William Hepworth Dixon, White Conquest: Volume 1

Alexander Delmas is a son of Sefior Delmas, a shrewd and wealthy Mexican, of better stock than the original denizens of San Jose. A Catholic, he sent his boy to Santa Clara, hoping the fathers would excite his wits, as he meant him to get his living at the Californian bar. Young Delmas stayed some years at Santa Clara, passing through all his stages with applause. At twenty, thinking his education done, he went to San Francisco, meaning to appear in court and enter into active life. A few days in that city opened his eyes. He found, to his alarm, that he knew nothing of men, hardly anything of books. Long lists of medieval popes, and the succession of Jesuits from Loyola to Beckx, were graven in his memory, but he barely knew the names of President Lincoln's cabinet, and the great lawyers who adorn the chairs of the Supreme Court were all unknown to him.

“ Back to my books!” he said to himself. Being fond of Santa Clara, and a favourite of the Jesuits, he returned to his old rooms; hoping the fathers would allow him to read with them, free from the restrictions under which he had lived so long and learnt so little. It was a necessity of his career that