"Well, after he has done with New York, where is he then going?" "Straight west as far as the Mississippi River. What he will do on the way to the river no one knows--but luck is waiting for him." "Perhaps he will go to California." "No. California gold does not tempt him. He is going down the Mississippi to New Orleans. A good many Scotch boys are there. I gave him letters to three whom I sent to New Orleans fourteen years ago. They are well-to-do cotton merchants now." "You help a great many men, Major?" "These three smoked their pipes with me in the trenches at Redan; and we rode together down the red lanes of Inkerman. I was making friends for Donald then." "But Donald will not stay in the city of New Orleans?" "Would Donald stay in any city? As soon as he wishes it he will journey for that land of God called Texas. If I had been twenty years younger, I would have gone with him--just for a sight of the place. Glorious things are told of it--you would think it was the New Jerusalem itself." "Once I heard Richard Cramer say that he was going there to stay with a friend. Why did you send him to the army?" "Did I send him?" "He told us you advised the army." "Ay, but _sending_ and _advising_ are very different terms." "In your mouth, Major, they would be the same." Then the Major laughed again and answered: "You have a wonderful perception, Mrs. Caird. I dare say Cramer told you to what locality in Texas he was going? Donald is now going there for him." "He spoke most of the immense ranch of Lord Thomas Carew. He said he had bought with his inheritance as a younger son a dukedom of the richest and loveliest land in the world--somewhere on the Guadaloupe River, not far from San Antonio. It was like listening to a fairy tale to hear him describe its beauties. And he said that last summer the ladies, Alice and Annie Carew, accompanied by their eldest brother, visited Lord Thomas; and that, after four months' stay in his handsome bungalow, when they had to return to England, Lady Alice refused to leave Texas. He thought she was still there." "She is. I had a letter from her father a week ago, and he told me Lord Thomas and Lady Alice were yet living in Paradise. They are just 'Tom and Alice Carew' there. Their life is absolutely free, simple and happy. Titles would be too big a burden to carry, but they will be glad of Donald's company, and make much of him, doubtless." "They will that. Oh, the dear, dear, joyful singing lad!" and, though Mrs. Caird's voice was low and soft, there was a caress in every word she spoke. The Major looked at her with pleasure, and then asked, "How is Donald's sister? Is she as lovable and handsome as her brother?" "Whiles--in a woman's way--yes. Her father's heart is set on her, and she is breaking her heart about Richard Cramer's going to India. What for, at all, did you send him?" "Me send him?" "Yes, you."