A Ward of the Golden Gate

the perspiring and parched pedestrian who rashly sought relief in the shade of the wayside oak was speedily chilled to the bone by the northwest

esented a luxurious, almost tropical, picture from the roadside. Banks, beds, and bowers of roses lent their name and color to the grounds; tree-like clusters of hanging fuchsias, mound-like masses of variegated verbena, and tangled thickets of ceanothus and spreading heliotrope were set in boundaries of venerable olive, fig, and pear trees. The old house itself, a picturesque relief to the glaring

a dry, masculine vo

companion with her, and putting her finger imperatively upon a pretty but somewhat passionate mouth. The

r a moment's pause there was the sound of re

didn't you answer, Yerba

rds me when we meet, and treats me as if I were something between his stepdaughter and an almshouse orphan or a police board. It's perfectly ridiculous, for it's only put on while he is in o

ers, dear, that were not official

e seemed to be the only gentleman among them; but it appears that he is dreadfully improper; shoots people now and then for nothing a

ow-a stranger, who never appea

m-who was in the parlor of the Golden Gate the other morning surrounded by his idiotic worshipers and toadies and ballot-box stuffer

, I thought that h

ell you he's a mass of conceit. What else can you expect of a Man-toadied an

sh where she stood, and shook it lightly. The action detached a few of the maturer blossoms, and sent

I do wish the girls could see you

color that her delicate satin skin would have resented in its own texture. But she turned impatiently away-perhaps not before she had allowed

u accept the invitation to meet him her

she's always anxious to placate the powers that be. And I thought he might have some information that I could get

of affection by squeezing her companion's ar

that it was likely the name of the captain of some whaler, that put into San Francisco in the early days, whose child I was, and that, if I chose to call myself 'Miss Good,' he would a

pretty 'Yerba,' that's so stylish and musical, for you'd still be 'Yerba Good.' But," she added, as Yerba made an impatient gesture, "why do you worry yourself about THAT? You w

hink it was necessary for me to get married to become anybody at all, or have any standing whatever. And, whatever you do, don't go talking

, dear. The island was named af

said Yerba, darkly. "Well, I d

t her arm, and was gazi

ge gentleman coming down the walk. They're looking for us. And, as I

haway? N

for yo

were slowly advancing in the direction of the ceanothus-hedge, behin

They're coming straight this way. Shall we stay he

as if we cared. Besides, I don't know that Mr. Hathaway has

hairpin on their passage three of the rose petals where they had fallen. Then, discharging their faces of any previous expression, these two charming hypocrites sallied out innocently into the walk. Nothing could be more natural than their manner: if a criticism might be ventured up

this ravishing apparition, and halted.

t infantile glances of surprise, he continued: "Mr. Paul Hathaway has done us the honor of seeking you here, as

s to Yerba's, "I fancy that I have already had the pleasure of seeing you, and, I fear, the mortif

, you remember how greatly interested we were in the conversation of a party of gentlemen who were there when we came in. I am afraid

t infelix Milly, "and it was so kind and thought

r an indication of something characteristic, beyond this palpable conventionality, "as I unfortunat

o shrink slightly within themselves, and a chill seemed to have passed over the group. The Mayor coughed. The a

out him!" flashed out Yerba, suddenly, wi

assumed or not, her enthusiastic outburst was effective

. I believe Pendleton is in reduced circumsta

g quickly to Yerba, as if replying to the only real question at issue, he continued pointedly, "I am sorry to say the colonel's health is so poor that

at a bill"-began t

to catch the six-o'clock train to San Francisco this evening, and have already lost the time I hoped to spend with Miss Yerba by missing her at the convent. Let me stroll on here, if you

e trustee mentioned in Pendleton's letter of introduction. "I confess she frightened me," he continued, "when she remarked that, according to my statement, I could have been only eighteen years old when

ss' sake?" said Milly, naively. "Was there no one gro

him narrowly, "and I probably looked older and more intelligent than I really was. For, candidly," with the consciousness of Yerba

conversation, "there was something pretty and romantic about it. You two poor young t

sy. "You later comers"-to Milly-"always seem to think that there was nothing here before you!" She paused, and then added, with a naive mixture of re

er, you would have seen how truthful that instinct was. His chief fault in the eyes of our worthy friends is that he reminds them of a great deal they can't perpetuate and much they would like to forget." He checked himsel

d behind. "I will amuse MYSELF, and console your other guardian, dear," said the vivacious Milly, with a rapid exchange of glances with Yerba, "until t

that he had been annoyed at not finding the young girl at the convent, and at having to justify himself to the Lady Superior for what he conceived to be an act of gratuitous kindness; nor was he blind to the fact that his persistence in following her was more an act of aggression against the enemies of Pendleton than of conc

uppose it's all right," she said; "at least you can say so if he asks you. It's only an explanation why he has

, for he is not a man to praise himself; but, the fact is, the bank was in difficulties at the time of that transfer, and, to make it, he sacrificed his personal fortune, and, I think, awakened some of that ill-feeling you have just noticed." He checked himself too late: he had a

cted of misappropriating a Trust confided to him by parties who had already p

, however, suddenly changed, with the charming capriciousness of youth and conscious beauty

then," said Paul gayly, relieved to turn

ure, Mr. Hathaway, after that scene in the hotel parlor yesterday, YOU, at least, cannot complain o

able! And I admit that I was slightly piqued against YOU for the

ir first impressions of each other, some progress has been made in first acquaintan

hat. Colonel Pendleton tells me you kno

tood the girl's scrutiny calmly. "Do you thi

that trouble you have just talked about if he didn't know it? And feared the conseq

r entered into Colonel Pendleton's calculations on any subject. I think he would act the same towards the highest and the lowest, the powerful or the mo

tulance in her manner had been only a resistance to some continual aggression of condition. With that remainder held in check, a certain latent nobility was apparent, as of her true self. In this moment of pleased abstraction she had drawn through the lattice-work of one of the windows a spray of roses clinging to the vine, and wi

said the young man, with conviction. "In a few months you will be

don't YOU begin too! You are going to say that, with my wealth, my accomplishments, my beauty, my friends, what more can I want? What do I care about a secret that can neither add t

," said Paul, warmly, again beginning to believe

en to say that, if I don't like the name of Ye

suddenly recurred to him, with a strange thrill of pleasure, that he himself had given it to her. It was as if he had created some musical instrument to which she

that is my NAME," s

don?" said Paul

so utterly idiotic as to call me after a groun

tammere

ornfully, "and when translated, was no possible title for anybody

nced of the truth of the girl's accusation, and now recalled so vividly his own consternation on hearing the res

last, vaguely. "It was certainly 'Yerba Buena' in the Trus

d. The Trust was never recorded, and the only copy could not be found among Mr

ame?" repeated

Yerba Buena in the bay, and not to the plant. That island was part of the property of my family-the

him, were an old Spanish family, former owners of Yerba Buena Island, who had in the last years become extinct. There had been a story that one of them had eloped with an American ship captain's wife at Monterey. The legendary history of early Spanish California was filled with more remarkable incidents, corroborated with little difficulty from Spanish authorities, who, it was alleged, lent themselves readily to any fabrication or forgery. There was no racial pride: on t

out yourself?" he a

Josita Castro; she knew all the history of

ba would commit herself to no accomplice-of her own sex. She might have dominated the girl, and would make her a firm partisan,

spoken of it before-an

with feminine dexterity. "I have preferred t

rusted him. Yet, fascinated as he had been by her audacity, he did not know whether to be pleased, or the reverse. He would have

YOU thi

tery that I only wonder it was not thought of before," said Paul

se of a smile parting her little mouth,-"I'm believing that you

e door at the end of the interview." He raised his eyes slightly; the young girl's red lips were parted; that illumination of the skin, which was her nearest approach to color, had quite transfigured her face. He felt, suddenly, that she believed it, yet he had no sense of remorse. He half believed it himself; at least, he remembered the nobility of the mother's self-renunciation and its effect upon the two men. Why should not the daughter preserve this truthful picture of her mother's momentary exaltation? Which was the most truthful-that, or the degrading facts? "You speak of a secret," he

a movement of youthful camaraderie, and that occasional maternal rather than sisterly instinct which sometimes influences a young girl's masculine friendship, and elevat

-and this your first and

more than I," looking at h

underlying seriousness. "I think you HAVE lost a good deal. Perhaps, so ha

h Miss Yerba Buena will not be remembered

be a very dif

he young man, warmly

of receiving such point-blank compliment

m her gu

same moment turned and sat down again, throwing her linked hands over her

t with all the gravity

y couldn't teach me; so many times I wanted advice from some one that I could trust. Colonel Pendleton was very good to me when he came; he always treated me like a princess even when I wore short frocks. It was his manner that first made me think he knew my family; but I never

st of her sex, she was evidently more alert to her surroundings at such a moment than her companion, for before he could make any reply, she said, without apparently

oking woman,-evidently Mrs. Woods,-and Milly. The latter managed to reach the summer-house first, with apparently youthful alacrity

unty has promised to send off a note excusing you to the Reverend Mother, if she can persuade Mr. Hathaway

ning to accept her hospitality. She was reinforced by Mr. Woods, who enunciated the same idea with more masculine vigor; and by the Mayor, who expressed his conviction that a slight of this kind to Rosario would be fel

that it was for HER sake. Unfortunately, far from exhibiting any concern in the matter, she seemed to be preoccupied with Milly, and only the charming back of her head was visible behin

Pendleton; and while she, Mrs. Woods, did not for a moment doubt that the colonel might be a good friend and a pleasant companion of MEN, really he, Mr. Hathaway, must admit that, with his reputation and habits, he was hardly a fit associate for a young lady. Indeed, Mr. Woods would have never allowed Milly to invite Yerba here if Colonel Pendleton was to have been her escort. Of course, the poor girl could not choose her own guardian, but Mr. Woods said HE had a right to choose who should be his niece's company. Perhaps Mr. Woods was prejudiced,-most men were,-yet surely Mr. Hathaway, although a loyal friend of Colonel Pendleton's, must admit that when it was an open scandal that the colonel had fought a duel about a notoriously common woman, and even bla

ystery of her parentage-as if it could make the slightest difference to a girl with a qu

ly, with a relief that he nev

me out when she is of age. I suppose you k

lly do

I see the girls have walked over to our neighbors'. Perhaps you would like to have a few moments to yourself before you dress

le of the deep embrasure-the thickness of the old adobe walls-that formed a part of the wooden-latticed window. A Cape jessamine climbing beside it filled the room with its subtle, intoxicating perfume. It was so strong, and he felt himself so i

f it by staying now, if further corroboration were required. Colonel Pendleton had already been uselessly and absurdly perplexed about the possible discovery of the girl's parentage, and its effect upon her fortunes and herself. She had just settled that of her own accord, and, without committing herself or others, had suggested a really sensible plan by which all trouble would be avoided in futu

rough the trees was for a moment focussed on a bed of waxen callas before a hedge of ceanothus, and struck into dazzling relief the cold white chalices of the flowers and the vivid shining green of their background. Presently it slid beyond to a tiny fountain, before invisible, and wrought a blinding miracle out of its flashing and leaping spray. Yet even as he gazed

or very thoughtless. She was actually romping with Milly, and was now evidently being chased down the rose-alley by that volatile young woman. Then these swift Camillas apparently neared the house, there was the rapid rustle

st her in other things, he had even helped on her illusions. He had treated her as if the taint of her mother's worldliness and knowledge of evil was in her pure young flesh. He had recognized her as the daughter of an adventuress, and not as his ward, appealing to his chivalry through her very ignorance-it might be her very c

now, how she had intimated that she had no one to confide in-and, after revealing her mother's history, have still pledged himself to keep the secret from all others, and assisted her in her plan? It

As the guardian who had never counseled or protected her? As an acquaintance of hardly an hour ago? Who would have such a right? A lover-on whose lips it would only seem a tacit appeal to her gratitude or her fears, and w

ependence, he made no doubt she would have met his brutality with unflinching pride and self-possession. He began to dress slowly, at times almost forgetting himself in a new kind of pleasant apathy, which he attributed to the odor of the flowers, and the softer hush of twilight that had come on with the dying away of the trade winds, and the restful spice of the bay-trees near his window. He presently found himself not so much thinking of Yerba as of SEEING her. A picture of her in the summer-house caress

ared. Don Caesar, a young man of a toreador build, roundly bland in face and murky in eye, seemed to notice their absence, and kept his glances towards the door, while Paul engaged in conversation with Dona Anna-if that word could convey an impression of a conventionality which that good-humored young

s, it was a perfect presentment of pure symmetry and carriage. In this black grenadine dress, trimmed with jet, not only was the delicate satin sheen of her skin made clearer by contrast, but she looked every inch her full height, with an ideal exaltation of breeding and culture. She wore no jewelry except a small necklace of pearls-so small it might have been a child's-that fitted her slender throat so tightly that it could

by the naive consciousness in Yerba's of a woman looking her best; but the next mo

ms to admire Miss

eturned Dona A

I am her guardian-with me it

, "you are then already SO certai

t a signal from his hostess, offered his arm to Yerba, the y

at at table, "and I think I deserve them, since, but for you, I should have been on my way to San Francisco at this

mischievously. "We are set he

aid Paul, looking at her with equal playfulness; "though I believe your friend

arn you, Mr. Hathaway, that you have been quite justifying the Reverend Mothe

pt to detract from feminine originality of reflection. By some tacit understanding that had the charm of mutual confidence, they both exerted themselves to please the company rather than each other, and Paul, in the interchange of sallies with Dona Anna, had a certain pleasure in hearing Yerba converse in Spanish with Don Caesar. But in a few moments he observed, with some uneasiness, that they were talking of the old Spanish occupation, and presently of the old Spanish families. Would she prematurely expose an ignorance that might be hereafter remembered against her, or invite some dreadful genealogical reminiscence that would destroy her hopes and raze her Spanis

ng your necklac

lender throat of the handsome g

rs. Baker. I know it is ridiculously small, but it is a child's

rl distinctly connect herself with her actual mother, and for an instant he felt as s

t be so?" remarked Mrs

uple, and Mrs. Baker explained with a smile: "Bob

e, blandly, "would you mind showing it

taching the circlet from her neck. "I'm a

shop. I wanted to buy it for my little Minnie, but as the price was steep I hesitated, and when I did make up my mind he had disposed of it to another

g satisfaction with which average humanity receives the most trivial and unmea

but the jewelry, when she arrives, to the throat-a of Mis

Yerba's folks gobbled up the necklace while you were thinking. You were a

h?" said Dona Anna, turning to Judge Baker with

ve mixed it up with something else. It's so long ago. I never knew, or if I did I've forgotte

prised at his own singular coldness, he was by no means relieved. He was only convinced of one thing. In the last five minutes he had settled upon the irrevocable determination that his present relations with the girl could exist no longer. He must either tell her everything

attentions, she more than once turned from the Spaniard to Paul with an assuring smile. In his anxie

rdian, one would think, you need not alr

us yet faintly tender pleasure tha

ican guardian's FIRST vis

gainst your allowing your treasures, the property of the Trust," he gazed dire

But only for a moment. Judge Baker drew his chair beside Paul's, a

time to save myself from making an a

t him with co

WHO was my rival in tha

l, with frigid

. She bought it right under

sent, and that Don Caesar, who had overheard the speech, moved forward with a su

sual habit of this class of women, the necklace very soon found its way

te right. That's undoubtedly the solution of it. But," with

ut fixing his eyes, now more luminous than ever with anger, not on the speakers bu

her-yees! And Miss Yerba-ah-she is of my countr

saying, and the result he expected. Only twenty-four hours before he had smiled at Pendleton's idea of averting scandal and discovery by fighting, yet he was endeavoring to pick a quarrel with a ma

interfered hastily. "Don Caesar means that your ward has some idea herself that she is of Spanish

ss Yerba out of the question," he said, coldly. "My remark was a general one

d atone for the alarming results of his infelicitous speech. "That's right, gentlemen! You can't get the

ods. "It's easy to see the influence of that Pendleton on our young friend," he said, significantly. "Someb

ce of talking to her alone-she was unconcernedly conversing with Milly and Mrs. Woods, and already the visitors who had been invited to this hurried levee in his honor were arriving. In view of his late indiscretion, he nervously exerted his fullest powers, and in a very few minutes was surrounded by a breathless and admiring group of worshipers. A ludicrous resemblance to the scene in the Golden Gate Hotel passed through his

she managed to draw Dona Anna into the conversation; she was unconventional, Paul fancied, to all but himself. Once or twice, when he had artfully drawn her towards the open French window that led to the moonlit garden and shadowed veranda, she had managed to link Milly's arm in her own, and he was confident that a

hite patch, like a forgotten shawl, which he had observed on the distant ceanothus hedge, and which had at first thrilled him with expectation, had certainly CHANGED ITS POSITION. Before, it seemed to be near the summer-house; now it was, undoubtedly, farther away. Could they, or SHE alone, have slipped from the house and be awaiting him there? With a muttered exclamation at his stupidity he stepped hastily from the veranda and walked towards it. But he had scarcely proceeded a dozen yards before it disappeared. He reached the summer-house-it was empty

that her beautiful face was pale. "She has gone to the other wing to see one of the servants who is ill. We thought you w

session, and becoming nervous in her pres

ight? What are you thinking of, Mr. Hathaway? Do you know anything

smiled faintly, her voice

awkward directness. "I even thought of a

other end of the sofa, and drawing the whole overflow of her skirt to on

sank down on the sofa at her side, no longer the brilliant and ambitious politician, but, it seemed to him, as hopelessly a dreaming, i

er

mission of her formal prefix, and leaning a little forward, with her eyes on h

nly and almost rudely. "Are you satisfied that it means nothing, and can mean nothing, to you? Does it awaken

at him wi

blunder, or some intentional concealment. But why do you want to

ll you have been told, all that you know, think you know, or WANT to know about your relationship to the Arguellos-or to-any one. And then to devote myself entirely to proving what you shal

me here to tell me?

the right to say, all that you, Yerba, would permit me to tell you NOW. But let me hope that the day is not far distant when

his eager eyes, "and when I have settled upon 'a local habitation and a name' we shall renew this interesting conversation. Until then, as my fourth official guardian us

-began Paul

ul, as if to indicate her conception of the irony of a possible application, "this way. Here we are waiting for you." Her listening ear had detected Milly's step in th

stood for one instant gazing at him between the curtains of the doorway. "Good night. My very proper chaperon is dreadfully shocked at this midnight interview, and is taking me away. Only think of it, Milly; he actually proposed to me to walk in the garden with him! Good

ing Paul was standing beside h

r. Woods. "Can you not possibly wait for the next train? The

ancisco before I return," said Paul, quickly. "Yo

y laugh, "you have had no more word

reassuring smile, "not

eech of his, you know. Came to me last night and wondered if anybody could think it was intentional. I told him it was d-d stupid, that was all. I guess his wife had been at him

s the carriage drove up to the door, he turned to h

ld enough for o

he shrubbery, late last evening; and when I ca

prowling about here, I've been told, at all hours. I'll put a stop to it.