Perhaps she was new to Californy?
He thought so from the start.

Well, this was Californy, and this was not the least of the ways it could "lay over" every other country on God's yearth.
Many folks thought it was the gold and the climate, but she could see for herself what it could do with wheat.

He wondered if her brother had ever told, her of it?
No, the stranger wasn't her brother.

Nor cousin, nor company?
No; only the hired driver from a San Jose hotel, who was takin' her over to Major Randolph's.

Yes, he knew the old major; the ranch was a pretty place, nigh unto three miles further on.