"I have that already; but the ladies with me want a good, large compartment."

"We have one which we will be most happy to place at your service,"

Gunther said.

"And rob you of it. That wouldn't be fair."

"Yes it would, as we don't care for it. And it is very nice and private, and the ladies should have it," Selden said, warmly.

As the section which George's tickets assigned to him was the very next to the apartment in question, it was very clear to Mr. Selden that no arrangement could have been more fortunate, and he said so.

The three then went to bring the ladies to their room.

Mercedes pleaded a headache, and George knew that she wished to be alone, to have a cry all to herself, as most girls would, when their sweethearts have just left them. So he said to Elvira:

"Mercedes had better lie down for a while. If she sleeps she will feel better."

"I think so; I will join you presently," Elvira answered. And hearing this the gentlemen retired.

Mercedes took her hat and gloves and cloak off, and sat at the window _to enjoy_ her misery in a thorough womanly fashion. She fixed her eyes on the far-off, flying wall of verdure, seeing nothing, not even the tall trees which, close by, indulged in such grotesque antics, as if forgetting their stately dignity only to amuse her-making dancing dervishes of themselves, and converting that portion of the Pacific slope into a flying gymnasium to perform athletic exercises, rushing on madly, or even turning somersaults for her recreation.

Elvira left her alone with her thoughts, and silently devoted herself to unpacking their satchels, arranging their toilet things, traveling shawls and night-dresses and comfortable slippers all in their proper places. She then took her hat off, and tying a large black veil over her head (Spanish fashion), told her sister to sleep if she could, and not to cry, for, after all, Clarence would soon be in New York.

"Do you really think so?" said Mercedes' sad voice.

"Of course, I do. Clarence is too energetic and too much in love to be kept away."

"But mamma-you know mamma's feelings."

"Which will be entirely changed when she hears that Clarence is no squatter. Leave all that to papa. Come, give me a kiss, and if you can't sleep, put a veil over your head and come out. I am going to join the gentlemen."

"Yes, darling, you go; but at present I'd rather sit here by the window."

And she sat there, but the sad blue orbs saw nothing-for her mental gaze was fixed on that other flying train, that was rushing away, carrying her beloved with such frightful rapidity. She felt, she _knew_, Clarence was sitting by a car window, thinking of her, gazing blankly at his misery.

And so he was.

It is to be feared that his misery would have been greatly intensified had he caught a glimpse of Messrs. Gunther and Selden, as they rushed past him on their eastward journey. This aggravation, however, was spared him. And, as when he arrived at San Francisco, Charles Gunther and his three companions had already left for Oregon, Clarence remained, for the present, in blissful ignorance of the whereabouts of those two persistent young gentlemen, traveling so near Mercedes.

But could magician of old have shown to him in enchanted mirror the image of his beloved, he would have read in those expressive eyes how sadly she felt his absence.

When she had sat there, motionless, for two hours, Elvira came to tell her to get ready for dinner, which she declined doing, saying that she was not a bit hungry. And so the day passed-the night came-and she did not gladden the hearts of their traveling companions, by letting them see her that day. Next day the morning hours also passed. She had her breakfast in her room.

Mr. Selden began to feel piqued and Mr. Gunther nervous. They and Elvira were playing a three-handed game of casino; George was elsewhere, talking to an acquaintance he had met on the train.

Presently, softly and unexpectedly, the sliding-door of the compartment moved, and Mercedes stood beside Mr. Selden, sweet as a rosebud, smiling in her most bewitching way. The blood mounted to Mr. Selden's temples, and those of Mr. Gunther's assumed the same hue. Then she, of course, blushed also-for she could never see any one blush without doing the very same thing herself.

Elvira alone kept her composure, and said: "Why, Baby! I am so glad you feel better. Come, take a hand, for these gentlemen will cut your sister's throat, or she theirs. We are having a fierce battle."

"All right. Will you have me for a partner, Mr. Gunther? I warn you that I am a very poor player," said Mercedes.

"I'll have you for a partner, Miss Mercedes, on any terms, and be most happy to do so," said Mr. Gunther, with more emphasis than the occasion required.

"That being the case, I am ready," said she, sitting by her sister, thereby being diagonally opposite to Mr. Gunther.

From that time the five travelers were constantly together, and the days passed delightfully for all during the entire journey, especially so to Gunther and Selden. They had no occasion to complain of Mercedes for staying away. She most amiably took part in all their games and other amusements, their walks while waiting at stations, their conversations during the sentimental and delightful twilight hours. She had found that both young gentlemen were a most excellent protection against one another, as neither one was ever willing to go leaving her alone with the other. As for ardent loving looks, she knew that the best way of eluding them was by having recourse to her little trick of dropping her gaze, as if she must look down for something missing near by. That little trick came to her from sheer timidity and bashfulness long ago.

In fact, she was unconscious of it, until Corina Holman had told her that whenever Clarence Darrell was present she became sly, and did not dare to look at people squarely in the face-that she was the veriest hypocrite. Thus she learned that her bashful timidity had been entirely misunderstood, but she was also made aware that she had accidentally discovered how to avoid looks which were best not to meet-best to avoid by simply dropping her gaze. As her long, curly lashes veiled her eyes with a silken fringe, they could hide under that cover like two little cherubs crouching under their own wings.

CHAPTER XVI.-_Spanish Land Grants Viewed Retrospectively._

San Francisco seemed deserted, dusty and desolate to Clarence after his return from the Yosemite and the society of Mercedes. It was the step from the sublime to the ridiculous; so he ran off to his Alameda farm and remained there until the day before the steamer would leave for San Diego. He then came back late to the dusty city and went in search of Hubert to take him to dinner.

"Come for pity's sake to dine with me and talk to me. I can't eat alone, I am too blue," said he, going to Hubert's desk.

"All right, my boy. You are the very man I wanted to see, for I have been slashing into your stocks like all possessed;" and he made cuts and thrusts in the air illustrative of a terrible havoc.

"What have you done?" Clarence asked, laughing.

"Well, in the first place, I have sold all your Yellow Jacket, all your Savage and half of your Ophir, and I bought you some Consolidated Virginia and California. What do you say to that?"

"Not one word, for I suppose you know what you are about."

"I think I do, and, as a proof of it, I made for you twenty thousand dollars clear profit by the operation, besides buying your Consolidated Virginia. So if that last venture is a failure, I shall not feel I have swamped all your cash."

"I should say not. You are the prince of brokers, Berty. You have not made a single mistake in managing my stock."

"Yes I have. I sold your Crown Point too soon."

"But that was my mistake, not yours."

"Yes it was. I ought to have sold half to fool you, and kept the other half ten days longer to make a million with it. I was stupidly honest that time."

"I forgive you."

"But I don't forgive myself, nor you either."

"I know that. You are only piling coals of fire on my head. Now I have to bear twenty thousand more fresh coals, and I forbearingly say: 'Pile on Macduff,' _et cetera_. Where shall we go to dinner-the Poodle Dog or California?"

"Let us go to the California House. John keeps the best."

To the California House they went, and had a most excellent dinner with Chateau Yquem and a bottle of Roderer.

"Don't you know I like some of our California wines quite as well as the imported, if not better? I suppose I ought to be ashamed to admit it, thus showing that my taste is not cultivated. But that is the simple truth. There is that flavor of the real genuine grape which our California wines have that is different from the imported. I think sooner or later our wines will be better liked, better appreciated,"

Clarence said.