Benito and Sutro usually drove or rode through the Presidio and out along a road which skirted cliffs and terminated at the Seal Rock House. There they dined and watched the seals disporting on some sea-drenched rocks, a stone's throw distant. And there Sutro indulged in more dreams.
"Some day I shall purchase that headland and build me a home ... and farther inland I shall grow a forest out of eucalyptus trees. They come from Australia.... One can buy them cheap enough.... They grow fast like bamboo in the Tropics." He clapped a hand upon Benito's knee. "I shall call it Mount Parnassus."
Benito tried to smile appreciatively. He felt rather dubious about the scheme. But he liked to see the other's quiet eyes flash with an unexpected fire. Perhaps his genius might indeed reclaim this desolate region. Inward from the beach lay the waste of sand-hills known as Golden Gate Park. There was talk among the real estate visionaries of making it a pleasure ground.
So regularly did they end their outings with a dinner at the Seal Rock House that Alice always knew where to find her husband in case some clamorous client sought Benito's aid. And tonight as an attendant called his name he answered with no other thought than that he would be asked to make a will or soothe some jealous and importunate wife who wanted a divorce without delay. They usually did want them that way. He rose, leisurely enough, and made his way to the door. There, instead of the usual messenger boy, stood Alice.
"You must come at once," she panted. "Robert has been robbed of an important letter to the bank. They talk of arresting him.... Ralston wants you at his office."
CHAPTER LXIII
LEES SOLVES A MYSTERY
In the president's office at the Bank of California, Benito found his son, pale but intrepid. He was being questioned by William Sharon and a postoffice inspector. Ralston, hands crammed into trousers pockets, paced the room disturbedly.