A Ward of the Golden Gate

ately confidential clerk to the Hon. Paul Hathaway, entered his e

Slate said I was to give you that, and if it satisfied you

ontained a printer's proof-slip, which he

that, in the unsettled conditions of the Mexican land-titles that followed the American occupation, the consumptive widow of a scion of one of the oldest Californian families intrusted her property and the custody of her infant daughter virtually to the city of San Francisco, as represented by the trustees specified, until the girl should become of age. Within a year, the invalid mother died. With what loyalty, sagacity, and prudence these gentlemen fulfilled their trust may be gathered from the fact that the property left in their charge has not only been secured and protected, but increased a hundredfold in value; and that the young lady, who yesterday attained her majority, is not only one of the richest landed heiresses on the Pacific Slope, but one of the most accompli

ith it in his hand, his silent, set face turned towards the window. Whether the merely human secretary was tired of waiting, or the devoted partisan saw something on his young

ous attacks on you for putting that bill through to reliev

e the reverse. Write to Mr. Slate, thank him, and say that it will do very well-with the exception of the lines

hite man to stand. Why, sir! d-d if he didn't want to patronize YOU, and allowed to me that 'de Kernel' had a 'fah ideah' of you, 'and thought you a promisin' young man.' The fact is, sir, the party is making a big mistake trying to give votes to

tly; "but if his old constituents ever try to get into

d Shear produced from his overcoat pocke

ght the re

id Paul,

ncisco Chief of Police that you asked me to get."

. I'll look them over in Committee. You can go n

himself," and even Paul's explanation that the putative father was a myth scarcely appeased him. But Paul's timely demonstration, by relating the scene he had witnessed of Judge Baker's infelicitous memory, that the secret was likely to be revealed at any moment, and that if the girl continued to cling to her theory, as he feared she would, even to the parting with her fortune, they would be forced to accept it, or be placed in the hideous position of publishing her disgrace, at last convinced him. On the other hand, there was less danger of her POSITIVE imposition being discovered than of the VAGUE AND IMPOSITIVE truth. The real danger lay in the present uncertainty and mystery, which courted surmise and invited discovery. Paul, himself, was willing to take all the respon

od out before him as it had stood out of the shadows of the half-darkened drawing-room that night; as he had seen it-he believed for the last time-framed for an instant in the parted curtains of the doorway, when she bade him "Goodnight." For he had never visited her since, and, on

woman "Kate Howard," alias "Beverly," alias "Durfree," had long passed beyond the ken of local police supervision, and that in the record there was no trace or indication of her child. He was going over those infelix records of early transgressions with the eye of trained experience, making notes from time to time for his official use, and yet always watchful of his secret quest, when suddenly he stopped with a quickened pulse. In the record of an affray at a gambling-house, one of the parties had sought

own was evident from Pendleton's ignorance of the fact. But he must see him again, and at once. Perhaps he might have acquired some information from Yerba; the young girl might have given to his age that confidence she ha

late, Tony. I will see him myself. I

nything copied fro

nto his drawer, and locked it. "Not now,

it had already lost its freshness, and its meretricious glitter had been tarnished. But when he had ordered his breakfast he made his way to the public parlor, happily deserted at that early hour. It was here that he had first seen her. She was standing there, by that mirror, when their eyes first met

dently recognized that nothing save the absolute razing of its warped and flimsy walls could effect a change, and waited for it to collapse suddenly like the house of cards it resembled. Paul wondered for a moment if it were not ominous of its lodgers' hopeless inab

e cravat, that gave him the appearance of suffering from a glandular swelling. His manner had, it seemed to Paul, advanced in exaggerat

t at all approximate, and he don' build, for his mind's not dat settled dat he ain't goin' to trabbel. De place is low down, sah, and de fo'ks is low down, and d

its dangerous reminiscences had something to do with George's loft

ave it convenient to the barber's shop

pose two or three times in rapid succession, finally collapsed, and, with an air of mingled

ss one to hol' it agin de individal pusson. I confess, sah, de circumstances was propiskuous, de fees fahly good, and de risks inferior. De gemplum who kept de shop was an artess hiss

eorge," said Paul, smiling; "and I am glad to find on your own acc

llingly have contented himself with this mere outward manifestation, but in his desire to soothe the ruffled dignity of the old man he consented to partake of a small glass of spirits. George at once became radiant and communicative. "De Kernel bin gone to Santa Clara to see de young lady dat's finished her edercation dah-de Kernel's only ward, sah. She's one o'

on, there had already been some conversation between the colonel and the Mayor, which George had vaguely overheard. He might be too late, the al

he button-hole. Fawn-colored trousers strapped over narrow patent-leather boots, and a tall white hat, whose broad mourning-band was a perpetual memory of his mother, who had died in his boyhood, completed his festal transformation. Yet his erect carriage, high aquiline no

rried easily over his left arm, he greeted Paul wa

But your friends at 'Rosario'-I think they call it; in my time it was owned by Colonel Briones, and HE called it 'The Devil's Little Canyon'-detained me with some d-d civilities. Let's see-hi

e colonel's indifference and digression were

lfilled you

r, with the Mayor, of the

ss Arg

at's his blanked name? I read it only yesterday in a list of the prominent citizens here-and tell him, with my compliments, that I want a GENTLEMAN'S mourning ba

upon George, Paul t

tand that you have a

anter, poured out a glass of whiske

any lady of my acquaintance. Miss Yerba Buena came of age yesterday, and, as she is no longer my ward, she is certainly entitled to the consider

an imitation of his usual frank independence, and made him uneasily conscious of some vague desertion on P

ither for or against her story? That you still do not know whether she

exaggeration of manner which Paul thought must be apparent even to himself, "I shou

on with Pendleton's passing doubts-actually for

, he was restricted from any possible humorous combination, and only felt a

of justice, and was not unworthy the exalted ambition of a young man like yourself or the simple deserts of an old man such as I am. I accepted it, sir, the more readily, because it was entirely unsolicited by me, and seemed to be the spontaneous offering of your own heart. If I hav

as if the mere propinquity of personal sacrifice had made them alike, that struck him with a mingled pathos and ludicrousness. But he said warmly,

how,

lice for the year 1850 that Kate Howard was

d blankly at Paul. "And you call this a laughing matter

e no further information than you had then. That this is so, and that you are really no nearer the FACTS, I am willing to believe from your ignorance of what I have just told you, and your concern at it. But that you have not been influenced in your JUDGMENT of what you do know, I cannot believe?" He drew nearer Pe

opping into an armchair by the window, with his cane between his knees, and the droo

oung lady as peerless in her beauty as she is in her accomplishments, and whose equal don't walk this planet! I know, sir, YOU don't follow me; I know, Mr. Hathaway, your Puritan prejudices; your Church proclivities, your worldly sense of propriety; and, above all, sir, the blanked hypocritical Pharisaic doctrines of your party-I mean no offense to YOU, sir, personally-blind you to that girl's perfections. She, poor child, herself has seen it and felt it, but never, in her b

rant of her real mother?" asked Paul, w

t her face and figure-as clean, sir, as a Blue-Grass thoroughbred! Look at the way she carries herself, whether in those white frillings of her simple school-gown, or that black evening dress that makes her look like a princess! And, blank me, if she isn't one! There's no poor stock there-no white trash-no mixed blood, sir. Blank it all, sir, if it comes to TH

he curling around his set jaw, his head thrown back, his legs astride, and his gold-headed stick held in the hollow of his elbow, like a lance at rest! Paul saw it, and knew that this Quixotic t

dence will ever awaken any suspic

ss than conviction of accent. "Nobody but yourself would ever notice that police report, and

pelessly, "that Miss Yerba's selecti

cy. Fancy, did I say? No, s

think it may be some insidious suggestion of an enemy wh

may be right. I'll look into it; and, if that is the case, which I

hat is all I have to say. When you see Miss Yerba again,-as you will, no doubt,-you may tell her that I am conscious of no misunderstanding on my part, except, perhap

. Hathaway. There is no accounting for these instincts-we can only accept them as they are. But I believe that your intentions,

's boyish scrawling hand. He opened it with an eagerness that no studied self-control nor rigid

w. Miss Arguello's Spanish acquaintances have been very select, and limited to a few school friends and Don Caesar and Dona Anna Briones, tried friends, who are also fellow-passengers with us to Europe. Miss Arguello suggests that some political difference between you and Don Caesar, which occurr

pectfull

PEND