第4章

Yet the criticism went on.Presently it took the milder but more contagious form of ridicule.In his own hotel, built with his own money, and in his own presence, he had heard a reckless frequenter of the bar-room decline some proffered refreshment on the ground that "he only drank with his titled relatives." A local humorist, amidst the applause of an admiring crowd at the post-office window, had openly accused the postmaster of withholding letters to him from his only surviving brother, "the Dook of Doncherknow." "The ole dooky never onct missed the mail to let me know wot's goin' on in me childhood's home," remarked the humorist plaintively; "and yer's this dod-blasted gov'ment mule of a postmaster keepin' me letters back!" Letters with pretentious and gilded coats of arms, taken from the decorated inner lining of cigar-boxes, were posted to prominent citizens.The neighboring and unregenerated settlement of Red Dog was more outrageous in its contribution.The Red Dog "Sentinel," in commenting on the death of "Haulbowline Tom," a drunken English man-o'-war's man, said: "It may not be generally known that our regretted fellow citizen, while serving on H.M.S.Boxer, was secretly married to Queen Kikalu of the Friendly Group; but, unlike some of our prosperous neighbors, he never boasted of his royal alliance, and resisted with steady British pluck any invitation to share the throne.Indeed, any allusion to the subject affected him deeply.There are those among us who will remember the beautiful portrait of his royal bride tattooed upon his left arm with the royal crest and the crossed flags of the two nations." Only Peter Atherly and his sister understood the sting inflicted either by accident or design in the latter sentence.Both he and his sister had some singular hieroglyphic branded on their arms,--probably a reminiscence of their life on the plains in their infant Indian captivity.But there was no mistaking the general sentiment.The criticisms of a small town may become inevasible.Atherly determined to take the first opportunity to leave Rough and Ready.He was rich; his property was secure; there was no reason why he should stay where his family pretensions were a drawback.And a further circumstance determined his resolution.

He was awaiting his sister in his new house on a little crest above the town.She had been at the time of her mother's death, and since, a private boarder in the Sacred Heart Convent at Santa Clara, whence she had been summoned to the funeral, but had returned the next day.Few people had noticed in her brother's carriage the veiled figure which might have belonged to one of the religious orders; still less did they remember the dark, lank, heavy-browed girl who had sometimes been seen about Rough and Ready.For she had her brother's melancholy, and greater reticence, and had continued of her own free will, long after her girlish pupilage at the convent, to live secluded under its maternal roof without taking orders.A general suspicion that she was either a religious "crank," or considered herself too good to live in a mountain mining town, had not contributed to her brother's popularity.In her abstraction from worldly ambitions she had, naturally, taken no part in her brother's family pretensions.He had given her an independent allowance, and she was supposed to be equally a sharer in his good fortune.Yet she had suddenly declared her intention of returning to Atherly, to consult him on affairs of importance.

Peter was both surprised and eager; there was but little affection between them, but, preoccupied with his one idea, he was satisfied that she wanted to talk about the family.

But he was amazed, disappointed, and disconcerted.For Jenny Atherly, the sober recluse of Santa Clara, hidden in her sombre draperies at the funeral, was no longer to be recognized in the fashionable, smartly but somewhat over-dressed woman he saw before him.In spite of her large features and the distinguishing Roman nose, like his own, she looked even pretty in her excitement.She had left the convent, she was tired of the life there, she was satisfied that a religious vocation would not suit her.In brief, she intended to enjoy herself like other women.If he really felt a pride in the family he ought to take her out, like other brothers, and "give her a show." He could do it there if he liked, and she would keep house for him.If he didn't want to, she must have enough money to keep her fashionably in San Francisco.But she wanted excitement, and that she WOULD HAVE! She wanted to go to balls, theatres, and entertainments, and she intended to! Her voice grew quite high, and her dark cheek glowed with some new-found emotion.