The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1900-07-13

IN Oll 10 ohiN p NhNhih -
was you wouldn't 60 nigh i'm, Rom
It's best to humor pussons like he is"
Our hero made no reply. Dave came
from the sick room and stood on the
stone hearth warming his toes at the
flames. Mrs. Fanshaw had found the
| bottle for which she was searching, and
turned to 90.
ale won't last long" she said TO
Dave: seems 10 me heerd yore pa say
he LETT off payin on his life insurance"
1.-TWO yeer ago he did" said David,
| despondently. ~ had put good money
Of my own into that, thinkin II be died
the insurance would help us buy farm
| OF our own out west, whar Uncle Joe
says they are so cheap, but in that
hnrd-time season when all the crops
was burnt pa let 1t lapse, an it's gone
to the devil"
ITS Jest our usual luck grumbled
the old woman; "some n would "a hap
pened to a-kept all that money from
reachin' us anyhow. We never was
born under a good star"
Ronald looked up. you needn't let
that bother you, mother" he said, soft
ly. 1.-The insurance policy is all right;
| attended TO it,"
The sudden change in Mrs. Fanshaw
was not alone due to gratifed surprise
Ronald thought he had never seen her
look at him quite so strangely. She
started to say something, which seemed
to have rushed impulsively to her
tongue, and then she shook her Shout
Gers, closed her lips tightly and left the
room.
Dave laughed. "She certainly acts
peculiar to-day" he said. Dang il, pa
does, too, as for that matter. wish you
could a heerd i'm rant about you jest
now. He thinks you've got old Reddin'
an twenty other lawyers on his track
about some'n."
To this observation our hero made
no response.
CHAT-rH XIX.
The next s;roi.t. two days later, 81
fenced Jade F..t..W's tor que forever.
II fell at dawn. jLst a. a zig rec ooster
under the hou. croWcd GLL da'.,ed his
wings. Dave came upstairs and shook
his brother, who had fallen asleep only
about an hour before.
We'll" he said the old man has
handed in his checks. Geewhililtins
Ron, I'm beginnin to think I've run my
Blasted head into secret of ma an
pas that they've kept from US fur oven
a quarter of century. All night long
an up o the tine he tuck his last suck
of air the old man talked Of nothin
else but you-you-you, an some deaG
soldier"
"IIe seems to imagine" Ronald be.
gan, but Dave interrupted him.
Imagine dogs hind foo;!" he blurt.
ed cut. "Thar's some'n behind all them
hints an threats that have been passin
betwixt ma an pa sence l was knee
high to a bow-legged duck, an have
AZ this late day. jest got my fust Whit
of a dead mouse. You don't have &c
knock me down with load O. mil
rocks as a general thing; l can see {
inch fore my eyes, eff | am cross-eyed
The old man kept runnin' on last night
about a baby an its dead daddy; an
ma kept tryin' to keep me from under
standin' till she fell asleep out o, pure
WEAKNESS of the brain an then the
truth begun to creep into my noggin
Ron, l never did think you was bi'
like the rest of MS, an now I'm sur,
you don't belong to this litter"
Ronald sat up on the edge of his bed
as white as death could have made
MIN.
Are you in earnest, Dave?" he ques
toned.
IF ever I was in my life"
Did you find out anything-posi
tive?" the last word came out with {
jerk.
mo. but you can, Ron; ma is all br6k,
up. She knows you saved the insurance
an she would answer any question yol
ask, I'd go TO 'er, after the buryin'
an demand to know it all. She'll tel
you"
At this iuncture the voice of Mrs
Fanshaw came up to them as she shool
the latch of Ann Josephine's door
Wake uH, Josie she said "yore pa
been dead a good half hour, an tina
amt nobody to cook breakfast"
Ronald began to dress himself.
I"'Nt ~ SUM- NpuA llNipI ia
taken me completely by surprise;
have suspected for a good many year
that they did not feel towards me a
they did TO the rest, but | cannot We
believe l am not really-a Fanshaw."
"Wait till you talk to ma" counselec
David. "Be shore you come at 'er eX
actly right. Make 'er feel shore yol
won't give 'er a speck o trouble an
she'll let the cat out the bag"
The next day when Jade Fanshaw'
Imprinted box was lowered into tn
grave near the meeting house, half
mile over the hills, the snow was falling
so fast that the faces of the few mourn
ers and neighbors who stood arount
could hardly be recognized, The mount
had scarcely received its shape whei
il was robed in white. 1t was as if Ma