ay, and ain't his son the right age for Mamie? And ain't they
the real first families here--all the same as if they were noblemen?
No, leave Mamie to me, and keep to your shaft; there never was a man
yet had the least sabe about these things, or knew what was due to his
family." Like most of his larger minded, but feebler equipped sex,
Mulrady was too glad to accept the truth of the latter proposition,
which left the meannesses of life to feminine manipulation, and went
off to his shaft on the hillside. But during that afternoon he was
perplexed and troubled. He was too loyal a husband not to be pleased
with this proof of an unexpected and superior foresight in his wife,
although he was, like all husbands, a little startled by it. He tried
to dismiss it from his mind. But looking down from the hillside upon
his little venture, where gradual increase and prosperity had not been
beyond his faculties to control and understand, he found himself
haunted by the more ambitious projects of his helpmate. From his own
knowledge of men, he doubted if Don Ramon, any more than himself, had
ever thought of the possibility of a matrimonial connection between the
families. He doubted if he would consent to it. And unfortunately it
was this very doubt that, touching his own pride as a self-made man,
made him first seriously consider his wife's proposition. He was as
good as Don Ramon, any day! With this subtle feminine poison instilled
in his veins, carried completely away by the logic of his wife's
illogical premises, he almost hated his old benefactor. He looked down
upon the little Garden of Eden, where his Eve had just tempted him with
the fatal fruit, and felt a curious consciousness that he was losing
its simple and innocent enjoyment forever.

Happily, about this time Don Ramon died. It is not probable that he
ever knew the amiable intentions of Mrs. Mulrady in regard to his son,
who now succeeded to the paternal estate, sadly partitioned by
relatives and lawsuits. The feminine Mulradys attended the funeral, in
expensive mourning from Sacramento; even the gentle Alvin was forced
into ready-made broadcloth, which accented his good-natured but
unmistakably common presence. Mrs. Mulrady spoke openly of her "loss";
declared that the old families were dying out; and impressed the wives
of a few new arrivals at Red Dog with the belief that her own family
was contemporary with the Alvarados, and that her husband's health w