The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1892-08-16

a regular slope whose gradient had been
determined by centuries of west trade winds,
presently becomes n fair wood of live oak,
and a few hundred yards further at last
assumes the aspect of primeyal forest.
A delicious coolness fills the air; ne long
shadOwy aisleS ef.t.,- the 4..t:king eye with
Il sttotiIing twilight; the murmur Of unseen
brooks is heard, and 10y strange irony the
enormous, widelyspaccd stacks of wild oats
are replaced by carpet of tiny-le;ved
Inosses and chckweed at the root of trees,
and the minutest clover in more open spaces.
The baked and cracked adobe soil of the
now forgotten plains is exchanged Tor Il
heavy red mineral dust aud gravel rocks
and powders make their appearance, ana
Mt times the road is crossed by the white
veins of Quartz 1t Is still the San t-eandro
turnpike-l few miles later To rise from THIS
canada into the upper plains aSaiIi-but IL
is also the actual gateway ana avenue OF
the ..Robles rancho. When the departing
visitors of Judge Peyton, now owner OF
the rancho, reach the outer plaehS asaih
after twenty minutes drive from the
house the canada, rancho and avenue nave
rs completely disappeared from view as IL
they had been swallowed up Ill The PLAN;
A cross road from the turnpike iS' the
usuaI approach to the casa or mansion
a long. low quadrangle of brown adobe
wall on a bare but gentle sloping emnence
For here Il second surprise meets the
stranger. He seems to have emerged from
the forest upon another illimitable plain,
Int one utterly trackless, wild and desc
late 1t is, however, only lower terrace
of the same valley and in fact comprises
the three square leagues of the RobieS
rancho tInculGYated and savage as 1t
appears-Giyen over TO Wild catuG ana
horses that sometimes sweep in frightened
bands around the very casa ltSelt-the long
south wall of the corral
embraces an orchard of gnarIed pear trees.
an old vineyard, and venerable garden OF
olives and oranges. \ manor, formerly
granted by Charles V 10 Don Vicente Robes
of Andaiusa OF piOuS and asceuc memory.
il had commended itself to Judge feyton.
of Kentucky. Il modern hereto pioneer of
bookiSh tastes and secluded habits, who
had bought il of Don Nicente's descendants.
Here Judge Peyton seemed to have real
lied his idea of a perfect climate. and
retirement half studious, half active with
something of the seignorahty OF the old slave
holder that he had been. Here TOO he had
seen the hope of restoring his Wlte's health
for which he had undertaken the overland
emigration-more than fulfilled IN Mrs.
peyton's improved physical conuitlol, al
belt ut the expense, perhaps, OF some OF
the languOrouS graceS OF aliIng American
WifehO0d.
1t was a curious recognition Of this
latter fact that Judge Peyton watched his
wife crossing the patio or courtyard with
her arm around the neck of her adopted
daughter, SuZette. a sudden memory cross
ed his mind of the first day that he had
seen them tOgether-the day that he brought
the child and her boy companion, two es-
trays from an cmigrant train on the plains,
To his wife in camp. Certainly Mrs. Fey
ton was stouter and stronger tibred the won
derful Californian climate had materalized
her figure-as il had their eastern fruits
and tioWers-but it was stranger that Susy
the child of homlier frontier blood and
parentage, whose wholesome, peasant plump,
ness had at first attracted them-should
have grown thinner and more graceful and
even seemed to have gained the dellcacy his
wife had lost. Six years had lmpercept-
IDLY wrought this change; it had never
struck him before so fOrclbly
as on this day of Susy's regular return
from the convent school ut Santa Clara
for the holidays
The woman and child had reached the
broad yeranda, which on one side of the
patio replaced the old Spanish corridor.
1t was the single modern innovation that
Peyton had allowed himself when he had
broken the quandranSular symmetry of the
old house with ii wooden annex or adj
dition beyond the walls. 1t made n pleas
ant lounging place, Swallowed from the hot
midday sun by sloping roofs and awnings
and sheltered from the boisterous afternoon
trade winds by the opposite side of the
court. But Susy did not seem inclined
to lnger there long that morning in spite
of Mrs. Peyton's evident desire for a ma
ternal tete-a-tete; the nervous preoccupa-
ton and capriciOuS ennui of an indugpd
child showed in her pretty but discontinued,
face, and knit her curved eyebrows and
Peyton saw look Of pain pass over his
wifes face as the young girl suddenly and
half laughingly broke away and tiuttered
off to the old garden.
Mrs. Peyton looked UP and caught her