ifferent he was from that
shabby Methodist minister who used to come to see her father in a black
cravat with a hideous bow! Really there was something to say for a
religion that contained so much picturesque refinement; and for her
part--but that will do. I beg to say that I am not writing of any
particular snob or feminine monstrosity, but of a very charming
creature, who was quite able to say her prayers afterwards like a good
girl, and lay her pretty cheek upon her pillow without a blush.

She opened her window and looked out. The moon, a great silver dome,
was uplifting itself from a bluish-gray level, which she knew was the
distant plain of wheat. Somewhere in its midst appeared a dull star,
at times brightening as if blown upon or drawn upwards in a comet-like
trail. By some odd instinct she felt that it was the solitary forge
of the young inventor, and pictured him standing before it with his
abstracted hazel eyes and a face more begrimed in the moonlight than
ever. When DID he wash himself? Perhaps not until Sunday. How lonely it
must be out there! She slightly shivered and turned from the window.
As she did so, it seemed to her that something knocked against her door
from without. Opening it quickly, she was almost certain that the sound
of a rustling skirt retreated along the passage. It was very late;
perhaps she had disturbed the house by shutting her window. No doubt
it was the motherly interest of Mrs. Randolph that impelled her to
come softly and look after her; and for once her simple surmises were
correct. For not only the inspecting eyes of her hostess, but the
amatory glances of the youthful Emile, had been fastened upon her window
until the light disappeared, and even the Holy Mission Church of San
Jose had assured itself of the dear child's safety with a large and
supple ear at her keyhole.

The next morning Major Randolph took her with Adele in a light cariole
over the ranch. Although his domain was nearly as large as the adjoining
wheat plain, it was not, like that, monopolized by one enormous
characteristic yield, but embraced a more diversified product. There
were acres and acres of potatoes in rows of endless and varying
succession; there were miles of wild oats and barley, which overtopped
them as they drove in narrow lanes of dry and dusty monotony; there were
orchards of pears, apricots, peaches, and nectarines, and vineyards of
grapes, so comparatively dwarfed in height that they scarcely