"What the devil do you mean?" he slowly inquired.
"Sir, I am to leave Rockhold with my brother this afternoon, to go with him, first to Governor's Island, and within a few days start with him for the distant frontier fort which may be his post of duty for many years to come. We may not be able to return within your lifetime, grandfather," said Cora, gravely and tenderly.
"And what in Satan's name, unless you are stark mad, should take you out to the Indian frontier?" he demanded.
"I might answer, to be with my only brother, I being his only sister."
"Bosh! Men's wives very seldom accompany them to these savage posts, much less their sisters! What does a young officer want his sister tagging after him for?"
"It is not that Sylvan especially wants me, nor for his sake alone that I go."
"Well, then, what in the name of lunacy do you go for?"
"That I may devote my time and fortune to a good cause—to the education of Indian girls and boys. I mean to build—"
"That, or something like that, was what Rothsay tried to do when you drove him away, as if he had been a leper, to the desert. Well, go on! What next? Let us hear the whole of the mad scheme!"
"I mean to build a capacious school house, in which I will receive, board, lodge, and teach as many Indian children as may be intrusted to me, until the house shall be full."