"There is your confusion of ideas again. You are thinking that yours might have been the calf's head made into jelly," said Rosario.

"No, miss. I meant what I said."

"Gabriel is very strong and a good boxer," Don Mariano said.

"There it is again! Sweet Alice says he is the handsomest man she ever saw; Lote says he uses beautiful language, and now father implies that the fellow could whip me! Give me some more of that chicken _pipian_ to console myself with. Say, mother, why is this delicious chicken stew called '_pipian_?' Because it makes a fellow '_pio_' '_pio_' for more?

or because the chicken themselves would cry '_pio_,' '_pio_', if they were to see their persons cooked in this way?" Without waiting for an answer to his question, he added: "I say, mother, arn't you and the girls going to call on the Darrells?"

"No," laconically answered Dona Josefa.

"Why should we?" queried Carlota.

"Because they are neighbors like the Mechlins," Victoriano replied.

"Old Mathews is our neighbor, too," said Rosario.

"But he is a thief," replied Victoriano.

"Isn't to steal land robbery?" asked Carlota.

"The Darrells occupy the land they selected, with my consent, so I hope no one in my family will do them the injustice to say that they have stolen our land, or that they are squatters," said Don Mariano firmly.

Then added: "But I do not desire any one of you to speak of this matter with anybody. Only remember, the Darrells are not squatters."

"What shall we say, for instance, if the Holmans should notice that we are very friendly to the Darrells, but not so towards the squatters?"

Rosario asked.

"I think the Holmans will be too well-bred to ask questions," said Dona Josefa.

"They are well-bred, but they are very intimate friends," Rosario said

"And very inquisitive ones, too," added Victoriano.

"Refer them to me," Don Mariano said; "I'll give them quite a satisfactory answer."

"Meantime, are we not to visit them?" Victoriano asked.

"Visit whom?" Carlota asked.

"The Darrells, of course," Victoriano answered.

"I thought you meant the Holmans, as we spoke of them last."

"Bother, with your grammar, you had better keep school," Victoriano said.

"You had better go to one," Carlota retorted.

"I have enough of it here. The question now is the visit to the Darrells. Is this family to visit them or not?"

"Why, you are to do so to-morrow, dead or alive," Rosario said.

"Bother! You will call, Mercita, won't you?"

"With pleasure, if mamma will permit me," Mercedes replied.

"You are a sweet pussy always, and the best of sisters. Can't she go, mother?"

"Certainly, if her father does not object."

"I not only do not object, but I shall be pleased to have Mercedes and her mamma and sisters all call, for I think Clarence's mother must be a lady."

"Hurrah for father, he is a man after my own heart," said Victoriano, clapping his hands.

"Papa feels proud of your approval," Carlota said.

"I would suggest that Tano make a _reconnoitering_ visit before Mercedes goes, as a leader of a forlorn hope," said Rosario.

"Goodness, how military your terms, but how little your courage," said Victoriano, derisively.

"I admit that I always dread to face squatters," said Rosario.

"I think I said that the Darrells are not to be considered squatters nor called so by any Alamar, and I repeat that such is my wish. Moreover, not every settler is necessarily a squatter," said Don Mariano.

"I beg pardon. I forgot that," said Rosario.

"Don't do it again, Rosy Posy, don't," said Victoriano, rising from the table, stroking his sister's back as if to pacify a fractious colt. Then going to a window, said: "Mercedes come here. Look at that; isn't that fountain lovely?"

In the front garden of the Darrell house, opposite to the front door and surrounded by flowers and choice plants, Clarence had erected a fountain which was to emit its numerous jets of chrystaline water for the first time, when his mother should drive up to the door. She had done so, and the fountain was sending upwards its jets of diamonds under the rays of the reflectors at the front door. The effect was pretty and brilliant.

Clarence's filial love was sweetly expressed in the music of the fountain.

CHAPTER IX.-_Clarence is the Bearer of Joyful News._

The Darrell family had been the happy dwellers of their fine house on the Alamar rancho for nearly two months, and the three Misses Holman had been the guests of the Alamar family for the same length of time, and now the month of September, 1872, had arrived.

The awnings at the east and south side of the front veranda were down, and in that deliciously cool place, the favorite resort of the Alamar ladies, they now sat with their guests-the Holmans-engaged in different kinds of fancy work, the greater portion of which was intended to be wedding presents for Elvira and Lizzie Mechlin, who were to be married in a few months.

Mercedes was the only one not at work. She was reclining on a hammock, reading.

"Arn't you going to work anything for the girls, Mercedes?" Rosario inquired.

"Which girls?" Mercedes asked, with her eyes fixed on her book.

"Lizzie and Elvira, of course," Rosario answered.

"I will when the wedding day is fixed."