Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1901-11-28
On tna, last NIGHT. II was said, she

to him, in old, ~endearlng terms tnaL teh
years of neglect and silence had not
driven out OF her-for Gods sake TO
speak TO her. for PHYS sake to let her
look upon his face again and heal MS
voice.
He may have heard, or he may not.
Re that as it may, the door remained
locked, and In the morning they found
her. with her face pressed close
against Il. cold and dead. Even then
he gave no sign, and the servants who
followed her to the grave were appar-
entity the only mourners. The boy ne
took into his house, with a mental vow
to bring him up to his wv stern creed
OF life. -.
The boy had been given The name OF
Gilbert. and the name ranked. 1t had
been the name of a friend of hers (the
husba nd swore he was her lover)-a
man something near her w age. Per-
haps the giving of the name had been
the first cause of their quarrel. Suf-
flee it hat he showed the boy no ten
derness; that he merely tolerated him
and let him come and go as he would.
without interference. And when the
bow was nearly sixteen years of age a
strange thing happened.
There came a girl to the house-a
mere child, some five years younger
than the boy. She was a ward of the
old man, the daughter of a dead friend
who had left her as a charge to Jonas
Rickerby. She made whatever of sun
shine there was in the boys life; there
sprang up between them a youthful at
tachment-growing. even in that at
mosphere, beautifully.
Then the blight that was upon the
house fell upon the boy, also; some
quarrel arose between him and his
father, and he left at a moments no.
tice. But he came back-secretly and
a: night-for the most part, to see the
girl, and she crept out to meet him.
When he was twenty-five and she u
seventeen, they met n night in the
wilderness of a garden, and solemnly
plighted their troth. They were never
to he parted, in spirit, at least; they
were to look forward to q brighter time
when Rickerby's Folly was a thing
left behind in the hateful past-and the
world and Heaven should smile upon
their love. On that very night old Jo-
mas Rickerby surprised them together
in the garoen; ordered his son away:
and packed off the girl next day to a
dreary school in the country. where she
occupied the position of a parlor board
err and r7as strictly watched.
Then, with that little nipped
in the bud, Jonas Rickerby took to his
HEARTH he may be said to have pos
sessed such a thing, one Nugent Leath-
! wood. a nephew of about the same age
49, " - - c,afN.,a
fellow, who 1attered and pitied him,
and made the most of his chances. But
when, within a year after his son a
finally disappeared, old Jonas Rickerby
was dying. he happened to hear, in a
roundabout fashion, where his son was,
and wrote to him, and implored his for
giveness, and died without receiving 1t.
Then, for a time, Nugent Leathwood
settled down, to wait and see wha
would happen: cfose companions to
suit his needs, and laid his schemes for
the future. This was the position of
affairs as regards Rickerby's Folly at
the time Gilbert Rickerby came home.
This, too, was the position Of affairs
! a few days later, when Gilbert Kicker
by stood outside the house one night
and gazed up at the windows. Truth
to tell, he was placed in an awkward
situation. He was keenly anxious to
find out what had happened, vet he
! scarcely dared to make inquiries. All
his thoughts came back to that scene
in the hospital; forever there rang in
his ears the Shrek of the man who had
coupled the name of Gilbert Rickerby
with murder. Over and over again in
Uneasy dreams he fled through the
streets after that man; over and over
again he followed him to the grave,
side by side with Nugent Leathwood:
over and over again he saw him COM
mitted to the earth as Gilbert Kicker
by. For he a really carried out that
amazing part of the business; had
stood beside the grave, and had con-
sented to see this mysterious man bur-
led as himself.
But in doing that he realized, when II
was too late, that he had spoiled his
chance of making direct inquiry into
the mystery which surrounded his
name. Gilbert Rickerby had been ad-
vertised for in the public press. The
extraordinary case Of the man who had
come from abroad, after so many
years, back to his fathers house, only
~ uiS ia tic cIiSeLS On the very night
Of his arrival, had been commented up
on freely In the press; enterprising re-
porters had raked up the story of Rick
erby's Folly, and had told 1t, with addi-
tions. For that reason, because he
had, In a sense, forfeited his name, he
dare not go Jack to his lodgings, was
obliged to be contented with sending
messages to his servant, James Hol-
den, and had no real opportunity for
discovering the reason of that mans
silence. His iTl-fortune, begun In his
boyhood and continued through his
manhood, seemed to be logging him
even here. For he stood. on this night,
homeless and nameless: knowing that
his cousin. Nugent Leathwood, had
claimed some lead stranger for rea-
sons of his own, as the man from
abroad; knowing that, with the disap-
pearance of his own messenger and the
apparent public burial Of himself, Gill
bert Fickerby was disposed of and
done for for good and all.
IF I could meet the man, II I could
by any means find out what Is going on
in that house." he muttered to him
| calf tT ypfoht ha nao~ar coit--