"They'd ought to have a heap of money," said the farmer. "But when he died I heard he hadn't cut up as rich as you'd think. Folks said he was too honest." "They've got enough--four hundred thousand each." "Well, well, well," said Mother with a lazy laugh, "that'd do _me_." Her husband wouldn't have it. "Lord, that's small for him," he mourned. "But I'm not surprised. He wouldn't 'a' stood for what some of the rest of 'em did." "Is the house grand?" asked Sadie. "I suppose it is; it's big enough, lots of bay windows and rooms and piazzas. It's on Pine Street, near town, with a garden round it full of palms and trees." "Do they have parties there?" "No--at least I never heard of any. They're quiet sort of girls, don't go out much. Just live there with an old lady--Mrs. Tisdale--some relative of their mother's." Sadie was disappointed. Having been led to expect so much from these children of wealth, she felt cheated and was inclined to criticize. She rather grumbled about their being so quiet. Mother disagreed: "It sounds as if they were nice and genteel. Not the flashy, fashionable kind. And their mother dying when they were so young--that makes a difference." "It was Crowder got you acquainted with them?" said the old man. Charlie Crowder was a college chum of Mark's who had spent several vacations on the ranch and who was regarded by the Burrages as a fount of wisdom. Mark from the steps said yes, Crowder had taken him to the house. There was a pause after this, the parents sunk in gratified musings. The farmer, the simple, unaspiring male, saw no further than the fact of Mark a guest in George Alston's home, but Mother had far-reaching fancies, glimpsed future possibilities. It was she who broke the silence, observing casually as if all doors must be open to her brilliant son, "I'm glad you know them, honey. There's no better companions for a young man making his way, than quiet, refined girls." Sadie saw it as astonishing. She could hardly encompass the thought of her brother, a few years ago working on the ranch like a hired man, now moving in the glittering spheres that she read about in the Sunday edition of the _Sacramento Courier._ "Do you go there often?" she asked. "Oh, now and again. I haven't much time for calling." It was Mark who turned the conversation, difficult at first. The farmer was tractable, but Mother and Sadie showed a tendency to cling to the Alston sisters. He finally diverted their attention by telling them about Pancha Lopez, the greaser girl, who was the new leading woman at the Albion Opera House, and a friend of Charlie Crowder's. Mother forgot the Alstons. "You don't know _her_, do you, Mark?" she said uneasily. "No, Mother, I've only seen her act." The farmer stirred and rumbled warningly out of the darkness, "And you don't want to, son. A hard-working boy don't want to waste his time lallygaggin' round with actresses."