"And so inefficient and worthless that I fear he doesn't count,"
said Paul, "but," raising his eyes to Yerba's, "I fancy that I have
already had the pleasure of seeing you, and, I fear, the
mortification of having disturbed you and your friends in the
parlor of the Golden Gate Hotel yesterday."

The two girls looked at each other with the same childlike
surprise. Yerba broke the silence by suddenly turning to Milly.
"Certainly, you remember how greatly interested we were in the
conversation of a party of gentlemen who were there when we came
in. I am afraid our foolish prattle must have disturbed YOU. I
know that we were struck with the intelligent and eloquent devotion
of your friends."

"Oh, perfectly," chimed in the loyal but somewhat infelix Milly,
"and it was so kind and thoughtful of Mr. Hathaway to take them
away as he did."

"I felt the more embarrassed," continued Hathaway, smiling, but
still critically examining Yerba for an indication of something
characteristic, beyond this palpable conventionality, "as I
unfortunately must present my credentials from a gentleman as much
of a stranger as myself--Colonel Pendleton."

The trade-wind was evidently making itself felt even in this
pastoral retreat, for the two gentlemen appeared to shrink slightly
within themselves, and a chill seemed to have passed over the
group. The Mayor coughed. The avuncular Woods gazed abstractedly
at a large cactus. Even Paul, prepared by previous experience,