crous side of her recent experience, not
unnaturally sent Grace off into hysterics.

Mr. Hutchinson Port was quite ready to carry the message of thanks to
the desperado, and to add to it some very hearty thanks of his own. But
his good intentions could not be realized; the desperado no longer was
on the train.

"Yes, sah; I knows the gen'l'm yo' means, sah," responded the porter,
in answer to inquiries. "Pow'fl big gen'l'm yo' means, as got on this
mo'nin' to Vegas. Thet's th' one, sah! He'd some kind er trib-bilation
with th' little gen'l'm'--th' drummer gen'lm' as got on las' night to
Lamy--an' he brought him out, holdin' him like he was a kitten, to the
lobby, an' jus' set him down an' boxed his ears till he hollered! Yes,
sah, thet's th' one. He got off to Otero. An' th' little man he got off
to Trinidad, an' said he was agoin' up by the Denver to Pueblo. Yes,
sah; they's both got off, sah! Thank yo', sah! Get yo' a pillow, sah?"

IV.

And so it came to pass that Miss Grace Winthrop returned to Boston
cherishing towards desperadoes in general, and towards the desperadoes
of New Mexico in particular, sentiments as generous as they were
unusual.

Miss Winthrop the elder, whose soul was accustomed to a purer ether than
that in which desperadoes ordinarily are found, presently forgot the
vicarious excitements of her journey eastward in the calm joys of the
Summer School of Philosophy.

And Mr. Hutchinson Port longed to be able to forget the whole State of
California: when he realized, as he did with a most bitter keenness,
that the superficial charms of that greatly overrated region had
detained him upon the Western coast until the terrapin season was
absolutely at an end!

II.--EAST.

_The Incident of the Mysterious Stranger, and the Philadelphia
Dinner-party._

I.

Mrs. Rittenhouse Smith had achieved righteousness. That is to say, being
a Philadelphian, she was celebrated for giving successful dinners. The
person who achieves celebrity of this sort in Philadelphia is not unlike
the seraph who attains to eminence in the heavenly choir.

It was conceded that Mr. Rittenhouse Smith (he was one of _the_ Smiths,
of course--not the others. His mother was a Biddle) was an important
factor in his wife's success; for, as became a well-brought-up
Philadelphian, he attended personally to the marketing. But had these
Smith dinners been commendable only because the food was good, they
would not hav