CHAPTER

    I. In A garden
    II.  Nick
    III.  The anniversary
    IV.  A girl in mourning
    V. What happened in the night
    VI.  When the tables were turned
    VII.  A police mystery
    VIII.  The gold bag comedy
    IX.  The last act of the gold bag comedy
    X. When Angela went sightseeing
    XI.  The man at the wheel
    XII.  The beautiful country of make-believe
    XIII.  For the sake of dramatic effect
    XIV.  The mystery of San Miguel
    XV.  The wise bird in the dark
    XVI.  Angela at her worst
    XVII.  Seventeen-mile drive
    XVIII.  La Donna E Mobile
    XIX.  The city of romance
    XX.  The door with the red label
    XXI.  “Who is Mrs. May?”
    XXII.  The box of mystery
    XXIII.  The happy valley
    XXIV.  The best thing in her life
    XXV.  The broken Melody
    XXVI.  An invitation from Carmen
    XXVII.  Simeon Harp
    XXVIII.  The dark cloud in the crystal
    XXIX.  The parting of the ways
    XXX.  The making of A gentleman
    XXXI.  The breaking of the spell
    XXXII.  An end—­and A beginning

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

“Nick thought her adorable in her gray motor bonnet”

“Santa Barbara Mission, with its history and romance”

“Angela was enchanted with the peninsula of Monterey”

“They weren’t trees, but people, either nymphs or witches”

“The world was a sea, billowing with mountains”

PROLOGUE

On a great ship a woman sailed away from the Old World, wishing to forget.  In her mind was the thought of a far-off place toward which she was travelling.  There were no figures in this mental picture.  She painted it as a mere flowery background; for she was very tired of people.

In the New World, a man lived and worked, and dreamed—­when he had time.

Between this woman and this man lay six thousand miles of land and sea.  They were two, among many millions, and they did not know of each other’s existence.  There was no visible reason why they ever should know, or why they should ever meet.  Yet, sometimes when the moon shone on the sea, the woman said to herself that the bright path paving the water with gold seemed to lead on and on beyond the horizon, as if it might go all the way to the Golden Gate.  And the Golden Gate is the Port of Adventure, where every unexpected thing can happen.

I

IN A GARDEN

“I wonder what makes Nick so late?” Carmen Gaylor thought, hovering in the doorway between the dim, cool hall and the huge veranda that was like an out-of-doors drawing-room.

Though she spoke English well—­almost as well as if she had not been born in Spain and made her greatest successes in the City of Mexico—­Carmen thought in Spanish, for her heart was Spanish, and her beauty too.