her charming dark face draped in a
mantilla some two centuries old. Beside her sat Anne Montgomery who had
not a drop of Spanish in her, but whom Mrs. Hofer had done up with a
brand-new mantilla of white lace and an immense black fan. Miss
Montgomery had a lingering sense of humor, but it suited her to look
young and pretty once more, if only for a night. Mrs. Trennahan, who was
really fond of Mrs. Hofer, particularly as she had been adroitly
persuaded that this party was to be a mere setting for her lovely young
daughter, also decorated the gallery in one of the old Yorba
mantillas--it had belonged to the beautiful aunt for whom this house had
been built by the husband she scorned--and wore it for the first time in
her life. Trennahan had shaken with a fit of inward laughter, but had
compelled his eyes to express only admiration and approval.

Other dowagers sat below, some bediamonded and others not: the "old
Southern Set" lived on diminishing incomes; new industries were
decreasing the values of the old. They had lost none of their pride, but
philosophy had mellowed them, and they were honestly grateful for such
splendid diversion; and Mrs. Hofer's suppers cost a small fortune, even
in San Francisco. Their offspring cared as little for traditions as for
supper, and had married or were marrying into the newer sets, rapidly
obliterating what lines were left. As for the new, they were legion, and
not to be distinguished by the casual eye from those that traced their
descent to the crumbling mansions of South Park and Rincon Hill; and
they had the earnest co-operation of the best of the world's milliners.
The pick of Bohemia was also present, those that were distinguishing
themselves in art and letters, or even on the stage, for Mrs. Hofer had
learned some of her lessons in London. All that were now looked upon as
county families, spending as they did but one or two months of the year
in the city, had come to town for this ball, but the country towns were
represented only by Gwynne and Isabel and the Tom Coltons. The group of
men so desperately interested in the municipal affairs of the city
disliked and distrusted Colton; but Mrs. Leslie had been born on Rincon
Hill, and all doors, old and new, were open to her daughter. Isabel
caught a glimpse of Anabel among the dancers, in a gown of primrose
satin almost the color of her hair, and a little diamond tiara made from
some old stones of her mother's.

"Well!" exclaimed