he enjoyment of the others was as nothing,
compared to his,--for if there was a thing that he loved it was a fine
tree, and had he not some of the best timber in England, which he knew
as some generals have known their soldiers and some shepherds their
sheep? "Stupendous! Prodigious! Wonderful!" burst from his lips as he
walked slowly around them and rode between them as in a dream, perfectly
entranced. He could scarcely be dragged away, and at last was only moved
by the thought that there was so much that he "must positively see" in
the surrounding country which was waiting to be considered volcanically,
botanically, geologically, and otherwise. It was one of his vexations
that nature, art, science, history, commerce, were so long, and time and
a voraciously intelligent but mortal and limited baronet so fleeting. He
would have liked to spend several months on the Pacific coast, looking
into a thousand things with unflagging zeal and interest. It was really
afflicting to turn his back upon the early Spanish settlers, the Jesuit
missions, the grape and olive production, mining interests, earthquake
statistics, the Chinese problem, annual rainfall on the great plateau,
study of the Sierra Nevada range, and last, most alluring of all, that
of the Santa Barbara Islands, described by a companion of Drake as
densely populated by a white race with light hair and ruddy cheeks. When
Sir Robert thought of that people and of all the bliss of investigation,
he almost decided to make a winter of it in California and solve that
mystery or perish. But he had still much to accomplish, and he had fixed
the day for sailing before leaving England. So back the party came to
St. Louis, where they found a mountain of mail-matter from the four
quarters of the globe. There were five voluminous epistles from Mrs.
Vane to Miss Noel, and others from that household; a simple domestic
chronicle from Mabel, describing her daily round and stating her fears
and anxieties about "Boy," who was getting "sadly wilful and unruly,"
and, like a youthful Ajax, had lately "defied husband;" and one of Mr.
Ketchum's characteristic epistles:

"I send you a letter of introduction to my friend Fry in New
Orleans (to whom my double-and-twisted), since you will go
there. He will put you through all right. But I warn you that
you will be nobody and won't be able to hold up your head there
at all. No one can after an epidemic, unless he has lost