And he comes from the San Gregorio valley."
"Indeed! What's his name?"
"He didn't tell me. But he knows all about the ranch you took over
from the Gonzales estate."
"But I didn't foreclose on that. It was the Farrel estate."
"He called it something else--the Palomares rancho, I think."
"Gonzales owns the Palomares rancho, but the Palomar rancho belonged to
old Don Miguel Farrel."
"Was he the father of the boy they call 'Don Mike'--he who was killed
in Siberia?"'
"The same."
"Why did you have to foreclose on his ranch, father?"
"Well, the interest had been unpaid for two years, and the old man was
getting pretty feeble; so, after the boy was killed, I realized that
was the end of the Farrel dynasty and that the mortgage would never be
paid. Consequently, in self-protection, I foreclosed. Of course,
under the law, Don Miguel had a year's grace in which to redeem the
property, and during that year I couldn't take possession without first
proving that he was committing waste upon it. However, the old man
died of a broken heart a few months after receiving news of his son's
death, and, in the protection of my interest, I was forced to petition
the court to grant me permission to enter into possession. It was my
duty to protect the equity of the heirs, if any."
"Are there any heirs?"
"None that we have been able to discover."
The girl thoughtfully traced a pattern on the tablecloth with the tine
of her fork.
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