ortion of me which is Irish would picture
my old hacienda alive at night with ghosts and banshees."

Mrs. Parker was looking at him thoughtfully; seemingly she was not
listening. What she really was doing was saying to herself: "What
marvelous teeth he has and what an altogether debonair, captivating
young rascal he is, to be sure! I cannot understand why he doesn't
melt John's business heart. Can it be that under that gay, smiling,
lovable surface John sees something he doesn't quite like? I wonder."

As they entered the waiting automobile and started for home, Farrel,
who occupied the front seat with the chauffeur, turned and faced the
Parkers. "From this day forward," he promised them, "we are all going
to devote ourselves to the serious task of enjoying life to the utmost.
For my part, I am not going to talk business or Japanese immigration
any more. Are you all grateful?"

"We are," they cried in unison.

He thanked them with his mirthful eyes, faced around in his seat and,
staring straight ahead, was soon lost in day dreams. John Parker and
his wife exchanged glances, then both looked at their daughter, seated
between them. She, too, was building castles in Spain!

When they alighted from the car before the hacienda, Mrs. Parker
lingered until the patio gate had closed on her daughter and Farrel;
then she drew her husband down beside her on the bench under the
catalpa tree.

"John, Miguel Farrel says he has you beaten."

"I hope so, dear," he replied feelingly. "I know of but one way out
for that young man, and if he has discovered it so readily I'd be a
poor sport indeed not to enjoy his victory."

"You never really meant to take his ranch away from him, did you, John?"

"I did, Kate. I do. If I win, my victory will prove to my entire
satisfaction that Don Miguel Jose Federico Noriaga Farrel is a
throwback to the _Manana_ family, and in that event, my dear, we will
not want him in ours. We ought to improve our blood-lines, not
deteriorate them."

"Yet you would have sold this valley to that creature Okada."

"Farrel has convinced me of my error there. I have been anti-Jap since
the day Farrel was thrown from his horse and almost killed--by a Jap."

"I'm sure Kay is in love with him, John."

"Propinquity," he grunted.

"Fiddlesticks! The man is perfectly charming."

"Perhaps. We'll decide that point later. Do you think Farrel is
interested in Kay?"

"I do not know, John," his be