CHAPTER XII
NEW EXPERIENCES
Mr. Savedra came home early to have a share in the guests. It waspleasant now for riding and driving, for the wind was coming from theocean, and wafting with it the inspiration that started the pulsesafresh. There were ponies and saddle horses. Laverne must ride.
"I will go if she can sit by me in the carriage," said Isola.
Laverne gave a quick breath. She would rather have had the mount, butthe almost melancholy eyes decided her. She held out her hand with asmile, and she saw that it pleased Mr. Savedra also.
Victor had a little of his mother, but he had taken most of his goodlooks from his father.
"Aunt Grace, won't you go with them?" he said persuasively. "I wantMiss Holmes. Both of us will be needed to keep watch of this monkey."
"As if I didn't go alone often and often!" Elena retorted, wrinklingup her face in a funny fashion.
They took their way to the eastward, and were soon in the opencountry, with the great Sierra Range towering in the distance. Summerhad not scorched up the fields or the woods. Hill and valley werespread out before them, here glowing with flowers, there still greenwith herbage, where Mexican shepherds were letting their flocksbrowse. Some pastures had been eaten off to the roots and glinted ingolden bronze. Tangles of wild grapes, with their pungent fragrance,reaching up and climbing over clumps of trees. The far-off pointsseemed to touch the very sky that was like a great sea with drifts onecould imagine were an array of ships bound to some wondrous port.Laverne thought of the weird experiences of the "Ancient Mariner."
Yellow wings, blues of every shade, black and gold and iridescent,dashed here and there or floated lazily as if the butterfly had nobody.
Isola held the child's hand, but did not say anything, she hatedexclamations. Mrs. Savedra smiled to herself, she knew her daughterwas enjoying her companion. Laverne felt half mesmerized by the handthat had been cold at first, and was now gently throbbing with somehuman warmth. She seemed to have gone into a strange country.
The sun set gorgeously as they were returning. There was a temptingsupper spread for them, and some lanterns were lighted at the edge ofthe porch. Then Mr. Savedra insisted upon sending the party home inthe carriage.
"I hope you have had a nice time, Laverne," Mrs. Personette said, in amost cordial tone. "I don't know what the Savedras will do with thatdaughter. I'd like to shake her up out of that dreaminess. She'll bein a consumption next. As for you two girls, I think you have had yourfill of attention to-day," and she laughed. "You have a stepmotherout of a thousand, and I hope you will never do her any discredit."
They certainly had enjoyed their day wonderfully, never imaginingVictor had planned it so that he could be left at liberty.
The little girl sat out under the rose vine that trailed over theirlittle porch, thinking of the beautiful house, the garden, thegrounds, the birds, and, oh, the organ with its bewildering music.
"An organ must cost a good deal," she said, in a grave tone, but therewas no longing in it. "And then if you couldn't play--I like thethings that are not tunes, that just go on when you don't know what iscoming next, and the voices of the birds and the sound of the wavesand all sweet things. It was like fairyland, only I don't believefairyland could be quite so satisfying, and this is all real and won'tvanish when you wake up." She laughed tenderly in her joy. "Mr.Savedra must be very rich," she continued.
"Yes, he is," said Uncle Jason.
She leaned her head down on the broad breast where the heart beat forher alone.
"And you had a happy day?"
"Oh, so happy. If you had been there!"
She should have all these things some day. He was working and savingfor her. And times had changed very much. He and her mother could havebeen happy in a little cottage where the sharp north winds rusheddown, and the drifts of snow hedged one in half the winter. She busyabout household work, he wresting scanty crops from the grudgingearth. Yet if she could have seen a world like this! Well, the littleone should have it all, and see strange lands and no end of beautifulthings, for the world kept improving all the time.
He began to feel a good deal more secure about her. At first, when hesaw men from every State in the Union, men who had committed variouscrimes, tramps, and scamps, he had a vague fear that somewhere amongthem David Westbury would come to light. He would not know him, onlythe name. And he wished now he had changed his in this new westernworld. But he would know nothing about the child unless he went to theold home, and that was hardly likely. But if some day, stepping off avessel or wandering around the docks, a man should clap him on theshoulder and say, "Hello, Chadsey, old man, I never thought to findyou here!" he would shake him off, or pay his way somewhere else.
It had never happened, and was not likely to now. He could go onplanning this delightful life for the little girl. Presently theywould make another move, have a better house and finer furniture. Hehad lost nothing through this snap of hard times, neither had he made,but business looked brighter. Occasionally he had a longing to go tothe mines. Several times he had dreamed of finding a great nugget, andonce he dreamed that in stumbling over rocks and wilds, he had losther. Night came on and all through the darkness he called and called,and woke with great drops of cold perspiration streaming down hisbrow. No, he could not go to the gold fields and leave her behind.
The weeks and months passed on. There was vacation when she went overto Oaklands, and had splendid times again, and was fascinated by Isolaand her music, and they took up a peculiar friendship that seemed torouse the dreamy girl and delight Mrs. Savedra. Then Mrs. Personettewas going down to Monterey with her two girls for a fortnight, andnothing would do but Miss Holmes and Laverne should accompany them. Itwas not the Monterey of forty years later, but a queer old Spanishtown with its convent, where they found Carmencita Estenega, who didnot look like a joyous, happy girl, though next year she was to bemarried.
"Dear me!" exclaimed Mrs. Personette; "it seems the same thingeverywhere, just lovers and marriage. There is really no career forgirls here but that, and the convent people are as anxious to marrythem off as any one else. To be sure, they can become sisters, whichcovers the obloquy of old maidism. And so many of the husbands are notworth having, and desert their wives on the slightest pretext. I'dcounted on taking some comfort with my girls, but here is Isabelconsidering every young man as a matrimonial subject, wanting to leaveschool and go into society, and her father saying, 'Why not?'"
Miss Holmes smiled a little.
"We used to think a girl ought to look at marriage in a serious light,and get ready for the important step; now it is fine clothes, anengagement ring, and a wedding gown. But I suppose in this wonderfulland where your fruit buds, and blossoms, and ripens in a night, girlsdo mature sooner."
Some weeks later she saw her friend again and announced that she hadbeen compelled to yield.
"Isabel would not go to school," she said. "If there had been a goodboarding school anywhere near, I should have pleaded hard for that.But her father would not listen to her being sent East. She has asmattering of several branches. She can converse quite fluently inFrench and Spanish, she dances with grace and elegance, she hascorrect ideas of the fitness of things that are certainly attractive,and is quick at repartee. She reads the fashion magazines when theyarrive, and the newspaper bits of arranging a table, cooking odddishes, giving luncheons and dinners. She is really a fashionableyoung lady. And we are to give a ball for her, and after that I mustsee that she is properly chaperoned. My dear Marian, we _do_ belong tothe past generation, there is no denying it. And I half envy you thatyou can live out of the hurly-burly."
"I am glad myself," Miss Holmes returned. "So far as most things go,we could be living in some quaint old Puritan town. I don't knowwhether it is really best for the child, but it suits her uncle tohave it so. Now she is going over to the Savedras two afternoons aweek to study piano music. They think Isola improves by thecompanionship. And those French children, the Verriers, ar
e very niceand trusty. They are up here quite often. She likes some of herschoolmates very well, and she and Olive have friendly spells,"laughing.
"Olive blows hot and cold. She takes up a girl with a certain vehementpreference and for a while can think of no one else. Then she findsher friend has some faults, or fails in two or three points, and sheis on with a new admiration. Girls are crude, funny creatures! Do yousuppose we were like them?" she questioned with laughing, disavowingeyes.
"No, we were not," returned Marian. "Times have changed. Life and itsdemands have changed. We were taught to sew, to darn, to do fineneedlework; here a Mexican or a Spanish woman will do the mostexquisite work for a trifle. Every country lays its treasures at ourfeet; it would be folly to spin and to weave. And there is money tobuy everything with. How careful we were of a bit of lace that ourgrandmother had! The women of the street flaunt in yards and yards ofit, handsomer than we could ever have achieved. We are on the otherside of the country, and are topsy-turvy. We have begun at the big endof everything. Whether we are to come out at the little end----" andshe paused, her eyes indecisive in their expression.
"Would you like to go back?"
"I'd like to see dear old, proper Boston, and really feel how much wehad changed. But the breadth and freedom here are fascinating. It hasnot the hardships of new settlers. Even the men who sleep out on thefoothills with the blue sky for covering may be rich six months hence,and putting up fine buildings. And when you come to that there is nolack of intelligence. Haven't we some of the best brain and blood ofthe East, as well as some of the worst? Our papers are teeming withnews, with plans, with business schemes, that would craze an Easternman. No, I do not believe I should be satisfied to take up the oldlife there again."
"And now I must consider my daughter's entree into society. Think ofthe mothers in the old novels, who took their daughters to Bath or toLondon, and looked over the list of eligibles and made two or threeselections. Our young women will select for themselves in ahalf-mercenary fashion, and one can't altogether blame them. Povertyis not an attractive subject."
Miss Holmes was out for a little shopping expedition, and went in herfriend's carriage. Every year saw great changes. Fire destroyed onlyto have something grander rise from the ashes. There was already animposing line of stores, and a display of fabrics that roused envy andheart-burning. Where there had been one-story shanties filled with themiscellany of a country store, only a few years ago, now all thingswere systematized and compared well with some Eastern towns, not asmuch, but certainly as great a variety. It had taken San Franciscoonly a few years to grow up. She sprang from childhood to fullstature.
Then one drove round the Plaza to Russ's, mingling in the gaycavalcade until a stranger might have considered it a gala day of somesort. Then to Winn's for luncheon, tickets, perhaps, to the theatrewhere Laura Keene was drawing full houses of better-class people.
The little girl was not in much of this. She went to school regularly;she found some very congenial friends. She never could tell how muchshe liked Olive, and she was accustomed to be taken up with fervorand then dropped with a suddenness that might have dislocated mostregards, and would if she had set her heart on Olive. She had a serenesort of temperament not easily ruffled; she had brought that fromMaine with her. She talked over her lessons with Uncle Jason, whoseemed to know so many things, more she thought than Miss Holmes,though she had taught school in Boston.
She had a host of squirrel friends now, though Snippy was amusinglyjealous, and at times drove the others off. There were flocks ofbirds, too, who would hop up close or circle round her andoccasionally light on her shoulder, and sing deafeningly in her ear,trills and roulades, such as Mam'selle played on the piano--she wasnot so fond of the organ, it was fit only for church and convents inthe Frenchwoman's estimation.
It was funny to see Balder follow her about. During the rainy seasonhe found so many puddles in which to stop and rest and disporthimself, but in the dry times they filled a tub for him, and he wascontent. Pablo caught fish for him, and it was his opinion that Balderlived like some grand Senor. She never tired of the flowers, and wasalways finding stray nooks where they bloomed. She and Miss Holmesoften went over to the ocean and sat on the rocks, looking, wondering.
"Sometime Uncle Jason is going to take me way over yonder," noddingher head. "We shall go to the Sandwich Islands, which he says arestill more beautiful than California. And then to China. Perhaps thenall the gates of Japan will be open and they will let us in. I'd liketo see the little girls in Japan; they don't drown them there, theynever have too many. And then there will be India, and all thosequeer islands. You wouldn't think there would be room for Australia,which is almost a continent by itself, would you? The world is verywonderful, isn't it?"
Sometimes they watched magnificent sunsets when the whole Pacificseemed aflame with gorgeous tints, for which there could be no name,for they changed as quick as thought. Then they noted a faintpearl-gray tint just edging the horizon line, it seemed, and thenspreading out in filmy layers, growing more distinct and yet darker,marching on like an army. Gulls circled and screamed, great loons andmurres gave their mournful cry, cormorants swept on, hardly stirring awing until, with one swift lurch, they went down and came uptriumphant. Then the sky and sea faded, though you knew the sea wasthere because it dashed upon the rocks, though its tone was curiouslymuffled.
"Come," Miss Holmes would say, "we shall be caught in the fog."
"I'd just like to be damp and cold. It has been so dry that one wantsto be wet through and through."
"We shall have to pick our way."
It would sometimes come up very fast, woolly, soft to the skin, atothers like a fine cutting mist, when the west wind drove it in. Andnow it was all gray like a peculiar twilight that made ghosts out ofthe rocks, piled about and shut out the Golden Gate and the peaksbeyond, but they drew long breaths of the sea fragrance that werereviving. The ponies stepped carefully down this way, and across thatlevel, and then on the road Pablo was making for his mistress. Theponies shook their heads and whinnied for very gladness. Bruno gavehis cheerful bark. Balder made a funny grumbling noise as if he werescolding.
"Oh, you know you like the fog. You are dripping wet," with a hug oftenderness.
They were dripping wet, too, but they soon found dry clothes. MissHolmes kindled up the fire, for Pablo kept them well supplied, thoughsometimes he went long distances and came home with a great bundle onhis back that almost bent him double.
"Now you look just like a German peasant," Laverne would declare; andPablo would shake his head mysteriously. The young Missy had seen somany wonderful things.
Wood was a rather scarce article in this vicinity, and was expensive.Coal likewise, though now some had been discovered nearer home. Thecharcoal venders were familiar figures in the streets. Wild indeedwould he have been who had ventured to predict a gas range, even theuseful kerosene stove.
The fog storms were all they would have for a time in the summer, andit was wonderful how in a night vegetation would start up.
Then Uncle Jason would come in puffing and blowing, fling off hislong, wet coat, and stand before the fire and declare that Mainepeople said:
"An August fog would freeze a dog,"
which always made Laverne laugh.
Miss Holmes did not go to the ball given in honor of Miss IsabelPersonette, but Miss Gaines was among the grown people. It was at oneof the fine halls used for such purposes, and was beautifullydecorated with vines and flowers and American flags. The greatestcuriosity was the really splendid chandelier with its branchingburners and glittering prisms. Few of the real boy friends wereinvited--there were enough young men very glad to come and dance theirbest. No one had to entreat them in those days. Indeed, dancingparties were the great entertainment for young people. True, womenplayed cards and lost and won real money, but it was done ratherprivately and not considered the thing for any but the seniors.
It was very gay and delightful, quite an ovatio
n to Miss Personette,and the banquet part eminently satisfactory to the elders. Of course,Victor Savedra was included, being a cousin, and went, and it broughtfreshly to his mind the party when he had danced with the sweet,fair-haired, little girl, who had no knowledge, but infinite grace,and how happy she had been.
Even with politics, city improvements, vigilance committees, quarrels,and crimes, there was found space in the papers of the day for thesocial aspects of life, and though "sweet girl graduates" had not comein fashion, debutantes were graciously welcomed. Miss Isabel felt muchelated. She had shot up into a tall girl and was very well looking.Miss Gaines had transformed her into beauty.
Olive considered it very hard and cruel that she could not go, but shewas quite a heroine at school for several days. It was truly the nextthing to a wedding.
"And to think of all the splendid things that come to real youngladies!" she complained, yet there was a kind of pride in her tone aswell. "Two theatre parties, and she goes to Sausalito to a birthdayball, and stays three days with some very stylish English people,friends of father's. I just hate being thought a little schoolgirl!And I want to go to the Seminary."
And then she said to Laverne:
"I don't see what you find in Isola to be so devoted to her. Iwouldn't go over there twice a week and bother with her for all themusic in the world. And those cold hands of hers make you shiver.They're like a frog."
"They have grown warmer. She goes to ride every day now. And we readFrench and English, and--verses. I like the music so much."
Olive was still secretly jealous of Victor. But presently he was goingaway to finish his education. And she knew several boys who went tothe Academy that she thought much more fun. Victor was growing toosober, too intellectual.
They had all become very fond of the little girl at the Savedras. Evenwild Elena, in a half-bashful way, copied her. She could run races andclimb and ride the pony with the utmost fearlessness, she did notsqueal over bugs and mice and the little lizards that came out to sunthemselves. Lena had thrown one on her, and she had never told of it.She was not a bit like Isola, although she could sit hours over themusic and reading of verses. And she knew so much of those queercountries where tigers and lions and elephants lived.
"But you have never been there," the child said with severe disbelief.
"You study it in books and at school."
"I hate to study!"
"You will love it when you are older. Some day your father may takeyou to France, and then you will want to know the language."
"I know a little of it, enough to talk."
"Mam'selle will be glad to teach you the rest."
"And Spanish--I knew that first."
"And I had to learn it, and French, with a good deal of trouble."
"But you knew English," rather jealously.
"Just as you knew Spanish--in my babyhood."
That seemed very funny, and Lena laughed over it.
"Then you really were a baby, just like Andrea, only whiter. Will yourhair always be goldy like that?"
"I think so. Uncle Jason likes it."
She asked dozens of inconsequent questions.
"You must not let her trouble you so much," Mrs. Savedra said. "Shewill have more sense as she grows older."
Laverne only smiled a little.
Isola found her such a companion, such a listener as she had neverknown before. Isabel did not care for music; Olive teased her, and sheput her stolid side out. She would not get angry and satisfy them. Andthen it seemed as if Victor suddenly cared more for her, and she halfunconsciously did some of the things he suggested. She did not knowthat Laverne had said to him, "Oh, you ought to do the things thatplease her, and then she will love you. I wish I had a sister."
She wondered a little whom she would want her like? It was a seriousmatter to have a sister who would be with one continually. She wasused to Miss Holmes, and that was more like--well, like an aunt.Sometimes she tried to think of her mother, but the remembrance wasvague. She could seem to see her old grandmother much easier, frettingand scolding.
Victor was glad and proud that she had found a way to all theirhearts.
There were Christmas and New Year's with all their gayety. And in amonth spring, that had run away from the tropics.
"It goes on too fast," she said to Uncle Jason. "And do you see how Iam growing? Miss Holmes says something has to be done to my frocks allthe time. I don't want to be big and grown up."
He studied her in amazement. He did not want her to be big and grownup either. These years were so satisfying.