The sun was quite high above the horizon when George joined Clarence on deck; and both began to promenade and talk while waiting for the ladies to come, that the four might go to breakfast together.

“My private opinion is that these young ladies are going to oversleep themselves,” George said, as they passed the door of his room, after promenading for half an hour.

“No they are not,” Elvira said, coming out as fresh and beautiful as a rosa de castilla. “Good morning, Mr. Darrell, I hope you are well.”

“I thank you,” replied Clarence, “I believe I never felt better. I am delighted to see you so bright and blooming; you are evidently an excellent sailor.”

“Oh yes,” Elvira answered, “I really enjoy it; but where is the SeÑorita Mercita; is she not yet up?”

“I think not. She has not come from her room,” was Clarence's reply.

“I am going to peep through her window,” said Elvira. She did so by turning the slats and pushing aside the curtain just a little. She then motioned to George to come and look.

“By jove, Darrell, you ought to see this picture.”

“Hush! you will awake her by speaking so loud,” Elvira said, still looking at her sister.

A tiny sunbeam played over Mercedes' forehead, making the little curls over it look like golden threads. Her head was thrown back a little and turned towards the window, displaying her white throat, partially covered by the lace frills of her night dress. Her left arm rested gracefully over her head, with the sleeve pushed off displaying part of the forearm and the perfect curve of her delicate wrist. The right hand rested over the coverlet, and it looked like a child's hand, so dimpled and white and soft. It was a perfect picture of a “sleeping beauty.”

“Doesn't she look like a baby? My own sweet sister; I am so glad she is sleeping so sweetly. She has slept very poorly for months,” whispered Elvira. “Come away, we mustn't talk near her window, she must have all the sleep she wants.”

So saying, she pulled back the curtain, shut down the window slats, and all walked noiselessly away.

As they went down to breakfast, Elvira said:

“I hope no one will come smoking some nasty cigar by her window, poisoning the air and making her miserable, for she cannot bear tobacco smoke when the boat is in motion.”

“I thought she was not subject to sea-sickness,” George said.

“No, not at all, as long as there are no tobacco fumes near, but it seems that tobacco smoke, combined with the rocking of the sea, make her deathly sick, whereas the tobacco alone or the rocking by itself, will not affect her.”

“I understand that well, for I don't like to smoke while sailing either, if there is much motion, and I think no one ought to be allowed to smoke on deck where ladies are,” George said.

“I think so too. We have too many rights, and more than our share of privileges,” Clarence added.

“Wait until we have woman suffrage. We will make things uncomfortable for inebriates and tobacco smokers,” Elvira said, laughing.

Their pleasant voyage came to its end, as all things must in this fleeting life, and the names of Mr. George Mechlin and party, from San Diego, were duly entered in the hotel register.

“I put your name down, Darrell, for we want you with us while in the city,” said George.

“I thank you sincerely; that is exactly what I wished.”

“We will be ready for dinner at six.”

“I shall be on hand promptly.”

Clarence was anxious to see his broker and afraid he would leave the office before he got there, but it was more imperative yet to visit his tailor. He did so, and though in haste, selected with care the cut and style and color which he knew was most becoming. He left a list of all the articles of clothing he desired to be sent to his hotel by five o'clock, and then directed his driver to take him to his broker's office.

“Just in time,” said Hubert Haverly, coming forward to meet him. “As soon as the steamer was signaled at the gate, I sent to look for our Arizona men. They are now at the back office waiting for you.”

“Tell me something about the matter, to guide me. And tell me too, how poor or how rich I am, before I make any bargain to purchase mines.”

“Well, on the whole, I guess I'll call you rich. I bought the farm as you—or rather as Everett—telegraphed. I paid—well, how much do you think I paid for it?”

“Hundred and forty thousand?”

Hubert shook his head, saying “Try again.”

“Hundred and twenty?”

“Ninety thousand only, lucky fellow.”

“What? You said he asked a hundred and fifty thousand.”

“Yes, and you—or Everett—telegraphed to pay the money, but you see the poor fellow lost heavily in stocks that day, and as the bank was going to foreclose on the farm for a loan of forty thousand, he thought the best thing he could do was to sell out quick. He came to see me and said ‘Do you think Clarence will buy for one hundred and twenty thousand?’ I told him I had telegraphed to you and probably you would come up. He said ‘If you pay me ninety thousand cash down to-day, Clarence can have the farm for that price.’ I told him to let me have the refusal for you, for that price, until the next morning. I got your telegram in the evening. Next morning he came looking very dejected, and asked if I had heard from you. ‘Yes,’ I said. He waited, but as I said no more, he added, ‘I hope Clarence is not going to pinch me hard. The farm is worth two hundred thousand, but as the Darrells made all the improvements on it, I am willing he should have it cheaper than any one else. How much does he offer?’ ‘He left it to me to make the best bargain I can. I will let you have the ninety thousand, of course.’ You never saw a man so relieved. He lifted his head and said, ‘I will pay all my debts and have thirty thousand clear, anyway, to make a beginning,’ and so the papers were drawn up and the farm is yours. I congratulate you.”

“Thanks,” Clarence said, squeezing Hubert's hand. “And now about the balance on hand and the Arizona mines.”

“Well, you have about one hundred thousand dollars. If you sell all your stocks, you could have two hundred thousand,” Hubert replied.

“Besides the interest on the bonds?”

“Certainly. I never figure on that.”

“What about the Arizona mines?”

“Well, the men say they are yet ‘a prospect,’ but a very good one. Their proposition is that you pay them five hundred dollars down if you accept their proposal. Then you are to send an expert to examine the mines. If on his report you conclude to buy them at once, you can have them for ten thousand dollars. If you prefer to bond them to prospect further before buying, then you can have six months to prospect; but then you must pay two thousand down, and at the end of the six months you must pay fifty thousand dollars if you want both mines, or twenty thousand if you only take one. The shaft they have sunk is the dividing line between the two mines.”

“Between the two prospects,” Clarence suggested.

“Yes, that is more proper, the shaft is only about one hundred feet deep. But you had better talk to them. They brought rock similar to that which they sent me last month.”

Rather rough looking men were the three waiting, but all had good faces. After exchanging salutations with them, Clarence asked:

“Have you had any assays made?”

“Yes sir,” said the oldest of the three handing to him three slips of paper. “Here are three certificates from assayers recommended to us as the best in San Francisco.”

“What! One hundred silver and one hundred and fifty gold? And two hundred, and three hundred and fifty? But that is enormous for surface rock.”

The miners laughed. The oldest said:

“And the ledge is so wide that it almost takes the half of the hill. We took two claims and put our prospect shaft in the middle.”

“Did you make your locations in good legal form?” was the next question.

“Yes sir, we have our papers,” said the spokesman, handing to Clarence some papers.

“I see you are four partners, where is the other?”

“He is at the mine, working at the shaft.”

“Well gentlemen,” Clarence said, “I have just come, an hour ago. I don't know how soon I will find an expert, but I think I will do so between now and to-morrow by mid-day. I will consult with him and see how soon he can go to look at your mines. Meantime I'll have some of the rock assayed. From what depth was the rock assayed taken?”

“From fifty, seventy and ninety feet. We have some few pieces from the last we took the day we left, at a depth of one hundred feet.” So saying, he handed to Clarence other pieces of rock which looked much richer, adding, “This is the ore we have not had assayed yet. My opinion is that the rock hasn't changed much.”

It was agreed that Clarence would meet them at eleven next morning and notify them if he had found an expert. When they had left the room Clarence asked Hubert where his brother Fred was.

“He is here, he came yesterday.”

“And you did not mention that fact to me, when you know I want a good, reliable expert.”

“I did not, because I wouldn't urge his services upon any one—even you—and then I think he might be already engaged to go to examine some mines in Nevada, as parties have been looking for him for that purpose.”

“Please don't be so proud as to deprive me of the services of so good a man, but tell him to come to my hotel at once.”

“Very well, I'll tell him, but he will not be here until five o'clock. Shall I tell him to call on you after dinner?”

“Yes, at half-past seven exactly, to send his card to me to any place I may be at the hotel. And now I'll go to have two or three assays more of this rock. Remember, I shall be looking for Fred at half-past seven.”

“I'll remember. He will be there promptly.”

It was very evident that the “party from San Diego” made an impression and quite a stir among the guests of the hotel, who were at dinner when they entered the dining-room. Preceded by the head waiter, they had to cross the entire length of the room, for the seats assigned to them were at the furthest corner from the door. Everybody turned to look, to see what everybody else was looking at, and all acknowledged that they had never seen handsomer or more graceful people than those two couples. Exclamations of surprise were uttered in suppressed tones, and unqualified praises were whispered everywhere. The head waiter was called here and there to say who these four people were, so very handsome and distinguÉ.

“They are from Southern California, on their way east. Mr. George Mechlin and bride, her sister, and their friend Mr. Darrell, travelling with them,” was the answer that the steward had to give twenty times.

“Which is the bride, the blonde or the brunette?”

“The brunette.”

After dinner several young gentlemen remained in the corridors to see them pass, and some four eastern tourists who were dining at the next table, made a pretext of drinking more wine, to remain looking at the southern beauties. One of them especially looked at Mercedes so persistently that Clarence began to feel angry, and when they arose from the table he looked at the admirer with a bold stare of defiant reproval. But that in no way checked the admiration of the New Yorker, and he followed as near to Mercedes as he could, and when he saw her disappear into her parlor, he looked at the number on the door and went straight to the office to make all the enquiries he could concerning those two beautiful ladies. The clerk gave all the information he could, and added laughing:

“I have had to answer those questions a dozen times already.”

Immediately after dinner a waiter came from the office and handed to Clarence a card, with “Fred Haverly” written on it.

“Say to the gentleman I shall be down immediately,” Clarence said to the servant; and then to George, “This is the expert I want to send to Arizona. It is lucky for me to find him in town.”

“I'll go down with you,” George said. “One of the clerks promised to get me a box at the opera, or if that can't be had, to get the four best seats he could find disengaged. Do you think you will have finished with your expert in half an hour? I want the girls to see the opera bouffe; they have never seen it.”

“I shall be with you in fifteen minutes,” was the reply.

George was talking with the clerk about the seats at the opera, when he felt a hand laid softly on his shoulder. Looking back, he saw his friend, Charles Gunther, of New York, standing by him, and behind him the four gentlemen who had dined at the next table. After shaking hands most cordially, and congratulating him on being a married man, Gunther presented to George his four friends, and his brother Robert, who now came in; then he said:

“I heard you say you wanted a box at the opera, and that there are ladies with you. Permit me to offer you our box, we can take seats anywhere else. I shall be glad if you will accept.”

“But there are no seats that you can have that I would offer you in exchange,” was George's reply.

“Those I got for you are good seats for gentlemen,” the clerk suggested, “and I think you can get two more.”

Gunther was so urgent that George, only by being very rude, could have declined making the exchange. There was nothing else to do but accept, order a carriage for eight o'clock, and then go up stairs to tell the ladies that they were to get ready for the opera.

“The opera! Why didn't you tell us before?” was Elvira's exclamation.

“Because I was not sure I could get seats,” was George's reply; and he then explained how he obtained their box by casually meeting Gunther, adding: “By the by, he introduced me to his brother Robert and those four admirers of yours, Mercedes, who dined at the next table. They are all of the same party. The young fellow of the little saffron whiskers, who stared at you so persistently, making Clarence's ears red, is a Mr. Selden, of New York; he and Robert Gunther have been in Europe several years. His father I know is a millionaire, and he is the only son. So he considers himself a good catch, I suppose, SeÑorita Mercedes.”

“Bah!” ejaculated Mercedes; “who cares!”

“Be ready with your hats and cloaks on at five minutes to eight. Clarence and I will come for you. I am going to look for him now, and see Gunther for a few moments,” George said, leaving the two sisters to go to their bedrooms to delve for their opera cloaks and white hats in the deep recesses of their Saratoga trunks.

“It is a lucky thing for me that Lizzie's aunt sent this pretty cloak and bonnet to her. Poor Lizzie! I am to splurge in her fine Parisian things, while she remains at the rancho, buried alive,” said Mercedes.

“She is perfectly willing to have that sort of burial as long as she has Gabriel near her.”

Mrs. Lawrence Mechlin had sent to Elvira and Lizzie their wedding trousseau, which she ordered from Paris. To do this was a pleasure to Mrs. Mechlin, which she could well afford, being rich, and which she delighted in, being devoted to her sister's children.

The theatre was filled to its utmost capacity when our four San Dieguinos arrived and occupied their proscenium box, which was on the left of the auditorium, very roomy and elegantly furnished. Elvira's seat faced the stage, and Mercedes' faced the audience, so that the perfect contour of her features was clearly seen when she looked at the actors. Between the sisters sat their cavaliers. The curtain rose as they took their seats, so that not one of them gave a thought to the audience, until the curtain fell on the first act.

Then they all looked at the house which was filled with a brilliant audience. Immediately in front, in the first row of orchestra chairs, were Mr. Gunther and the party of New Yorkers. They were all looking at their box. Mercedes blushed when she met the steady gaze of Mr. Selden, and his face reproduced the blush, while his heart beat with wild throbs of delight. Clarence's face also flushed, and then turned pale. He had seen the two blush, and a cold feeling of undefinable fear and savageness seized him—a desire to go and choke Mr. Selden where he was—right there in his orchestra chair.

George by this time was exchanging bows with the New Yorkers. They spoke among themselves, and soon after all arose and left their seats.

“I think Gunther is bringing his brother and friends to present them to you, ladies,” said George.

“Being your friends, we shall be pleased to see them,” Elvira answered.

“I hope those gentlemen will cease to stare when they are acquainted. That young man of the red whiskers made me blush by looking at me so steadily. I hope that that is not the custom of New Yorkers,” said Mercedes.

“I am afraid it is. You had better try to get used to it, and don't mind it,” George replied.

Mr. Gunther now presented himself at the door, followed by his brother and the four others, already well known by sight, the ceremony of introduction being performed by George, with the ease and grace of one used to those society duties. All took seats, there being room enough for a dozen people in the spacious box.

George and Clarence had left their seats to receive the guests, so very naturally Mr. Selden slipped by and sat next to Mercedes.