in one of the banks."

"How did the family like her marriage?"

"Not at all. They don't visit."

"Indeed! Why?"

"Dear knows! Old Mr. Howland is a hard sort of a man when he takes
up a prejudice against any one. He didn't like Markland, and said
that Mary shouldn't marry him. She felt differently, and did marry
him. The consequence was, that the old man said and did so much that
was offensive, that he and Markland have had no intercourse since."

"Mary comes home, I suppose?"

"I rather think not. I believe that she and her father have not
spoken in two years. At least, so I heard sister once say."

"That is bad! Poor man! He is unfortunate with his children."

Andrew, as he spoke, felt that he was unfortunate, and an emotion of
pity stirred along the surface of his feelings.

"Indeed he is!" said Winters, who was disposed to be communicative.
"But I presume it is a good deal his own fault. They say that his
harsh treatment drove his oldest son from home."

"Ah?"

"Yes. He was a wild sort of a boy, and his father didn't show him
any mercy. The consequence was, that instead of leading him into the
right way, he drove him into the wrong way. He ran off from home a
great while ago, and has never been heard from since. It is thought
that he is dead. I once heard father say that, with all his faults,
he was the best of the bunch."

Something interrupted the conversation of the two young men at this
point, and they separated. A couple of hours afterward, as Andrew
walked along one of the streets of Santa Fe, musing over the
intelligence he had gleaned from young Winters, a fellow soldier,
whose time of service had also just expired, met him, and said--

"You're not going back to the States, are you?"

"Such has been my intention," replied Andrew.

"I'm not going."

"I thought you were."

"I've altered my mind. A party sets off to-morrow for the gold
regions of California, and I'm going with them."

"Indeed! That's a sudden change of resolution. But you don't believe
all the stories you hear of this El Dorado?

"No, not all of them. But if even the half be true, there's a golden
harvest to be reaped by all who put in the sickle."

"Yes, the half is encouraging enough," said Andrew, in a tone of
abstraction. The fact is, since he had heard from home, his desire
to return immediately was lessened. News of his father's altered
circumstances had softened his feelings toward him very much, and
created a