I'm glad you and
Ed--have no babies."
Alaire mumured something unintelligible.
"And yet," the lawyer continued, "many people are cursed with an
inheritance as bad, or worse, than Ed's."
"What has that to do with Mr. Law?"
"Dave? Oh, nothing in particular. I was just--moralizing. It's a
privilege of age, my dear."
VI
A JOURNEY, AND A DARK MAN
Alaire's preparations for the journey to La Feria were made with
little delay. Owing to the condition of affairs across the border,
Ellsworth had thought it well to provide her with letters from the
most influential Mexicans in the neighborhood; what is more, in
order to pave her way toward a settlement of her claim he
succeeded in getting a telegram through to Mexico City--no mean
achievement, with most of the wires in Rebel hands and the
remainder burdened with military business. But Ellsworth's
influence was not bounded by the Rio Grande.
It was his advice that Alaire present her side of the case to the
local military authorities before making formal representation to
Washington, though in neither case was he sanguine of the outcome.
The United States, indeed, had abetted the Rebel cause from the
start.
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