CONTENTS
| PAGE | |
| CHAPTER I. | [5] |
| CHAPTER II. | [16] |
| CHAPTER III. | [26] |
| CHAPTER IV. | [30] |
| CHAPTER V. | [40] |
| CHAPTER VI. | [46] |
| CHAPTER VII. | [60] |
| CHAPTER VIII. | [71] |
| CHAPTER IX. | [89] |
| CHAPTER X. | [98] |
| CHAPTER XI. | [107] |
| CHAPTER XII. | [125] |
| CHAPTER XIII. | [139] |
| CHAPTER XIV. | [147] |
| CHAPTER XV. | [161] |
| CHAPTER XVI. | [171] |
| CHAPTER XVII. | [180] |
| CHAPTER XVIII. | [192] |
| CHAPTER XIX. | [213] |
| CHAPTER XX. | [228] |
| CHAPTER XXI. | [240] |
| CHAPTER XXII. | [250] |
| CHAPTER XXIII. | [259] |
MARIPOSILLA.
CHAPTER I.
When I abandoned the home of my girlhood, and took my delicate child to California, I started upon the journey goaded only by apathetic hopes, sustained only by the desperation of despair.
Marjorie was my all, and I could no longer endure the tension of her gradual decline. As I watched her fade away, I realized that my closest friends were becoming reconciled to my bereavement, with the philosophical fortitude of spectators. When I was coolly advised "not to sacrifice pecuniary interests for the sentiment of a hopeless experiment," an outraged love grew strong and defiant. The calculating counsel, so cruel and unexpected, strengthened, at last, the timid resolution. Even the silent walls of my house oppressed, while an absolute hatred of the machinery of life seized my tired soul. I determined to be free at any price. Fresh courage entered my life, and impelled me to remove, without a pang, most cherished household gods. My relief was immoderate when everything was gone. Then I experienced for the first time in years the sweet exhilaration that welcomes, breathlessly, a change. In my dreams I had apparitions of purple mountains, and long quiet days purified with sunshine. Suddenly, into my sad life there came new hope, kindled, it seemed, from the very ashes of an abortive past.