As the family re-entered the drawing-room, Millicent remained seated at the piano, now striking louder chords, and finally ending the long rhapsody with a brilliant waltz of Chopin. "Thank you, dear," said Barbara, as Millicent left the piano; "I am so glad that you are musical. I find very little sympathy for my music in the family; we will have great pleasure in practising together. I have some very good four-hand music." Soon after, the newly arrived guest bade good-night to the family, and went to her room accompanied by Barbara. "She is a little like Ralph," said Mrs. Deering, "only infinitely handsomer. How did she please you, my son?" "Is she handsome? I hardly noticed. It was her voice that struck me; it has the sound of laughing waters. And can’t she play, though! I never heard such music in my life." "I am very glad for Barbara’s sake that she is musical," answered his mother. "Yes; I hope that Barbara and Miss Almsford _will_ get on together. But I have my doubts," said Hal, dubiously pulling his straw-colored mustache. This is San Rosario to-day. Shall we go back a hundred years? It has a history worth a word or two. To one who is familiar with the beautiful country which lies about the old Mission of San Rosario, it is not a little strange that the place has as yet no prominence either in history or literature. Santa Barbara and the Mission Dolores have been celebrated in prose and verse. San Miguel and San Fernando Rey are not forgotten; while San Rafael and San Francisco, now grown to be important cities, will be remembered as long as Plymouth or Manhattan. The venerable President of the missions of Upper California, Father Junipero Serra, founded the San Rosario Mission in 1784, the last year of his life. It is possible that the judgment of the enthusiastic priest was already failing when he chose this site, for the Mission was never prosperous, and was abandoned early in the present century. While standing among the ruins of the old church, it is not difficult to see in fancy a picturesque scene enacted on the spot a century ago, on the morning of the consecration of the Mission.