r husband and himself were known to all, and her
own reputation was above suspicion. Indeed, few women were more popular.
She was domestic, she was prudent, she was pious. In a country of great
feminine freedom and latitude, she never rode or walked with anybody
but her husband. In an epoch of slang and ambiguous expression, she was
always precise and formal in her speech. In the midst of a fashion of
ostentatious decoration, she never wore a diamond, nor a single
valuable jewel. She never permitted an indecorum in public. She never
countenanced the familiarities of California society. She declaimed
against the prevailing tone of infidelity and scepticism in religion.
Few people who were present will ever forget the dignified yet stately
manner with which she rebuked Mr. Hamilton in the public parlor for
entering upon the discussion of a work on materialism, lately published;
and some among them, also, will not forget the expression of amused
surprise on Mr. Hamilton's face, that gradually changed to sardonic
gravity, as he courteously waived his point; certainly not Mr. Oakhurst,
who, from that moment, began to be uneasily impatient of his friend,
and even--if such a term could be applied to any moral quality in Mr.
Oakhurst--to fear him.

For during this time Mr. Oakhurst had begun to show symptoms of a change
in his usual habits. He was seldom, if ever, seen in his old haunts,
in a bar-room, or with his old associates. Pink and white notes, in
distracted handwriting, accumulated on the dressing-table in his rooms
at Sacramento. It was given out in San Francisco that he had some
organic disease of the heart, for which his physician had prescribed
perfect rest. He read more; he took long walks; he sold his fast horses;
he went to church.

I have a very vivid recollection of his first appearance there. He did
not accompany the Deckers, nor did he go into their pew, but came in as
the service commenced, and took a seat quietly in one of the back-pews.
By some mysterious instinct, his presence became presently known to the
congregation, some of whom so far forgot themselves, in their curiosity,
as to face around, and apparently address their responses to him. Before
the service was over, it was pretty well understood that "miserable
sinners" meant Mr. Oakhurst. Nor did this mysterious influence fail
to affect the officiating clergyman, who introduced an allusion to
Mr. Oakhurst's calling and habits in a sermon on the arc