There would be a day or two before the picnic, and Mercedes told George she wanted to go to the dome of the Capitol, and see Washington City from that elevated place.
“The little puss shall have her wish,” George said, and on the following day all the party drove again to the Capitol, and walked through labyrinths of dark corridors leading into committee rooms or may-be into solemn judicial halls, where justice sat holding the scales in terrific silence. Emerging from the cool, musty air of the lower halls, they again visited the upper rooms and galleries, which Elvira and Mercedes liked better than on their former visits. Now all ascended to the highest point they could go, and their exertions were amply rewarded by the pleasure of seeing the beautiful panorama at their feet. Washington City has been viewed and reviewed, and too minutely described to be considered any longer interesting to Eastern people, but to our Californians the view of that city of proud and symmetric proportions, with its radiating avenues lost in diminishing distances, its little triangular parks and haughty edifices, all making a picturesque ensemble, was most pleasing and startling.
With Clarence by her side, Mercedes looked carefully at the city that like a magnificent picture lay there beneath them. She wished to carry it photographed in her memory.
The picnic to Arlington was much enjoyed by all. Mercedes would have preferred to walk over the grounds of Mount Vernon with Clarence alone, for her love was of that pure character which longs to associate the cherished object with every thought and feeling having its source in our highest faculties. She thought Mount Vernon ought to be visited reverently, and she knew Clarence would not laugh at her for thinking so. But, alas! those other young gentlemen had no such thoughts. They were in high glee, determined to have fun, and enjoy it; and though Mercedes and Miss Gunther told them they were behaving like vandals, such rebukes only increased their merriment, which continued even after they recrossed the Potomac.
Mr. Mechlin's party had at last to tear itself away from Washington, and hurry to New York, for the “charity ball” was to come off in a few days; then the Liederkranz and the Purim balls would follow—all in the month of February—and Mrs. Mechlin wished that Elvira and Mercedes should see them all. They had been at masked balls in Washington at the house of a Senator and of a foreign minister, but Mrs. Mechlin said that no masked balls in America could or did equal those given in New York at the Academy of Music, consequently it became an absolute necessity that these two young ladies should see those grand affairs. Moreover, she was one of the matrons of the charity ball, and her presence was indispensable to attend to their management.
A special car was again in readiness, and the Mechlin party occupied it one morning at eight o'clock. The party was now increased by the addition of six ladies and eight gentlemen from Washington, who were going to attend the charity ball and Liederkranz. The train was in motion, going out of the city limits, accelerating its speed as it plunged into the woods beyond. George and Clarence sat at one end of the car, separate from the company, looking at the Capitol, as it seemed to retreat, flying with receding celerity. The woods were beginning to intercept its view at times—the dome would disappear and reappear again and again above the surrounding country.
Mr. Mechlin joined the two young men, saying to them, as he turned the seat in front, and sat facing them: “You are watching the receding Capitol. I was doing the same. I wonder whether your thoughts were like mine in looking at that proud edifice?”
“I think my thoughts were about the same subject, uncle. What were your thoughts, Darrell? Tell us,” George said.
“I was thinking of your father and of Don Mariano—thinking that under that white shining dome their fate would be decided perhaps, as they both have embarked so hopefully in the boat of the Texas Pacific Railroad.”
George and his uncle looked at each other as if saying, “We all were of the same mind, surely.”