"There were so few houses to be had when we came."
"Yes; there were people living in tents. There are a few of them now on the outskirts. And building is going on everywhere. Oh, what do you suppose it will be in twenty years?"
That really brought a stretch to the imagination and they looked blankly at each other.
Improvements were going on everywhere with a rush startling to these New England women.
There were new stores opened in the past two months. They passed Russ Garden, one of the public places near the Mission Road, devoted to amusements of various kinds, and thronged on Saturday afternoons. Down by the Plaza the "steam paddys" were levelling the numerous sand hills that lay between that and Happy Valley. Even the burned district of less 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 when finished——"
"Only New England cities get finished. I think I have heard of some places that were fenced in and whitewashed, but they must have been mere country towns," declared Miss Alwood laughingly.
They made a call on Miss Gaines, who now had a workroom full of girls and piles of dazzling material. Nothing was too rich or too expensive for these California dames, whose husbands made fortunes in a month or cleared thousands of dollars in a day. Those early years were an Arabian Nights' tale.
The three friends had a genial time together, and then Miss Holmes and the little girl were set down at their own door. She was very quiet.
"What are you thinking of?" Miss Holmes asked at length.