Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1901-11-21

Sc Rickerby's Folly g
7 - BY TOM GALLON < z
Z


was never still for an instant; crossing
his legs and increasing them, getting
up and striding about the room, going
at times TO the door, and standing near
1t. listening intently.
The other two men were of an entire
ly different stamp. One was a man
about sixty years of age, with a face
gnarled and knotted and scanned, like
the bark of some grabbed old forest
tree; with a figure almost, as bent and
twisted as such a tree might have been;
and with long feet and hands which, to
carry, the resemblance farther, were
not unlike what the roots and twisted
branches might have been. The third
man was of about the same age as the
flst, but was, apparently, o servant.
At all events. he was so far dependent
upon the Others, and subservient to
them, that he kept his eyes glancing,
n~ervously, from one to the other, n
occasionally moistenad his lips hurried
ly with his tongue. For whatever bust
ress the three men waited, there was
this difference between them: that the
first waited in craving anxiety, h old
man in careless imperturability, and
the third man in deadly fear. Indeed,
this fear became so apparent presently,
that the first man turned impatiently
about n faced the younger of the 9TH
er two.
What the dickens are you staring at
me like that for?" he demanded. isn't
it enough to be in this CHASTITY place, at
such an hour, without having a man in
he room shaking and trembling as
though he saw ghosts? What on earth
Is the matter with your"
Before the man rad time to reply, the
old creature of the gnarled countenance
broke in with a sort of gruesome chuck
lie. It's nerves e wants. Master Nu-
gent" he said. Nerves amt given to
everyone, like you an me: they comes
~nat'ral-or they don't come at all. Bet
ter ave left i'm out of It."
Never mind what you said; I could
not leave him out of it." He crossed
the room swiftly. and dropped his hand
on the shoulder of the younger mar
dropped 1t so heavily, and with such a
grip in the fingers, hat the other
WINGED and moved uneasily.
snow, listen to me, Miles Probyn,"
said he of the swarthy skin, land, as
you value your life, pay heed to it. /
have no fear of our friend, Cornelius,
here; he's made of tougher stuff" He
indicated the old man, who acknowl-
edged the compliment with a grin. But
with you, one has to be careful; you're
OF the sort that put ropes around honest
mems necks and dig graves for them.
Only remember, my friends, that I love
company; SO we'n sink or swim in this
business together.
Look at me-see what I am-know
me for what I am-guess what / might
have been No-by heavens!" and he
brought his fist down heavily upon the
table. n what / might have been, but
what I will be- Not the mar keeping a
place warm for someone else-holding
dead mems shoes to the fire to warm for
another-not Nugent Leathwood,
guarding an old fools money, for some
one who has forfeited the right TO 1t.
No-a hundred times no! From to-
night you shall see another Nugent
right to it. Leathwcod taking for him
self tina which he has guarded so long,
holding the place which IS his, by right
OF power and conquest"
"And film 1t like a man-not like a
milk-and-water babby," broke In he
old man. in the same voice as before.
Look round this room-look round
this house." cried Nugent, getting up
excitedly and waving his arms towards
the ceiling. You know it well; you
have seen scenes here such as few men
see at all. An old man, who saw in ev-
cry living creature something only to
be suspicious of; who lived his dark
and sombre life day after day, merely
because he could not die; who had built
at great expense, a second house, with
In a few wards of the one in which he
lived, and had shut up his own wife
there, out of his sight. You know what
they call the place in the neighborhood;
what a by-word 1t has become"
"'Rickerby's Folly" broke in old
Cornelius, with another of his CHASTITY
chuckles.
That's it, Rickehby's Folly Be-
fore I came, as you know, n before
Cornelius came, old Rickerby turned
his only son out of doors. to fight his
way through life as best he might.
Then, after / had come here. in a sort
OF deeth-bed repentance, the old fool
hungered for the boy, and wrote to him,
craving his forgiveness, and telling him
that all he had in h wcrld was his.
And II, Nugent Leathwood, poor re-
toni was to keep the precious prop
erty in trust for him, and do my best to
find him out. That letter was sent
without my knowledge; II chased the
~wanderer half over the world; 1t found
him, under most extraordinary circum-
stances, In California. lust as I was
congratulating myself on the fact that
the young fool had Joined the old fool,
in a land where property doesn't count,
the young fellow wrote to say that he
was alive and well, and was coming
home"
1.-TWO years since that there letter
came like a thunder clap" said Corne-
Illus, 1.-TWO years without a word from
i'm: and Tonight
Tonight he comes here" said Nu-
gent. Tonight, in his own Internally
mysterious fashion, he comes at mid
night-alone-back to Rickerby's Fol-
ly."
Drops in, friendly-like to ave a look
at the accounts and ask after is gel.''
Thus Cornelius, with a leer of the most
horrible description.
Yes. that's the worst part of II. He
$780, IarIx-f In ItC mu,n awaaA Ag~~o 49,