abominable years!" Possibly his pleasure would
have been salted with pique had he guessed that her
thought was the twin of his own. He was the
first man of any world more considerable than the
petty court of the viceroy of Mexico that had vis-
ited California in her time, and excellent as she
found his tall military figure and pale cold face,
the novelty of the circumstance fluttered her more.

Dona "Concha" Arguello was the beauty of
California, and although her years were but six-
teen her blood was Spanish, and she carried her
tall deep figure and fine head with the grace and
dignity of an accomplished woman. She had in-
herited the white skin and delicate Roman-Span-
ish profile of the Moragas, but there was an in-
telligent fire in her eyes, a sharp accentuation of
nostril, and a full mobility of mouth, childish, half-
developed as that feature still was, that betrayed
a strong cross-current forcing the placid maternal
flow into rugged and unexplored channels, while
assimilating its fine qualities of pride and high
breeding. Gervasio and Santiago resembled their
sister in coloring and profile, but lacked her subtle
quality of personality and divine innocence. Luis
was more the mother's son than the father's--sav-
ing his olive skin; a grandee, modified by the sim-
plicities of a soldier's life, amiable and upright.
Dona Ignacia recognized in Concha the quintes-
sence of the two opposing streams, and had long