A Ward of the Golden Gate

ate room, and his condescension in selecting the public coffee-room struck the obsequious chamberlain, but did not prevent him from preceding Paul backwards to the table, and summoning a waiter

ughts. He had believed that he would eventually see her in Europe, in some vague and indefinite way and hour: it had been in his

alver with a card. Paul lifted it with a slight tremor, not at the engraved name of "Maria Concepcion de Arguellos de la Yerba Buena," but at the remembered s

aulein was in her own salon. Would EXCELLENCY walk that

disclosed a handsomely furnished salon. A tall graceful figure rose quickly from behind a writ

f all that was distinctively original in them to alien tastes and habits, and he resented the plastic yet characterless mobility which made Yerba's Parisian dress and European manner fit her so charmingly and yet express so little. For a brief critical moment he remembered

is worse in your new magnificence, you might have forgotten one of your oldest, most humble, but faithful subjects." She drew back and made him

n her presence. "I know I went to bed last night a very humble individual, and yet I seem to awaken this morning a very exalted personage. Am I

e table and pointing to a paragraph. Paul took the paper. Certainly there was the plain announcement among the a

and Colonel Pendleton wer

e said, with a scarcely perceptible alterati

to an animated description of the colonel's indignation, but checked hi

ad to put a step to George's talking about ME three months ago,-his extravagance is something TOO awful. And

ise of his friends only, and you

at him thoughtfully, with the soft tendrils of her hair cli

f your triumphs and your victims; of your various campaigns and your conque

large bow of her mantle, but stopped sudd

'd do somet

only to

e last met. No-hear me through-why, then, should you wish to talk over what didn't concern you at the time? Promise me you will stop this reminiscent gossip, and I promise you I will not only not bore you with it, but take care that it is not intruded upon you by others. Make yourself pleasant to me by talking about yourself and your prospects-anything but ME-and I wi

tly," h

will you

t, I believe, is the ti

she said quietly, "o

ut my cure may not take so long," he a

tfully, and they remained lo

come and go as you like, using this salon as your own. Stay, we can do something today. What do you say to a ride in the forest this afternoon? Milly isn't here yet,

his afternoon. Don Caesar-I mean Miss Briones

curiously, but

y at three o'clock. I will see that the horses are ordered. I often ride here, and the people know my tastes and habits. We will have a pleasant ride and a good long talk together, and I'll show you a ruin and a dista

he had his own opinion of its futility. But it would be strange if, with his past experience, he could not find some other way to determine her convictions or win her confidence during those two hours of companionship. He

recognizing a woman on a horse as a particularly harmonious spectacle, was forced to admire her. Both rode well, and naturally-having been brought up in the same Western school-the horses recognized it, and instinctively obeyed them, and their conversation had the easy deliberation and inflection of a tete-a-tete. Paul, in view of her previous hint, talked to her of himself and his fortunes

cted in the ring of her voice something of the passion

trol of your horse, I don't see why," sai

hy

to be a man unless she is cons

tunately showed in his face. She beat back his eager look with a short laugh. "There, don't speak, and don't look like that. That remark was worthy the usual artless maiden's invit

rd social functions, which are called by that name, merely to become the envy an

Don't apologize. I'd rather see you flare out like that than p

once, when I was simply the most palpable a

ed in smoothing out the mane of her walking horse.

it takes centuries to make the lawns they have in England,-but even here the blades of grass seem to press closer together, as if they were crowded or overpopulated, like the country; and this forest, which has been always wild

e comes over from America for

eyes to hers he could see that they were suffused with a tender mischief, as of a reproving yet secretly admiring sister, and her strangely delicate complexion had taken on itself that faint Alpine glow that was more of an illuminatio

ily washing

e. Well, that

ere?" said Paul, watching h

, I think she treated me as if I was one. At least, I can imagine how one would feel to her, and what a woman like that could make of any girl. You laugh, Mr. Hathaway, you don't understand-but you don't know what an advantage it would be to a girl to have a mother l

olonel talks to you again about my conquests, you will know that at present my affections are centred on the Baron's mother. I admit it's a strong point in his-in ANYBODY'S-favor, who can show an unblemished maternal pedigree. What a pity it is you are an orphan, like myself, Mr. Hathaway! For I

im. When he was at her side again, she said, "There is still the ruin to see on our way home. It is just off here to the right. But if you wish to go over it we will have to dismount at the f

few winding broken steps, part of a fallen archway, a few feet of vaulted corridor, a sudden breach-the sky beyond-and that was all! Not all; for before them, overlooked at first, lay a chasm covering half an acre, in which the whole

l, leaning over a parapet of the wall and

t from the road before. I'm dreadfully sorry," she added, with mock

se at the time," said Paul gravely. "T

glitter of a spire, or the flash of a dome. From the abyss itself arose a cool odor of moist green leaves, the scent of some unseen blossoms, and around the baking vines on the hot wall the hum of apparently taskless

d say a one-syllabled-reply. He had followed her from remote lands, dumbly worshiping her, building in his foolish brain an air-castle of happiness, which by reason of her magic power she could always see plainly in his eyes. And one day, beguiling him in the depths of the forest, she led him to a fair-seeming castle, and, bid

im gauntleted hand, and swung herself to one side, while she surveyed him with smiling, parted lips

called 'The Legend of the Goose-Girl of Strudle Bad, and the enterprising Gosling.' There was once a goose-girl of the plain who

ers. She struggled, half laughing; yielded for a breathless moment as his lips brushed her

sionate eagerness, "hear me-it

habit. Then, with a lower voice and a paler cheek, as if his lips had se

l you've hear

ve you-there!" she

eated eagerly, attemptin

! that must suffice you. And if you wish me still to believe you, you will not s

again down the slope without embarrassment or reminiscent emotion. The whole scene through which she had just passed might have been buried in the abyss and ruins

s for the future, to say nothing of the half-mischievous, half-reproachful smile that accompanied it, that Paul exerted himself, and eventually recovered his lost gayety. When they at last drew up in the courtyard, with the flush of youth and exercise in their faces, Paul felt he was the object of envy to the loungers, and of fresh gossip to Strudle Bad. It struck him less pleasantly that two dark faces, which had been previously regarding him in the gloom of the corridor and vanished as he approached, reappeared some moments later in Yerba's salon as Don Caesar and Dona Anna, with a benignly different expression. Dona Anna especially gr

ba did not press him; he even fancied she looked relieved. Colonel Pendleton was coming; Paul was not loath, in his present frame of mind, to dispense with his company. A conviction that the colonel's counsel was not the best guide for Yerba, and that in some vague way their

restaurant and spent the evening at the Kursaal. Later, at the Residenz Club,

e a conquest of the bea

izing only Dona Anna under

sement, "I am an older man than you, yet I hardly think I could

edly, his color increasing at his own mention of that name as if he were imposing it upon

fting his eyebrows in profound

attempt to recover his equanimity, "YO

rely that is not American? Still, they say she

nt and criticism which she should have avoided. Nor could he explain it at length to the General without assisting and accenting the deception, which he w

erstand the freedom of an American girl, or that an heiress may have something else to do with her money than to expend it on the Baron's mortgages. But"-he stopped, and his simple, honest face assumed an air of profound and sagacious cunning-"I am glad to talk about it with you, who of course are perfectly familiar with the affair. I shall now be able to know what to say. My word, my friend,

y herself and indorsed by Colonel Pendleton. He dwelt somewhat particularly on the romantic character of the Trust, hoping to draw the General's attention away from the question of relationship, but he was chagrined to find that the honest wa

was satisfied there was no entanglement; her heart was virgin. He even dared to hope that she had ALWAYS cared for him. It was for HIM to remove all obstacles-to prevail upon her to leave this place and return to America with him as her husband, the guardian of her good name, and the custodian of her secret. At times the strains of a dreamy German waltz, played in the distance, brought back to him the brief moment that his arm had encircled her waist by the crumbling wall, and his pulses grew languid, only to leap firmer the next moment with more desperate resolve. He would win her, come what may! He co

ave upon the balcony, drew a chair in the recess behind the curtain, and gazed upon the night. It was very quiet; the moon was high, the square was sleeping in a trance of checkered shadows, like a gigantic chessboard, with black foreshortened trees for pawns. The click of a cavalry sabre, the sound of a footfall on the pavement of the distant Konigsstrasse, were distinctly audible; a far-off railway whistle was startling in

of Rosario and the rose-breath of the open windows with a strange longing, and remembered the half-stifled sweetness of her happy v

window, with his back to the partition of the salon, he could see nothing. Yet he did not dare to move. For with the quickened senses of a lover he felt the diffused and perfumed aura of HER presence, of

out a word-without a-a-thanks-without a 'ope! Ah!-we have ser-rved you-me and my sister; we are the or-range dry-now we c

with her! Paul gripped

you return here?" It was Yerba's vo

speak with you what you wi

am, since you have crept i

it is not I, you understand-I, Caesar Briones, who am the thief! No! It is that swaggering espadachin-that fanfarron of a Colonel Pendleton-that pattern of an of

se to h

t put that idea in your head. Who furnished you the facts you wanted? I-Mother of God! SUCH FACTS!-I, who knew the Arguello pedigree-I, who know it was as impossible for you to be a daughter of them as-what?

angry dismissal, Paul would have flown to her side. It could not be the paralysis of personal f

ways so! No, it was YOU who brought me here; your eyes that smiled into mine-and drove home the colonel's request that I and my sister should accompany you. God! I was weak then! You smile, senora; you think you have succeeded-you

sion that the weariness which Paul had at first noticed seemed to be the only dominant tone. "Suppose you prove that I a

e a child, and recognized the woman who put you there and came to see you as a friend. She overheard the Mother Superior say it was your mother, and saw a necklace that was left for you to wear. Ah! you begin to believe! When I had put this and that together I found that Pepita could not identify you with the child that she had seen. But you, senora, you YOURSELF supplied the missing proof! Yes! you supplied it with the NECKLACE that you wore that evening at Rosario, when you wished to do honor to this young Hathaway-the guardian who had always thrown you off! Ah!-you now suspect

voice in a lady's drawing-room, and that although you are speakin

nging sash against the intruder, when in an instant he was seized by Paul, tightly locked in a desperate grip, and whirled out on the balcony. Before he could gain breath to utter a cry, Hathaway had passed his right arm around the Mexican's throat, effectively stopping his utterance,

ne of this discussion so roughly, but you will observe that you can speak more freely HERE

aesar chokingly, as he

lige me. The guests are beginning to be awake," continued Paul, with a wicked smile, indicating the noise of an open

he said, with a livid smile, in a lower tone and a desperate attempt to imitate Paul's coolness. "For the present-ah-yees!

ow about that. Of course, there's the equal chance that y

Paul, as if carelessly, changed the key of the former fr

e! Have a care! You are not in

arreling, and you will only precipitate matters by rece

," said Briones, with a swaggering air but

station. We will board the night express that will take us in th

here-my sister

called you away, and we will leave it with the porter to be delivered IN THE MORNING. Or-I d

e of me a pr

to detain him to hear more. You can pass the time pleasantly by finishing the story I was o

m-my a

within call. And, as she is the only person who is able to say

not one of yo

no better evidence than you have

not Miss Yer

y expects that someb

for in

rha

t your own. And if you DO, you help her to marry the

written to your sister, and you may pref

he latter placed pen, ink, and paper before him. "Take your time," he added, folding his arm

modically, then slowly and reluctantly. "I war-

ou pl

appear, you are my murderer-

on a question of e

ng with a malign smile. There wa

papers, and rushed to the door; but Paul

dlet

the door, admitted the tall figure of the colonel, and was about to

know all. But I wish to speak

hich we are now on our way to the station and the frontier to settle. If you are willing to accompany us, I shall give you every opp

e transacted between us now." His face was pale, and his voice, although steady and self-controlled, had that same strange suggestion of sudden age in it which Paul had before notice

y first. But I shall hold myself in readiness

th thin white fingers pulling his moustache, evaded it. Then Paul unlocked the door, and said slowly, "In five minutes I leave this house for the station.

Don Caesar, striking an attitude in the doorway,

ointing with a gaunt white finger into the darkened hall. "I will follow you. Mr. Hathaway, as an older man, and one who has seen a good deal of foolish altercation, I regret, sir, deeply regret, to be a witne

His sudden arrival showed that Yerba must have sent for him and told him of Don Caesar's threats; would he be wild enough to attempt to strangle the man in some remote room or in the darkness of the passage? He stepped soft

med the porter that owing to an urgent call of business he should try to catch the through express at three o'clock, but they must retain his room and luggage until they heard from him. He remembered Don Caesar's lett

erest in himself had prompted her to send the colonel to him. Yet, mingled with this was an odd sense of a certain ridiculousness in his position: there was the absurdity of his prospective antagonist being even now in confidential consultation with his own fr

only contingent upon the arrival of one or two companions, and describing them minutely to prevent mistakes, he began gloomily to pace before the ticket-office. Five minutes passed-the number of passengers did not increase; ten minutes; a distant shriek-the hoarse inquiry of the inspector-had the Herr's companions yet gekommt? the sudden glar

he Bahnhof sank back into half-lit repose. At the end of five minutes there was another shriek. Paul turned quickly to the inspector. Ah, then, there was another train? No; it was only

ain with the same despairing cry; a flutter of something white from one of the windows, like a loosened curtain, that at last seemed to detach

s handkerchief, evidently some signal waved to the well-born Herr, who was the only passenger on the platform. So, possibly, it might be from his fr

t it WAS possible. No; he would not telegraph

ourtyard. The hall-porter met him with demonstrative concern and apology. Ah! if he had only understood his Excellency better, he could have saved him all this trouble. Evidently his Excellency was going with the Argue

was pinned to his pillow. With nervous fingers he relit his candles, and found it was a note in Yerba's handwriting. As he opened it, a tiny spray

OMEN-not to you, who can never be anything but proud, beloved, and true-but to ME of all the shame and misery. Thank you for all you have done-for all you would do, my friend, and don't think me ungrateful, only because I am unwor