Susy, a Story of the Plains

The story opens on the dusty San Leandro turnpike, where endless fields of wild oats give way to a sudden stand of scrub oaks that grow into a cool, shaded forest. The traveler feels the oppressive heat melt into the refreshing whisper of brooks and the scent of moss, a brief oasis before the road re‑emerges onto the high plains. Beyond the trees lies the sprawling Robles Rancho, a faded adobe manor surrounded by untamed orchards, old vines and wandering cattle, hinting at both the grandeur of its Spanish past and the ruggedness of frontier life.

Judge Peyton, a Kentucky pioneer who bought the estate, hopes the gentle climate will restore his ailing wife’s health and give him a quiet, genteel retirement. He watches his wife and her adopted daughter, Susy, move across the veranda, noting how the girl, once a robust frontier child, has grown slender and graceful after years at a convent school. Their reunion is warm yet tinged with an unspoken tension as Peyton wonders what changes the years have wrought in the young woman he once rescued.