K. G. C.—A Tale of Fort Alcatraz, Chapters I - VI [pp. 238-248]

K. G. C.-A Tale of Fort Alcatraz.
as the invaders of California, but unlike most
of his race, at the close of hostilities he had
accepted the new conditions with all they
implied, and was thenceforth a loyal citizen
of the United States. Indignant and resent ful, as he had at first felt, he had grown to
like the Americans; and though none the
less proud of his own purity of blood, he
made no secret of a wish that his children
might grow up under the modified influences,
the advantages of which he had quickly ob served. It was not so with the Doina, his
wife, whose Mexican blood continued to
transmit the bitter prejudices of her people,
which, however, were seldom manifested
openly, owing to the stronger influence of
the hospitable Don. It was here that Dil lon found himself always a more than wel come guest.
The Sefiorita Matilda was the only daugh ter. In her the traditional type of the Span ish maiden was intensified. The admixture
of the darker blood of the mother had served
only to heighten a dazzling brilliancy of
complexion, the delicate blush of which wash
incomparable. Her regular features and the
hereditary grace of her slight, dainty figure
had lost nothing in transmission from her
Castilian ancestors, and contributed to a
general effect that has often proved irresisti ble to men of a wider and more varied ex perience with womankind than was Dillon.
At the early dawn of womanhood as she was,
the demure, half-inviting, half-retreating coy ness, the wealth of midnight hair,-which,
contrary to custom, was permitted to fall
gracefully behind the shapely head and neck,
-with eyes whose liquid depths seemed un fathomable, were too powerful a magnet for
Dillon's nature to withstand. He was be wildered, and led a willing captive by the
despotism of his senses.
So complete was the spell this vision of
loveliness had produced, that he did not seek
or miss those graces of mind or character
that he had heretofore held vaguely in
thought as inseparable from his ideal woman.
He was content to exist in the roseate halo
that to him seemed to surround her pres ence.
VOL. XI.-I6.
His suit was a successful one; the consent
of the father was obtained, -indeed, the
Don's approval and gratification at the pro posed marriage of his daughter with the eligi ble young American was unconcealed; and
the day for the ceremony was appointed.
III.
ABOUT this time Dillon and his partner
were retained by some Sacramento parties
representing a large land interest covered by
a grant, a suit concerning which was to be
brought before the supreme court of the State.
Much to Dillon's annoyance, he found him self unavoidably associated in this case with
a lawyer who came down from Sacramento,
and whose name was Seymrour. The influ ence of some friend had secured the retention
of Seymour and his undesirable association
with the Los Angeles lawyers, doubtless with
the purpose that he might share in the rep utation that it was expected would be gained
by the successful termination of a case of so
much importance.
Seymour was an Irishman - a Trinity man
of the English-Irishl type. He knew little
of the law, as he frankly admitted; he had
been an officer in the British army, and had
spent some years in that service in various
remote partsof Her Majesty's possessions. Tir ing of a military life at a foreign station, he had
resigned and turned up in California, where
he had quite recently been admitted to the
bar; and this was the first case in which he
had been employed. He was about thirty
years of age, a dashing, showy man, after the
Charles O'Malley model, with a ready tongue
and fund of anecdote, which with complete
assurance were made to take the place of some
of the more solid qualities. Two men could
not well have been more differently constituted than were he and Dillon whose dignified
reserve and earnestness of purpose were
marked traits.
While the lawsuit was in preparation, Seymour had accompanied Dillon over the boundaries of the contested land grant, a portion
of which was adjacent to San Pablo, and it
was thus that Seymour also first became a
1888.]
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