elt himself ill-treated, but shrugged his shoulders with a new
philosophy not all doggedness, and easily stretched to embrace the
vagaries of woman. And, in truth, he found an abundance of occupation.
Ascertaining that Mr. Leslie was away, he spent his time on the ranch,
examining its various yields, divisions, possibilities; to say nothing
of its books and history. The dairy was now an insignificant affair,
experiments having proved disastrous, and his superintendent advised him
to let it remain so. The greatest yield was in hay, and cattle raised
for the market. The last lessee had come to grief over blood horses, and
Gwynne's agents had accepted what remained of the racers and breeders in
default of apocryphal cash. Although advised that they could be sold to
advantage if haste were not imperative, Gwynne, who had a large balance
in the bank, determined to continue the experiment. Many acres of the
ranch were profitably let, although by the month only, as pasture both
for cows and horses. The orchards always made a handsome yield, and the
vegetable garden and strawberry beds needed only proper care to become
remunerative. Moreover, several acres had recently been planted with
kale, a favorite food of the conquering Leghorn, and there were fine
runs on the hills that might be fenced off for sheep--or chickens; but
at this point the superintendent always detected something even defiant
in his employer's cold indifference, and told his friends that the
Englishman was "haughty in spots."

It was all very satisfactory, but in order to bring him a really
considerable increase of income he must dismiss his superintendent--who
now drew a salary of a hundred and fifty dollars a month, and who did
not inspire him with unbounded trust--and become his own manager, an
office which would not only make heavy demands upon his time, turning
him virtually into a farmer, with little leisure for the reading and
practice of law, but no doubt involve the sacrifice of money as well; he
did not flatter himself that he could learn to "run" a ranch of nineteen
thousand varied acres in a season. His superintendent was a half-breed
Mexican, the son of his cook, quick, voluble, and experienced in the
ways of the ranch, upon which he had worked since boyhood. Gwynne had
called on Mr. Colton at the bank two days after his arrival, and the old
gentleman, who had an eye like a gimlet and a mouth like a steel trap,
had consigned all "greasers" to subt