t issuing from her dairy, which was in a cellar under
the cottage, was Mrs. Trent, bearing a wooden bowl of freshly made butter.

The guest's heart smote him as he saw her sad face brighten at meeting
him, for he knew she trusted him for help he was in duty bound to give
elsewhere. But it was not a lawyer's habit to anticipate evil, and he
was thankful for her suggestion.

"You should have a ride this fine morning, Mr. Hale, before the sun is
too high. I've ordered a horse brought round for you at nine o'clock,
and Jessica shall act your guide, on Scruff. That is--if the laddies
haven't already disappeared with him. Ah! here comes my girl, herself.
You are to show our friend as much of Sobrante as he cares to see, in
one morning, daughter. If the children have ridden the burro off you may
have Buster saddled."

"Shan't you need me, mother? One of the men----"

"No, dear. Wun Lung is at his post again and Pasqual will do the milk
and things. But as you go, I'd like you to take this butter to John's.
It's the weekly portion for the men, who mess for themselves," she
explained to the stranger.

"Lucky men to fare on such golden balls as those!"

"Come and see my dairy. I'm very proud of it. You know, I suppose,
that cellars are rarities in California. Everything is built above
ground, in ordinary homes; but I needed a cooler place for the milk, and
my husband had this planned for me. See the water, our greatest luxury;
piped from an artesian well to the tank above, and then down through
these cooling pipes around the shelves. After such use supplying the
garden, for whatever else may be wasted here it is never a drop of
water. Will you taste the buttermilk? I can't give you ice, but we
cool it in earthen crocks sunk in the floor."

More and more did the lawyer's admiration for his hostess increase.
She displayed the prosaic details of her dairy with the same ease and
pride with which she would have exhibited the choicest bric-a-brac of a
sumptuous drawing-room, and her manner impelled him to an interest in
the place which he would have found impossible under other circumstances.
But above all he wondered at the unselfishness with which she set aside
her own anxieties and gave herself wholly to the entertainment of her
guest.

"The loss of that title deed means ruin for her and her family--even
if I were not also compelled to bring distress upon her. But she does
not whine nor complain, and that's going to make my