I wish I were not invited this evening, I'd simply _make_ you
come home to dinner. And it seems so rude to leave you at the foot of
this bluff; but there is just one thing the automobile can't do--"

Isabel, her head spinning with many words, had been glad to express her
pleasure in the day's entertainment and run up the steps to her refuge
on the heights. She had found that Mr. Stone was still in bed and likely
to remain there, and a haughty note from Paula announcing that she had
returned to her children and should remain where she was wanted.

She was vaguely planning to "do something" for Anne Montgomery, and
congratulating herself that she could fly at will from people that
talked too much, when she heard Gwynne's long stride on the plank walk,
and called gayly to him out of the darkness "to stand and deliver."

"I hope you carry a pistol," she added, anxiously, as he ran up the
steps. "I scarcely ever pick up a newspaper without reading of a
hold-up, and there were four on this hill last week. We change, out
here, but we don't seem to improve much."

XXIV

"I have had what is called a full day," said Gwynne, as he sank into a
chair beside Isabel. "Lunch with half a dozen of the cleverest and most
strenuous men I ever met--and not at Hofer's house, by the way, but out
at the Cliff House, up in a tower, where we had a superb view of the
ocean and Golden Gate; then motored about the city for three hours, then
down to Burlingame for dinner, then back to supper at one of the
restaurants. After over a year of social suspension I hardly knew how to
behave, especially to all the pretty women I met at the Club House at
Burlingame,--who seemed to expect me to pay them compliments and flirt
desperately. I feel worn out, and on the verge of sighing for my lonely
ranch."

"But you have enjoyed yourself," said Isabel, smiling. "It has done you
a lot of good. You must grow straight downward to your roots. Then, when
you shoot up again you will be a real American."

Gwynne made a wry face. "Not yet. Mrs. Hofer's father, Mr. Toole (who is
now retired and spends most of his time in about the most luxurious
library I ever saw--we alighted in it for a few moments before swooping
down to Burlingame) quoted Byron to me and is well up in English
politics. There were several London newspapers and reviews on the table.
Moreover, at the luncheon, Elton Gwynne was actually discussed for a
few moments. All of which gave me pan