A Little Girl in Old San Francisco

  CHAPTER VI

  A DIFFERENT OUTLOOK

  It was almost being in a new town, Laverne thought. They had trottedall over this bluff, to be sure; they had looked over to Sausalito, upand down the bay, and to the wonderful ocean that reached to China.But before they had been rather hidden away in a valley between theridges, and from the windows you could see very little. She was quitewild at first, running from window to window, and calling on MissHolmes to see this or that.

  Then they had a Chinaman to come in and help them settle, and thatamused her very much. He understood, but could not speak much English,and she did wonder why he should tack another syllable to the shortwords by adding the double e. But he was very handy and obedient,quick to see, and the soft shoes that made no clatter allowed him togo about so quietly that he often surprised one. His name was Ah Ling.

  "I think I like Pablo better," she said gravely. "Then he knows somany things about the country and the missions and the priests, andthe races of the Spaniards, and they did have bull fights, you know,they have some now. Uncle Jason said he must not tell me about them,they were too cruel. Do you suppose Pablo will come?"

  Jason Chadsey had made the old Mexican an offer to come and live withthem, but he was loath to leave his little hut and his independence.He knew Pablo could be trusted anywhere with the little girl, and thathe was a good gardener. He had even offered him a new hut, and Pablowas taking matters into consideration as he lolled in the sun andsmoked his pipe. He did not want to be too hard worked, what good didso much money do these Americanos; they went on working and workingand hustling the life out of one.

  Here was the old Franciscan Mission where the first settlement wasmade by the Fathers. It might have had the semi-solitude in thoseearly years, for all about was poetic enough. When it became a Mexicanprovince early in the century it had been stripped of its treasures,and was even now a poor unsightly ruin with its few padres eking outtheir subsistence and saying prayers for the living and the dead inthe little Campo Santo. Presently a modern cathedral was to overshadowit, but that had not come yet, with the shops and dwellings that wereto crowd it still closer. But now there were outlying fields, tanglesof shrubbery and vines run wild. Not so many trees as farther down,but still some that withstood the ocean blasts. And there was Alcatrasand Buena Yerba; almost within a stone's throw, it seemed, in theclear air that often foreshortened space. Laverne never weariedstudying the marvellous pictures, and when her thoughts went back tothe dreary little Maine village she always gave a shiver.

  The house was a newer one, its first story of adobe, as so many werein the early days. It was not nearly so small, to begin with, andthere was so much entertainment buying furniture and supplyinghousehold needs. Jason Chadsey had picked up a number of curiousarticles from the ships coming in from foreign ports, some that wouldhave been the envy of a connoisseur.

  But the early spring was rushing on again and every leaf and spear andweed grew as if by magic.

  One morning they had a visitor who came in a carriage, and Miss Holmesglanced out in some surprise.

  "Why, it's my friend Miss Alwood--you remember Miss Grace, Laverne. Ihaven't seen her this long while," and the next instant she waswelcoming her warmly.

  "We thought you had dropped out of existence. Why, even the Dawsonshave heard nothing from you--let me see--you went down to Santa Cruzwith an invalid lady----"

  "Yes." Miss Alwood gave a short amused sound that was hardly a laugh,and continued: "Well, there was plenty of money, but she was about asqueer as they make them. She had come from Baltimore, but she had someof the worst New England features, though I think they do not belongaltogether to the Puritan birthright. But it kept one on the alertattending to her whims. When she had been there a month her brothercame to see her. He thought she had better go on farther south--Ithink she had consumption, the sort of wasting away without a cough.While we were making preparations she was taken down to her bed. Mr.Personette had to return here on urgent business matters. Four weekslater she died. So he came back and there was the burial and all----"

  Miss Alwood paused and a flush with an amused expression passed overher face.

  "And so you were released from bondage," suggested Miss Holmes; andshe, somehow, smiled, too.

  "And accepted another. Mr. Personette, being a widower, made me anoffer of marriage. We are to be a not very far-away neighbor, as heowns a house on Mason Street, and is really well-to-do, as we say athome. There is a son of seventeen, a daughter two years younger, andone of twelve. I went to hunt you up, but found the place deserted,then looked up Miss Gaines and have been spending a week over weddinggowns, though it is to be just a quiet marriage in church. He has hadhousekeepers that were unsatisfactory, indeed, he was afraid the lastone would marry him out of hand," and this time she did laughheartily. "So you see I have made my fortune the first of the trio."

  "Let me congratulate you on your good fortune. I suppose it _is_that."

  "Why, yes, as far as one can see. I'm not a romantic young girl, andhe is just forty, has made one fortune and lost it, and now is--well,he spends money as if there would be no end to it. Do you remember theold story of the bees that were taken to a place where the flowersbloomed all the year round, and ceased laying up honey? That seems theway with so many here. There were people who lost everything in thegreat fire and in no time were on their feet again. It is in the air,I think, or perhaps the fusion of so many people from everywhere. Andnow Mr. Personette is prospering, and I am to share the prosperity andhave a home of my own, and like the bees, I'm not going to worry aboutthe future. You see I am already a recreant Yankee. Where is yourlittle girl?"

  The little girl had been sitting on the window ledge of the next room,and remembering the long journey round the Horn, often cheered by thebrightness of Miss Alwood. She sprang down now and came forward.

  "What a little dot she keeps! Laverne, I am going to be your neighbor,and I am to have a little girl who will be a playmate for you. I can'tanswer about the other, girls begin to put on airs so soon. Do you goto school?"

  "No, I have taught her thus far. But it is rather lonely for a child.There was no one about where we lived, but some distance below aSpanish family which hardly knew whether to affiliate or not."

  "They are very brilliant farther down the coast. Monterey is the placeto see them in their glory. I wish we had gone there, but MissPersonette hated the strumming of a guitar and the click-clack of thelanguage, as she termed it. And now, can't you leave household caresand come for a drive?"

  "I have a splendid pony," said Laverne.

  "Why, that is quite delightful. But you will not disdain my carriage,I hope."

  Miss Holmes rather hesitated, but Miss Alwood overruled all theobjections. And she remembered that Mr. Chadsey said they need notexpect him home to dinner. Now that he was so much nearer he cameback to an old-fashioned love for a midday dinner.

  First they went down to Mason Street. There was quite a fine finishedblock of houses, detached, with gardens on both sides. Down below itwas unfinished but the street had been straightened, the low placeswere being filled up, the hillocks levelled.

  "Oh," Miss Holmes began, with a depth of feeling that touched herfriend, "you can't think how glad I am this has happened to you. Wehave had some hard things in our lives, and now we have really goneinto a new world."

  "And I wish you the same good luck. I did not quite like your beingburied down in that out-of-the-way place."

  "There were so few houses to be had when we came."

  "Yes; there were people living in tents. There are a few of them nowon the outskirts. And building is going on everywhere. Oh, what do yousuppose it will be in twenty years?"

  That really brought a stretch to the imagination and they lookedblankly at each other.

  Improvements were going on everywhere with a rush startling to theseNew England women.

  There were new stores opened in the past two months. They passed RussGarden, one of the public places ne
ar the Mission Road, devoted toamusements of various kinds, and thronged on Saturday afternoons. Downby the Plaza the "steam paddys" were levelling the numerous sand hillsthat lay between that and Happy Valley. Even the burned district ofless than a year ago was rising rapidly from its ashes.

  "I've never had quite such a fine view of the town," Miss Holmes said."Heretofore we have only taken it in parts. What it will be whenfinished----"

  "Only New England cities get finished. I think I have heard of someplaces that were fenced in and whitewashed, but they must have beenmere country towns," declared Miss Alwood laughingly.

  They made a call on Miss Gaines, who now had a workroom full of girlsand piles of dazzling material. Nothing was too rich or too expensivefor these California dames, whose husbands made fortunes in a month orcleared thousands of dollars in a day. Those early years were anArabian Nights' tale.

  The three friends had a genial time together, and then Miss Holmes andthe little girl were set down at their own door. She was very quiet.

  "What are you thinking of?" Miss Holmes asked at length.

  "Of the little girl Miss Alwood is to have, and whether I shall likeher. Of course, she will not be like the Estenegas. And it seems queerto have a new mother who isn't a real mother."

  "You will understand that better by and by."

  Laverne nodded. She could never have a new mother. She wondered alittle about her father. Uncle Jason never spoke of him. Of course hewas dead also.

  Mrs. Dawson was very anxious to give Miss Alwood a wedding feast, andindeed was fain to have her married in the parlor, but she preferredthe church. Mr. Personette was well known, and the church wascrowded. The two daughters walked in front and strewed flowers intheir path, there were congratulations and good wishes, and a luncheonat the Dawson House, when the new husband and wife took a shortjourney, and ended the festivities by a reception at their own home.

  Laverne thought it was very fine to have a new white frock,lace-trimmed, and a knot of blue ribbons on one shoulder, with longstreamers. Isabel Personette was tall of her age, and quite a younglady, rather pretty. Olive had large, dark eyes, and shining chestnuthair, was round, plump, and merry-looking.

  "Our new mother has been telling us about you," she began, graspingLaverne's hand. "And that you came from Maine with her. What a long,long journey. Weren't you awfully afraid? I looked up Maine on themap. But you had to go round the Horn. What did it look like?"

  "It's a cape, you know."

  "But--I supposed there was something," in a surprised tone. "Perhapsthey blew a horn?"

  "They didn't do anything as I remember," and Laverne smiled a little.

  "I've never been farther than Monterey. But father went up to BritishColumbia once. It is desperately cold up there. And there is a Russiancountry where it is colder still. And you have snows in Maine."

  "Oh, dreadful snows that do not go off all winter, and it seems soqueer not to have any here. It was such fun to snowball and havesled-rides and build snowhouses."

  "You didn't live in them?" in surprise.

  "Oh, no! But sometimes we brought in dry hemlock branches and brush,and had a fire. It looks so pretty."

  "Didn't it melt the house?"

  "Oh, yes, a little. But you see it froze again."

  "Which do you like best--there or here?"

  "Oh, this is the most beautiful, for there are so many flowers andlovely places. And--I think I like the pleasant weather best."

  "How many cousins have you?"

  "None," answered Laverne rather regretfully.

  "Oh, isn't that queer? I have four over to Oaklands. And two inLondon. And one of father's sisters married a Mexican, and lives waydown to Santa Barbara. They have ever so many children with queernames. Aunt Amy died a little while ago, and as she hadn't anychildren, she left some money to us and the Oakland cousins. But notto have any----"

  Olive Personette looked very sympathetic. Presently she said, "Howmany little girls do you know?"

  "Only three, and they are Spanish. There were none where we livedbefore. It was a kind of wild place. I like this ever so much better."

  "Did you love them?"

  Laverne considered, while her eyes wandered off into space.

  "I think I didn't really _love_ them. I liked them. They came up tolearn English, and Miss Holmes and I studied Spanish. And we playedabout. They had a queer old house and a lovely garden, with fruit andflowers, and tame birds, and everything. And I had a squirrel I tamed.We brought him up here, and I kept him two weeks in a little pen, butwhen I let him out he ran away."

  "I'll tell you what I'll do. We'll make believe to ourselves that weare cousins. Mother said she hoped I would like you a good deal. Yousee, Isabel begins to go with big girls, and they just push you outwhen they tell secrets, and they have so many to tell. Do you know anysecrets?"

  Laverne shook her head gravely.

  "But sometimes you do bad things and you don't want to tell anybody."

  "Why, I tell Uncle Jason everything. And----"

  Did she ever do anything very bad? She didn't always study when MissHolmes told her to, and she sometimes tore her frocks scrambling up ordown the hills. She had been brought up to be truthful and obedient,and now these traits were part of her nature.

  "Well, it's this way--you must not tell your uncle the things I tellyou, and you must find something to tell me--when Miss Holmes is crossto you."

  "But she isn't ever cross."

  "Oh, yes, everybody has a cross streak in her, or him. I'm crossoften. And I do hope our new mother won't scold. Father said she wasso good to Aunt Amy, and Aunt Amy was dreadful at times. Then the Mrs.Barr we had for housekeeper was just awful. She said naughty words,too, like the men. No one is good always. You can't be. And when I getin a taking I'm a terror at school. Miss Carson once wrote a note tofather, but I begged so she tore it up. I wanted a watch for Christmasand I was afraid he would not give it to me if he knew. That was asecret I've kept until now, but he gave me the watch. I let it falland it had to go away to be repaired. And I have three rings. See, arethey not pretty? That garnet is getting tight. I'll have to give itaway," and she laughed.

  Her new mother came around to them.

  "Are you making friends?" she asked. "That is right. Laverne, are youhaving a nice time? Come and see the dancing."

  They were waltzing up and down the spacious hall. There had beendancing on shipboard among the men, but this was something thatfascinated the little girl. The beautiful dresses and sparklingjewels, the delicate laces that floated like clouds, and among the menwere two or three young Spaniards. One of them wore a beautifulfringed sash about his waist.

  "Do you go to dancing school?

  "No," replied Laverne.

  "But you will. I began last winter. Isabel dances. See, some one hastaken her out. Oh, dear, I wish I could grow up in a night, just threeyears. Wouldn't it be funny to have it happen in your sleep?"

  Jason Chadsey had been looking about for his little girl. He hadinsisted at first that he could not come, that he was too old, andsuch a plain fellow, that he would look queer among the fine people.But Mrs. Personette had written him a special invitation, and he hadcompromised with Miss Holmes by promising to come for them. He knewMr. Personette a little in a business way, and he was reallygratified at Miss Alwood's good fortune. So he had gone to thetailor's and treated himself to a new suit of clothes, and lookedfully five years younger.

  Laverne stared at him a moment, then a lovely smile illumined her faceas she slipped her hand in his and rather bashfully introduced her newfriend.

  "I have been making the acquaintance of your brother and your sister,"he said. "I hope you and my little girl will be friends."

  "Oh, we have promised to," declared Olive. "I am coming to see herpony, and I am very glad to know her."

  He nodded and escorted the children about, or rather followed Olive,who gracefully made herself mistress of the occasion and chatted withan ease that amused him. But it was g
etting late, and as he hadperformed his round of duties, he proposed now that they should returnhome. Olive kissed her new friend with much fervor.

  "Parties are just splendid," Laverne said, as she danced alongside ofUncle Jason. "Can't you have a party unless you are married?"

  "Oh, yes, there are birthday parties and Christmas parties and partiesjust for fun."

  "But you have to know a good many people, don't you?"

  "I think I have seen three or four little girls have a party."

  "I know four now."

  "And perhaps by Christmas you will know four more," returned UncleJason.

  She was very tired and sleepy when she reached home, and they allretired. And it so happened she slept late the next morning and hadher breakfast alone. Pablo had found it very lonely without them andhad decided to accept Mr. Chadsey's offer. So she ran out now to saygood-morning to him and Pelajo.

  Something scampered along at her feet, and then made a sudden dashamong the vines. Two bright eyes peeped out and there was a peculiarlittle chatter.

  "Why, if it isn't Snippy," she cried. "Snip, Snip!" and she knelt downin the gravelly path. "Snip!"

  There was a sudden rush, and the squirrel ran up her arm, across hershoulders, and fairly nestled in the little curve below her ear. Andthen he began to chatter as if he was telling over his journey and histribulations and expressing his joy. Surely no squirrel was ever moreeloquent to his mate in love-making time. Laverne laughed until thetears came into her eyes, and she had a vague suspicion that she wascrying as well, but it was for very joy.

  Snippy wriggled out of the warm embrace presently and questioned herwith his bright beady eyes, as if the voice might have led him into amistake. But no, this was his little mistress sure enough.

  She gathered him up and ran into the kitchen where Miss Holmes wasmaking a pie.

  "Oh," she cried, "Snippy has come back, my dear, darling Snippy."

  He had come by his name in a rather unexpected fashion. When Lavernefirst had him tame enough to come into the house, throw his beautifulbushy tail up his back, and let the feathery end droop over his earslike a bit of Spanish lace, a trick of the Senoras, and eat a fragmentof cracker, Miss Holmes said one day, "He looks so pert and snippy onehas to smile at his daintiness."

  They had tried on several names that did not seem to fit. It was easyenough to get something for a dog or a horse.

  "Oh, that will just do, Snippy," and Laverne danced around in delight."Then we can call him Snip when we are in a hurry--he is such a dearlittle dot, too. His tail is as big as his body; Snippy, Snippy!"

  Perhaps there was something in the sound that attracted him, for heglanced up out of brightest eyes and winked as if he approved it.

  He did soon come to know his name. Perhaps it was because it becameconnected with some tidbit, for when the little girl called him shealways had a dainty morsel for him.

  He glanced about the room now, and then thrust his head underLaverne's arm. Miss Holmes spoke and he peered out. Yes, he knew thatvoice surely, but the place was strange.

  "Oh, Snippy, you can't imagine how glad I am to have you. I've beenhomesick for you, though I like this place better, and we're nearerthe grand ocean, and can look over into the Golden Gate, and golden itis in the sunset. Oh, why did you run away?"

  Snippy said something in his own language and struggled to get free.She let him run down her skirt and leap to the floor. He glanced roundwith sharp, inquiring eyes, then ran to one corner where, in the oldplace, he used to find nuts and perhaps a crust. Oh, it wasn't thesame place. He fairly scolded, up went his tail, and he scampered outof the door. Laverne ran, calling him. Over the path, the rockeryUncle Jason had built for her, plunging into the great ferns that grewas high as her head, and shook off an odorous fragrance at beingdisturbed.

  "Oh, Snippy! Snippy!" in a beseeching tone.

  The little girl sat down on a stone and cried. Sorrow had followed soon the heels of delight. Bruno came and put his nose in her hand andlooked comfort out of great wistful eyes.

  Miss Holmes came out presently.

  "I think he will come back," she said hopefully. "You see he found theway once and he can again. And now come in and study a lesson. Thereis nothing like work to lighten sorrow."

  "If he only would come back! Bruno, if you see him, come and tell meat once."

  Bruno nodded sagaciously.