eviated my name--'Star, if
anything happens to me or her, look after our child! It was during that
very drive, sir, that, through his incautious neglect to fortify himself
against the swampy malaria by a glass of straight Bourbon with a pinch
of bark in it, he caught that fever which undermined his constitution.
Thank you, Mr. Pyecroft, for--er--recalling the circumstance. I shall,"
continued the colonel, suddenly abandoning reminiscence, sitting up, and
arranging his papers, "look forward with great interest to--er--letter
from the executor."

The next day it was universally understood that Colonel Starbottle
had been appointed guardian of Pansy Stannard by the probate judge of
Sacramento.

There are of record two distinct accounts of Colonel Starbottle's first
meeting with his ward after his appointment as her guardian. One, given
by himself, varying slightly at times, but always bearing unvarying
compliment to the grace, beauty, and singular accomplishments of this
apparently gifted child, was nevertheless characterized more by vague,
dreamy reminiscences of the departed parents than by any personal
experience of the daughter.

"I found the young lady, sir," he remarked to Mr. Pyecroft,
"recalling my cherished friend Stannard in--er--form and features,
and--although--er--personally unacquainted with her deceased mother--who
belonged, sir, to one of the first families of Virginia--I am told that
she is--er--remarkably like her. Miss Stannard is at present a pupil in
one of the best educational establishments in Santa Clara, where she is
receiving tuition in--er--the English classics, foreign belles
lettres, embroidery, the harp, and--er--the use of the--er--globes,
and--er--blackboard--under the most fastidious care, and my own personal
supervision. The principal of the school, Miss Eudoxia Tish--associated
with--er--er--Miss Prinkwell--is--er--remarkably gifted woman; and as
I was present at one of the school exercises, I had the opportunity of
testifying to her excellence in--er--short address I made to the young
ladies." From such glittering but unsatisfying generalities as these
I prefer to turn to the real interview, gathered from contemporary
witnesses.

It was the usual cloudless, dazzling, Californian summer day, tempered
with the asperity of the northwest trades that Miss Tish, looking
through her window towards the rose-embowered gateway of the seminary,
saw an extraordinary figure advancing up the av