I shall be glad of it, for as Rupert is going to settle there, it will be good for him to have round him a little colony of his own people.

And it will be good for them, too, for I know he will be good to them--as you will, my dear.

The hills are barren here, and life is hard, and each year there is more and more demand for crofts, and sooner or later our people must thin out.

And mayhap our little settlement of MacKelpie clan away beyond the frontiers of the Empire may be some service to the nation and the King.

But this is a dream! I see that here I am beginning to realise in myself one part of Isaiah's prophecy: "Your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams." By the way, my dear, talking about dreams, I am sending you out some boxes of books which were in your rooms.