, Cora Rothsay! To be sure, all women are
fools! But, then, a girl with a drop of my blood in her veins should not
be such a consummate idiot as you are showing yourself to be. You shall
not go out with Sylvan to that savage frontier. It is no place for a
woman, particularly for an unmarried woman. You would come to a bad end.
I shall speak to Sylvan. I shall forbid him to take you there," said the
old autocrat.

Cora smiled, but answered nothing. She had firmly made up her mind to go
with her brother, whether her grandfather should approve the action or
not; but she thought it unnecessary to dispute the matter with him just
now.

"So, mistress, you will stay here, under my guardianship, until you
accept a husband, like a respectable woman," continued old Aaron
Rockharrt.

Still Cora remained silent, standing by his chair, with her hand resting
on the table, and her eyes cast down.

The egotist seemed not to object to having all the talk to himself.

"Come!" he exclaimed, with sudden animation, sitting bolt upright in his
chair, "When I found you in this room just now, you said you had
something to tell me. And you told it. Naturally, it was not worth
hearing. Now, then, I have something to tell you, which is so well worth
hearing that when you have heard it your missionary madness may be
cured, and your Quixotic expedition given up: in fact, all your plans in
life changed--a splendid prospect opened before you."

Cora looked up, her languor all gone, her interest aroused. Something
was rising in her mind; not a sun of hope ah! no--but nebula, obscure,
unformed, indistinct, yet with possible suns of hope, worlds of
happiness, within it. What did her grandfather mean? Had he heard
something about--Was Rule yet--

Swift as lightning flashed these thoughts through her mind while her
grandfather drew his breath between his utterances.

"Listen! This is what I had to tell you: I had a letter a few days ago
from an old suitor of yours," he said, looking keenly at his
granddaughter.

Cora's eyes fell, her spirits drooped. The nebula of unknown hopes and
joys had faded away, leaving her prospect dark again. She looked
depressed and disappointed. She could feel no shadow of interest in her
old suitors.

"I received this letter several days since, and being at leisure just
then. I answered it. But in the pressure of some important matters I
forgot to tell you of it, though it concerned yourself mostly, I might
say e