The Squatter and the Don

Clarence rides with his sister, Alice, back to the Darrell rancho, passing close enough to the Alamar house to hear Mercedes playing the piano. Victoriano sings with impressive skill. Clarence shares Elvira’s message that she and Gabriel will remain in town with the Holman sisters for several days before returning home. Clarence introduces Alice, leading the group to joke about handshakes; Clarence enjoys the “ineffable thrill” of shaking Mercedes’s hand. Clarence and Alice return to the Darrell house, and, when Alice praises the fine construction, Clarence warns her against revealing that he has earned money in stocks, which Darrell considers “next to robbery” (60).

At the Alamar house, Victoriano praises Alice’s beauty while Mercedes attempts to convince him to wait several days before visiting the Darrells. Mariano explains that the Darrells are not squatters, unlike the other settlers in the area, and encourages friendship with them, though he cautions them to keep this arrangement a secret.

Two months after the Darrells and Holmans arrive in San Diego, the Alamar and Holman women prepare wedding gifts for Elvira and Lizzie Mechlin. Victoriano arrives and invites Mercedes to visit the Darrells that evening. Before Mercedes, flustered at the idea of seeing Clarence, can answer, Clarence arrives. He announces that Mr. Holman and Tom Scott (a prominent railroad magnate) will soon arrive in San Diego. Scott’s visit seems promising for San Diego, and Mariano, Mechlin, and Holman invest heavily, which, the narrator notes, will “[prove] to be disastrous” (66).

In May 1873, Gabriel and Lizzie have a double wedding with George and Elvira. Mariano is disappointed that the brides prefer American-style wedding celebrations over Spanish ones, which last several days. After the wedding, Doña Josefa asks her daughters Carlota and Rosario if they have noticed Mercedes’s recent poor mood. The three women worry over the possibility of Mercedes marrying a “squatter” and are dismayed that Mariano does not seem concerned.

Mercedes is shocked by the news that she is being sent to New York to visit her sister, Elvira. When she is alone, she sobs at being separated from Clarence.

Clarence confides in Mariano that he loves Mercedes and is bereft that he has not been able to spend time alone with her before her departure for New York. Mariano chides Clarence for not approaching him sooner and gives Clarence his blessing for their relationship. Clarence races to board Mercedes’s ship, which is already pulling away from the dock. Elvira and Mercedes cry over leaving their home and family, and George promises they will return within the year, after which they will stay in California.

Clarence does not immediately reveal his love to Mercedes, despite their unspoken understanding that this was his motivation for following her. When he does admit his love, she insists she likes him “as a friend” (74), which pains Clarence. She softens toward him when he clarifies that he has Mariano’s blessing, but she refuses to answer his marriage proposal until he earns her mother’s approval. Mercedes’s insistence on following Josefa’s order to not “encourage” Clarence leads her to make confusing claims regarding her interest in him. He fears that she will find someone she prefers while in the East.

Mercedes, disappointed over her inability to reassure Clarence while remaining obedient to her mother, takes Clarence to find Elvira. Elvira sends Clarence to see George and then asks Mercedes. Mercedes explains her dilemma between her father’s blessing and her mother’s warning. George and Elvira puzzle over Josefa’s objection to Clarence, which Elvira assumes is due to Darrell’s “squatter” status. George promises to help solve the conundrum.

When alone with Clarence, George explains the “strict filial obedience” of “Spanish girls” (80), which has led Mercedes to obey her mother despite loving Clarence. Clarence worries at the depth of Josefa’s dislike, but George reminds him that Josefa does not know that Clarence paid Mariano for his land. George reassures Clarence that the truth will come out soon, as the land ownership will be settled once the Supreme Court opens. When this is settled, Josefa will no longer dislike him. George teases Mercedes that this good news stops her from seeing herself as the “heroine” in a doomed romance.

Clarence resolves to return to San Diego quickly and set things straight with Josefa. He promises to send Mercedes an engagement ring, and she urges him to bring it himself instead.

George explains to Clarence why the solicitor general did not dismiss the squatters’ land appeal. The narrator says that bribery was still seen as a shocking scandal in 1872. This sentiment shifted by the time of the novel’s publication in 1885, due to the Huntington corruption case, in which railroad magnate Collis P. Huntington was revealed to have liberally bribed government officials.

George states that he disbelieves reports of rampant bribery in Washington, recounting his cordial meeting with the attorney general, who found no legal support for the squatters’ claim. The attorney general assured George there would be no delay to the case being decided in Mariano’s favor, despite the attorney general’s imminent departure for Oregon, as the solicitor general would enter his recommended dismissal to the Supreme Court. Despite this assurance, the case went unresolved, even after George’s uncle spoke to President Ulysses S. Grant. Grant suggests that George wait for the attorney general’s return, as this will resolve the solicitor general’s political decision not to enter the dismissal.

Furious at the solicitor general’s thin rationale for ignoring his superior’s orders, George meets with the solicitor general but cannot get the man to budge. The case thus remains pending until the Supreme Court reconvenes the following winter. Clarence plans to discuss with Mariano how to handle the squatters’ expected anger when the courts decide in Mariano’s favor. He explains that he feels his father’s support of “squatterism” comes from an innocent mistake (taking up lands believed to be legally available) that he defended to protect his pride.

Mercedes sleeps late the next morning, a noted contrast from her recent sleepless nights. After breakfast, the four arrive at their San Francisco hotel. Clarence meets with Hubert, who confirms the purchase of the Darrell’s land in San Diego. Clarence considers a further investment in a mine in Arizona. He plans to find an expert to assess the property.

The group draws admiring attention over dinner. Clarence dislikes it when a man eyes Mercedes. Clarence and George leave the dinner table to see the mining expert and secure opera tickets, respectively. George encounters a friend, Robert Gunther, from New York who offers the use of his opera box. The man who stares at Mercedes is Mr. Selden, a member of Gunther’s party and the sole heir to his millionaire father. Mercedes dismisses his interest in her, but Selden sits next to her during intermission.

Selden makes conversation with Mercedes, who replies politely, though she makes sure there is room for Clarence to sit near her. This pleases Clarence, who decides to escort the rest of his group to Yosemite before returning to San Diego. George agrees to extend their time in San Francisco accordingly so Clarence can meet with the mining expert and continue with the group.

The next day, the group goes to lunch with Selden and Gunther, who are jealous of Clarence and Mercedes’s attachment. They linger in Mercedes’s company after dinner. Clarence’s mining report returns higher than anticipated, though he confirms that the assayers were honest and makes the purchase. Despite enjoying San Francisco high society, the San Diego group continues east after a week.

Clarence proposes starting a bank with George in San Diego, though he notes that it will only be profitable if the railroad reaches San Diego, which they believe will likely happen. They decide to wait until the following winter to see the railroad’s fate. In the meantime, they plan that George, Clarence and Everett Darrell, and Gabriel and Victoriano Alamar will operate the railroad, with George and Gabriel as its managers.