By the dates, these letters were from five to seven years old.  They were all from Major Lackland to Mr. Hawkins.  The substance of them was, that some one in the east had been inquiring of Major Lackland about a lost child and its parents, and that it was conjectured that the child might be Laura.

Evidently some of the letters were missing, for the name of the inquirer was not mentioned; there was a casual reference to “this handsome-featured aristocratic gentleman,” as if the reader and the writer were accustomed to speak of him and knew who was meant.

In one letter the Major said he agreed with Mr. Hawkins that the inquirer seemed not altogether on the wrong track; but he also agreed that it would be best to keep quiet until more convincing developments were forthcoming.

Another letter said that “the poor soul broke completely down when be saw Laura’s picture, and declared it must be she.”

Still another said: 

“He seems entirely alone in the world, and his heart is so wrapped up in this thing that I believe that if it proved a false hope, it would kill him; I have persuaded him to wait a little while and go west when I go.”

Another letter had this paragraph in it: 

“He is better one day and worse the next, and is out of his mind a good deal of the time.  Lately his case has developed a something which is a wonder to the hired nurses, but which will not be much of a marvel to you if you have read medical philosophy much.  It is this:  his lost memory returns to him when he is delirious, and goes away again when he is himself-just as old Canada Joe used to talk the French patois of his boyhood in the delirium of typhus fever, though he could not do it when his mind was clear.  Now this poor gentleman’s memory has always broken down before he reached the explosion of the steamer; he could only remember starting up the river with his wife and child, and he had an idea that there was a race, but he was not certain; he could not name the boat he was on; there was a dead blank of a month or more that supplied not an item to his recollection.  It was not for me to assist him, of course.  But now in his delirium it all comes out:  the names of the boats, every incident of the explosion, and likewise the details of his astonishing escape—­that is, up to where, just as a yawl-boat was approaching him (he was clinging to the starboard wheel of the burning wreck at the time), a falling timber struck him on the head.  But I will write out his wonderful escape in full to-morrow or next day.  Of course the physicians will not let me tell him now that our Laura is indeed his child—­that must come later, when his health is thoroughly restored.  His case is not considered dangerous at all; he will recover presently, the doctors say.  But they insist that he must travel a little when he gets well—­they recommend a short sea voyage, and they say he can be persuaded to try it if we continue to keep him in ignorance and promise to let him see L. as soon as he returns.”

The letter that bore the latest date of all, contained this clause: