ow lifting
of the dead weight on his spirits, although he was only happy when he
had his gun in his hand. California seemed less like a voluptuous
leviathan blowing poppy-dust that blunted the memory of all things
beyond her borders. At first he had been vaguely uneasy at the insidious
suggestion that he had transferred himself to another planet, but he was
beginning to suspect that California, true to her sex, might have
surprises in store that would quicken his blood at least. He still
disliked her at night: the high unfriendly arch of her sky, the sinister
atmosphere that brooded over her spaces, suggesting illimitable reaches
where no man dwelt, or would long be tolerated. But her days seemed full
of promise, and they certainly were full of beauty.

He still fought with a longing to confide in Isabel: his apprehensions
and doubts, his haunting interrogation of inherent greatness. But he
turned from the temptation in a panic of spirit, sure that he would fail
unless he fought his battle alone. He had pondered more and more upon
his possible debt to his mother; and the doubt that she might have been
the foundation of his courage and self-confidence was as bitter as that
he might have owed the extraordinary rapidity of his career to the
influence of his family and name. And Isabel's very strength alarmed
him, the more so as he felt her subtle fingers among the leaves of his
new destiny. So he merely smiled into her eyes and made a gallant
remark, a purely masculine method of emphasizing that woman is charming
in her proper place.

"I shall be delighted to dance again; particularly--it seems odd--as I
have never danced with you. And it is a year since I have seen you in an
evening gown. I have a vivid remembrance of how you looked that night at
Arcot, when you turned so many heads."

Isabel colored, and whether with pleasure or resentment, she had not the
least idea. But she answered, hastily:

"I feel that I have been very selfish to do nothing before. But really,
it seemed hopeless until Anabel told me yesterday that there was a vast
amount of interest in the young English rancher. I am afraid the girls
here will not interest you; only you should have the opportunity of
deciding that question for yourself. But what will be really delightful
will be to show you San Francisco. I have not been able to leave the
ranch for a day since that three weeks' outing I had no business to
take. But I have had half a dozen resen