhaps not altogether convinced of the reality of Susy's +troubles, he, however, did not find that difficulty in carrying out +her other commands which he had expected. Mrs. Peyton was still +gracious, and, with feminine tact, induced him to talk of himself, +until she was presently in possession of his whole history, barring +the episode of his meeting with Susy, since he had parted with them. +He felt a strange satisfaction in familiarly pouring out his +confidences to this superior woman, whom he had always held in awe. +There was a new delight in her womanly interest in his trials and +adventures, and a subtle pleasure even in her half-motherly +criticism and admonition of some passages. I am afraid he forgot +Susy, who listened with the complacency of an exhibitor; Mary, whose +black eyes dilated alternately with sympathy for the performer and +deprecation of Mrs. Peyton's critical glances; and Peyton, who, +however, seemed lost in thought, and preoccupied. Clarence was +happy. The softly shaded lights in the broad, spacious, comfortably +furnished drawing-room shone on the group before him. It was a +picture of refined domesticity which the homeless Clarence had never +known except as a vague, half-painful, boyish remembrance; it was a +realization of welcome that far exceeded his wildest boyish vision +of the preceding night. With that recollection came another,--a +more uneasy one. He remembered how that vision had been interrupted +by the strange voices in the road, and their vague but ominous +import to his host. A feeling of self-reproach came over him. The +threats had impressed him as only mere braggadocio,--he knew the +characteristic exaggeration of the race,--but perhaps he ought to +privately tell Peyton of the incident at once. + +The opportunity came later, when the ladies had retired, and Peyton, +wrapped in a poncho in a rocking-chair, on the now chilly veranda, +looked up from his reverie and a cigar. Clarence casually +introduced the incident, as if only for the sake of describing the +supernatural effect of the hidden voices, but he was concerned to +see that Peyton was considerably disturbed by their more material +import. After questioning him as to the appearance of the two men, +his host said: "I don't mind telling you, Clarence, that as far as +that fellow's intentions go he is quite sincere, although his +threats are only borrowed thunder. He is a man whom I have just +dismissed for carelessness and insolence,--two things that run in +double harness in this country,--but I should be more afraid to find +him at my back on a dark night, alone on the plains; than to +confront him in daylight, in the witness box, against me. He was +only repeating a silly rumor that the title to this rancho and the +nine square leagues beyond would be attacked by some speculators." + +"But I thought your title was confirmed two years ago," said +Clarence. + +"The GRANT was confirmed," returned Peyton, "which means that the +conveyance of the Mexican government of these lands to the ancestor +of Victor Robles was held to be legally proven by the United States +Land Commission, and a patent issued to all those who held under it. +I and my neighbors hold under it by purchase from Victor Robles, +subject to the confirmation of the Land Commission. But that +confirmation was only of Victor's GREAT-GRANDFATHER'S TITLE, and it +is now alleged that as Victor's father died without making a will, +Victor has claimed and disposed of property which he ought to have +divided with his SISTERS. At least, some speculating rascals in San +Francisco have set up what they call 'the Sisters' title,' and are +selling it to actual settlers on the unoccupied lands beyond. As, +by the law, it would hold possession against the mere ordinary +squatters, whose only right is based, as you know, on the +presumption that there is NO TITLE CLAIMED, it gives the possessor +immunity to enjoy the use of the property until the case is decided, +and even should the original title hold good against his, the +successful litigant would probably be willing to pay for +improvements and possession to save the expensive and tedious +process of ejectment." + +"But this does not affect YOU, who have already possession?" said +Clarence quickly. + +"No, not as far as THIS HOUSE and the lands I actually OCCUPY AND +CULTIVATE are concerned; and they know that I am safe to fight to +the last, and carry the case to the Supreme Court in that case, +until the swindle is exposed, or they drop it; but I may have to pay +them something to keep the squatters off my UNOCCUPIED land." + +"But you surely wouldn't recognize those rascals in any way?" said +the astonished Clarence. + +"As against other rascals? Why not?" returned Peyton grimly. "I +only pay for the possession which their sham title gives me to my +own land. If by accident that title obtains, I am still on the safe +side." After a pause he said, more gravely, "What you overheard, +Clarence, shows me that the plan is more forward than I had +imagined, and that I may have to fight traitors here." + +"I hope, sir," said Clarence, with a quick glow in his earnest face, +"that you'll let me help you. You thought I did once, you +remember,--with the Indians." + +There was so much of the old Clarence in his boyish appeal and +eager, questioning face that Peyton, who had been talking to him as +a younger but equal man of affairs, was startled into a smile, "You +did, Clarence, though the Indians butchered your friends, after all. +I don't know, though, but that your experiences with those +Spaniards--you must have known a lot of them when you were with Don +Juan Robinson and at the college--might be of service in getting at +evidence, or smashing their witnesses if it comes to a fight. But +just now, MONEY is everything. They must be bought OFF THE LAND if +I have to mortgage it for the purpose. That strikes you as a rather +heroic remedy, Clarence, eh?" he continued, in his old, half- +bantering attitude towards Clarence's inexperienced youth, "don't it?" + +But Clarence was not thinking of that. Another more audacious but +equally youthful and enthusiastic idea had taken possession of his +mind, and he lay awake half that night revolving it. It was true +that it was somewhat impractically mixed with his visions of Mrs. +Peyton and Susy, and even included his previous scheme of relief for +the improvident and incorrigible Hooker. But it gave a wonderful +sincerity and happiness to his slumbers that night, which the wiser +and elder Peyton might have envied, and I wot not was in the long +run as correct and sagacious as Peyton's sleepless cogitations. And +in the early morning Mr. Clarence Brant, the young capitalist, sat +down to his traveling-desk and wrote two clear-headed, logical, and +practical business letters,--one to his banker, and the other to his +former guardian, Don Juan Robinson, as his first step in a resolve +that was, nevertheless, perhaps as wildly quixotic and enthusiastic +as any dream his boyish and unselfish heart had ever indulged. + +At breakfast, in the charmed freedom of the domestic circle, +Clarence forgot Susy's capricious commands of yesterday, and began +to address himself to her in his old earnest fashion, until he was +warned by a significant knitting of the young lady's brows and +monosyllabic responses. But in his youthful loyalty to Mrs. Peyton, +he was more pained to notice Susy's occasional unconscious +indifference to her adopted mother's affectionate expression, and a +more conscious disregard of her wishes. So uneasy did he become, in +his sensitive concern for Mrs. Peyton's half-concealed +mortification, that he gladly accepted Peyton's offer to go with him +to visit the farm and corral. As the afternoon approached, with +another twinge of self-reproach, he was obliged to invent some +excuse to decline certain hospitable plans of Mrs. Peyton's for his +entertainment, and at half past three stole somewhat guiltily, with +his horse, from the stables. But he had to pass before the outer +wall of the garden and grille, through which he had seen Mary the +day before. Raising his eyes mechanically, he was startled to see +Mrs. Peyton standing behind the grating, with her abstracted gaze +fixed upon the wind-tossed, level grain beyond her. She smiled as +she saw him, but there were traces of tears in her proud, handsome +eyes. + +"You are going to ride?" she said pleasantly. + +"Y-e-es," stammered the shamefaced Clarence. + +She glanced at him wistfully. + +"You are right. The girls have gone away by themselves. Mr. Peyton +has ridden over to Santa Inez on this dreadful land business, and I +suppose you'd have found him a dull riding companion. It is rather +stupid here. I quite envy you, Mr. Brant, your horse and your +freedom." + +"But, Mrs. Peyton," broke in Clarence, impulsively, "you have a +horse--I saw it, a lovely lady's horse--eating its head off in the +stable. Won't you let me run back and order it; and won't you, +please, come out with me for a good, long gallop?" + +He meant what he said. He had spoken quickly, impulsively, but with +the perfect understanding in his own mind that his proposition meant +the complete abandonment of his rendezvous with Susy. Mrs. Peyton +was astounded and slightly stirred with his earnestness, albeit +unaware of all it implied. + +"It's a great temptation, Mr. Brant," she said, with a playful +smile, which dazzled Clarence with its first faint suggestion of a +refined woman's coquetry; "but I'm afraid that Mr. Peyton would +think me going mad in my old age. No. Go on and enjoy your gallop, +and if you should see those giddy girls anywhere, send them home +early for chocolate, before the cold wind gets up." + +She turned, waved her slim white hand playfully in acknowledgment of +Clarence's bared head, and moved away. + +For the first few moments the young man tried to find relief in +furious riding, and in bullying his spirited horse. Then he pulled +quickly up. What was he doing? What was he going to do? What +foolish, vapid deceit was this that he was going to practice upon +that noble, queenly, confiding, generous woman? (He had already +forgotten that she had always distrusted him.) What a fool he was +not to tell her half-jokingly that he expected to meet Susy! But +would he have dared to talk half-jokingly to such a woman on such a +topic? And would it have been honorable without disclosing the +WHOLE truth,--that they had met secretly before? And was it fair to +Susy?--dear, innocent, childish Susy! Yet something must be done! +It was such trivial, purposeless deceit, after all; for this noble +woman, Mrs. Peyton, so kind, so gentle, would never object to his +loving Susy and marrying her. And they would all live happily +together; and Mrs. Peyton would never be separated from them, but +always beaming tenderly upon them as she did just now in the garden. +Yes, he would have a serious understanding with Susy, and that would +excuse the clandestine meeting to-day. + +His rapid pace, meantime, had brought him to the imperceptible +incline of the terrace, and he was astonished, in turning in the +saddle, to find that the casa, corral, and outbuildings had +completely vanished, and that behind him rolled only the long sea of +grain, which seemed to have swallowed them in its yellowing depths. +Before him lay the wooded ravine through which the stagecoach +passed, which was also the entrance to the rancho, and there, too, +probably, was the turning of which Susy had spoken. But it was +still early for the rendezvous; indeed, he was in no hurry to meet +her in his present discontented state, and he made a listless +circuit of the field, in the hope of discovering the phenomena that +had caused the rancho's mysterious disappearance. When he had found +that it was the effect of the different levels, his attention was +arrested by a multitude of moving objects in a still more distant +field, which proved to be a band of wild horses. In and out among +them, circling aimlessly, as it seemed to him, appeared two horsemen +apparently performing some mystic evolution. To add to their +singular performance, from time to time one of the flying herd, +driven by the horsemen far beyond the circle of its companions, +dropped suddenly and unaccountably in full career. The field closed +over it as if it had been swallowed up. In a few moments it +appeared again, trotting peacefully behind its former pursuer. It +was some time before Clarence grasped the meaning of this strange +spectacle. Although the clear, dry atmosphere sharply accented the +silhouette-like outlines of the men and horses, so great was the +distance that the slender forty-foot lasso, which in the skillful +hands of the horsemen had effected these captures, was COMPLETELY +INVISIBLE! The horsemen were Peyton's vacqueros, making a selection +from the young horses for the market. He remembered now that Peyton +had told him that he might be obliged to raise money by sacrificing +some of his stock, and the thought brought back Clarence's +uneasiness as he turned again to the trail. Indeed, he was hardly +in the vein for a gentle tryst, as he entered the wooded ravine to +seek the madrono tree which was to serve as a guide to his lady's +bower. + +A few rods further, under the cool vault filled with woodland +spicing, he came upon it. In its summer harlequin dress of scarlet +and green, with hanging bells of poly-tinted berries, like some +personified sylvan Folly, it seemed a fitting symbol of Susy's +childish masquerade of passion. Its bizarre beauty, so opposed to +the sober gravity of the sedate pines and hemlocks, made it an +unmistakable landmark. Here he dismounted and picketed his horse. +And here, beside it, to the right, ran the little trail crawling +over mossy boulders; a narrow yellow track through the carpet of +pine needles between the closest file of trees; an almost +imperceptible streak across pools of chickweed at their roots, and a +brown and ragged swath through the ferns. As he went on, the +anxiety and uneasiness that had possessed him gave way to a languid +intoxication of the senses; the mysterious seclusion of these +woodland depths recovered the old influence they had exerted over +his boyhood. He was not returning to Susy, as much as to the older +love of his youth, of which she was, perhaps, only an incident. It +was therefore with an odd boyish thrill again that, coming suddenly +upon a little hollow, like a deserted nest, where the lost trail +made him hesitate, he heard the crackle of a starched skirt behind +him, was conscious of the subtle odor of freshly ironed and scented +muslin, and felt the gentle pressure of delicate fingers upon his +eyes. + +"Susy!" + +"You silly boy! Where were you blundering to? Why didn't you look +around you?" + +"I thought I would hear your voices." + +"Whose voices, idiot?" + +"Yours and Mary's," returned Clarence innocently, looking round for +the confidante. + +"Oh, indeed! Then you wanted to see MARY? Well, she's looking for +me somewhere. Perhaps you'll go and find her, or shall I?" + +She was offering to pass him when he laid his hand on hers to detain +her. She instantly evaded it, and drew herself up to her full +height, incontestably displaying the dignity of the added inches to +her skirt. All this was charmingly like the old Susy, but it did +not bid fair to help him to a serious interview. And, looking at +the pretty, pink, mocking face before him, with the witchery of the +woodland still upon him, he began to think that he had better put it +off. + +"Never mind about Mary," he said laughingly. "But you said you +wanted to see me, Susy; and here I am." + +"Said I wanted to see you?" repeated Susy, with her blue eyes lifted +in celestial scorn and wonderment. "Said I wanted to see you? Are +you not mistaken, Mr. Brant? Really, I imagined that you came here +to see ME." + +With her fair head upturned, and the leaf of her scarlet lip +temptingly curled over, Clarence began to think this latest phase of +her extravagance the most fascinating. He drew nearer to her as he +said gently, "You know what I mean, Susy. You said yesterday you +were troubled. I thought you might have something to tell me." + +"I should think it was YOU who might have something to tell me after +all these years," she said poutingly, yet self-possessed. "But I +suppose you came here only to see Mary and mother. I'm sure you let +them know that plainly enough last evening." + +"But you said"--began the stupefied Clarence. + +"Never mind what I said. It's always what I say, never what YOU +say; and you don't say anything." + +The woodland influence must have been still very strong upon +Clarence that he did not discover in all this that, while Susy's +general capriciousness was unchanged, there was a new and singular +insincerity in her manifest acting. She was either concealing the +existence of some other real emotion, or assuming one that was +absent. But he did not notice it, and only replied tenderly:-- + +"But I want to say a great deal to you, Susy. I want to say that if +you still feel as I do, and as I have always felt, and you think you +could be happy as I would be if--if--we could be always together, we +need not conceal it from your mother and father any longer. I am +old enough to speak for myself, and I am my own master. Your mother +has been very kind to me,--so kind that it doesn't seem quite right +to deceive her,--and when I tell her that I love you, and that I +want you to be my wife, I believe she will give us her blessing." + +Susy uttered a strange little laugh, and with an assumption of +coyness, that was, however, still affected, stooped to pick a few +berries from a manzanita bush. + +"I'll tell you what she'll say, Clarence. She'll say you're +frightfully young, and so you are!" + +The young fellow tried to echo the laugh, but felt as if he had +received a blow. For the first time he was conscious of the truth: +this girl, whom he had fondly regarded as a child, had already +passed him in the race; she had become a woman before he was yet a +man, and now stood before him, maturer in her knowledge, and older +in her understanding, of herself and of him. This was the change +that had perplexed him; this was the presence that had come between +them,--a Susy he had never known before. + +She laughed at his changed expression, and then swung herself easily +to a sitting posture on the low projecting branch of a hemlock. The +act was still girlish, but, nevertheless, she looked down upon him +in a superior, patronizing way. "Now, Clarence," she said, with a +half-abstracted manner, "don't you be a big fool! If you talk that +way to mother, she'll only tell you to wait two or three years until +you know your own mind, and she'll pack me off to that horrid school +again, besides watching me like a cat every moment you are here. If +you want to stay here, and see me sometimes like this, you'll just +behave as you have done, and say nothing. Do you see? Perhaps you +don't care to come, or are satisfied with Mary and mother. Say so, +then. Goodness knows, I don't want to force you to come here." + +Modest and reserved as Clarence was generally, I fear that +bashfulness of approach to the other sex was not one of these +indications. He walked up to Susy with appalling directness, and +passed his arm around her waist. She did not move, but remained +looking at him and his intruding arm with a certain critical +curiosity, as if awaiting some novel sensation. At which he kissed +her. She then slowly disengaged his arm, and said:-- + +"Really, upon my word, Clarence," in perfectly level tones, and +slipped quietly to the ground. + +He again caught her in his arms, encircling her disarranged hair and +part of the beribboned hat hanging over her shoulder, and remained +for an instant holding her thus silently and tenderly. Then she +freed herself with an abstracted air, a half smile, and an unchanged +color except where her soft cheek had been abraded by his coat +collar. + +"You're a bold, rude boy, Clarence," she said, putting back her hair +quietly, and straightening the brim of her hat. "Heaven knows where +you learned manners!" and then, from a safer distance, with the same +critical look in her violet eyes, "I suppose you think mother would +allow THAT if she knew it?" + +But Clarence, now completely subjugated, with the memory of the kiss +upon him and a heightened color, protested that he only wanted to +make their intercourse less constrained, and to have their +relations, even their engagement, recognized by her parents; still +he would take her advice. Only there was always the danger that if +they were discovered she would be sent back to the convent all the +same, and his banishment, instead of being the probation of a few +years, would be a perpetual separation. + +"We could always run away, Clarence," responded the young girl +calmly. "There's nothing the matter with THAT." + +Clarence was startled. The idea of desolating the sad, proud, +handsome Mrs. Peyton, whom he worshiped, and her kind husband, whom +he was just about to serve, was so grotesque and confusing, that he +said hopelessly, "Yes." + +"Of course," she continued, with the same odd affectation of +coyness, which was, however, distinctly uncalled for, as she eyed +him from under her broad hat, "you needn't come with me unless you +like. I can run away by myself,--if I want to! I've thought of it +before. One can't stand everything!" + +"But, Susy," said Clarence, with a swift remorseful recollection of +her confidence yesterday, "is there really anything troubles you? +Tell me, dear. What is it?" + +"Oh, nothing--EVERYTHING! It's no use,--YOU can't understand! YOU +like it, I know you do. I can see it; it's your style. But it's +stupid, it's awful, Clarence! With mamma snooping over you and +around you all day, with her 'dear child,' 'mamma's pet,' and 'What +is it, dear?' and 'Tell it all to your own mamma,' as if I would! +And 'my own mamma,' indeed! As if I didn't know, Clarence, that she +ISN'T. And papa, caring for nothing but this hideous, dreary +rancho, and the huge, empty plains. It's worse than school, for +there, at least, when you went out, you could see something besides +cattle and horses and yellow-faced half-breeds! But here--Lord! +it's only a wonder I haven't run away before!" + +Startled and shocked as Clarence was at this revelation, accompanied +as it was by a hardness of manner that was new to him, the influence +of the young girl was still so strong upon him that he tried to +evade it as only an extravagance, and said with a faint smile, "But +where would you run to?" + +She looked at him cunningly, with her head on one side, and then +said:-- + +"I have friends, and"-- + +She hesitated, pursing up her pretty lips. + +"And what?" + +"Relations." + +"Relations?" + +"Yes,--an aunt by marriage. She lives in Sacramento. She'd be +overjoyed to have me come to her. Her second husband has a theatre +there." + +"But, Susy, what does Mrs. Peyton know of this?" + +"Nothing. Do you think I'd tell her, and have her buy them up as +she has my other relations? Do you suppose I don't know that I've +been bought up like a nigger?" + +She looked indignant, compressing her delicate little nostrils, and +yet, somehow, Clarence had the same singular impression that she was +only acting. + +The calling of a far-off voice came faintly through the wood. + +"That's Mary, looking for me," said Susy composedly. "You must go, +now, Clarence. Quick! Remember what I said,--and don't breathe a +word of this. Good-by." + +But Clarence was standing still, breathless, hopelessly disturbed, +and irresolute. Then he turned away mechanically towards the trail. + +"Well, Clarence?" + +She was looking at him half reproachfully, half coquettishly, with +smiling, parted lips. He hastened to forget himself and his +troubles upon them twice and thrice. Then she quickly disengaged +herself, whispered, "Go, now," and, as Mary's call was repeated, +Clarence heard her voice, high and clear, answering, "Here, dear," +as he was plunging into the thicket. + +He had scarcely reached the madrono tree again and remounted his +horse, before he heard the sound of hoofs approaching from the road. +In his present uneasiness he did not care to be discovered so near +the rendezvous, and drew back into the shadow until the horseman +should pass. It was Peyton, with a somewhat disturbed face, riding +rapidly. Still less was he inclined to join or immediately follow +him, but he was relieved when his host, instead of taking the direct +road to the rancho, through the wild oats, turned off in the +direction of the corral. + +A moment later Clarence wheeled into the direct road, and presently +found himself in the long afternoon shadows through the thickest of +the grain. He was riding slowly, immersed in thought, when he was +suddenly startled by a hissing noise at his ear, and what seemed to +be the uncoiling stroke of a leaping serpent at his side. +Instinctively he threw himself forward on his horse's neck, and as +the animal shied into the grain, felt the crawling scrape and jerk +of a horsehair lariat across his back and down his horse's flanks. +He reined in indignantly and stood up in his stirrups. Nothing was +to be seen above the level of the grain. Beneath him the trailing +riata had as noiselessly vanished as if it had been indeed a gliding +snake. Had he been the victim of a practical joke, or of the +blunder of some stupid vacquero? For he made no doubt that it was +the lasso of one of the performers he had watched that afternoon. +But his preoccupied mind did not dwell long upon it, and by the time +he had reached the wall of the old garden, the incident was +forgotten. + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +Relieved of Clarence Brant's embarrassing presence, Jim Hooker did +not, however, refuse to avail himself of that opportunity to expound +to the farmer and his family the immense wealth, influence, and +importance of the friend who had just left him. Although Clarence's +plan had suggested reticence, Hooker could not forego the pleasure +of informing them that "Clar" Brant had just offered to let him into +an extensive land speculation. He had previously declined a large +share or original location in a mine of Clarence's, now worth a +million, because it was not "his style." But the land speculation +in a country of unsettled titles and lawless men, he need not remind +them, required some experience of border warfare. He would not say +positively, although he left them to draw their own conclusions with +gloomy significance, that this was why Clarence had sought him. +With this dark suggestion, he took leave of Mr. and Mrs. Hopkins and +their daughter Phoebe the next day, not without some natural human +emotion, and peacefully drove his team and wagon into the settlement +of Fair Plains. + +He was not prepared, however, for a sudden realization of his +imaginative prospects. A few days after his arrival in Fair Plains, +he received a letter from Clarence, explaining that he had not time +to return to Hooker to consult him, but had, nevertheless, fulfilled +his promise, by taking advantage of an opportunity of purchasing the +Spanish "Sisters'" title to certain unoccupied lands near the +settlement. As these lands in part joined the section already +preempted and occupied by Hopkins, Clarence thought that Jim Hooker +would choose that part for the sake of his neighbor's company. He +inclosed a draft on San Francisco, for a sum sufficient to enable +Jim to put up a cabin and "stock" the property, which he begged he +would consider in the light of a loan, to be paid back in +installments, only when the property could afford it. At the same +time, if Jim was in difficulty, he was to inform him. The letter +closed with a characteristic Clarence-like mingling of enthusiasm +and older wisdom. "I wish you luck, Jim, but I see no reason why +you should trust to it. I don't know of anything that could keep +you from making yourself independent of any one, if you go to work +with a LONG AIM and don't fritter away your chances on short ones. +If I were you, old fellow, I'd drop the Plains and the Indians out +of my thoughts, or at least out of my TALK, for a while; they won't +help you in the long run. The people who believe you will be +jealous of you; those who don't, will look down upon you, and if +they get to questioning your little Indian romances, Jim, they'll be +apt to question your civilized facts. That won't help you in the +ranching business and that's your only real grip now." For the +space of two or three hours after this, Jim was reasonably grateful +and even subdued,--so much so that his employer, to whom he confided +his good fortune, frankly confessed that he believed him from that +unusual fact alone. Unfortunately, neither the practical lesson +conveyed in this grim admission, nor the sentiment of gratitude, +remained long with Jim. Another idea had taken possession of his +fancy. Although the land nominated in his bill of sale had been, +except on the occasion of his own temporary halt there, always +unoccupied, unsought, and unclaimed, and although he was amply +protected by legal certificates, he gravely collected a posse of +three or four idlers from Fair Plains, armed them at his own +expense, and in the dead of night took belligerent and forcible +possession of the peaceful domain which the weak generosity and +unheroic dollars of Clarence had purchased for him! A martial camp- +fire tempered the chill night winds to the pulses of the invaders, +and enabled them to sleep on their arms in the field they had won. +The morning sun revealed to the astonished Hopkins family the +embattled plain beyond, with its armed sentries. Only then did Jim +hooker condescend to explain the reason of his warlike occupation, +with dark hints of the outlying "squatters" and "jumpers," whose +incursions their boldness alone had repulsed. The effect of this +romantic situation upon the two women, with the slight fascination +of danger imported into their quiet lives, may well be imagined. +Possibly owing to some incautious questioning by Mr. Hopkins, and +some doubts of the discipline and sincerity of his posse, Jim +discharged them the next day; but during the erection of his cabin +by some peaceful carpenters from the settlement, he returned to his +gloomy preoccupation and the ostentatious wearing of his revolvers. +As an opulent and powerful neighbor, he took his meals with the +family while his house was being built, and generally impressed them +with a sense of security they had never missed. + +Meantime, Clarence, duly informed of the installation of Jim as his +tenant, underwent a severe trial. It was necessary for his plans +that this should be kept a secret at present, and this was no easy +thing for his habitually frank and open nature. He had once +mentioned that he had met Jim at the settlement, but the information +was received with such indifference by Susy, and such marked +disfavor by Mrs. Peyton, that he said no more. He accompanied +Peyton in his rides around the rancho, fully possessed himself of +the details of its boundaries, the debatable lands held by the +enemy, and listened with beating pulses, but a hushed tongue, to his +host's ill-concealed misgivings. + +"You see, Clarence, that lower terrace?" he said, pointing to a far- +reaching longitudinal plain beyond the corral; "it extends from my +corral to Fair Plains. That is claimed by the sisters' title, and, +as things appear to be going, if a division of the land is made it +will be theirs. It's bad enough to have this best grazing land +lying just on the flanks of the corral held by these rascals at an +absurd prohibitory price, but I am afraid that it may be made to +mean something even worse. According to the old surveys, these +terraces on different levels were the natural divisions of the +property,--one heir or his tenant taking one, and another taking +another,--an easy distinction that saved the necessity of boundary +fencing or monuments, and gave no trouble to people who were either +kinsmen or lived in lazy patriarchal concord. That is the form of +division they are trying to reestablish now. Well," he continued, +suddenly lifting his eyes to the young man's flushed face, in some +unconscious, sympathetic response to his earnest breathlessness, +"although my boundary line extends half a mile into that field, my +house and garden and corral ARE ACTUALLY UPON THAT TERRACE OR +LEVEL." They certainly appeared to Clarence to be on the same line +as the long field beyond. "If," went on Peyton, "such a decision is +made, these men will push on and claim the house and everything on +the terrace." + +"But," said Clarence quickly, "you said their title was only +valuable where they have got or can give POSSESSION. You already +have yours. They can't take it from you except by force." + +"No," said Peyton grimly, "nor will they dare to do it as long as I +live to fight them." + +"But," persisted Clarence, with the same singular hesitancy of +manner, "why didn't you purchase possession of at least that part of +the land which lies so dangerously near your own house?" + +"Because it was held by squatters, who naturally preferred buying +what might prove a legal title to their land from these impostors +than to sell out their possession to ME at a fair price." + +"But couldn't you have bought from them both?" continued Clarence. + +"My dear Clarence, I am not a Croesus nor a fool. Only a man who +was both would attempt to treat with these rascals, who would now, +of course, insist that THEIR WHOLE claim should be bought up at +their own price, by the man who was most concerned in defeating +them." + +He turned away a little impatiently. Fortunately he did not observe +that Clarence's averted face was crimson with embarrassment, and +that a faint smile hovered nervously about his mouth. + +Since his late rendezvous with Susy, Clarence had had no chance to +interrogate her further regarding her mysterious relative. That +that shadowy presence was more or less exaggerated, if not an +absolute myth, he more than half suspected, but of the discontent +that had produced it, or the recklessness it might provoke, there +was no doubt. She might be tempted to some act of folly. He +wondered if Mary Rogers knew it. Yet, with his sensitive ideas of +loyalty, he would have shrunk from any confidence with Mary +regarding her friend's secrets, although he fancied that Mary's dark +eyes sometimes dwelt upon him with mournful consciousness and +premonition. He did not imagine the truth, that this romantic +contemplation was only the result of Mary's conviction that Susy was +utterly unworthy of his love. It so chanced one morning that the +vacquero who brought the post from Santa Inez arrived earlier than +usual, and so anticipated the two girls, who usually made a youthful +point of meeting him first as he passed the garden wall. The letter +bag was consequently delivered to Mrs. Peyton in the presence of the +others, and a look of consternation passed between the young girls. +But Mary quickly seized upon the bag as if with girlish and +mischievous impatience, opened it, and glanced within it. + +"There are only three letters for you," she said, handing them to +Clarence, with a quick look of significance, which he failed to +comprehend, "and nothing for me or Susy." + +"But," began the innocent Clarence, as his first glance at the +letters showed him that one was directed to Susy, "here is"-- + +A wicked pinch on his arm that was nearest Mary stopped his speech, +and he quickly put the letters in his pocket. + +"Didn't you understand that Susy don't want her mother to see that +letter?" asked Mary impatiently, when they were alone a moment +later. + +"No," said Clarence simply, handing her the missive. + +Mary took it and turned it over in her hands. + +"It's in a man's handwriting," she said innocently. + +"I hadn't noticed it," returned Clarence with invincible naivete, +"but perhaps it is." + +"And you hand it over for me to give to Susy, and ain't a bit +curious to know who it's from?" + +"No," returned Clarence, opening his big eyes in smiling and +apologetic wonder. + +"Well," responded the young lady, with a long breath of melancholy +astonishment, "certainly, of all things you are--you really ARE!" +With which incoherency--apparently perfectly intelligible to +herself--she left him. She had not herself the slightest idea who +the letter was from; she only knew that Susy wanted it concealed. + +The incident made little impression on Clarence, except as part of +the general uneasiness he felt in regard to his old playmate. It +seemed so odd to him that this worry should come from HER,--that she +herself should form the one discordant note in the Arcadian dream +that he had found so sweet; in his previous imaginings it was the +presence of Mrs. Peyton which he had dreaded; she whose propinquity +now seemed so full of gentleness, reassurance, and repose. How +worthy she seemed of any sacrifice he could make for her! He had +seen little of her for the last two or three days, although her +smile and greeting were always ready for him. Poor Clarence did not +dream that she had found from certain incontestable signs and +tokens, both in the young ladies and himself, that he did not +require watching, and that becoming more resigned to Susy's +indifference, which seemed so general and passive in quality, she +was no longer tortured by the sting of jealousy. + +Finding himself alone that afternoon, the young man had wandered +somewhat listlessly beyond the low adobe gateway. The habits of the +siesta obtained in a modified form at the rancho. After luncheon, +its masters and employees usually retired, not so much from the +torrid heat of the afternoon sun, but from the first harrying of the +afternoon trades, whose monotonous whistle swept round the walls. A +straggling passion vine near the gate beat and struggled against the +wind. Clarence had stopped near it, and was gazing with worried +abstraction across the tossing fields, when a soft voice called his +name. + +It was a pleasant voice,--Mrs. Peyton's. He glanced back at the +gateway; it was empty. He looked quickly to the right and left; no +one was there. + +The voice spoke again with the musical addition of a laugh; it +seemed to come from the passion vine. Ah, yes; behind it, and half +overgrown by its branches, was a long, narrow embrasured opening in +the wall, defended by the usual Spanish grating, and still further +back, as in the frame of a picture, the half length figure of Mrs. +Peyton, very handsome and striking, too, with a painted +picturesqueness from the effect of the checkered light and shade. + +"You looked so tired and bored out there," she said. "I am afraid +you are finding it very dull at the rancho. The prospect is +certainly not very enlivening from where you stand." + +Clarence protested with a visible pleasure in his eyes, as he held +back a spray before the opening. + +"If you are not afraid of being worse bored, come in here and talk +with me. You have never seen this part of the house, I think,--my +own sitting-room. You reach it from the hall in the gallery. But +Lola or Anita will show you the way." + +He reentered the gateway, and quickly found the hall,--a narrow, +arched passage, whose black, tunnel-like shadows were absolutely +unaffected by the vivid, colorless glare of the courtyard without, +seen through an opening at the end. The contrast was sharp, +blinding, and distinct; even the edges of the opening were black; +the outer light halted on the threshold and never penetrated within. +The warm odor of verbena and dried rose leaves stole from a half- +open door somewhere in the cloistered gloom. Guided by it, Clarence +presently found himself on the threshold of a low-vaulted room. Two +other narrow embrasured windows like the one he had just seen, and a +fourth, wider latticed casement, hung with gauze curtains, suffused +the apartment with a clear, yet mysterious twilight that seemed its +own. The gloomy walls were warmed by bright-fringed bookshelves, +topped with trifles of light feminine coloring and adornment. Low +easy-chairs and a lounge, small fanciful tables, a dainty desk, +gayly colored baskets of worsteds or mysterious kaleidoscopic +fragments, and vases of flowers pervaded the apartment with a +mingled sense of grace and comfort. There was a womanly refinement +in its careless negligence, and even the delicate wrapper of +Japanese silk, gathered at the waist and falling in easy folds to +the feet of the graceful mistress of this charming disorder, looked +a part of its refined abandonment. + +Clarence hesitated as on the threshold of some sacred shrine. But +Mrs. Peyton, with her own hands, cleared a space for him on the +lounge. + +"You will easily suspect from all this disorder, Mr. Brant, that I +spend a greater part of my time here, and that I seldom see much +company. Mr. Peyton occasionally comes in long enough to stumble +over a footstool or upset a vase, and I think Mary and Susy avoid it +from a firm conviction that there is work concealed in these +baskets. But I have my books here, and in the afternoons, behind +these thick walls, one forgets the incessant stir and restlessness +of the dreadful winds outside. Just now you were foolish enough to +tempt them while you were nervous, or worried, or listless. Take my +word for it, it's a great mistake. There is no more use fighting +them, as I tell Mr. Peyton, than of fighting the people born under +them. I have my own opinion that these winds were sent only to stir +this lazy race of mongrels into activity, but they are enough to +drive us Anglo-Saxons into nervous frenzy. Don't you think so? But +you are young and energetic, and perhaps you are not affected by +them." + +She spoke pleasantly and playfully, yet with a certain nervous +tension of voice and manner that seemed to illustrate her theory. +At least, Clarence, in quick sympathy with her slightest emotion, +was touched by it. There is no more insidious attraction in the +persons we admire, than the belief that we know and understand their +unhappiness, and that our admiration for them is lifted higher than +a mere mutual instinctive sympathy with beauty or strength. This +adorable woman had suffered. The very thought aroused his chivalry. +It loosened, also, I fear, his quick, impulsive tongue. + +Oh, yes; he knew it. He had lived under this whip of air and sky +for three years, alone in a Spanish rancho, with only the native +peons around him, and scarcely speaking his own tongue even to his +guardian. He spent his mornings on horseback in fields like these, +until the vientos generales, as they called them, sprang up and +drove him nearly frantic; and his only relief was to bury himself +among the books in his guardian's library, and shut out the world,-- +just as she did. The smile which hovered around the lady's mouth at +that moment arrested Clarence, with a quick remembrance of their +former relative positions, and a sudden conviction of his +familiarity in suggesting an equality of experience, and he blushed. +But Mrs. Peyton diverted his embarrassment with an air of interested +absorption in his story, and said:-- + +"Then you know these people thoroughly, Mr. Brant? I am afraid that +WE do not." + +Clarence had already gathered that fact within the last few days, +and, with his usual impulsive directness, said so. A slight +knitting of Mrs. Peyton's brows passed off, however, as he quickly +and earnestly went on to say that it was impossible for the Peytons +in their present relations to the natives to judge them, or to be +judged by them fairly. How they were a childlike race, credulous +and trustful, but, like all credulous and trustful people, given to +retaliate when imposed upon with a larger insincerity, exaggeration, +and treachery. How they had seen their houses and lands occupied by +strangers, their religion scorned, their customs derided, their +patriarchal society invaded by hollow civilization or frontier +brutality--all this fortified by incident and illustration, the +outcome of some youthful experience, and given with the glowing +enthusiasm of conviction. Mrs. Peyton listened with the usual +divided feminine interest between subject and speaker. + +Where did this rough, sullen boy--as she had known him--pick up this +delicate and swift perception, this reflective judgment, and this +odd felicity of expression? It was not possible that it was in him +while he was the companion of her husband's servants or the +recognized "chum" of the scamp Hooker. No. But if HE could have +changed like this, why not Susy? Mrs. Peyton, in the conservatism +of her sex, had never been quite free from fears of her adopted +daughter's hereditary instincts; but, with this example before her, +she now took heart. Perhaps the change was coming slowly; perhaps +even now what she thought was indifference and coldness was only +some abnormal preparation or condition. But she only smiled and +said:-- + +"Then, if you think those people have been wronged, you are not on +our side, Mr. Brant?" + +What to an older and more worldly man would have seemed, and +probably was, only a playful reproach, struck Clarence deeply, and +brought his pent-up feelings to his lips. + +"YOU have never wronged them. You couldn't do it; it isn't in your +nature. I am on YOUR side, and for you and yours always, Mrs. +Peyton. From the first time I saw you on the plains, when I was +brought, a ragged boy, before you by your husband, I think I would +gladly have laid down my life for you. I don't mind telling you now +that I was even jealous of poor Susy, so anxious was I for the +smallest share in your thoughts, if only for a moment. You could +have done anything with me you wished, and I should have been +happy,--far happier than I have been ever since. I tell you this, +Mrs. Peyton, now, because you have just doubted if I might be 'on +your side,' but I have been longing to tell it all to you before, +and it is that I am ready to do anything you want,--all you want,-- +to be on YOUR SIDE and at YOUR SIDE, now and forever." + +He was so earnest and hearty, and above all so appallingly and +blissfully happy, in this relief of his feelings, smiling as if it +were the most natural thing in the world, and so absurdly +unconscious of his twenty-two years, his little brown curling +mustache, the fire in his wistful, yearning eyes, and, above all, of +his clasped hands and lover-like attitude, that Mrs. Peyton--at +first rigid as stone, then suffused to the eyes--cast a hasty glance +round the apartment, put her handkerchief to her face, and laughed +like a girl. + +At which Clarence, by no means discomposed, but rather accepting her +emotion as perfectly natural, joined her heartily, and added:-- + +"It's so, Mrs. Peyton; I'm glad I told you. You don't mind it, do +you?" + +But Mrs. Peyton had resumed her gravity, and perhaps a touch of her +previous misgivings. + +"I should certainly be very sorry," she said, looking at him +critically, "to object to your sharing your old friendship for your +little playmate with her parents and guardians, or to your +expressing it to THEM as frankly as to her." + +She saw the quick change in his mobile face and the momentary arrest +of its happy expression. She was frightened and yet puzzled. It +was not the sensitiveness of a lover at the mention of the loved +one's name, and yet it suggested an uneasy consciousness. If his +previous impulsive outburst had been prompted honestly, or even +artfully, by his passion for Susy, why had he looked so shocked when +she spoke of her? + +But Clarence, whose emotion had been caused by the sudden recall of +his knowledge of Susy's own disloyalty to the woman whose searching +eyes were upon him, in his revulsion against the deceit was, for an +instant, upon the point of divulging all. Perhaps, if Mrs. Peyton +had shown more confidence, he would have done so, and materially +altered the evolution of this story. But, happily, it is upon these +slight human weaknesses that your romancer depends, and Clarence, +with no other reason than the instinctive sympathy of youth with +youth in its opposition to wisdom and experience, let the +opportunity pass, and took the responsibility of it out of the hands +of this chronicler. + +Howbeit, to cover his confusion, he seized upon the second idea that +was in his mind, and stammered, "Susy! Yes, I wanted to speak to +you about her." Mrs. Peyton held her breath, but the young man went +on, although hesitatingly, with evident sincerity. "Have you heard +from any of her relations since--since--you adopted her?" + +It seemed a natural enough question, although not the sequitur she +had expected. "No," she said carelessly. "It was well understood, +after the nearest relation--an aunt by marriage--had signed her +consent to Susy's adoption, that there should be no further +intercourse with the family. There seemed to us no necessity for +reopening the past, and Susy herself expressed no desire." She +stopped, and again fixing her handsome eyes on Clarence, said, "Do +you know any of them?" + +But Clarence by this time had recovered himself, and was able to +answer carelessly and truthfully that he did not. Mrs. Peyton, +still regarding him closely, added somewhat deliberately, "It +matters little now what relations she has; Mr. Peyton and I have +complete legal control over her until she is of age, and we can +easily protect her from any folly of her own or others, or from any +of the foolish fancies that sometimes overtake girls of her age and +inexperience." + +To her utter surprise, however, Clarence uttered a faint sigh of +relief, and his face again recovered its expression of boyish +happiness. "I'm glad of it, Mrs. Peyton," he said heartily. "No +one could understand better what is for her interest in all things +than yourself. Not," he said, with hasty and equally hearty loyalty +to his old playmate, "that I think she would ever go against your +wishes, or do anything that she knows to be wrong, but she is very +young and innocent,--as much of a child as ever, don't you think so, +Mrs. Peyton?" + +It was amusing, yet nevertheless puzzling, to hear this boyish young +man comment upon Susy's girlishness. And Clarence was serious, for +he had quite forgotten in Mrs. Peyton's presence the impression of +superiority which Susy had lately made upon him. But Mrs. Peyton +returned to the charge, or, rather, to an attack upon what she +conceived to be Clarence's old position. + +"I suppose she does seem girlish compared to Mary Rogers, who is a +much more reserved and quiet nature. But Mary is very charming, Mr. +Brant, and I am really delighted to have her here with Susy. She +has such lovely dark eyes and such good manners. She has been well +brought up, and it is easy to see that her friends are superior +people. I must write to them to thank them for her visit, and beg +them to let her stay longer. I think you said you didn't know +them?" + +But Clarence, whose eyes had been thoughtfully and admiringly +wandering over every characteristic detail of the charming +apartment, here raised them to its handsome mistress, with an +apologetic air and a "No" of such unaffected and complete +abstraction, that she was again dumbfounded. Certainly, it could +not be Mary in whom he was interested. + +Abandoning any further inquisition for the present, she let the talk +naturally fall upon the books scattered about the tables. The young +man knew them all far better than she did, with a cognate knowledge +of others of which she had never heard. She found herself in the +attitude of receiving information from this boy, whose boyishness, +however, seemed to have evaporated, whose tone had changed with the +subject, and who now spoke with the conscious reserve of knowledge. +Decidedly, she must have grown rusty in her seclusion. This came, +she thought bitterly, of living alone; of her husband's +preoccupation with the property; of Susy's frivolous caprices. At +the end of eight years to be outstripped by a former cattle-boy of +her husband's, and to have her French corrected in a matter of fact +way by this recent pupil of the priests, was really too bad! +Perhaps he even looked down upon Susy! She smiled dangerously but +suavely. + +"You must have worked so hard to educate yourself from nothing, Mr. +Brant. You couldn't read, I think, when you first came to us. No? +Could you really? I know it has been very difficult for Susy to get +on with her studies in proportion. We had so much to first +eradicate in the way of manners, style, and habits of thought which +the poor child had picked up from her companions, and for which SHE +was not responsible. Of course, with a boy that does not signify," +she added, with feline gentleness. + +But the barbed speech glanced from the young man's smoothly smiling +abstraction. + +"Ah, yes. But those were happy days, Mrs. Peyton," he answered, +with an exasperating return of his previous boyish enthusiasm, +"perhaps because of our ignorance. I don't think that Susy and I +are any happier for knowing that the plains are not as flat as we +believed they were, and that the sun doesn't have to burn a hole in +them every night when it sets. But I know I believed that YOU knew +everything. When I once saw you smiling over a book in your hand, I +thought it must be a different one from any that I had ever seen, +and perhaps made expressly for you. I can see you there still. Do +you know," quite confidentially, "that you reminded me--of course +YOU were much younger--of what I remembered of my mother?" + +But Mrs. Peyton's reply of "Ah, indeed," albeit polite, indicated +some coldness and lack of animation. Clarence rose quickly, but +cast a long and lingering look around him. + +"You will come again, Mr. Brant," said the lady more graciously. +"If you are going to ride now, perhaps you would try to meet Mr. +Peyton. He is late already, and I am always uneasy when he is out +alone,--particularly on one of those half-broken horses, which they +consider good enough for riding here. YOU have ridden them before +and understand them, but I am afraid that's another thing WE have +got to learn." + +When the young man found himself again confronting the glittering +light of the courtyard, he remembered the interview and the soft +twilight of the boudoir only as part of a pleasant dream. There was +a rude awakening in the fierce wind, which had increased with the +lengthening shadows. It seemed to sweep away the half-sensuous +comfort that had pervaded him, and made him coldly realize that he +had done nothing to solve the difficulties of his relations to Susy. +He had lost the one chance of confiding to Mrs. Peyton,--if he had +ever really intended to do so. It was impossible for him to do it +hereafter without a confession of prolonged deceit. + +He reached the stables impatiently, where his attention was +attracted by the sound of excited voices in the corral. Looking +within, he was concerned to see that one of the vacqueros was +holding the dragging bridle of a blown, dusty, and foam-covered +horse, around whom a dozen idlers were gathered. Even beneath its +coating of dust and foam and the half-displaced saddle blanket, +Clarence immediately recognized the spirited pinto mustang which +Peyton had ridden that morning. + +"What's the matter?" said Clarence, from the gateway. + +The men fell apart, glancing at each other. One said quickly in +Spanish:-- + +"Say nothing to HIM. It is an affair of the house." + +But this brought Clarence down like a bombshell among them, not to +be overlooked in his equal command of their tongue and of them. +"Ah! come, now. What drunken piggishness is this? Speak!" + +"The padron has been--perhaps--thrown," stammered the first speaker. +"His horse arrives,--but he does not. We go to inform the senora." + +"No, you don't! mules and imbeciles! Do you want to frighten her to +death? Mount, every one of you, and follow me!" + +The men hesitated, but for only a moment. Clarence had a fine +assortment of Spanish epithets, expletives, and objurgations, +gathered in his rodeo experience at El Refugio, and laid them about +him with such fervor and discrimination that two or three mules, +presumably with guilty consciences, mistaking their direction, +actually cowered against the stockade of the corral in fear. In +another moment the vacqueros had hastily mounted, and, with Clarence +at their head, were dashing down the road towards Santa Inez. Here +he spread them in open order in the grain, on either side of the +track, himself taking the road. + +They did not proceed very far. For when they had reached the +gradual slope which marked the decline to the second terrace, +Clarence, obeying an instinct as irresistible as it was +unaccountable, which for the last few moments had been forcing +itself upon him, ordered a halt. The casa and corral had already +sunk in the plain behind them; it was the spot where the lasso had +been thrown at him a few evenings before! Bidding the men converge +slowly towards the road, he went on more cautiously, with his eyes +upon the track before him. Presently he stopped. There was a +ragged displacement of the cracked and crumbling soil and the +unmistakable scoop of kicking hoofs. As he stooped to examine them, +one of the men at the right uttered a shout. By the same strange +instinct Clarence knew that Peyton was found! + +He was, indeed, lying there among the wild oats at the right of the +road, but without trace of life or scarcely human appearance. His +clothes, where not torn and shredded away, were partly turned inside +out; his shoulders, neck, and head were a shapeless, undistinguishable +mask of dried earth and rags, like a mummy wrapping. His left boot +was gone. His large frame seemed boneless, and, except for the +cerements of his mud-stiffened clothing, was limp and sodden. + +Clarence raised his head suddenly from a quick examination of the +body, and looked at the men around him. One of them was already +cantering away. Clarence instantly threw himself on his horse, and, +putting spurs to the animal, drew a revolver from his holster and +fired over the man's head. The rider turned in his saddle, saw his +pursuer, and pulled up. + +"Go back," said Clarence, "or my next shot won't MISS you." + +"I was only going to inform the senora," said the man with a shrug +and a forced smile. + +"I will do that," said Clarence grimly, driving him back with him +into the waiting circle; then turning to them he said slowly, with +deliberate, smileless irony, "And now, my brave gentlemen,--knights +of the bull and gallant mustang hunters,--I want to inform YOU that +I believe that Mr. Peyton was MURDERED, and if the man who killed +him is anywhere this side of hell, I intend to find him. Good! You +understand me! Now lift up the body,--you two, by the shoulders; +you two, by the feet. Let your horses follow. For I intend that +you four shall carry home your master in your arms, on foot. Now +forward to the corral by the back trail. Disobey me, or step out of +line and"-- He raised the revolver ominously. + +If the change wrought in the dead man before them was weird and +terrifying, no less distinct and ominous was the change that, during +the last few minutes, had come over the living speaker. For it was +no longer the youthful Clarence who sat there, but a haggard, +prematurely worn, desperate-looking avenger, lank of cheek, and +injected of eye, whose white teeth glistened under the brown +mustache and thin pale lips that parted when his restrained breath +now and then hurriedly escaped them. + +As the procession moved on, two men slunk behind with the horses. + +"Mother of God! Who is this wolf's whelp?" said Manuel. + +"Hush!" said his companion in a terrified whisper. "Have you not +heard? It is the son of Hamilton Brant, the assassin, the duelist,-- +he who was fusiladed in Sonora." He made the sign of the cross +quickly. "Jesus Maria! Let them look out who have cause, for the +blood of his father is in him!" + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +What other speech passed between Clarence and Peyton's retainers was +not known, but not a word of the interview seemed to have been +divulged by those present. It was generally believed and accepted +that Judge Peyton met his death by being thrown from his half-broken +mustang, and dragged at its heels, and medical opinion, hastily +summoned from Santa Inez after the body had been borne to the +corral, and stripped of its hideous encasings, declared that the +neck had been broken, and death had followed instantaneously. An +inquest was deemed unnecessary. + +Clarence had selected Mary to break the news to Mrs. Peyton, and the +frightened young girl was too much struck with the change still +visible in his face, and the half authority of his manner, to +decline, or even to fully appreciate the calamity that had befallen +them. After the first benumbing shock, Mrs. Peyton passed into that +strange exaltation of excitement brought on by the immediate +necessity for action, followed by a pallid calm, which the average +spectator too often unfairly accepts as incongruous, inadequate, or +artificial. There had also occurred one of those strange +compensations that wait on Death or disrupture by catastrophe: such +as the rude shaking down of an unsettled life, the forcible +realization of what were vague speculations, the breaking of old +habits and traditions, and the unloosing of half-conscious bonds. +Mrs. Peyton, without insensibility to her loss or disloyalty to her +affections, nevertheless felt a relief to know that she was now +really Susy's guardian, free to order her new life wherever and +under what conditions she chose as most favorable to it, and that +she could dispose of this house that was wearying to her when Susy +was away, and which the girl herself had always found insupportable. +She could settle this question of Clarence's relations to her +daughter out of hand without advice or opposition. She had a +brother in the East, who would be summoned to take care of the +property. This consideration for the living pursued her, even while +the dead man's presence still awed the hushed house; it was in her +thoughts as she stood beside his bier and adjusted the flowers on +his breast, which no longer moved for or against these vanities; and +it stayed with her even in the solitude of her darkened room. + +But if Mrs. Peyton was deficient, it was Susy who filled the popular +idea of a mourner, and whose emotional attitude of a grief-stricken +daughter left nothing to be desired. It was she who, when the house +was filled with sympathizing friends from San Francisco and the few +near neighbors who had hurried with condolences, was overflowing in +her reminiscences of the dead man's goodness to her, and her own +undying affection; who recalled ominous things that he had said, and +strange premonitions of her own, the result of her ever-present +filial anxiety; it was she who had hurried home that afternoon, +impelled with vague fears of some impending calamity; it was she who +drew a picture of Peyton as a doting and almost too indulgent +parent, which Mary Rogers failed to recognize, and which brought +back vividly to Clarence's recollection her own childish +exaggerations of the Indian massacre. I am far from saying that she +was entirely insincere or merely acting at these moments; at times +she was taken with a mild hysteria, brought on by the exciting +intrusion of this real event in her monotonous life, by the +attentions of her friends, the importance of her suffering as an +only child, and the advancement of her position as the heiress of +the Robles Rancho. If her tears were near the surface, they were at +least genuine, and filmed her violet eyes and reddened her pretty +eyelids quite as effectually as if they had welled from the depths +of her being. Her black frock lent a matured dignity to her figure, +and paled her delicate complexion with the refinement of suffering. +Even Clarence was moved in that dark and haggard abstraction that +had settled upon him since his strange outbreak over the body of his +old friend. + +The extent of that change had not been noticed by Mrs. Peyton, who +had only observed that Clarence had treated her grief with a grave +and silent respect. She was grateful for that. A repetition of his +boyish impulsiveness would have been distasteful to her at such a +moment. She only thought him more mature and more subdued, and as +the only man now in her household his services had been invaluable +in the emergency. + +The funeral had taken place at Santa Inez, where half the county +gathered to pay their last respects to their former fellow-citizen +and neighbor, whose legal and combative victories they had admired, +and whom death had lifted into a public character. The family were +returning to the house the same afternoon, Mrs. Peyton and the girls +in one carriage, the female house-servants in another, and Clarence +on horseback. They had reached the first plateau, and Clarence was +riding a little in advance, when an extraordinary figure, rising +from the grain beyond, began to gesticulate to him wildly. Checking +the driver of the first carriage, Clarence bore down upon the +stranger. To his amazement it was Jim Hooker. Mounted on a +peaceful, unwieldy plough horse, he was nevertheless accoutred and +armed after his most extravagant fashion. In addition to a heavy +rifle across his saddle-bow he was weighted down with a knife and +revolvers. Clarence was in no mood for trifling, and almost rudely +demanded his business. + +"Gord, Clarence, it ain't foolin'. The Sisters' title was decided +yesterday." + +"I knew it, you fool! It's YOUR title! You were already on your +land and in possession. What the devil are you doing HERE?" + +"Yes,--but," stammered Jim, "all the boys holding that title moved +up here to 'make the division' and grab all they could. And I +followed. And I found out that they were going to grab Judge +Peyton's house, because it was on the line, if they could, and +findin' you was all away, by Gord THEY DID! and they're in it! And +I stoled out and rode down here to warn ye." + +He stopped, looked at Clarence, glanced darkly around him and then +down on his accoutrements. Even in that supreme moment of +sincerity, he could not resist the possibilities of the situation. + +"It's as much as my life's worth," he said gloomily. "But," with a +dark glance at his weapons, "I'll sell it dearly." + +"Jim!" said Clarence, in a terrible voice, "you're not lying again?" + +"No," said Jim hurriedly. "I swear it, Clarence! No! Honest Injin +this time. And look. I'll help you. They ain't expectin' you yet, +and they think ye'll come by the road. Ef I raised a scare off +there by the corral, while you're creepin' ROUND BY THE BACK, mebbe +you could get in while they're all lookin' for ye in front, don't +you see? I'll raise a big row, and they needn't know but what ye've +got wind of it and brought a party with you from Santa Inez." + +In a flash Clarence had wrought a feasible plan out of Jim's +fantasy. + +"Good," he said, wringing his old companion's hand. "Go back +quietly now; hang round the corral, and when you see the carriage +climbing the last terrace raise your alarm. Don't mind how loud it +is, there'll be nobody but the servants in the carriages." + +He rode quickly back to the first carriage, at whose window Mrs. +Peyton's calm face was already questioning him. He told her briefly +and concisely of the attack, and what he proposed to do. + +"You have shown yourself so strong in matters of worse moment than +this," he added quietly, "that I have no fears for your courage. I +have only to ask you to trust yourself to me, to put you back at +once in your own home. Your presence there, just now, is the one +important thing, whatever happens afterwards." + +She recognized his maturer tone and determined manner, and nodded +assent. More than that, a faint fire came into her handsome eyes; +the two girls kindled their own at that flaming beacon, and sat with +flushed checks and suspended, indignant breath. They were Western +Americans, and not over much used to imposition. + +"You must get down before we raise the hill, and follow me on foot +through the grain. I was thinking," he added, turning to Mrs. +Peyton, "of your boudoir window." + +She had been thinking of it, too, and nodded. + +"The vine has loosened the bars," he said. + +"If it hasn't, we must squeeze through them," she returned simply. + +At the end of the terrace Clarence dismounted, and helped them from +the carriage. He then gave directions to the coachmen to follow the +road slowly to the corral in front of the casa, and tied his horse +behind the second carriage. Then, with Mrs. Peyton and the two +young girls, he plunged into the grain. + +It was hot, it was dusty, their thin shoes slipped in the crumbling +adobe, and the great blades caught in their crape draperies, but +they uttered no complaint. Whatever ulterior thought was in their +minds, they were bent only on one thing at that moment,--on entering +the house at any hazard. Mrs. Peyton had lived long enough on the +frontier to know the magic power of POSSESSION. Susy already was +old enough to feel the acute feminine horror of the profanation of +her own belongings by alien hands. Clarence, more cognizant of the +whole truth than the others, was equally silent and determined; and +Mary Rogers was fired with the zeal of loyalty. + +Suddenly a series of blood-curdling yells broke from the direction +of the corral, and they stopped. But Clarence at once recognized +the well-known war-whoop imitation of Jim Hooker,--infinitely more +gruesome and appalling than the genuine aboriginal challenge. A +half dozen shots fired in quick succession had evidently the same +friendly origin. + +"Now is our time," said Clarence eagerly. "We must run for the +house." + +They had fortunately reached by this time the angle of the adobe +wall of the casa, and the long afternoon shadows of the building +were in their favor. They pressed forward eagerly with the sounds +of Jim Hooker's sham encounter still in their ears, mingled with +answering shouts of defiance from strange voices within the building +towards the front. + +They rapidly skirted the wall, even passing boldly before the back +gateway, which seemed empty and deserted, and the next moment stood +beside the narrow window of the boudoir. Clarence's surmises were +correct; the iron grating was not only loose, but yielded to a +vigorous wrench, the vine itself acting as a lever to pull out the +rusty bars. The young man held out his hand, but Mrs. Peyton, with +the sudden agility of a young girl, leaped into the window, followed +by Mary and Susy. The inner casement yielded to her touch; the next +moment they were within the room. Then Mrs. Peyton's flushed and +triumphant face reappeared at the window. + +"It's all right; the men are all in the courtyard, or in the front +of the house. The boudoir door is strong, and we can bolt them +out." + +"It won't be necessary," said Clarence quietly; "you will not be +disturbed." + +"But are you not coming in?" she asked timidly, holding the window +open. + +Clarence looked at her with his first faint smile since Peyton's +death. + +"Of course I am, but not in THAT way. I am going in by THE FRONT +GATE." + +She would have detained him, but, with a quick wave of his hand, he +left her, and ran swiftly around the wall of the casa toward the +front. The gate was half open; a dozen excited men were gathered +before it and in the archway, and among them, whitened with dust, +blackened with powder, and apparently glutted with rapine, and still +holding a revolver in his hand, was Jim Hooker! As Clarence +approached, the men quickly retreated inside the gate and closed it, +but not before he had exchanged a meaning glance with Jim. When he +reached the gate, a man from within roughly demanded his business. + +"I wish to see the leader of this party," said Clarence quietly. + +"I reckon you do," returned the man, with a short laugh. "But I +kalkilate HE don't return the compliment." + +"He probably will when he reads this note to his employer," +continued Clarence still coolly, selecting a paper from his +pocketbook. It was addressed to Francisco Robles, Superintendent of +the Sisters' Title, and directed him to give Mr. Clarence Brant free +access to the property and the fullest information concerning it. +The man took it, glanced at it, looked again at Clarence, and then +passed the paper to a third man among the group in the courtyard. +The latter read it, and approached the gate carelessly. + +"Well, what do you want?" + +"I am afraid you have the advantage of me in being able to transact +business through bars," said Clarence, with slow but malevolent +distinctness, "and as mine is important, I think you had better open +the gate to me." + +The slight laugh that his speech had evoked from the bystanders was +checked as the leader retorted angrily:-- + +"That's all very well; but how do I know that you're the man +represented in that letter? Pancho Robles may know you, but I +don't." + +"That you can find out very easily," said Clarence. "There is a man +among your party who knows me,--Mr. Hooker. Ask him." + +The man turned, with a quick mingling of surprise and suspicion, to +the gloomy, imperturbable Hooker. Clarence could not hear the reply +of that young gentleman, but it was evidently not wanting in his +usual dark, enigmatical exaggeration. The man surlily opened the +gate. + +"All the same," he said, still glancing suspiciously at Hooker, "I +don't see what HE'S got to do with you." + +"A great deal," said Clarence, entering the courtyard, and stepping +into the veranda; "HE'S ONE OF MY TENANTS." + +"Your WHAT?" said the man, with a coarse laugh of incredulity. + +"My tenants," repeated Clarence, glancing around the courtyard +carelessly. Nevertheless, he was relieved to notice that the three +or four Mexicans of the party did not seem to be old retainers of +the rancho. There was no evidence of the internal treachery he had +feared. + +"Your TENANTS!" echoed the man, with an uneasy glance at the faces +of the others. + +"Yes," said Clarence, with business brevity; "and, for the matter of +that, although I have no reason to be particularly proud of it, SO +ARE YOU ALL. You ask my business here. It seems to be the same as +yours,--to hold possession of this house! With this difference, +however," he continued, taking a document from his pocket. "Here is +the certificate, signed by the County Clerk, of the bill of sale of +the entire Sisters' title to ME. It includes the whole two leagues +from Fair Plains to the old boundary line of this rancho, which you +forcibly entered this morning. There is the document; examine it if +you like. The only shadow of a claim you could have to this +property you would have to derive from ME. The only excuse you +could have for this act of lawlessness would be orders from ME. And +all that you have done this morning is only the assertion of MY +legal right to this house. If I disavow your act, as I might, I +leave you as helpless as any tramp that was ever kicked from a +doorstep,--as any burglar that was ever collared on the fence by a +constable." + +It was the truth. There was no denying the authority of the +document, the facts of the situation, or its ultimate power and +significance. There was consternation, stupefaction, and even a +half-humorous recognition of the absurdity of their position on most +of the faces around him. Incongruous as the scene was, it was made +still more grotesque by the attitude of Jim Hooker. Ruthlessly +abandoning the party of convicted trespassers, he stalked gloomily +over to the side of Clarence, with the air of having been all the +time scornfully in the secret and a mien of wearied victoriousness, +and thus halting, he disdainfully expectorated tobacco juice on the +ground between him and his late companions, as if to form a line of +demarcation. The few Mexicans began to edge towards the gateway. +This defection of his followers recalled the leader, who was no +coward, to himself again. + +"Shut the gate, there!" he shouted. + +As its two sides clashed together again, he turned deliberately to +Clarence. + +"That's all very well, young man, as regards the TITLE. You may +have BOUGHT up the land, and legally own every square inch of +howling wilderness between this and San Francisco, and I wish you +joy of your d--d fool's bargain; you may have got a whole circus +like that," pointing to the gloomy Jim, "at your back. But with all +your money and all your friends you've forgotten one thing. You +haven't got possession, and we have." + +"That's just where we differ," said Clarence coolly, "for if you +take the trouble to examine the house, you will see that it is +already in possession of Mrs. Peyton,--MY TENANT." + +He paused to give effect to his revelations. But he was, +nevertheless, unprepared for an unrehearsed dramatic situation. +Mrs. Peyton, who had been tired of waiting, and was listening in the +passage, at the mention of her name, entered the gallery, followed +by the young ladies. The slight look of surprise upon her face at +the revelation she had just heard of Clarence's ownership, only gave +the suggestion of her having been unexpectedly disturbed in her +peaceful seclusion. One of the Mexicans turned pale, with a +frightened glance at the passage, as if he expected the figure of +the dead man to follow. + +The group fell back. The game was over,--and lost. No one +recognized it more quickly than the gamblers themselves. More than +that, desperate and lawless as they were, they still retained the +chivalry of Western men, and every hat was slowly doffed to the +three black figures that stood silently in the gallery. And even +apologetic speech began to loosen the clenched teeth of the +discomfited leader. + +"We--were--told there was no one in the house," he stammered. + +"And it was the truth," said a pert, youthful, yet slightly affected +voice. "For we climbed into the window just as you came in at the +gate." + +It was Susy's words that stung their ears again; but it was Susy's +pretty figure, suddenly advanced and in a slightly theatrical +attitude, that checked their anger. There had been a sudden ominous +silence, as the whole plot of rescue seemed to be revealed to them +in those audacious words. But a sense of the ludicrous, which too +often was the only perception that ever mitigated the passions of +such assemblies, here suddenly asserted itself. The leader burst +into a loud laugh, which was echoed by the others, and, with waving +hats, the whole party swept peacefully out through the gate. + +"But what does all this mean about YOUR purchasing the land, Mr. +Brant?" said Mrs. Peyton quickly, fixing her eyes intently on +Clarence. + +A faint color--the useless protest of his truthful blood--came to +his cheek. + +"The house is YOURS, and yours alone, Mrs. Peyton. The purchase of +the sisters' title was a private arrangement between Mr. Peyton and +myself, in view of an emergency like this." + +She did not, however, take her proud, searching eyes from his face, +and he was forced to turn away. + +"It was SO like dear, good, thoughtful papa," said Susy. "Why, +bless me," in a lower voice, "if that isn't that lying old Jim +Hooker standing there by the gate!" + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +Judge Peyton had bequeathed his entire property unconditionally to +his wife. But his affairs were found to be greatly in disorder, and +his papers in confusion, and although Mrs. Peyton could discover no +actual record of the late transaction with Mr. Brant, which had +saved her the possession of the homestead, it was evident that he +had spent large sums in speculative attempts to maintain the +integrity of his estate. That enormous domain, although perfectly +unencumbered, had been nevertheless unremunerative, partly through +the costs of litigation and partly through the systematic +depredations to which its great size and long line of unprotected +boundary had subjected it. It had been invaded by squatters and +"jumpers," who had sown and reaped crops without discovery; its +cattle and wild horses had strayed or been driven beyond its ill- +defined and hopeless limits. Against these difficulties the widow +felt herself unable and unwilling to contend, and with the advice of +her friends and her lawyer, she concluded to sell the estate, except +that portion covered by the Sisters' title, which, with the +homestead, had been reconveyed to her by Clarence. She retired with +Susy to the house in San Francisco, leaving Clarence to occupy and +hold the casa, with her servants, for her until order was restored. +The Robles Rancho thus became the headquarters of the new owner of +the Sisters' title, from which he administered its affairs, visited +its incumbencies, overlooked and surveyed its lands, and-- +occasionally--collected its rents. There were not wanting critics +who averred that these were scarcely remunerative, and that the +young San Francisco fine gentleman, who was only Hamilton Brant's +son, after all, yet who wished to ape the dignity and degree of a +large landholder, had made a very foolish bargain. I grieve to say +that one of his own tenants, namely, Jim Hooker, in his secret heart +inclined to that belief, and looked upon Clarence's speculation as +an act of far-seeing and inordinate vanity. + +Indeed, the belligerent Jim had partly--and of course darkly-- +intimated something of this to Susy in their brief reunion at the +casa during the few days that followed its successful reoccupation. +And Clarence, remembering her older caprices, and her remark on her +first recognition of him, was quite surprised at the easy +familiarity of her reception of this forgotten companion of their +childhood. But he was still more concerned in noticing, for the +first time, a singular sympathetic understanding of each other, and +an odd similarity of occasional action and expression between them. +It was a part of this monstrous peculiarity that neither the +sympathy nor the likeness suggested any particular friendship or +amity in the pair, but rather a mutual antagonism and suspicion. +Mrs. Peyton, coldly polite to Clarence's former COMPANION, but +condescendingly gracious to his present TENANT and retainer, did not +notice it, preoccupied with the annoyance and pain of Susy's +frequent references to the old days of their democratic equality. + +"You don't remember, Jim, the time that you painted my face in the +wagon, and got me up as an Indian papoose?" she said mischievously. + +But Jim, who had no desire to recall his previous humble position +before Mrs. Peyton or Clarence, was only vaguely responsive. +Clarence, although joyfully touched at this seeming evidence of +Susy's loyalty to the past, nevertheless found himself even more +acutely pained at the distress it caused Mrs. Peyton, and was as +relieved as she was by Hooker's reticence. For he had seen little +of Susy since Peyton's death, and there had been no repetition of +their secret interviews. Neither had he, nor she as far as he could +judge, noticed the omission. He had been more than usually kind, +gentle, and protecting in his manner towards her, with little +reference, however, to any response from her, yet he was vaguely +conscious of some change in his feelings. He attributed it, when he +thought of it at all, to the exciting experiences through which he +had passed; to some sentiment of responsibility to his dead friend; +and to another secret preoccupation that was always in his mind. He +believed it would pass in time. Yet he felt a certain satisfaction +that she was no longer able to trouble him, except, of course, when +she pained Mrs. Peyton, and then he was half conscious of taking the +old attitude of the dead husband in mediating between them. Yet so +great was his inexperience that he believed, with pathetic +simplicity of perception, that all this was due to the slow maturing +of his love for her, and that he was still able to make her happy. +But this was something to be thought of later. Just now Providence +seemed to have offered him a vocation and a purpose that his idle +adolescence had never known. He did not dream that his capacity for +patience was only the slow wasting of his love. + +Meantime that more wonderful change and recreation of the Californian +landscape, so familiar, yet always so young, had come to the rancho. +The league-long terrace that had yellowed, whitened, and wasted for +half a year beneath a staring, monotonous sky, now under sailing +clouds, flying and broken shafts of light, and sharply defined lines +of rain, had taken a faint hue of resurrection. The dust that had +muffled the roads and byways, and choked the low oaks that fringed +the sunken canada, had long since been laid. The warm, moist breath +of the southwest trades had softened the hard, dry lines of the +landscape, and restored its color as of a picture over which a damp +sponge had been passed. The broad expanse of plateau before the +casa glistened and grew dark. The hidden woods of the canada, +cleared and strengthened in their solitude, dripped along the trails +and hollows that were now transformed into running streams. The +distinguishing madrono near the entrance to the rancho had changed +its crimson summer suit and masqueraded in buff and green. + +Yet there were leaden days, when half the prospect seemed to be seen +through palisades of rain; when the slight incline between the +terraces became a tumultuous cascade, and the surest hoofs slipped +on trails of unctuous mud; when cattle were bogged a few yards from +the highway, and the crossing of the turnpike road was a dangerous +ford. There were days of gale and tempest, when the shriveled +stalks of giant oats were stricken like trees, and lay across each +other in rigid angles, and a roar as of the sea came up from the +writhing treetops in the sunken valley. There were long weary +nights of steady downpour, hammering on the red tiles of the casa, +and drumming on the shingles of the new veranda, which was more +terrible to be borne. Alone, but for the servants, and an +occasional storm-stayed tenant from Fair Plains, Clarence might +have, at such times, questioned the effect of this seclusion upon +his impassioned nature. But he had already been accustomed to +monastic seclusion in his boyish life at El Refugio, and he did not +reflect that, for that very reason, its indulgences might have been +dangerous. From time to time letters reached him from the outer +world of San Francisco,--a few pleasant lines from Mrs. Peyton, in +answer to his own chronicle of his half stewardship, giving the news +of the family, and briefly recounting their movements. She was +afraid that Susy's sensitive nature chafed under the restriction of +mourning in the gay city, but she trusted to bring her back for a +change to Robles when the rains were over. This was a poor +substitute for those brief, happy glimpses of the home circle which +had so charmed him, but he accepted it stoically. He wandered over +the old house, from which the perfume of domesticity seemed to have +evaporated, yet, notwithstanding Mrs. Peyton's playful permission, +he never intruded upon the sanctity of the boudoir, and kept it +jealously locked. + +He was sitting in Peyton's business room one morning, when +Incarnacion entered. Clarence had taken a fancy to this Indian, +half steward, half vacquero, who had reciprocated it with a certain +dog-like fidelity, but also a feline indirectness that was part of +his nature. He had been early prepossessed with Clarence through a +kinsman at El Refugio, where the young American's generosity had +left a romantic record among the common people. He had been pleased +to approve of his follies before the knowledge of his profitless and +lordly land purchase had commended itself to him as corroborative +testimony. "Of true hidalgo blood, mark you," he had said +oracularly. "Wherefore was his father sacrificed by mongrels! As +to the others, believe me,--bah!" + +He stood there, sombrero in hand, murky and confidential, steaming +through his soaked serape and exhaling a blended odor of equine +perspiration and cigarette smoke. + +"It was, perhaps, as the master had noticed, a brigand's own day! +Bullying, treacherous, and wicked! It blew you off your horse if +you so much as lifted your arms and let the wind get inside your +serape; and as for the mud,--caramba! in fifty varas your forelegs +were like bears, and your hoofs were earthen plasters!" + +Clarence knew that Incarnacion had not sought him with mere +meteorological information, and patiently awaited further +developments. The vacquero went on:-- + +"But one of the things this beast of a weather did was to wash down +the stalks of the grain, and to clear out the trough and hollows +between, and to make level the fields, and--look you! to uncover the +stones and rubbish and whatever the summer dust had buried. Indeed, +it was even as a miracle that Jose Mendez one day, after the first +showers, came upon a silver button from his calzas, which he had +lost in the early summer. And it was only that morning that, +remembering how much and with what fire Don Clarencio had sought the +missing boot from the foot of the Senor Peyton when his body was +found, he, Incarnacion, had thought he would look for it on the +falda of the second terrace. And behold, Mother of God it was +there! Soaked with mud and rain, but the same as when the senor was +alive. To the very spur!" + +He drew the boot from beneath his serape and laid it before +Clarence. The young man instantly recognized it, in spite of its +weather-beaten condition and its air of grotesque and drunken +inconsistency to the usually trim and correct appearance of Peyton +when alive. "It is the same," he said, in a low voice. + +"Good!" said Incarnacion. "Now, if Don Clarencio will examine the +American spur, he will see--what? A few horse-hairs twisted and +caught in the sharp points of the rowel. Good! Is it the hair of +the horse that Senor rode? Clearly not; and in truth not. It is +too long for the flanks and belly of the horse; it is not the same +color as the tail and the mane. How comes it there? It comes from +the twisted horsehair rope of a riata, and not from the braided +cowhide thongs of the regular lasso of a vacquero. The lasso slips +not much, but holds; the riata slips much and strangles." + +"But Mr. Peyton was not strangled," said Clarence quickly. + +"No, for the noose of the riata was perhaps large,--who knows? It +might have slipped down his arms, pinioned him, and pulled him off. +Truly!--such has been known before. Then on the ground it slipped +again, or he perhaps worked it off to his feet where it caught on +his spur, and then he was dragged until the boot came off, and +behold! he was dead." + +This had been Clarence's own theory of the murder, but he had only +half confided it to Incarnacion. He silently examined the spur with +the accusing horse-hair, and placed it in his desk. Incarnacion +continued:-- + +"There is not a vacquero in the whole rancho who has a horse-hair +riata. We use the braided cowhide; it is heavier and stronger; it +is for the bull and not the man. The horse-hair riata comes from +over the range--south." + +There was a dead silence, broken only by the drumming of the rain +upon the roof of the veranda. Incarnacion slightly shrugged his +shoulders. + +"Don Clarencio does not know the southern county? Francisco Robles, +cousin of the 'Sisters,'--he they call 'Pancho,'--comes from the +south. Surely when Don Clarencio bought the title he saw Francisco, +for he was the steward?" + +"I dealt only with the actual owners and through my bankers in San +Francisco," returned Clarence abstractedly. + +Incarnacion looked through the yellow corners of his murky eyes at +his master. + +"Pedro Valdez, who was sent away by Senor Peyton, is the foster- +brother of Francisco. They were much together. Now that Francisco +is rich from the gold Don Clarencio paid for the title, they come +not much together. But Pedro is rich, too. Mother of God! He +gambles and is a fine gentleman. He holds his head high,--even over +the Americanos he gambles with. Truly, they say he can shoot with +the best of them. He boasts and swells himself, this Pedro! He +says if all the old families were like him, they would drive those +western swine back over the mountains again." + +Clarence raised his eyes, caught a subtle yellow flash from +Incarnacion's, gazed at him suddenly, and rose. + +"I don't think I have ever seen him," he said quietly. "Thank you +for bringing me the spur. But keep the knowledge of it to yourself, +good Nascio, for the present." + +Nascio nevertheless still lingered. Perceiving which, Clarence +handed him a cigarette and proceeded to light one himself. He knew +that the vacquero would reroll his, and that that always deliberate +occupation would cover and be an excuse for further confidence. + +"The Senora Peyton does not perhaps meet this Pedro in the society +of San Francisco?" + +"Surely not. The senora is in mourning and goes not out in society, +nor would she probably go anywhere where she would meet a dismissed +servant of her husband." + +Incarnacion slowly lit his cigarette, and said between the puffs, +"And the senorita--she would not meet him?" + +"Assuredly not." + +"And," continued Incarnacion, throwing down the match and putting +his foot on it, "if this boaster, this turkey-cock, says she did, +you could put him out like that?" + +"Certainly," said Clarence, with an easy confidence he was, however, +far from feeling, "if he really SAID it--which I doubt." + +"Ah, truly," said Incarnacion; "who knows? It may be another +Senorita Silsbee." + +"The senora's adopted daughter is called MISS PEYTON, friend Nascio. +You forget yourself," said Clarence quietly. + +"Ah, pardon!" said Incarnacion with effusive apology; "but she was +born Silsbee. Everybody knows it; she herself has told it to +Pepita. The Senor Peyton bequeathed his estate to the Senora +Peyton. He named not the senorita! Eh, what would you? It is the +common cackle of the barnyard. But I say 'Mees Silsbee.' For look +you. There is a Silsbee of Sacramento, the daughter of her aunt, +who writes letters to her. Pepita has seen them! And possibly it +is only that Mees of whom the brigand Pedro boasts." + +"Possibly," said Clarence, "but as far as this rancho is concerned, +friend Nascio, thou wilt understand--and I look to thee to make the +others understand--that there is no Senorita SILSBEE here, only the +Senorita PEYTON, the respected daughter of the senora thy mistress!" +He spoke with the quaint mingling of familiarity and paternal +gravity of the Spanish master--a faculty he had acquired at El +Refugio in a like vicarious position, and which never failed as a +sign of authority. "And now," he added gravely, "get out of this, +friend, with God's blessing, and see that thou rememberest what I +told thee." + +The retainer, with equal gravity, stepped backwards, saluted with +his sombrero until the stiff brim scraped the floor, and then +solemnly withdrew. + +Left to himself, Clarence remained for an instant silent and +thoughtful before the oven-like hearth. So! everybody knew Susy's +real relations to the Peytons, and everybody but Mrs. Peyton, +perhaps, knew that she was secretly corresponding with some one of +her own family. In other circumstances he might have found some +excuse for this assertion of her independence and love of her +kindred, but in her attitude towards Mrs. Peyton it seemed +monstrous. It appeared impossible that Mrs. Peyton should not have +heard of it, or suspected the young girl's disaffection. Perhaps +she had,--it was another burden laid upon her shoulders,--but the +proud woman had kept it to herself. A film of moisture came across +his eyes. I fear he thought less of the suggestion of Susy's secret +meeting with Pedro, or Incarnacion's implied suspicions that Pedro +was concerned in Peyton's death, than of this sentimental +possibility. He knew that Pedro had been hated by the others on +account of his position; he knew the instinctive jealousies of the +race and their predisposition to extravagant misconstruction. From +what he had gathered, and particularly from the voices he had +overheard on the Fair Plains Road, it seemed to him that Pedro was +more capable of mercenary intrigue than physical revenge. He was +not aware of the irrevocable affront put upon Pedro by Peyton, and +he had consequently attached no importance to Peyton's own half- +scornful intimation of the only kind of retaliation that Pedro would +be likely to take. The unsuccessful attempt upon himself he had +always thought might have been an accident, or if it was really a +premeditated assault, it might have been intended actually for +HIMSELF and not Peyton, as he had first thought, and his old friend +had suffered for HIM, through some mistake of the assailant. The +purpose, which alone seemed wanting, might have been to remove +Clarence as a possible witness who had overheard their conspiracy-- +how much of it they did not know--on the Fair Plains Road that +night. The only clue he held to the murderer in the spur locked in +his desk, merely led him beyond the confines of the rancho, but +definitely nowhere else. It was, however, some relief to know that +the crime was not committed by one of Peyton's retainers, nor the +outcome of domestic treachery. + +After some consideration he resolved to seek Jim Hooker, who might +be possessed of some information respecting Susy's relations, either +from the young girl's own confidences or from Jim's personal +knowledge of the old frontier families. From a sense of loyalty to +Susy and Mrs. Peyton, he had never alluded to the subject before +him, but since the young girl's own indiscretion had made it a +matter of common report, however distasteful it was to his own +feelings, he felt he could not plead the sense of delicacy for her. +He had great hopes in what he had always believed was only her +exaggeration of fact as well as feeling. And he had an instinctive +reliance on her fellow poseur's ability to detect it. A few days +later, when he found he could safely leave the rancho alone, he rode +to Fair Plains. + +The floods were out along the turnpike road, and even seemed to have +increased since his last journey. The face of the landscape had +changed again. One of the lower terraces had become a wild mere of +sedge and reeds. The dry and dusty bed of a forgotten brook had +reappeared, a full-banked river, crossing the turnpike and +compelling a long detour before the traveler could ford it. But as +he approached the Hopkins farm and the opposite clearing and cabin +of Jim Hooker, he was quite unprepared for a still more remarkable +transformation. The cabin, a three-roomed structure, and its +cattle-shed had entirely disappeared! There were no traces or signs +of inundation. The land lay on a gentle acclivity above the farm +and secure from the effects of the flood, and a part of the ploughed +and cleared land around the site of the cabin showed no evidence of +overflow on its black, upturned soil. But the house was gone! Only +a few timbers too heavy to be removed, the blighting erasions of a +few months of occupation, and the dull, blackened area of the site +itself were to be seen. The fence alone was intact. + +Clarence halted before it, perplexed and astonished. Scarcely two +weeks had elapsed since he had last visited it and sat beneath its +roof with Jim, and already its few ruins had taken upon themselves +the look of years of abandonment and decay. The wild land seemed to +have thrown off its yoke of cultivation in a night, and nature +rioted again with all its primal forces over the freed soil. Wild +oats and mustard were springing already in the broken furrows, and +lank vines were slimily spreading over a few scattered but still +unseasoned and sappy shingles. Some battered tin cans and fragments +of old clothing looked as remote as if they had been relics of the +earliest immigration. + +Clarence turned inquiringly towards the Hopkins farmhouse across the +road. His arrival, however, had already been noticed, as the door +of the kitchen opened in an anticipatory fashion, and he could see +the slight figure of Phoebe Hopkins in the doorway, backed by the +overlooking heads and shoulders of her parents. The face of the +young girl was pale and drawn with anxiety, at which Clarence's +simple astonishment took a shade of concern. + +"I am looking for Mr. Hooker," he said uneasily. "And I don't seem +to be able to find either him or his house." + +"And you don't know what's gone of him?" said the girl quickly. + +"No; I haven't seen him for two weeks." + +"There, I told you so!" said the girl, turning nervously to her +parents. "I knew it. He hasn't seen him for two weeks." Then, +looking almost tearfully at Clarence's face, she said, "No more have +we." + +"But," said Clarence impatiently, "something must have happened. +Where is his house?" + +"Taken away by them jumpers," interrupted the old farmer; "a lot of +roughs that pulled it down and carted it off in a jiffy before our +very eyes without answerin' a civil question to me or her. But he +wasn't there, nor before, nor since." + +"No," added the old woman, with flashing eyes, "or he'd let 'em have +what ther' was in his six-shooters." + +"No, he wouldn't, mother," said the girl impatiently, "he'd CHANGED, +and was agin all them ideas of force and riotin'. He was for peace +and law all the time. Why, the day before we missed him he was +tellin' me California never would be decent until people obeyed the +laws and the titles were settled. And for that reason, because he +wouldn't fight agin the law, or without the consent of the law, +they've killed him, or kidnapped him away." + +The girl's lips quivered, and her small brown hands twisted the +edges of her blue checked apron. Although this new picture of Jim's +peacefulness was as astounding and unsatisfactory as his own +disappearance, there was no doubt of the sincerity of poor Phoebe's +impression. + +In vain did Clarence point out to them there must be some mistake; +that the trespassers--the so-called jumpers--really belonged to the +same party as Hooker, and would have no reason to dispossess him; +that, in fact, they were all HIS, Clarence's, tenants. In vain he +assured them of Hooker's perfect security in possession; that he +could have driven the intruders away by the simple exhibition of his +lease, or that he could have even called a constable from the town +of Fair Plains to protect him from mere lawlessness. In vain did he +assure them of his intention to find his missing friend, and +reinstate him at any cost. The conviction that the unfortunate +young man had been foully dealt with was fixed in the minds of the +two women. For a moment Clarence himself was staggered by it. + +"You see," said the young girl, with a kindling face, "the day +before he came back from Robles, ther' were some queer men hangin' +round his cabin, but as they were the same kind that went off with +him the day the Sisters' title was confirmed, we thought nothing of +it. But when he came back from you he seemed worried and anxious, +and wasn't a bit like himself. We thought perhaps he'd got into +some trouble there, or been disappointed. He hadn't, had he, Mr. +Brant?" continued Phoebe, with an appealing look. + +"By no means," said Clarence warmly. "On the contrary, he was able +to do his friends good service there, and was successful in what he +attempted. Mrs. Peyton was very grateful. Of course he told you +what had happened, and what he did for us," continued Clarence, with +a smile. + +He had already amused himself on the way with a fanciful conception +of the exaggerated account Jim had given of his exploits. But the +bewildered girl shook her head. + +"No, he didn't tell us ANYTHING." + +Clarence was really alarmed. This unprecedented abstention of +Hooker's was portentous. + +"He didn't say anything but what I told you about law and order," +she went on; "but that same night we heard a good deal of talking +and shouting in the cabin and around it. And the next day he was +talking with father, and wanting to know how HE kept his land +without trouble from outsiders." + +"And I said," broke in Hopkins, "that I guessed folks didn't bother +a man with women folks around, and that I kalkilated that I wasn't +quite as notorious for fightin' as he was." + +"And he said," also interrupted Mrs. Hopkins, "and quite in his +nat'ral way, too,--gloomy like, you remember, Cyrus," appealingly to +her husband,--"that that was his curse." + +The smile that flickered around Clarence's mouth faded, however, as +he caught sight of Phoebe's pleading, interrogating eyes. It was +really too bad. Whatever change had come over the rascal it was too +evident that his previous belligerent personality had had its full +effect upon the simple girl, and that, hereafter, one pair of honest +eyes would be wistfully following him. + +Perplexed and indignant, Clarence again closely questioned her as to +the personnel of the trespassing party who had been seen once or +twice since passing over the field. He had at last elicited enough +information to identify one of them as Gilroy, the leader of the +party that had invaded Robles rancho. His cheek flushed. Even if +they had wished to take a theatrical and momentary revenge on Hooker +for the passing treachery to them which they had just discovered, +although such retaliation was only transitory, and they could not +hold the land, it was an insult to Clarence himself, whose tenant +Jim was, and subversive of all their legally acquired rights. He +would confront this Gilroy at once; his half-wild encampment was +only a few miles away, just over the boundaries of the Robles +estate. Without stating his intention, he took leave of the Hopkins +family with the cheerful assurance that he would probably return +with some news of Hooker, and rode away. + +The trail became more indistinct and unfrequented as it diverged +from the main road, and presently lost itself in the slope towards +the east. The horizon grew larger: there were faint bluish lines +upon it which he knew were distant mountains; beyond this a still +fainter white line--the Sierran snows. Presently he intersected a +trail running south, and remarked that it crossed the highway behind +him, where he had once met the two mysterious horsemen. They had +evidently reached the terrace through the wild oats by that trail. +A little farther on were a few groups of sheds and canvas tents in a +bare and open space, with scattered cattle and horsemen, exactly +like an encampment, or the gathering of a country fair. As Clarence +rode down towards them he could see that his approach was instantly +observed, and that a simultaneous movement was made as if to +anticipate him. For the first time he realized the possible +consequences of his visit, single-handed, but it was too late to +retrace his steps. With a glance at his holster, he rode boldly +forward to the nearest shed. A dozen men hovered near him, but +something in his quiet, determined manner held them aloof. Gilroy +was on the threshold in his shirtsleeves. A single look showed him +that Clarence was alone, and with a careless gesture of his hand he +warned away his own followers. + +"You've got a sort of easy way of droppin' in whar you ain't +invited, Brant," he said with a grim smile, which was not, however, +without a certain air of approval. "Got it from your father, didn't +you?" + +"I don't know, but I don't believe HE ever thought it necessary to +warn twenty men of the approach of ONE," replied Clarence, in the +same tone. "I had no time to stand on ceremony, for I have just +come from Hooker's quarter section at Fair Plains." + +Gilroy smiled again, and gazed abstractedly at the sky. + +"You know as well as I do," said Clarence, controlling his voice +with an effort, "that what you have done there will have to be +undone, if you wish to hold even those lawless men of yours +together, or keep yourself and them from being run into the brush +like highwaymen. I've no fear for that. Neither do I care to know +what was your motive in doing it; but I can only tell you that if it +was retaliation, I alone was and still am responsible for Hooker's +action at the rancho. I came here to know just what you have done +with him, and, if necessary, to take his place." + +"You're just a little too previous in your talk, I reckon, Brant," +returned Gilroy lazily, "and as to legality, I reckon we stand on +the same level with yourself, just here. Beginnin' with what you +came for: as we don't know where your Jim Hooker is, and as we ain't +done anythin' to HIM, we don't exackly see what we could do with YOU +in his place. Ez to our motives,--well, we've got a good deal to +say about THAT. We reckoned that he wasn't exackly the kind of man +we wanted for a neighbor. His pow'ful fightin' style didn't suit us +peaceful folks, and we thought it rather worked agin this new 'law +and order' racket to have such a man about, to say nuthin' of it +prejudicin' quiet settlers. He had too many revolvers for one man +to keep his eye on, and was altogether too much steeped in blood, so +to speak, for ordinary washin' and domestic purposes! His hull get +up was too deathlike and clammy; so we persuaded him to leave. We +just went there, all of us, and exhorted him. We stayed round there +two days and nights, takin' turns, talkin' with him, nuthin' more, +only selecting subjects in his own style to please him, until he +left! And then, as we didn't see any use for his house there, we +took it away. Them's the cold facts, Brant," he added, with a +certain convincing indifference that left no room for doubt, "and +you can stand by 'em. Now, workin' back to the first principle you +laid down,--that we'll have to UNDO what we've DONE,--we don't agree +with you, for we've taken a leaf outer your own book. We've got it +here in black and white. We've got a bill o' sale of Hooker's house +and possession, and we're on the land in place of him,--AS YOUR +TENANTS." He reentered the shanty, took a piece of paper from a +soap-box on the shell, and held it out to Clarence. "Here it is. +It's a fair and square deal, Brant. We gave him, as it says here, a +hundred dollars for it! No humbuggin', but the hard cash, by +Jiminy! AND HE TOOK THE MONEY." + +The ring of truth in the man's voice was as unmistakable as the +signature in Jim's own hand. Hooker had sold out! Clarence turned +hastily away. + +"We don't know where he went," continued Gilroy grimly, "but I +reckon you ain't over anxious to see him NOW. And I kin tell ye +something to ease your mind,--he didn't require much persuadin'. +And I kin tell ye another, if ye ain't above takin' advice from +folks that don't pertend to give it," he added, with the same +curious look of interest in his face. "You've done well to get shut +of him, and if you got shut of a few more of his kind that you trust +to, you'd do better." + +As if to avoid noticing any angry reply from the young man, he +reentered the cabin and shut the door behind him. Clarence felt the +uselessness of further parley, and rode away. + +But Gilroy's Parthian arrow rankled as he rode. He was not greatly +shocked at Jim's defection, for he was always fully conscious of his +vanity and weakness; but he was by no means certain that Jim's +extravagance and braggadocio, which he had found only amusing and, +perhaps, even pathetic, might not be as provocative and prejudicial +to others as Gilroy had said. But, like all sympathetic and +unselfish natures, he sought to find some excuse for his old +companion's weakness in his own mistaken judgment. He had no +business to bring poor Jim on the land, to subject his singular +temperament to the temptations of such a life and such surroundings; +he should never have made use of his services at the rancho. He had +done him harm rather than good in his ill-advised, and, perhaps, +SELFISH attempts to help him. I have said that Gilroy's parting +warning rankled in his breast, but not ignobly. It wounded the +surface of his sensitive nature, but could not taint or corrupt the +pure, wholesome blood of the gentleman beneath it. For in Gilroy's +warning he saw only his own shortcomings. A strange fatality had +marked his friendships. He had been no help to Jim; he had brought +no happiness to Susy or Mrs. Peyton, whose disagreement his visit +seemed to have accented. Thinking over the mysterious attack upon +himself, it now seemed to him possible that, in some obscure way, +his presence at the rancho had precipitated the more serious attack +on Peyton. If, as it had been said, there was some curse upon his +inheritance from his father, he seemed to have made others share it +with him. He was riding onward abstractedly, with his head sunk on +his breast and his eyes fixed upon some vague point between his +horse's sensitive ears, when a sudden, intelligent, forward pricking +of them startled him, and an apparition arose from the plain before +him that seemed to sweep all other sense away. + +It was the figure of a handsome young horseman as abstracted as +himself, but evidently on better terms with his own personality. He +was dark haired, sallow cheeked, and blue eyed,--the type of the old +Spanish Californian. A burnt-out cigarette was in his mouth, and he +was riding a roan mustang with the lazy grace of his race. But what +arrested Clarence's attention more than his picturesque person was +the narrow, flexible, long coil of gray horse-hair riata which hung +from his saddle-bow, but whose knotted and silver-beaded terminating +lash he was swirling idly in his narrow brown hand. Clarence knew +and instantly recognized it as the ordinary fanciful appendage of a +gentleman rider, used for tethering his horse on lonely plains, and +always made the object of the most lavish expenditure of decoration +and artistic skill. But he was as suddenly filled with a blind, +unreasoning sense of repulsion and fury, and lifted his eyes to the +man as he approached. What the stranger saw in Clarence's blazing +eyes no one but himself knew, for his own became fixed and staring; +his sallow cheeks grew lanker and livid; his careless, jaunty +bearing stiffened into rigidity, and swerving his horse to one side +he suddenly passed Clarence at a furious gallop. The young American +wheeled quickly, and for an instant his knees convulsively gripped +the flanks of his horse to follow. But the next moment he recalled +himself, and with an effort began to collect his thoughts. What was +he intending to do, and for what reason! He had met hundreds of +such horsemen before, and caparisoned and accoutred like this, even +to the riata. And he certainly was not dressed like either of the +mysterious horsemen whom he had overheard that moonlight evening. +He looked back; the stranger had already slackened his pace, and was +slowly disappearing. Clarence turned and rode on his way. + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +Without disclosing the full extent of Jim's defection and desertion, +Clarence was able to truthfully assure the Hopkins family of his +personal safety, and to promise that he would continue his quest, +and send them further news of the absentee. He believed it would be +found that Jim had been called away on some important business, but +that not daring to leave his new shanty exposed and temptingly +unprotected, he had made a virtue of necessity by selling it to his +neighbors, intending to build a better house on its site after his +return. Having comforted Phoebe, and impulsively conceived further +plans for restoring Jim to her,--happily without any recurrence of +his previous doubts as to his own efficacy as a special Providence,-- +he returned to the rancho. If he thought again of Jim's defection +and Gilroy's warning, it was only to strengthen himself to a clearer +perception of his unselfish duty and singleness of purpose. He +would give up brooding, apply himself more practically to the +management of the property, carry out his plans for the foundation +of a Landlords' Protective League for the southern counties, become +a candidate for the Legislature, and, in brief, try to fill Peyton's +place in the county as he had at the rancho. He would endeavor to +become better acquainted with the half-breed laborers on the estate +and avoid the friction between them and the Americans; he was +conscious that he had not made that use of his early familiarity +with their ways and language which he might have done. If, +occasionally, the figure of the young Spaniard whom he had met on +the lonely road obtruded itself on him, it was always with the +instinctive premonition that he would meet him again, and the +mystery of the sudden repulsion be in some way explained. Thus +Clarence! But the momentary impulse that had driven him to Fair +Plains, the eagerness to set his mind at rest regarding Susy and her +relatives, he had utterly forgotten. + +Howbeit some of the energy and enthusiasm that he breathed into +these various essays made their impression. He succeeded in forming +the Landlords' League; under a commission suggested by him the +straggling boundaries of Robles and the adjacent claims were +resurveyed, defined, and mutually protected; even the lawless +Gilroy, from extending an amused toleration to the young administrator, +grew to recognize and accept him; the peons and vacqueros began to +have faith in a man who acknowledged them sufficiently to rebuild +the ruined Mission Chapel on the estate, and save them the long +pilgrimage to Santa Inez on Sundays and saints' days; the San +Francisco priest imported from Clarence's old college at San Jose, +and an habitual guest at Clarence's hospitable board, was grateful +enough to fill his flock with loyalty to the young padron. + +He had returned from a long drive one afternoon, and had just thrown +himself into an easy-chair with the comfortable consciousness of a +rest fairly earned. The dull embers of a fire occasionally glowed +in the oven-like hearth, although the open casement of a window let +in the soft breath of the southwest trades. The angelus had just +rung from the restored chapel, and, mellowed by distance, seemed to +Clarence to lend that repose to the wind-swept landscape that it had +always lacked. + +Suddenly his quick ear detected the sound of wheels in the ruts of +the carriage way. Usually his visitors to the casa came on +horseback, and carts and wagons used only the lower road. As the +sound approached nearer, an odd fancy filled his heart with +unaccountable pleasure. Could it be Mrs. Peyton making an +unexpected visit to the rancho? He held his breath. The vehicle +was now rolling on into the patio. The clatter of hoofs and a halt +were followed by the accents of women's voices. One seemed +familiar. He rose quickly, as light footsteps ran along the +corridor, and then the door opened impetuously to the laughing face +of Susy! + +He came towards her hastily, yet with only the simple impulse of +astonishment. He had no thought of kissing her, but as he +approached, she threw her charming head archly to one side, with a +mischievous knitting of her brows and a significant gesture towards +the passage, that indicated the proximity of a stranger and the +possibility of interruption. + +"Hush! Mrs. McClosky's here," she whispered. + +"Mrs. McClosky?" repeated Clarence vaguely. + +"Yes, of course," impatiently. "My Aunt Jane. Silly! We just cut +away down here to surprise you. Aunty's never seen the place, and +here was a good chance." + +"And your mother--Mrs. Peyton? Has she--does she?"--stammered +Clarence. + +"Has she--does she?" mimicked Susy, with increasing impatience. +"Why, of course she DOESN'T know anything about it. She thinks I'm +visiting Mary Rogers at Oakland. And I am--AFTERWARDS," she +laughed. "I just wrote to Aunt Jane to meet me at Alameda, and we +took the stage to Santa Inez and drove on here in a buggy. Wasn't +it real fun? Tell me, Clarence! You don't say anything! Tell me-- +wasn't it real fun?" + +This was all so like her old, childlike, charming, irresponsible +self, that Clarence, troubled and bewildered as he was, took her +hands and drew her like a child towards him. + +"Of course," she went on, yet stopping to smell a rosebud in his +buttonhole, "I have a perfect right to come to my own home, goodness +knows! and if I bring my own aunt, a married woman, with me,-- +although," loftily, "there may be a young unmarried gentleman alone +there,--still I fail to see any impropriety in it!" + +He was still holding her; but in that instant her manner had +completely changed again; the old Susy seemed to have slipped away +and evaded him, and he was retaining only a conscious actress in his +arms. + +"Release me, Mr. Brant, please," she said, with a languid affected +glance behind her; "we are not alone." + +Then, as the rustling of a skirt sounded nearer in the passage, she +seemed to change back to her old self once more, and with a +lightning flash of significance whispered,-- + +"She knows everything!" + +To add to Clarence's confusion, the woman who entered cast a quick +glance of playful meaning on the separating youthful pair. She was +an ineffective blonde with a certain beauty that seemed to be +gradually succumbing to the ravages of paint and powder rather than +years; her dress appeared to have suffered from an equally unwise +excess of ornamentation and trimming, and she gave the general +impression of having been intended for exhibition in almost any +other light than the one in which she happened to be. There were +two or three mud-stains on the laces of her sleeve and underskirt +that were obtrusively incongruous. Her voice, which had, however, a +ring of honest intention in it, was somewhat over-strained, and +evidently had not yet adjusted itself to the low-ceilinged, +conventual-like building. + +"There, children, don't mind me! I know I'm not on in this scene, +but I got nervous waiting there, in what you call the 'salon,' with +only those Greaser servants staring round me in a circle, like a +regular chorus. My! but it's anteek here--regular anteek--Spanish." +Then, with a glance at Clarence, "So this is Clarence Brant,--your +Clarence? Interduce me, Susy." + +In his confusion of indignation, pain, and even a certain conception +of the grim ludicrousness of the situation, Clarence grasped +despairingly at the single sentence of Susy's. "In my own home." +Surely, at least, it was HER OWN HOME, and as he was only the +business agent of her adopted mother, he had no right to dictate to +her under what circumstances she should return to it, or whom she +should introduce there. In her independence and caprice Susy might +easily have gone elsewhere with this astounding relative, and would +Mrs. Peyton like it better? Clinging to this idea, his instinct of +hospitality asserted itself. He welcomed Mrs. McClosky with nervous +effusion:-- + +"I am only Mrs. Peyton's major domo here, but any guest of her +DAUGHTER'S is welcome." + +"Yes," said Mrs. McClosky, with ostentatious archness, "I reckon +Susy and I understand your position here, and you've got a good +berth of it. But we won't trouble you much on Mrs. Peyton's +account, will we, Susy? And now she and me will just take a look +around the shanty,--it is real old Spanish anteek, ain't it?--and +sorter take stock of it, and you young folks will have to tear +yourselves apart for a while, and play propriety before me. You've +got to be on your good behavior while I'm here, I can tell you! I'm +a heavy old 'doo-anna.' Ain't I, Susy? School-ma'ms and mother +superiors ain't in the game with ME for discipline." + +She threw her arms around the young girl's waist and drew her +towards her affectionately, an action that slightly precipitated +some powder upon the black dress of her niece. Susy glanced +mischievously at Clarence, but withdrew her eyes presently to let +them rest with unmistakable appreciation and admiration on her +relative. A pang shot through Clarence's breast. He had never seen +her look in that way at Mrs. Peyton. Yet here was this stranger, +provincial, overdressed, and extravagant, whose vulgarity was only +made tolerable through her good humor, who had awakened that +interest which the refined Mrs. Peyton had never yet been able to +touch. As Mrs. McClosky swept out of the room with Susy he turned +away with a sinking heart. + +Yet it was necessary that the Spanish house servants should not +suspect this treason to their mistress, and Clarence stopped their +childish curiosity about the stranger with a careless and easy +acceptance of Susy's sudden visit in the light of an ordinary +occurrence, and with a familiarity towards Mrs. McClosky which +became the more distasteful to him in proportion as he saw that it +was evidently agreeable to her. But, easily responsive, she became +speedily confidential. Without a single question from himself, or a +contributing remark from Susy, in half an hour she had told him her +whole history. How, as Jane Silsbee, an elder sister of Susy's +mother, she had early eloped from the paternal home in Kansas with +McClosky, a strolling actor. How she had married him and gone on +the stage under his stage name, effectively preventing any +recognition by her family. How, coming to California, where her +husband had become manager of the theatre at Sacramento, she was +indignant to find that her only surviving relation, a sister-in-law, +living in the same place, had for a money consideration given up all +claim to the orphaned Susy, and how she had resolved to find out "if +the poor child was happy." How she succeeded in finding out that +she was not happy. How she wrote to her, and even met her secretly +at San Francisco and Oakland, and how she had undertaken this +journey partly for "a lark," and partly to see Clarence and the +property. There was no doubt of the speaker's sincerity; with this +outrageous candor there was an equal obliviousness of any indelicacy +in her conduct towards Mrs. Peyton that seemed hopeless. Yet he +must talk plainly to her; he must say to her what he could not say +to Susy; upon HER Mrs. Peyton's happiness--he believed he was +thinking of Susy's also--depended. He must take the first +opportunity of speaking to her alone. + +That opportunity came sooner than he had expected. After dinner, +Mrs. McClosky turned to Susy, and playfully telling her that she had +"to talk business" with Mr. Brant, bade her go to the salon and +await her. When the young girl left the room, she looked at +Clarence, and, with that assumption of curtness with which coarse +but kindly natures believe they overcome the difficulty of delicate +subjects, said abruptly:-- + +"Well, young man, now what's all this between you and Susy? I'm +looking after her interests--same as if she was my own girl. If +you've got anything to say, now's your time. And don't you shilly- +shally too long over it, either, for you might as well know that a +girl like that can have her pick and choice, and be beholden to no +one; and when she don't care to choose, there's me and my husband +ready to do for her all the same. We mightn't be able to do the +anteek Spanish Squire, but we've got our own line of business, and +it's a comfortable one." + +To have this said to him under the roof of Mrs. Peyton, from whom, +in his sensitiveness, he had thus far jealously guarded his own +secret, was even more than Clarence's gentleness could stand, and +fixed his wavering resolution. + +"I don't think we quite understand each other, Mrs. McClosky," he +said coldly, but with glittering eyes. "I have certainly something +to say to you; if it is not on a subject as pleasant as the one you +propose, it is, nevertheless, one that I think you and I are more +competent to discuss together." + +Then, with quiet but unrelenting directness, he pointed out to her +that Susy was a legally adopted daughter of Mrs. Peyton, and, as a +minor, utterly under her control; that Mrs. Peyton had no knowledge +of any opposing relatives; and that Susy had not only concealed the +fact from her, but that he was satisfied that Mrs. Peyton did not +even know of Susy's discontent and alienation; that she had tenderly +and carefully brought up the helpless orphan as her own child, and +even if she had not gained her affection was at least entitled to +her obedience and respect; that while Susy's girlish caprice and +inexperience excused HER conduct, Mrs. Peyton and her friends would +have a right to expect more consideration from a person of Mrs. +McClosky's maturer judgment. That for these reasons, and as the +friend of Mrs. Peyton, whom he could alone recognize as Susy's +guardian and the arbiter of her affections, he must decline to +discuss the young girl with any reference to himself or his own +intentions. + +An unmistakable flush asserted itself under the lady's powder. + +"Suit yourself, young man, suit yourself," she said, with equally +direct resentment and antagonism; "only mebbee you'll let me tell +you that Jim McClosky ain't no fool, and mebbee knows what lawyers +think of an arrangement with a sister-in-law that leaves a real +sister out! Mebbee that's a 'Sister's title' you ain't thought of, +Mr. Brant! And mebbee you'll find out that your chance o' gettin' +Mrs. Peyton's consent ain't as safe to gamble on as you reckon it +is. And mebbee, what's more to the purpose, if you DID get it, it +might not be just the trump card to fetch Susy with! And to wind +up, Mr. Brant, when you DO have to come down to the bed-rock and me +and Jim McClosky, you may find out that him and me have discovered a +better match for Susy than the son of old Ham Brant, who is trying +to play the Spanish grandee off his father's money on a couple of +women. And we mayn't have to go far to do it--or to get THE REAL +THING, Mr. Brant!" + +Too heartsick and disgusted to even notice the slur upon himself or +the import of her last words, Clarence only rose and bowed as she +jumped up from the table. But as she reached the door he said, half +appealingly:-- + +"Whatever are your other intentions, Mrs. McClosky, as we are both +Susy's guests, I beg you will say nothing of this to her while we +are here, and particularly that you will not allow her to think for +a moment that I have discussed MY relations to her with anybody." + +She flung herself out of the door without a reply; but on entering +the dark low-ceilinged drawing-room she was surprised to find that +Susy was not there. She was consequently obliged to return to the +veranda, where Clarence had withdrawn, and to somewhat +ostentatiously demand of the servants that Susy should be sent to +her room at once. But the young girl was not in her own room, and +was apparently nowhere to be found. Clarence, who had now fully +determined as a last resource to make a direct appeal to Susy +herself, listened to this fruitless search with some concern. She +could not have gone out in the rain, which was again falling. She +might be hiding somewhere to avoid a recurrence of the scene she had +perhaps partly overheard. He turned into the corridor that led to +Mrs. Peyton's boudoir. As he knew that it was locked, he was +surprised to see by the dim light of the hanging lamp that a +duplicate key to the one in his desk was in the lock. It must be +Susy's, and the young girl had probably taken refuge there. He +knocked gently. There was a rustle in the room and the sound of a +chair being moved, but no reply. Impelled by a sudden instinct he +opened the door, and was met by a cool current of air from some open +window. At the same moment the figure of Susy approached him from +the semi-darkness of the interior. + +"I did not know you were here," said Clarence, much relieved, he +knew not why, "but I am glad, for I wanted to speak with you alone +for a few moments." + +She did not reply, but he drew a match from his pocket and lit the +two candles which he knew stood on the table. The wick of one was +still warm, as if it had been recently extinguished. As the light +slowly radiated, he could see that she was regarding him with an air +of affected unconcern, but a somewhat heightened color. It was like +her, and not inconsistent with his idea that she had come there to +avoid an after scene with Mrs. McClosky or himself, or perhaps both. +The room was not disarranged in any way. The window that was opened +was the casement of the deep embrasured one in the rear wall, and +the light curtain before it still swayed occasionally in the night +wind. + +"I'm afraid I had a row with your aunt, Susy," he began lightly, in +his old familiar way; "but I had to tell her I didn't think her +conduct to Mrs. Peyton was exactly the square thing towards one who +had been as devoted to you as she has been." + +"Oh, for goodness' sake, don't go over all that again," said Susy +impatiently. "I've had enough of it." + +Clarence flashed, but recovered himself. + +"Then you overheard what I said, and know what I think," he said +calmly. + +"I knew it BEFORE," said the young girl, with a slight supercilious +toss of the head, and yet a certain abstraction of manner as she +went to the window and closed it. "Anybody could see it! I know +you always wanted me to stay here with Mrs. Peyton, and be coddled +and monitored and catechised and shut up away from any one, until +YOU had been coddled and monitored and catechised by somebody else +sufficiently to suit her ideas of your being a fit husband for me. +I told aunty it was no use our coming here to--to"-- + +"To do what?" asked Clarence. + +"To put some spirit into you," said the young girl, turning upon him +sharply; "to keep you from being tied to that woman's apron-strings. +To keep her from making a slave of you as she would of me. But it +is of no use. Mary Rogers was right when she said you had no wish +to please anybody but Mrs. Peyton, and no eyes for anybody but her. +And if it hadn't been too ridiculous, considering her age and yours, +she'd say you were dead in love with her." + +For an instant Clarence felt the blood rush to his face and then +sink away, leaving him pale and cold. The room, which had seemed to +whirl around him, and then fade away, returned with appalling +distinctness,--the distinctness of memory,--and a vision of the +first day that he had seen Mrs. Peyton sitting there, as he seemed +to see her now. For the first time there flashed upon him the +conviction that the young girl had spoken the truth, and had +brusquely brushed the veil from his foolish eyes. He WAS in love +with Mrs. Peyton! That was what his doubts and hesitation regarding +Susy meant. That alone was the source, secret, and limit of his +vague ambition. + +But with the conviction came a singular calm. In the last few +moments he seemed to have grown older, to have loosed the bonds of +old companionship with Susy, and the later impression she had given +him of her mature knowledge, and moved on far beyond her years and +experience. And it was with an authority that was half paternal, +and in a voice he himself scarcely recognized, that he said:-- + +"If I did not know you were prejudiced by a foolish and indiscreet +woman, I should believe that you were trying to insult me as you +have your adopted mother, and would save you the pain of doing both +in HER house by leaving it now and forever. But because I believe +you are controlled against your best instinct by that woman, I shall +remain here with you to frustrate her as best I can, or until I am +able to lay everything before Mrs. Peyton except the foolish speech +you have just made." + +The young girl laughed. "Why not THAT one too, while you're about +it? See what she'll say." + +"I shall tell her," continued Clarence calmly, "only what YOU +yourself have made it necessary for me to tell her to save you from +folly and disgrace, and only enough to spare her the mortification +of hearing it first from her own servants." + +"Hearing WHAT from her own servants? What do you mean? How dare +you?" demanded the young girl sharply. + +She was quite real in her anxiety now, although her attitude of +virtuous indignation struck him as being like all her emotional +expression, namely, acting. + +"I mean that the servants know of your correspondence with Mrs. +McClosky, and that she claims to be your aunt," returned Clarence. +"They know that you confided to Pepita. They believe that either +Mrs. McClosky or you have seen"-- + +He had stopped suddenly. He was about to say that the servants +(particularly Incarnacion) knew that Pedro had boasted of having met +Susy, when, for the first time, the tremendous significance of what +he had hitherto considered as merely an idle falsehood flashed upon +him. + +"Seen whom?" repeated Susy in a higher voice, impatiently stamping +her foot. + +Clarence looked at her, and in her excited, questioning face saw a +confirmation of his still half-formed suspicions. In his own abrupt +pause and knitted eyebrows she must have read his thoughts also. +Their eyes met. Her violet pupils dilated, trembled, and then +quickly shifted as she suddenly stiffened into an attitude of +scornful indifference, almost grotesque in its unreality. His eyes +slowly turned to the window, the door, the candles on the table and +the chair before it, and then came back to her face again. Then he +drew a deep breath. + +"I give no heed to the idle gossip of servants, Susy," he said +slowly. "I have no belief that you have ever contemplated anything +worse than an act of girlish folly, or the gratification of a +passing caprice. Neither do I want to appeal to you or frighten +you, but I must tell you now, that I know certain facts that might +make such a simple act of folly monstrous, inconceivable in YOU, and +almost accessory to a crime! I can tell you no more. But so +satisfied am I of such a possibility, that I shall not scruple to +take any means--the strongest--to prevent even the remotest chance +of it. Your aunt has been looking for you; you had better go to her +now. I will close the room and lock the door. Meantime, I should +advise you not to sit so near an open window with a candle at night +in this locality. Even if it might not be dangerous for you, it +might be fatal to the foolish creatures it might attract." + +He took the key from the door as he held it open for her to pass +out. She uttered a shrill little laugh, like a nervous, mischievous +child, and, slipping out of her previous artificial attitude as if +it had been a mantle, ran out of the room. + + +CHAPTER X. + + +As Susy's footsteps died away, Clarence closed the door, walked to +the window, and examined it closely. The bars had been restored +since he had wrenched them off to give ingress to the family on the +day of recapture. He glanced around the room; nothing seemed to +have been disturbed. Nevertheless he was uneasy. The suspicions of +a frank, trustful nature when once aroused are apt to be more +general and far-reaching than the specific distrusts of the +disingenuous, for they imply the overthrow of a whole principle and +not a mere detail. Clarence's conviction that Susy had seen Pedro +recently since his dismissal led him into the wildest surmises of +her motives. It was possible that without her having reason to +suspect Pedro's greater crime, he might have confided to her his +intention of reclaiming the property and installing her as the +mistress and chatelaine of the rancho. The idea was one that might +have appealed to Susy's theatrical imagination. He recalled Mrs. +McClosky's sneer at his own pretensions and her vague threats of a +rival of more lineal descent. The possible infidelity of Susy to +himself touched him lightly when the first surprise was over; +indeed, it scarcely could be called infidelity, if she knew and +believed Mary Rogers's discovery; and the conviction that he and she +had really never loved each other now enabled him, as he believed, +to look at her conduct dispassionately. Yet it was her treachery to +Mrs. Peyton and not to himself that impressed him most, and perhaps +made him equally unjust, through his affections. + +He extinguished the candles, partly from some vague precautions he +could not explain, and partly to think over his fears in the +abstraction and obscurity of the semi-darkness. The higher windows +suffused a faint light on the ceiling, and, assisted by the dark +lantern-like glow cast on the opposite wall by the tunnel of the +embrasured window, the familiar outlines of the room and its +furniture came back to him. Somewhat in this fashion also, in the +obscurity and quiet, came back to him the events he had overlooked +and forgotten. He recalled now some gossip of the servants, and +hints dropped by Susy of a violent quarrel between Peyton and Pedro, +which resulted in Pedro's dismissal, but which now seemed clearly +attributable to some graver cause than inattention and insolence. +He recalled Mary Rogers's playful pleasantries with Susy about +Pedro, and Susy's mysterious air, which he had hitherto regarded +only as part of her exaggeration. He remembered Mrs. Peyton's +unwarrantable uneasiness about Susy, which he had either overlooked +or referred entirely to himself; she must have suspected something. +To his quickened imagination, in this ruin of his faith and trust, +he believed that Hooker's defection was either part of the +conspiracy, or that he had run away to avoid being implicated with +Susy in its discovery. This, too, was the significance of Gilroy's +parting warning. He and Mrs. Peyton alone had been blind and +confiding in the midst of this treachery, and even HE had been blind +to his own real affections. + +The wind had risen again, and the faint light on the opposite wall +grew tremulous and shifting with the movement of the foliage +without. But presently the glow became quite obliterated, as if by +the intervention of some opaque body outside the window. He rose +hurriedly and went to the casement. But at the same moment he +fancied he heard the jamming of a door or window in quite another +direction, and his examination of the casement before him showed him +only the silver light of the thinly clouded sky falling +uninterruptedly through the bars and foliage on the interior of the +whitewashed embrasure. Then a conception of his mistake flashed +across him. The line of the casa was long, straggling, and exposed +elsewhere; why should the attempt to enter or communicate with any +one within be confined only to this single point? And why not +satisfy himself at once if any trespassers were lounging around the +walls, and then confront them boldly in the open? Their discovery +and identification was as important as the defeat of their intentions. + +He relit the candle, and, placing it on a small table by the wall +beyond the visual range of the window, rearranged the curtain so +that, while it permitted the light to pass out, it left the room in +shadow. He then opened the door softly, locked it behind him, and +passed noiselessly into the hall. Susy's and Mrs. McClosky's rooms +were at the further end of the passage, but between them and the +boudoir was the open patio, and the low murmur of the voices of +servants, who still lingered until he should dismiss them for the +night. Turning back, he moved silently down the passage, until he +reached the narrow arched door to the garden. This he unlocked and +opened with the same stealthy caution. The rain had recommenced. +Not daring to risk a return to his room, he took from a peg in the +recess an old waterproof cloak and "sou'wester" of Peyton's, which +still hung there, and passed out into the night, locking the door +behind him. To keep the knowledge of his secret patrol from the +stablemen, he did not attempt to take out his own horse, but trusted +to find some vacquero's mustang in the corral. By good luck an old +"Blue Grass" hack of Peyton's, nearest the stockade as he entered, +allowed itself to be quickly caught. Using its rope headstall for a +bridle, Clarence vaulted on its bare back, and paced cautiously out +into the road. Here he kept the curve of the long line of stockade +until he reached the outlying field where, half hidden in the +withered, sapless, but still standing stalks of grain, he slowly +began a circuit of the casa. + +The misty gray dome above him, which an invisible moon seemed to +have quicksilvered over, alternately lightened and darkened with +passing gusts of fine rain. Nevertheless he could see the outline +of the broad quadrangle of the house quite distinctly, except on the +west side, where a fringe of writhing willows beat the brown adobe +walls with their imploring arms at every gust. Elsewhere nothing +moved; the view was uninterrupted to where the shining, watery sky +met the equally shining, watery plain. He had already made a half +circuit of the house, and was still noiselessly picking his way +along the furrows, muffled with soaked and broken-down blades, and +the velvety upspringing of the "volunteer" growth, when suddenly, +not fifty yards before him, without sound or warning, a figure rode +out of the grain upon the open crossroad, and deliberately halted +with a listless, abstracted, waiting air. Clarence instantly +recognized one of his own vacqueros, an undersized half-breed, but +he as instantly divined that he was only an outpost or confederate, +stationed to give the alarm. The same precaution had prevented each +hearing the other, and the lesser height of the vacquero had +rendered him indistinguishable as he preceded Clarence among the +grain. As the young man made no doubt that the real trespasser was +nearer the casa, along the line of willows, he wheeled to intercept +him without alarming his sentry. Unfortunately, his horse answered +the rope bridle clumsily, and splashed in striking out. The watcher +quickly raised his head, and Clarence knew that his only chance was +now to suppress him. Determined to do this at any hazard, with a +threatening gesture he charged boldly down upon him. + +But he had not crossed half the distance between them when the man +uttered an appalling cry, so wild and despairing that it seemed to +chill even the hot blood in Clarence's veins, and dashed frenziedly +down the cross-road into the interminable plain. Before Clarence +could determine if that cry was a signal or an involuntary outburst, +it was followed instantly by the sound of frightened and struggling +hoofs clattering against the wall of the casa, and a swaying of the +shrubbery near the back gate of the patio. Here was his real +quarry! Without hesitation he dug his heels into the flanks of his +horse and rode furiously towards it. As he approached, a long +tremor seemed to pass through the shrubbery, with the retreating +sound of horse hoofs. The unseen trespasser had evidently taken the +alarm and was fleeing, and Clarence dashed in pursuit. Following +the sound, for the shrubbery hid the fugitive from view, he passed +the last wall of the casa; but it soon became evident that the +unknown had the better horse. The hoof-beats grew fainter and +fainter, and at times appeared even to cease, until his own approach +started them again, eventually to fade away in the distance. In +vain Clarence dug his heels into the flanks of his heavier steed, +and regretted his own mustang; and when at last he reached the edge +of the thicket he had lost both sight and sound of the fugitive. +The descent to the lower terrace lay before him empty and desolate. +The man had escaped! + +He turned slowly back with baffled anger and vindictiveness. +However, he had prevented something, although he knew not what. The +principal had got away, but he had identified his confederate, and +for the first time held a clue to his mysterious visitant. There +was no use to alarm the household, which did not seem to have been +disturbed. The trespassers were far away by this time, and the +attempt would hardly be repeated that night. He made his way +quietly back to the corral, let loose his horse, and regained the +casa unobserved. He unlocked the arched door in the wall, reentered +the darkened passage, stopped a moment to open the door of the +boudoir, glance at the closely fastened casement, and extinguish the +still burning candle, and, relocking the door securely, made his way +to his own room. + +But he could not sleep. The whole incident, over so quickly, had +nevertheless impressed him deeply, and yet like a dream. The +strange yell of the vacquero still rang in his ears, but with an +unearthly and superstitious significance that was even more +dreamlike in its meaning. He awakened from a fitful slumber to find +the light of morning in the room, and Incarnacion standing by his +bedside. + +The yellow face of the steward was greenish with terror, and his +lips were dry. + +"Get up, Senor Clarencio; get up at once, my master. Strange things +have happened. Mother of God protect us!" + +Clarence rolled to his feet, with the events of the past night +struggling back upon his consciousness. + +"What mean you, Nascio?" he said, grasping the man's arm, which was +still mechanically making the sign of the cross, as he muttered +incoherently. "Speak, I command you!" + +"It is Jose, the little vacquero, who is even now at the padre's +house, raving as a lunatic, stricken as a madman with terror! He +has seen him,--the dead alive! Save us!" + +"Are you mad yourself, Nascio?" said Clarence. "Whom has he seen?" + +"Whom? God help us! the old padron--Senor Peyton himself! He +rushed towards him here, in the patio, last night--out of the air, +the sky, the ground, he knew not,--his own self, wrapped in his old +storm cloak and hat, and riding his own horse,--erect, terrible, and +menacing, with an awful hand upholding a rope--so! He saw him with +these eyes, as I see you. What HE said to him, God knows! The +priest, perhaps, for he has made confession!" + +In a flash of intelligence Clarence comprehended all. He rose +grimly and began to dress himself. + +"Not a word of this to the women,--to any one, Nascio, dost thou +understand?" he said curtly. "It may be that Jose has been +partaking too freely of aguardiente,--it is possible. I will see +the priest myself. But what possesses thee? Collect thyself, good +Nascio." + +But the man was still trembling. + +"It is not all,--Mother of God! it is not all, master!" he +stammered, dropping to his knees and still crossing himself. "This +morning, beside the corral, they find the horse of Pedro Valdez +splashed and spattered on saddle and bridle, and in the stirrup,-- +dost thou hear? the STIRRUP,--hanging, the torn-off boot of Valdez! +Ah, God! The same as HIS! Now do you understand? It is HIS +vengeance. No! Jesu forgive me! it is the vengeance of God!" + +Clarence was staggered. + +"And you have not found Valdez? You have looked for him?" he said, +hurriedly throwing on his clothes. + +"Everywhere,--all over the plain. The whole rancho has been out +since sunrise,--here and there and everywhere. And there is +nothing! Of course not. What would you?" He pointed solemnly to +the ground. + +"Nonsense!" said Clarence, buttoning his coat and seizing his hat. +"Follow me." + +He ran down the passage, followed by Incarnacion, through the +excited, gesticulating crowd of servants in the patio, and out of +the back gate. He turned first along the wall of the casa towards +the barred window of the boudoir. Then a cry came from Incarnacion. + +They ran quickly forward. Hanging from the grating of the window, +like a mass of limp and saturated clothes, was the body of Pedro +Valdez, with one unbooted foot dangling within an inch of the +ground. His head was passed inside the grating and fixed as at that +moment when the first spring of the frightened horse had broken his +neck between the bars as in a garrote, and the second plunge of the +terrified animal had carried off his boot in the caught stirrup when +it escaped. + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +The winter rains were over and gone, and the whole long line of +Californian coast was dashed with color. There were miles of yellow +and red poppies, leagues of lupines that painted the gently rounded +hills with soft primary hues, and long continuous slopes, like low +mountain systems, of daisies and dandelions. At Sacramento it was +already summer; the yellow river was flashing and intolerable; the +tule and marsh grasses were lush and long; the bloom of cottonwood +and sycamore whitened the outskirts of the city, and as Cyrus +Hopkins and his daughter Phoebe looked from the veranda of the +Placer Hotel, accustomed as they were to the cool trade winds of the +coast valleys, they felt homesick from the memory of eastern heats. + +Later, when they were surveying the long dinner tables at the table +d'hote with something of the uncomfortable and shamefaced loneliness +of the provincial, Phoebe uttered a slight cry and clutched her +father's arm. Mr. Hopkins stayed the play of his squared elbows and +glanced inquiringly at his daughter's face. There was a pretty +animation in it, as she pointed to a figure that had just entered. +It was that of a young man attired in the extravagance rather than +the taste of the prevailing fashion, which did not, however, in the +least conceal a decided rusticity of limb and movement. A long +mustache, which looked unkempt, even in its pomatumed stiffness, and +lank, dark hair that had bent but never curled under the barber's +iron, made him notable even in that heterogeneous assembly. + +"That's he," whispered Phoebe. + +"Who?" said her father. + +Alas for the inconsistencies of love! The blush came with the name +and not the vision. + +"Mr. Hooker," she stammered. + +It was, indeed, Jim Hooker. But the role of his exaggeration was +no longer the same; the remorseful gloom in which he had been +habitually steeped had changed into a fatigued, yet haughty, +fastidiousness more in keeping with his fashionable garments. He +was more peaceful, yet not entirely placable, and, as he sat down at +a side table and pulled down his striped cuffs with his clasped +fingers, he cast a glance of critical disapproval on the general +company. Nevertheless, he seemed to be furtively watchful of his +effect upon them, and as one or two whispered and looked towards +him, his consciousness became darkly manifest. + +All of which might have intimidated the gentle Phoebe, but did not +discompose her father. He rose, and crossing over to Hooker's +table, clapped him heartily on the back. + +"How do, Hooker? I didn't recognize you in them fine clothes, but +Phoebe guessed as how it was you." + +Flushed, disconcerted, irritated, but always in wholesome awe of Mr. +Hopkins, Jim returned his greeting awkwardly and half hysterically. +How he would have received the more timid Phoebe is another +question. But Mr. Hopkins, without apparently noticing these +symptoms, went on:-- + +"We're only just down, Phoebe and me, and as I guess we'll want to +talk over old times, we'll come alongside o' you. Hold on, and I'll +fetch her." + +The interval gave the unhappy Jim a chance to recover himself, to +regain his vanished cuffs, display his heavy watch-chain, curl his +mustache, and otherwise reassume his air of blase fastidiousness. +But the transfer made, Phoebe, after shaking hands, became +speechless under these perfections. Not so her father. + +"If there's anything in looks, you seem to be prospering," he said +grimly; "unless you're in the tailorin' line, and you're only +showin' off stock. What mout ye be doing?" + +"Ye ain't bin long in Sacramento, I reckon?" suggested Jim, with +patronizing pity. + +"No, we only came this morning," returned Hopkins. + +"And you ain't bin to the theatre?" continued Jim. + +"No." + +"Nor moved much in--in--gin'ral fash'nable sassiety?" + +"Not yet," interposed Phoebe, with an air of faint apology. + +"Nor seen any of them large posters on the fences, of 'The Prairie +Flower; or, Red-handed Dick,'--three-act play with five tableaux,-- +just the biggest sensation out,--runnin' for forty nights,--money +turned away every night,--standin' room only?" continued Jim, with +prolonged toleration. + +"No." + +"Well, I play Red-handed Dick. I thought you might have seen it and +recognized me. All those people over there," darkly indicating the +long table, "know me. A fellow can't stand it, you know, being +stared at by such a vulgar, low-bred lot. It's gettin' too fresh +here. I'll have to give the landlord notice and cut the whole +hotel. They don't seem to have ever seen a gentleman and a +professional before." + +"Then you're a play-actor now?" said the farmer, in a tone which did +not, however, exhibit the exact degree of admiration which shone in +Phoebe's eyes. + +"For the present," said Jim, with lofty indifference. "You see I +was in--in partnership with McClosky, the manager, and I didn't like +the style of the chump that was doin' Red-handed Dick, so I offered +to take his place one night to show him how. And by Jinks! the +audience, after that night, wouldn't let anybody else play it,-- +wouldn't stand even the biggest, highest-priced stars in it! I +reckon," he added gloomily, "I'll have to run the darned thing in +all the big towns in Californy,--if I don't have to go East with it +after all, just for the business. But it's an awful grind on a +man,--leaves him no time, along of the invitations he gets, and what +with being run after in the streets and stared at in the hotels he +don't get no privacy. There's men, and women, too, over at that +table, that just lie in wait for me here till I come, and don't lift +their eyes off me. I wonder they don't bring their opery-glasses +with them." + +Concerned, sympathizing, and indignant, poor Phoebe turned her brown +head and honest eyes in that direction. But because they were +honest, they could not help observing that the other table did not +seem to be paying the slightest attention to the distinguished +impersonator of Red-handed Dick. Perhaps he had been overheard. + +"Then that was the reason ye didn't come back to your location. I +always guessed it was because you'd got wind of the smash-up down +there, afore we did," said Hopkins grimly. + +"What smash-up?" asked Jim, with slightly resentful quickness. + +"Why, the smash-up of the Sisters' title,--didn't you hear that?" + +There was a slight movement of relief and a return of gloomy hauteur +in Jim's manner. + +"No, we don't know much of what goes on in the cow counties, up +here." + +"Ye mout, considerin' it concerns some o' your friends," returned +Hopkins dryly. "For the Sisters' title went smash as soon as it was +known that Pedro Valdez--the man as started it--had his neck broken +outside the walls o' Robles Rancho; and they do say as this yer +Brant, YOUR friend, had suthin' to do with the breaking of it, +though it was laid to the ghost of old Peyton. Anyhow, there was +such a big skeer that one of the Greaser gang, who thought he'd seen +the ghost, being a Papist, to save his everlasting soul went to the +priest and confessed. But the priest wouldn't give him absolution +until he'd blown the hull thing, and made it public. And then it +turned out that all the dockyments for the title, and even the +custom-house paper, were FORGED by Pedro Valdez, and put on the +market by his confederates. And that's just where YOUR friend, +Clarence Brant, comes in, for HE had bought up the whole title from +them fellers. Now, either, as some say, he was in the fraud from +the beginnin', and never paid anything, or else he was an all-fired +fool, and had parted with his money like one. Some allow that the +reason was that he was awfully sweet on Mrs. Peyton's adopted +daughter, and ez the parents didn't approve of him, he did THIS so +as to get a holt over them by the property. But he's a ruined man, +anyway, now; for they say he's such a darned fool that he's goin' to +pay for all the improvements that the folks who bought under him put +into the land, and that'll take his last cent. I thought I'd tell +you that, for I suppose YOU'VE lost a heap in your improvements, and +will put in your claim?" + +"I reckon I put nearly as much into it as Clar Brant did," said Jim +gloomily, "but I ain't goin' to take a cent from him, or go back on +him now." + +The rascal could not resist this last mendacious opportunity, +although he was perfectly sincere in his renunciation, touched in +his sympathy, and there was even a film of moisture in his shifting +eyes. + +Phoebe was thrilled with the generosity of this noble being, who +could be unselfish even in his superior condition. She added +softly:-- + +"And they say that the girl did not care for him at all, but was +actually going to run off with Pedro, when he stopped her and sent +for Mrs. Peyton." + +To her surprise, Jim's face flushed violently. + +"It's all a dod-blasted lie," he said, in a thick stage whisper. +"It's only the hogwash them Greasers and Pike County galoots ladle +out to each other around the stove in a county grocery. But," +recalling himself loftily, and with a tolerant wave of his be- +diamonded hand, "wot kin you expect from one of them cow counties? +They ain't satisfied till they drive every gentleman out of the +darned gopher-holes they call their 'kentry.'" + +In her admiration of what she believed to be a loyal outburst for +his friend, Phoebe overlooked the implied sneer at her provincial +home. But her father went on with a perfunctory, exasperating, +dusty aridity:-- + +"That mebbee ez mebbee, Mr. Hooker, but the story down in our +precinct goes that she gave Mrs. Peyton the slip,--chucked up her +situation as adopted darter, and went off with a queer sort of a +cirkiss woman,--one of her own KIN, and I reckon one of her own +KIND." + +To this Mr. Hooker offered no further reply than a withering rebuke +of the waiter, a genteel abstraction, and a lofty change of subject. +He pressed upon them two tickets for the performance, of which he +seemed to have a number neatly clasped in an india-rubber band, and +advised them to come early. They would see him after the +performance and sup together. He must leave them now, as he had to +be punctually at the theatre, and if he lingered he should be +pestered by interviewers. He withdrew under a dazzling display of +cuff and white handkerchief, and with that inward swing of the arm +and slight bowiness of the leg generally recognized in his +profession as the lounging exit of high comedy. + +The mingling of awe and an uneasy sense of changed relations which +that meeting with Jim had brought to Phoebe was not lessened when +she entered the theatre with her father that evening, and even Mr. +Hopkins seemed to share her feelings. The theatre was large, and +brilliant in decoration, the seats were well filled with the same +heterogeneous mingling she had seen in the dining-room at the Placer +Hotel, but in the parquet were some fashionable costumes and +cultivated faces. Mr. Hopkins was not altogether so sure that Jim +had been "only gassing." But the gorgeous drop curtain, +representing an allegory of Californian prosperity and abundance, +presently uprolled upon a scene of Western life almost as striking +in its glaring unreality. From a rose-clad English cottage in a +subtropical landscape skipped "Rosalie, the Prairie Flower." The +briefest of skirts, the most unsullied of stockings, the tiniest of +slippers, and the few diamonds that glittered on her fair neck and +fingers, revealed at once the simple and unpretending daughter of +the American backwoodsman. A tumult of delighted greeting broke +from the audience. The bright color came to the pink, girlish +cheeks, gratified vanity danced in her violet eyes, and as she +piquantly bowed her acknowledgments, this great breath of praise +seemed to transfigure and possess her. A very young actor who +represented the giddy world in a straw hat and with an effeminate +manner was alternately petted and girded at by her during the +opening exposition of the plot, until the statement that a "dark +destiny" obliged her to follow her uncle in an emigrant train across +the plains closed the act, apparently extinguished him, and left HER +the central figure. So far, she evidently was the favorite. A +singular aversion to her crept into the heart of Phoebe. + +But the second act brought an Indian attack upon the emigrant train, +and here "Rosalie" displayed the archest heroism and the pinkest and +most distracting self-possession, in marked contrast to the giddy +worldling who, having accompanied her apparently for comic purposes +best known to himself, cowered abjectly under wagons, and was pulled +ignominiously out of straw, until Red Dick swept out of the wings +with a chosen band and a burst of revolvers and turned the tide of +victory. Attired as a picturesque combination of the Neapolitan +smuggler, river-bar miner, and Mexican vacquero, Jim Hooker +instantly began to justify the plaudits that greeted him and the +most sanguinary hopes of the audience. A gloomy but fascinating +cloud of gunpowder and dark intrigue from that moment hung about the +stage. + +Yet in this sombre obscuration Rosalie had passed a happy six +months, coming out with her character and stockings equally +unchanged and unblemished, to be rewarded with the hand of Red Dick +and the discovery of her father, the governor of New Mexico, as a +white-haired, but objectionable vacquero, at the fall of the +curtain. + +Through this exciting performance Phoebe sat with a vague and +increasing sense of loneliness and distrust. She did not know that +Hooker had added to his ordinary inventive exaggeration the form of +dramatic composition. But she had early detected the singular fact +that such shadowy outlines of plot as the piece possessed were +evidently based on his previous narrative of his OWN experiences, +and the saving of Susy Peyton--by himself! There was the episode of +their being lost on the plains, as he had already related it to her, +with the addition of a few years to Susy's age and some vivid +picturesqueness to himself as Red Dick. She was not, of course, +aware that the part of the giddy worldling was Jim's own conception +of the character of Clarence. But what, even to her provincial +taste, seemed the extravagance of the piece, she felt, in some way, +reflected upon the truthfulness of the story she had heard. It +seemed to be a parody on himself, and in the laughter which some of +the most thrilling points produced in certain of the audience, she +heard an echo of her own doubts. But even this she could have borne +if Jim's confidence had not been given to the general public; it was +no longer HERS alone, she shared it with them. And this strange, +bold girl, who acted with him,--the "Blanche Belville" of the +bills,--how often he must have told HER the story, and yet how badly +she had learned it! It was not her own idea of it, nor of HIM. In +the last extravagant scene she turned her weary and half-shamed eyes +from the stage and looked around the theatre. Among a group of +loungers by the wall a face that seemed familiar was turned towards +her own with a look of kindly and sympathetic recognition. It was +the face of Clarence Brant. When the curtain fell, and she and her +father rose to go, he was at their side. He seemed older and more +superior looking than she had ever thought him before, and there was +a gentle yet sad wisdom in his eyes and voice that comforted her +even while it made her feel like crying. + +"You are satisfied that no harm has come to our friend," he said +pleasantly. "Of course you recognized him?" + +"Oh, yes; we met him to-day," said Phoebe. Her provincial pride +impelled her to keep up a show of security and indifference. "We +are going to supper with him." + +Clarence slightly lifted his brows. + +"You are more fortunate than I am," he said smilingly. "I only +arrived here at seven, and I must leave at midnight." + +Phoebe hesitated a moment, then said with affected carelessness:-- + +"What do you think of the young girl who plays with him? Do you +know her? Who is she?" + +He looked at her quickly, and then said, with some surprise:-- + +"Did he not tell you?" + +"She WAS the adopted daughter of Mrs. Peyton,--Miss Susan Silsbee," +he said gravely. + +"Then she DID run away from home as they said," said Phoebe +impulsively. + +"Not EXACTLY as they said," said Clarence gently. "She elected to +make her home with her aunt, Mrs. McClosky, who is the wife of the +manager of this theatre, and she adopted the profession a month ago. +As it now appears that there was some informality in the old +articles of guardianship, Mrs. Peyton would have been powerless to +prevent her from doing either, even if she had wished to." + +The infelicity of questioning Clarence regarding Susy suddenly +flashed upon the forgetful Phoebe, and she colored. Yet, although +sad, he did not look like a rejected lover. + +"Of course, if she is here with her own relatives, that makes all +the difference," she said gently. "It is protection." + +"Certainly," said Clarence. + +"And," continued Phoebe hesitatingly, "she is playing with--with--an +old friend--Mr. Hooker!" + +"That is quite proper, too, considering their relations," said +Clarence tolerantly. + +"I--don't--understand," stammered Phoebe. + +The slightly cynical smile on Clarence's face changed as he looked +into Phoebe's eyes. + +"I've just heard that they are married," he returned gently. + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +Nowhere had the long season of flowers brought such glory as to the +broad plains and slopes of Robles Rancho. By some fortuitous chance +of soil, or flood, or drifting pollen, the three terraces had each +taken a distinct and separate blossom and tint of color. The +straggling line of corral, the crumbling wall of the old garden, the +outlying chapel, and even the brown walls of the casa itself, were +half sunken in the tall racemes of crowding lupines, until from the +distance they seemed to be slowly settling in the profundity of a +dark-blue sea. The second terrace was a league-long flow of gray +and gold daisies, in which the cattle dazedly wandered mid-leg deep. +A perpetual sunshine of yellow dandelions lay upon the third. The +gentle slope to the dark-green canada was a broad cataract of +crimson poppies. Everywhere where water had stood, great patches of +color had taken its place. It seemed as if the rains had ceased +only that the broken heavens might drop flowers. + +Never before had its beauty--a beauty that seemed built upon a +cruel, youthful, obliterating forgetfulness of the past--struck +Clarence as keenly as when he had made up his mind that he must +leave the place forever. For the tale of his mischance and ill- +fortune, as told by Hopkins, was unfortunately true. When he +discovered that in his desire to save Peyton's house by the purchase +of the Sisters' title he himself had been the victim of a gigantic +fraud, he accepted the loss of the greater part of his fortune with +resignation, and was even satisfied by the thought that he had at +least effected the possession of the property for Mrs. Peyton. But +when he found that those of his tenants who had bought under him had +acquired only a dubious possession of their lands and no title, he +had unhesitatingly reimbursed them for their improvements with the +last of his capital. Only the lawless Gilroy had good-humoredly +declined. The quiet acceptance of the others did not, unfortunately, +preclude their settled belief that Clarence had participated in the +fraud, and that even now his restitution was making a dangerous +precedent, subversive of the best interests of the State, and +discouraging to immigration. Some doubted his sanity. Only one, +struck with the sincerity of his motive, hesitated to take his +money, with a look of commiseration on his face. + +"Are you not satisfied?" asked Clarence, smiling. + +"Yes, but"-- + +"But what?" + +"Nothin'. Only I was thinkin' that a man like you must feel awful +lonesome in Calforny!" + +Lonely he was, indeed; but his loneliness was not the loss of +fortune nor what it might bring. Perhaps he had never fully +realized his wealth; it had been an accident rather than a custom of +his life, and when it had failed in the only test he had made of its +power, it is to be feared that he only sentimentally regretted it. +It was too early yet for him to comprehend the veiled blessings of +the catastrophe in its merciful disruption of habits and ways of +life; his loneliness was still the hopeless solitude left by +vanished ideals and overthrown idols. He was satisfied that he had +never cared for Susy, but he still cared for the belief that he had. + +After the discovery of Pedro's body that fatal morning, a brief but +emphatic interview between himself and Mrs. McClosky had followed. +He had insisted upon her immediately accompanying Susy and himself +to Mrs. Peyton in San Francisco. Horror-stricken and terrified at +the catastrophe, and frightened by the strange looks of the excited +servants, they did not dare to disobey him. He had left them with +Mrs. Peyton in the briefest preliminary interview, during which he +spoke only of the catastrophe, shielding the woman from the +presumption of having provoked it, and urging only the importance of +settling the question of guardianship at once. It was odd that Mrs. +Peyton had been less disturbed than he imagined she would be at even +his charitable version of Susy's unfaithfulness to her; it even +seemed to him that she had already suspected it. But as he was +about to withdraw to leave her to meet them alone, she had stopped +him suddenly. + +"What would you advise me to do?" + +It was his first interview with her since the revelation of his own +feelings. He looked into the pleading, troubled eyes of the woman +he now knew he had loved, and stammered:-- + +"You alone can judge. Only you must remember that one cannot force +an affection any more than one can prevent it." + +He felt himself blushing, and, conscious of the construction of his +words, he even fancied that she was displeased. + +"Then you have no preference?" she said, a little impatiently. + +"None." + +She made a slight gesture with her handsome shoulders, but she only +said, "I should have liked to have pleased you in this," and turned +coldly away. He had left without knowing the result of the +interview; but a few days later he received a letter from her +stating that she had allowed Susy to return to her aunt, and that +she had resigned all claims to her guardianship. + +"It seemed to be a foregone conclusion," she wrote; "and although I +cannot think such a change will be for her permanent welfare, it is +her present WISH, and who knows, indeed, if the change will be +permanent? I have not allowed the legal question to interfere with +my judgment, although her friends must know that she forfeits any +claim upon the estate by her action; but at the same time, in the +event of her suitable marriage, I should try to carry out what I +believe would have been Mr. Peyton's wishes." + +There were a few lines of postscript: "It seems to me that the +change would leave you more free to consult your own wishes in +regard to continuing your friendship with Susy, and upon such a +footing as may please you. I judge from Mrs. McClosky's +conversation that she believed you thought you were only doing your +duty in reporting to me, and that the circumstances had not altered +the good terms in which you all three formerly stood." + +Clarence had dropped the letter with a burning indignation that +seemed to sting his eyes until a scalding moisture hid the words +before him. What might not Susy have said? What exaggeration of +his affection was she not capable of suggesting? He recalled Mrs. +McClosky, and remembered her easy acceptance of him as Susy's lover. +What had they told Mrs. Peyton? What must be her opinion of his +deceit towards herself? It was hard enough to bear this before he +knew he loved her. It was intolerable now! And this is what she +meant when she suggested that he should renew his old terms with +Susy; it was for HIM that this ill-disguised, scornful generosity in +regard to Susy's pecuniary expectations was intended. What should +he do? He would write to her, and indignantly deny any clandestine +affection for Susy. But could he do that, in honor, in truthfulness? +Would it not be better to write and confess all? Yes,--EVERYTHING. + +Fortunately for his still boyish impulsiveness, it was at this time +that the discovery of his own financial ruin came to him. The +inquest on the body of Pedro Valdez and the confession of his +confidant had revealed the facts of the fraudulent title and forged +testamentary documents. Although it was correctly believed that +Pedro had met his death in an escapade of gallantry or intrigue, the +coroner's jury had returned a verdict of "accidental death," and the +lesser scandal was lost in the wider, far-spreading disclosure of +fraud. When he had resolved to assume all the liabilities of his +purchase, he was obliged to write to Mrs. Peyton and confess his +ruin. But he was glad to remind her that it did not alter HER +status or security; he had only given her the possession, and she +would revert to her original and now uncontested title. But as +there was now no reason for his continuing the stewardship, and as +he must adopt some profession and seek his fortune elsewhere, he +begged her to relieve him of his duty. Albeit written with a +throbbing heart and suffused eyes, it was a plain, business-like, +and practical letter. Her reply was equally cool and matter of +fact. She was sorry to hear of his losses, although she could not +agree with him that they could logically sever his present +connection with the rancho, or that, placed upon another and +distinctly business footing, the occupation would not be as +remunerative to him as any other. But, of course, if he had a +preference for some more independent position, that was another +question, although he would forgive her for using the privilege of +her years to remind him that his financial and business success had +not yet justified his independence. She would also advise him not +to decide hastily, or, at least, to wait until she had again +thoroughly gone over her husband's papers with her lawyer, in +reference to the old purchase of the Sisters' title, and the +conditions under which it was bought. She knew that Mr. Brant would +not refuse this as a matter of business, nor would that friendship, +which she valued so highly, allow him to imperil the possession of +the rancho by leaving it at such a moment. As soon as she had +finished the examination of the papers, she would write again. Her +letter seemed to leave him no hope, if, indeed, he had ever indulged +in any. It was the practical kindliness of a woman of business, +nothing more. As to the examination of her husband's papers, that +was a natural precaution. He alone knew that they would give no +record of a transaction which had never occurred. He briefly +replied that his intention to seek another situation was unchanged, +but that he would cheerfully await the arrival of his successor. +Two weeks passed. Then Mr. Sanderson, Mrs. Peyton's lawyer, +arrived, bringing an apologetic note from Mrs. Peyton. She was so +sorry her business was still delayed, but as she had felt that she +had no right to detain him entirely at Robles, she had sent to Mr. +Sanderson to TEMPORARILY relieve him, that he might be free to look +around him or visit San Francisco in reference to his own business, +only extracting a promise from him that he would return to Robles to +meet her at the end of the week, before settling upon anything. + +The bitter smile with which Clarence had read thus far suddenly +changed. Some mysterious touch of unbusiness-like but womanly +hesitation, that he had never noticed in her previous letters, gave +him a faint sense of pleasure, as if her note had been perfumed. He +had availed himself of the offer. It was on this visit to +Sacramento that he had accidentally discovered the marriage of Susy +and Hooker. + +"It's a great deal better business for her to have a husband in the +'profesh' if she's agoin' to stick to it," said his informant, Mrs. +McClosky, "and she's nothing if she ain't business and profesh, Mr. +Brant. I never see a girl that was born for the stage--yes, you +might say jess cut out o' the boards of the stage--as that girl Susy +is! And that's jest what's the matter; and YOU know it, and I know +it, and there you are!" + +It was with these experiences that Clarence was to-day reentering +the wooded and rocky gateway of the rancho from the high road of the +canada; but as he cantered up the first slope, through the drift of +scarlet poppies that almost obliterated the track, and the blue and +yellow blooms of the terraces again broke upon his view, he thought +only of Mrs. Peyton's pleasure in this changed aspect of her old +home. She had told him of it once before, and of her delight in it; +and he had once thought how happy he should be to see it with her. + +The servant who took his horse told him that the senora had arrived +that morning from Santa Inez, bringing with her the two Senoritas +Hernandez from the rancho of Los Canejos, and that other guests were +expected. And there was the Senor Sanderson and his Reverence Padre +Esteban. Truly an affair of hospitality, the first since the padron +died. Whatever dream Clarence might have had of opportunities for +confidential interview was rudely dispelled. Yet Mrs. Peyton had +left orders to be informed at once of Don Clarencio's arrival. + +As he crossed the patio and stepped upon the corridor he fancied he +already detected in the internal arrangements the subtle influence +of Mrs. Peyton's taste and the indefinable domination of the +mistress. For an instant he thought of anticipating the servant and +seeking her in the boudoir, but some instinct withheld him, and he +turned into the study which he had used as an office. It was empty; +a few embers glimmered on the hearth. At the same moment there was +a light step behind him, and Mrs. Peyton entered and closed the door +behind her. She was very beautiful. Although paler and thinner, +there was an odd sort of animation about her, so unlike her usual +repose that it seemed almost feverish. + +"I thought we could talk together a few moments before the guests +arrive. The house will be presently so full, and my duties as +hostess commence." + +"I was--about to seek you--in--in the boudoir," hesitated Clarence. + +She gave an impatient shiver. + +"Good heavens, not there! I shall never go there again. I should +fancy every time I looked out of the window that I saw the head of +that man between the bars. No! I am only thankful that I wasn't +here at the time, and that I can keep my remembrance of the dear old +place unchanged." She checked herself a little abruptly, and then +added somewhat irrelevantly but cheerfully, "Well, you have been +away? What have you done?" + +"Nothing," said Clarence. + +"Then you have kept your promise," she said, with the same nervous +hilarity. + +"I have returned here without making any other engagement," he said +gravely; "but I have not altered my determination." + +She shrugged her shoulders again, or, as it seemed, the skin of her +tightly fitting black dress above them, with the sensitive shiver of +a highly groomed horse, and moved to the hearth as if for warmth; +put her slim, slippered foot upon the low fender, drawing, with a +quick hand, the whole width of her skirt behind her until it +clingingly accented the long, graceful curve from her hip to her +feet. All this was so unlike her usual fastidiousness and repose +that he was struck by it. With her eyes on the glowing embers of +the hearth, and tentatively advancing her toe to its warmth and +drawing it away, she said:-- + +"Of course, you must please yourself. I am afraid I have no right +except that of habit and custom to keep you here; and you know," she +added, with an only half-withheld bitterness, "that they are not +always very effective with young people who prefer to have the +ordering of their own lives. But I have something still to tell you +before you finally decide. I have, as you know, been looking over +my--over Mr. Peyton's papers very carefully. Well, as a result, I +find, Mr. Brant, that there is no record whatever of his wonderfully +providential purchase of the Sisters' title from you; that he never +entered into any written agreement with you, and never paid you a +cent; and that, furthermore, his papers show me that he never even +contemplated it; nor, indeed, even knew of YOUR owning the title +when he died. Yes, Mr. Brant, it was all to YOUR foresight and +prudence, and YOUR generosity alone, that we owe our present +possession of the rancho. When you helped us into that awful +window, it was YOUR house we were entering; and if it had been YOU, +and not those wretches, who had chosen to shut the doors on us after +the funeral, we could never have entered here again. Don't deny it, +Mr. Brant. I have suspected it a long time, and when you spoke of +changing YOUR position, I determined to find out if it wasn't I who +had to leave the house rather than you. One moment, please. And I +did find out, and it WAS I. Don't speak, please, yet. And now," +she said, with a quick return to her previous nervous hilarity, +"knowing this, as you did, and knowing, too, that I would know it +when I examined the papers,--don't speak, I'm not through yet,-- +don't you think that it was just a LITTLE cruel for you to try to +hurry me, and make me come here instead of your coming to ME in San +Francisco, when I gave you leave for that purpose?" + +"But, Mrs. Peyton," gasped Clarence. + +"Please don't interrupt me," said the lady, with a touch of her old +imperiousness, "for in a moment I must join my guests. When I found +you wouldn't tell me, and left it to me to find out, I could only go +away as I did, and really leave you to control what I believed was +your own property. And I thought, too, that I understood your +motives, and, to be frank with you, that worried me; for I believed +I knew the disposition and feelings of a certain person better than +yourself." + +"One moment," broke out Clarence, "you MUST hear me, now. Foolish +and misguided as that purchase may have been, I swear to you I had +only one motive in making it,--to save the homestead for you and +your husband, who had been my first and earliest benefactors. What +the result of it was, you, as a business woman, know; your friends +know; your lawyer will tell you the same. You owe me nothing. I +have given you nothing but the repossession of this property, which +any other man could have done, and perhaps less stupidly than I did. +I would not have forced you to come here to hear this if I had +dreamed of your suspicions, or even if I had simply understood that +you would see me in San Francisco as I passed through." + +"Passed through? Where were you going?" she said quickly. + +"To Sacramento." + +The abrupt change in her manner startled him to a recollection of +Susy, and he blushed. She bit her lips, and moved towards the +window. + +"Then you saw her?" she said, turning suddenly towards him. The +inquiry of her beautiful eyes was more imperative than her speech. + +Clarence recognized quickly what he thought was his cruel blunder in +touching the half-healed wound of separation. But he had gone too +far to be other than perfectly truthful now. + +"Yes; I saw her on the stage," he said, with a return of his boyish +earnestness; "and I learned something which I wanted you to first +hear from me. She is MARRIED,--and to Mr. Hooker, who is in the +same theatrical company with her. But I want you to think, as I +honestly do, that it is the best for her. She has married in her +profession, which is a great protection and a help to her success, +and she has married a man who can look lightly upon certain +qualities in her that others might not be so lenient to. His worst +faults are on the surface, and will wear away in contact with the +world, and he looks up to her as his superior. I gathered this from +her friend, for I did not speak with her myself; I did not go there +to see her. But as I expected to be leaving you soon, I thought it +only right that as I was the humble means of first bringing her into +your life, I should bring you this last news, which I suppose takes +her out of it forever. Only I want you to believe that YOU have +nothing to regret, and that SHE is neither lost nor unhappy." + +The expression of suspicious inquiry on her face when he began +changed gradually to perplexity as he continued, and then relaxed +into a faint, peculiar smile. But there was not the slightest trace +of that pain, wounded pride, indignation, or anger, that he had +expected to see upon it. + +"That means, I suppose, Mr. Brant, that YOU no longer care for her?" + +The smile had passed, yet she spoke now with a half-real, half- +affected archness that was also unlike her. + +"It means," said Clarence with a white face, but a steady voice, +"that I care for her now as much as I ever cared for her, no matter +to what folly it once might have led me. But it means, also, that +there was no time when I was not able to tell it to YOU as frankly +as I do now"-- + +"One moment, please," she interrupted, and turned quickly towards +the door. She opened it and looked out. "I thought they were +calling me,--and--I--I--MUST go now, Mr. Brant. And without +finishing my business either, or saying half I had intended to say. +But wait"--she put her hand to her head in a pretty perplexity, +"it's a moonlight night, and I'll propose after dinner a stroll in +the gardens, and you can manage to walk a little with me." She +stopped again, returned, said, "It was very kind of you to think of +me at Sacramento," held out her hand, allowed it to remain for an +instant, cool but acquiescent, in his warmer grasp, and with the +same odd youthfulness of movement and gesture slipped out of the +door. + +An hour later she was at the head of her dinner table, serene, +beautiful, and calm, in her elegant mourning, provokingly +inaccessible in the sweet deliberation of her widowed years; Padre +Esteban was at her side with a local magnate, who had known Peyton +and his wife, while Donna Rosita and a pair of liquid-tongued, +childlike senoritas were near Clarence and Sanderson. To the priest +Mrs. Peyton spoke admiringly of the changes in the rancho and the +restoration of the Mission Chapel, and together they had commended +Clarence from the level of their superior passionless reserve and +years. Clarence felt hopelessly young and hopelessly lonely; the +naive prattle of the young girls beside him appeared infantine. In +his abstraction, he heard Mrs. Peyton allude to the beauty of the +night, and propose that after coffee and chocolate the ladies should +put on their wraps and go with her to the old garden. Clarence +raised his eyes; she was not looking at him, but there was a slight +consciousness in her face that was not there before, and the +faintest color in her cheek, still lingering, no doubt, from the +excitement of conversation. + +It was a cool, tranquil, dewless night when they at last straggled +out, mere black and white patches in the colorless moonlight. The +brilliancy of the flower-hued landscape was subdued under its +passive, pale austerity; even the gray and gold of the second +terrace seemed dulled and confused. At any other time Clarence +might have lingered over this strange effect, but his eyes followed +only a tall figure, in a long striped burnous, that moved gracefully +beside the soutaned priest. As he approached, it turned towards +him. + +"Ah! here you are. I just told Father Esteban that you talked of +leaving to-morrow, and that he would have to excuse me a few moments +while you showed me what you had done to the old garden." + +She moved beside him, and, with a hesitation that was not unlike a +more youthful timidity, slipped her hand through his arm. It was +for the first time, and, without thinking, he pressed it impulsively +to his side. I have already intimated that Clarence's reserve was +at times qualified by singular directness. + +A few steps carried them out of hearing; a few more, and they seemed +alone in the world. The long adobe wall glanced away emptily beside +them, and was lost; the black shadows of the knotted pear-trees were +beneath their feet. They began to walk with the slight affectation +of treading the shadows as if they were patterns on a carpet. +Clarence was voiceless, and yet he seemed to be moving beside a +spirit that must be first addressed. + +But it was flesh and blood nevertheless. + +"I interrupted you in something you were saying when I left the +office," she said quietly. + +"I was speaking of Susy," returned Clarence eagerly; "and"-- + +"Then you needn't go on," interrupted Mrs. Peyton quickly. "I +understand you, and believe you. I would rather talk of something +else. We have not yet arranged how I can make restitution to you +for the capital you sank in saving this place. You will be +reasonable, Mr. Brant, and not leave me with the shame and pain of +knowing that you ruined yourself for the sake of your old friends. +For it is no more a sentimental idea of mine to feel in this way +than it is a fair and sensible one for you to imply that a mere +quibble of construction absolves me from responsibility. Mr. +Sanderson himself admits that the repossession you gave us is a fair +and legal basis for any arrangement of sharing or division of the +property with you, that might enable you to remain here and continue +the work you have so well begun. Have you no suggestion, or must it +come from ME, Mr. Brant?" + +"Neither. Let us not talk of that now." + +She did not seem to notice the boyish doggedness of his speech, +except so far as it might have increased her inconsequent and +nervously pitched levity. + +"Then suppose we speak of the Misses Hernandez, with whom you +scarcely exchanged a word at dinner, and whom I invited for you and +your fluent Spanish. They are charming girls, even if they are a +little stupid. But what can I do? If I am to live here, I must +have a few young people around me, if only to make the place +cheerful for others. Do you know I have taken a great fancy to Miss +Rogers, and have asked her to visit me. I think she is a good +friend of yours, although perhaps she is a little shy. What's the +matter? You have nothing against her, have you?" + +Clarence had stopped short. They had reached the end of the pear- +tree shadows. A few steps more would bring them to the fallen south +wall of the garden and the open moonlight beyond, but to the right +an olive alley of deeper shadow diverged. + +"No," he said, with slow deliberation; "I have to thank Mary Rogers +for having discovered something in me that I have been blindly, +foolishly, and hopelessly struggling with." + +"And, pray, what was that?" said Mrs. Peyton sharply. + +"That I love you!" + +Mrs. Peyton was fairly startled. The embarrassment of any truth is +apt to be in its eternal abruptness, which no deviousness of tact or +circumlocution of diplomacy has ever yet surmounted. Whatever had +been in her heart, or mind, she was unprepared for this directness. +The bolt had dropped from the sky; they were alone; there was +nothing between the stars and the earth but herself and this man and +this truth; it could not be overlooked, surmounted, or escaped from. +A step or two more would take her out of the garden into the +moonlight, but always into this awful frankness of blunt and +outspoken nature. She hesitated, and turned the corner into the +olive shadows. It was, perhaps, more dangerous; but less shameless, +and less like truckling. And the appallingly direct Clarence +instantly followed. + +"I know you will despise me, hate me; and, perhaps, worst of all, +disbelieve me; but I swear to you, now, that I have always loved +you,--yes, ALWAYS! When first I came here, it was not to see my old +playmate, but YOU, for I had kept the memory of you as I first saw +you when a boy, and you have always been my ideal. I have thought +of, dreamed of, worshiped, and lived for no other woman. Even when +I found Susy again, grown up here at your side; even when I thought +that I might, with your consent, marry her, it was that I might be +with YOU always; that I might be a part of YOUR home, your family, +and have a place with her in YOUR heart; for it was you I loved, and +YOU only. Don't laugh at me, Mrs. Peyton, it is the truth, the +whole truth, I am telling you. God help me!" + +If she only COULD have laughed,--harshly, ironically, or even +mercifully and kindly! But it would not come. And she burst out:-- + +"I am not laughing. Good heavens, don't you see? It is ME you are +making ridiculous." + +"YOU ridiculous?" he said in a momentarily choked, half-stupefied +voice. "You--a beautiful woman, my superior in everything, the +mistress of these lands where I am only steward--made ridiculous, +not by my presumption, but by my confession? Was the saint you just +now admired in Father Esteban's chapel ridiculous because of the +peon clowns who were kneeling before it?" + +"Hush! This is wicked! Stop!" + +She felt she was now on firm ground, and made the most of it in +voice and manner. She must draw the line somewhere, and she would +draw it between passion and impiety. + +"Not until I have told you all, and I MUST before I leave you. I +loved you when I came here,--even when your husband was alive. +Don't be angry, Mrs. Peyton; HE would not, and need not, have been +angry; he would have pitied the foolish boy, who, in the very +innocence and ignorance of his passion, might have revealed it to +him as he did to everybody but ONE. And yet, I sometimes think you +might have guessed it, had you thought of me at all. It must have +been on my lips that day I sat with you in the boudoir. I know that +I was filled with it; with it and with you; with your presence, with +your beauty, your grace of heart and mind,--yes, Mrs. Peyton, even +with your own unrequited love for Susy. Only, then, I knew not what +it was." + +"But I think I can tell you what it was then, and now," said Mrs. +Peyton, recovering her nervous little laugh, though it died a moment +after on her lips. "I remember it very well. You told me then that +I REMINDED YOU OF YOUR MOTHER. Well, I am not old enough to be your +mother, Mr. Brant, but I am old enough to have been, and might have +been, the mother of your wife. That was what you meant then; that +is what you mean now. I was wrong to accuse you of trying to make +me ridiculous. I ask your pardon. Let us leave it as it was that +day in the boudoir, as it is NOW. Let me still remind you of your +mother,--I know she must have been a good woman to have had so good +a son,--and when you have found some sweet young girl to make you +happy, come to me for a mother's blessing, and we will laugh at the +recollection and misunderstanding of this evening." + +Her voice did not, however, exhibit that exquisite maternal +tenderness which the beatific vision ought to have called up, and +the persistent voice of Clarence could not be evaded in the shadow. + +"I said you reminded me of my mother," he went on at her side, +"because I knew her and lost her only as a child. She never was +anything to me but a memory, and yet an ideal of all that was sweet +and lovable in woman. Perhaps it was a dream of what she might have +been when she was as young in years as you. If it pleases you still +to misunderstand me, it may please you also to know that there is a +reminder of her even in this. I have no remembrance of a word of +affection from her, nor a caress; I have been as hopeless in my love +for her who was my mother, as of the woman I would make my wife." + +"But you have seen no one, you know no one, you are young, you +scarcely know your own self! You will forget this, you will forget +ME! And if--if--I should--listen to you, what would the world say, +what would YOU yourself say a few years hence? Oh, be reasonable. +Think of it,--it would be so wild,--so mad! so--so--utterly +ridiculous!" + +In proof of its ludicrous quality, two tears escaped her eyes in the +darkness. But Clarence caught the white flash of her withdrawn +handkerchief in the shadow, and captured her returning hand. It was +trembling, but did not struggle, and presently hushed itself to rest +in his. + +"I'm not only a fool but a brute," he said in a lower voice. +"Forgive me. I have given you pain,--you, for whom I would have +died." + +They had both stopped. He was still holding her sleeping hand. His +arm had stolen around the burnous so softly that it followed the +curves of her figure as lightly as a fold of the garment, and was +presumably unfelt. Grief has its privileges, and suffering +exonerates a questionable situation. In another moment her fair +head MIGHT have dropped upon his shoulder. But an approaching voice +uprose in the adjoining broad allee. It might have been the world +speaking through the voice of the lawyer Sanderson. + +"Yes, he is a good fellow, and an intelligent fellow, too, but a +perfect child in his experience of mankind." + +They both started, but Mrs. Peyton's hand suddenly woke up and +grasped his firmly. Then she said in a higher, but perfectly level +tone:-- + +"Yes, I think with you we had better look at it again in the +sunlight to-morrow. But here come our friends; they have probably +been waiting for us to join them and go in." + + . . . . . . . + +The wholesome freshness of early morning was in the room when +Clarence awoke, cleared and strengthened. His resolution had been +made. He would leave the rancho that morning, to enter the world +again and seek his fortune elsewhere. This was only right to HER, +whose future it should never be said he had imperiled by his folly +and inexperience; and if, in a year or two of struggle he could +prove his right to address her again, he would return. He had not +spoken to her since they had parted in the garden, with the grim +truths of the lawyer ringing in his ears, but he had written a few +lines of farewell, to be given to her after he had left. He was +calm in his resolution, albeit a little pale and hollow-eyed for it. + +He crept downstairs in the gray twilight of the scarce-awakened +house, and made his way to the stables. Saddling his horse, and +mounting, he paced forth into the crisp morning air. The sun, just +risen, was everywhere bringing out the fresh color of the flower- +strewn terraces, as the last night's shadows, which had hidden them, +were slowly beaten back. He cast a last look at the brown adobe +quadrangle of the quiet house, just touched with the bronzing of the +sun, and then turned his face towards the highway. As he passed the +angle of the old garden he hesitated, but, strong in his resolution, +he put the recollection of last night behind him, and rode by +without raising his eyes. + +"Clarence!" + +It was HER voice. He wheeled his horse. She was standing behind +the grille in the old wall as he had seen her standing on the day he +had ridden to his rendezvous with Susy. A Spanish manta was thrown +over her head and shoulders, as if she had dressed hastily, and had +run out to intercept him while he was still in the stable. Her +beautiful face was pale in its black-hooded recess, and there were +faint circles around her lovely eyes. + +"You were going without saying 'goodby'!" she said softly. + +She passed her slim white hand between the grating. Clarence leaped +to the ground, caught it, and pressed it to his lips. But he did +not let it go. + +"No! no!" she said, struggling to withdraw it. "It is better as it +is--as--as you have decided it to be. Only I could not let you go +thus,--without a word. There now,--go, Clarence, go. Please! +Don't you see I am behind these bars? Think of them as the years +that separate us, my poor, dear, foolish boy. Think of them as +standing between us, growing closer, heavier, and more cruel and +hopeless as the years go on." + +Ah, well! they had been good bars a hundred and fifty years ago, +when it was thought as necessary to repress the innocence that was +behind them as the wickedness that was without. They had done duty +in the convent at Santa Inez, and the monastery of Santa Barbara, +and had been brought hither in Governor Micheltorrenas' time to keep +the daughters of Robles from the insidious contact of the outer +world, when they took the air in their cloistered pleasance. +Guitars had tinkled against them in vain, and they had withstood the +stress and storm of love tokens. But, like many other things which +have had their day and time, they had retained their semblance of +power, even while rattling loosely in their sockets, only because no +one had ever thought of putting them to the test, and, in the strong +hand of Clarence, assisted, perhaps, by the leaning figure of Mrs. +Peyton, I grieve to say that the whole grille suddenly collapsed, +became a frame of tinkling iron, and then clanked, bar by bar, into +the road. Mrs. Peyton uttered a little cry and drew back, and +Clarence, leaping the ruins, caught her in his arms. + +For a moment only, for she quickly withdrew from them, and although +the morning sunlight was quite rosy on her cheeks, she said gravely, +pointing to the dismantled opening:-- + +"I suppose you MUST stay now, for you never could leave me here +alone and defenseless." + +He stayed. And with this fulfillment of his youthful dreams the +romance of his young manhood seemed to be completed, and so closed +the second volume of this trilogy. But what effect that fulfillment +of youth had upon his maturer years, or the fortunes of those who +were nearly concerned in it, may be told in a later and final +chronicle. + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg Etext of Susy, A Story of the Plains +by Bret Harte + diff --git a/old/susy10.zip b/old/susy10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2107796 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/susy10.zip |