one of those furnaces
as well as another, or killed by falling bricks."

"He is a man of destiny," said Victoria indifferently. "He will live to
accomplish what he was born for."

Isabel, in truth, found worry as impossible as any other common emotion,
nevertheless thought it odd that he did not come to them for a moment or
send a message. She could appreciate his wholly masculine mood, his
temporary indifference to the charms of her sex, but he had an ingrained
sense of responsibility, and was more considerate than the average man.

Lady Victoria returned to her vantage-point on the veranda, and Isabel
went down to the garden fence where the three Japs were standing, and
asked them if they intended to remain--half the servants had already
fled from the city. Two replied that later in the day they should go to
Oakland where they had friends. Isabel told them that she should not
part with what little money there was in the house, and they answered
politely that they expected to wait for their wages. The oldest of the
three, a respectable man of thirty, who looked like, and no doubt was,
a student, announced his intention to remain.

"I can cook," he added. "Not well, but perhaps well enough for a few
days. And perhaps if we are driven out I may go to the country with you.
I should be willing to work for anything you could pay me until things
were restored to their normal condition--if you would be good enough to
give me my evenings for study."

Isabel promised him the protection of her ranch-house, and stood talking
to him for some time. His English was unusually correct and his remarks
were more intelligent than those of the average man of her acquaintance.
He told her something of Japanese earthquakes, and was good enough to
add that he had never felt quite so violent or so peculiar a series of
earth movements as California had achieved that morning. He was curious
to see the result as recorded on the seismograph, and to know at what
hour it registered in Japan.

"I think Professor Omori will come over," he said, modestly. "This
earthquake will interest him very much. He will wish to study the
ground."

"Were you not frightened?" asked Isabel, curiously.

"I appreciated the danger, but frightened--no, miss, I think I have
never felt frightened. But I do not like fire. I have seen Tokio burn. I
shall walk about constantly and see that it does not steal upon us from
the north or west. Some silly person might mak