Next to Selden sat Robert Gunther, making almost the same mental observations, and resolving to try and win her in spite of all obstacles.
Luncheon was much enjoyed by all excepting Mr. Selden, who seemed to get more and more nervous as he sat there trying not to look at Mercedes as much as he wished.
The Gunther brothers were very brilliant conversationalists, and so was George, who was in his element in the company of such polished gentlemen as were now before him. On leaving the table, Mr. Charles Gunther begged Elvira's permission to pay their respects, asking if it would suit her convenience for them to call that evening after dinner, to which she gracefully assented, and all walked towards the parlor.
“Shall we go to the Cliff House this afternoon?” George asked his wife.
“You may, but Mercedes and I are going to vespers,” she replied, and soon after the two sisters retired to their rooms.
As all of the gentlemen walked down to the reading room, Selden said: “And how in thunder are we going to kill time this afternoon until dinner? It will be intensely stupid here.”
“I thought we all were going to drive to the Cliff,” Bob Gunther said, maliciously. “Perhaps you would rather go to church.”
“You judge others by yourself,” Selden retorted.
“I believe I do. But our sudden access of religion, I fear, would not be appreciated. My dear fellow, our piety, like that of his satanic majesty, would be distrusted. It would edify no one, only make us ridiculous. Let us go to the Cliff.”
And to the Cliff all went, but the drive was not much enjoyed. Bob and Selden were quarrelsome, and all the others laughed at them, which ended by making them surly. Selden ridiculed the San Franciscans for their stupid Cliff House, while all sat in arm-chairs on the broad veranda and looked at the Pacific Ocean, and Pacific sea lions, and Pacific rocks, and thought them all equally monotonous. To watch the ugly sea beasts awkwardly dragging their unwieldly hulks up the rocks, there to spread themselves in the sun, was not a very exhilarating spectacle for young gentlemen who desired to see other kinds of lions. Sunday not being the fashionable day for San Franciscans to drive to the Cliff, the New Yorkers concluded that the elite would not be seen that afternoon and returned to the hotel.