experiences of the first journey. The gentle refinement of her
race completes her charms.

To the bride, the steamer, the sights of the bay, crowded with
shipping, and the pageantry of the city are dazzling. The luxuries
of city life are wonders. Relying on her husband, she glides into
her new position. Childishly pleased at the jewels, ornaments, and
toilets soon procured in the metropolis, Donna Dolores Valois is
soon one of Eve's true daughters, arrayed like the lily.

Months roll away. The stimulus of a brighter life develops the girl
wife into a sweetly radiant woman.

Maxime Valois rejoins Philip Hardin. He is now a judge of the Supreme
Court. Stormy days are these of 1855 and the spring of 1856.

Deep professional intrigues busy Valois. Padre Francisco and
"Kaintuck" announce the existence of supposed quartz mines on the
rancho. Valois will not pause in his occupations to risk explorations.

For the Kansas strife, the warring of sections, and the growing
bitterness of free and slave State men make daily life a seething
cauldron. Southern settlers are pouring into the interior. They shun
the cities. In city and country, squatter wars, over lot and claim,
excite the community. San Francisco is a hotbed of politicians and
roughs of the baser sort. While the Southerners generally control
the Federal and State offices, Hardin feels the weakness in their
lines has been the journalistic front of their party. Funds are
raised. Pro-slavery journals spring into life. John Nugent, Pen
Johnston, and O'Meara write with pens dipped in gall, and the ready