daughters, father,” answered a sweet-toned voice; “I didn’t know you had a companion—though I might have guessed it—and I wanted a bit of chat about your absent son. Isn’t it time for letters?”

“Hardly, Eva, my dear, though possibly we may hear to-morrow or next day,” replied the captain, putting an arm about her and drawing her close to his side.

“I wish Max could get a furlough and join us here,” said Lucilla. “I feel almost mean, Eva, to be enjoying the society of my husband while yours is so far away.”

“Oh, Lu, dear, don’t feel so,” returned Evelyn; “your happiness certainly does not make mine any less; no, it makes it more; because, loving you, I rejoice in your happiness.”

They chatted but a few moments longer, then bidding the captain good-night, hastened away to their own rooms.

CHAPTER III

Dr. Travilla, coming out the next morning upon that part of the gallery where their party had spent the previous evening, found Mr. Lilburn and the captain pacing to and fro, chatting and laughing as if enjoying their promenade.

“You see we are ahead of you, Harold,” said the captain, when morning greetings had been exchanged.

“Yes; very much?” asked Harold.

“Enough for a stroll around this great building to note its size and architectural features. ’Tis an immense pile and well arranged for comfort and convenience.”

“And in a delightful situation,” supplemented Mr. Lilburn.

“I agree with you both and am entirely willing to spend some days or weeks in it if you wish,” returned Harold; “provided the situation agrees with my patients, as I hope and expect it will,” he added.

Just then Lucilla, Evelyn and Grace added themselves to the little group, and pleasant morning greetings were exchanged, the captain bestowing a fatherly caress upon each daughter—Evelyn being as affectionately greeted as either of the other two.

A few moments later they were joined by the rest of their party, and all descended together to the dining-room to partake of an excellent breakfast. Soon after leaving the table they were out for the day’s sight-seeing and adventures. They visited parks, gardens, a museum, an ostrich farm, and a number of other attractive places, then took a fine drive along the beach, returning in time for the evening meal at their pleasant house of entertainment.

So delightful did they find Hotel del Coronado that they lingered there for a week.

Then they left it for San Diego, which they found wonderfully beautiful, with one of the finest harbors in the world. It was delightful to sit and gaze upon the blue, sunlit bay, and breathe the delicious sea breeze.

Then there were most enjoyable drives to be taken, visiting various attractive spots within a few miles’ distance.

One day they drove to Lakeside, twenty-two miles away, where they ate a good dinner at the hotel, then wandered across the mesa in its rear, and had a lovely view of its little lake.

Another day they drove into the Monte, a large park of a thousand acres. There were great trees—elders, willows, sycamores and live-oaks with enormous trunks, with plenty of flowers underneath them and upon the rocks, wild peonies, with variegated leaves, wild galiardia, tiny starry white flowers, pretty forget-me-nots, and others too numerous to mention. Many kinds of beautiful ferns, also.

There seemed to be a different drive for every day in the week, all beautiful and enjoyable. So a week passed most pleasantly, then they took the Surf line from San Diego to Los Angeles. It was a seventy-mile ride, but with so much that was interesting to see and gaze upon, and such delicious air to breathe, that it did not seem a long or wearisome trip. There was the great ocean, with its curling, sparkling waves, and seals and porpoises frolicking in the water, gulls circling above them, and from the ground flocks of birds starting up in affright at the approach of the train. Then when the train carried them away from the view of the ocean there were the wonderful groves of great trees, carpets of wild flowers, and the towns of Santa Ana and Anaheim.

“What is the name of the place we are going to, papa?” asked Ned, as they drew near the end of their short journey.

“’Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles,” replied the captain, gravely enough but with a gleam of fun in his eye.

“What a long name!” cried Ned. “I should think they would have to make it shorter sometimes when they’re in a hurry.”

“Yes, sometimes it is called ‘The City of the Angels,’ but even that is too long; so it commonly goes by name of Los Angeles.”

“Oh, that’s better,” said Ned; “just a long enough name, I think.”

They found Los Angeles a handsome city, environed by gardens filled with beautiful flowers. They spent a few days there, then went on to Pasadena, nine miles from Los Angeles, hearing that it was eight hundred feet higher and the air much drier; information which drew from Dr. Harold the opinion that it would be much more beneficial for his invalids.

They found it a very Eden-like place, situated in the beautiful San Gabriel Valley, and at the foot of the Sierra Madre range of mountains.

“Pasadena, ‘the Crown of the Valley,’” murmured Grandma Elsie delightedly, from the carriage window, as they drove to their hotel.

“It looks a veritable paradise,” said Violet; “it reminds me of a description of Pasadena I heard given by a lady at the Hotel del Coronado. She said one would find plenty of flowers in bloom, but at the same time you would need to wear flannels and sealskin sacks; there would be snow-capped mountains and orange blossoms; the trees are green all the year and you go outdoors in December to get warm; where rats build in the trees and squirrels live in the ground with owls.”

“And where the boys climb up hill on burros and slide down hills on wheels,” laughed Grace. “I hope we shall see some of those funny things and doings.”

“I hope we shall,” said Lucilla, “and I particularly want to see the hedges of calla-lilies, geraniums and heliotrope.”

“Well, I think we are likely to stay long enough for you all to see whatever there is to be seen,” said the captain.

“Yes, I am glad we don’t have to hurry away,” remarked Grace in a blithe and cheery tone.

“As we all are, I think,” said Grandma Elsie. “I don’t know who could fail to desire to stay awhile in so lovely a place as this.”

“And we will have nothing to call us away until we are all ready to go,” said Captain Raymond.

But their arrival at their house of entertainment now brought the conversation to a close.

They found Pasadena so charming that they lingered there week after week. The town was beautiful, protected on three sides by mountain ranges and surrounded by groves and gardens, trees and hedges. There were roses clambering to the tops of houses and covered by tens of thousands of blossoms, and there were passion vines completely covering the arbors. There were hedges made of the honeysuckle, the pomegranite and the heliotrope. Marengo Avenue they found lined on both sides by the beautiful pepper tree.

There is a fine hotel called The Raymond, but it was closed at this time; so that our friends, though attracted by the name, could see only the grounds and the outside of the buildings. It is set upon a hill