Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1901-12-05

the door was merely latched; 1t became
evident, in a moment. that the place
had been so long u~ninhabited and left
to ruin and decay, hat fastenings were
not thought of. Gaining confidence, he
slowly pushed open the door, and found
himself in deeper darkness than before
and in a s~tone-fagged passage.
Here he was On certain ground
knew every nch of it. Cautiously feel
ing his way along tie wall, he came, at
the end of the passage. to a door.
IT ought to know this ROOM" he
thought. "Tve crept down here many
and many a time to get on the soft side
of old Jemima for goodies. What's be-
come of Jemima, I wonder? Dead long
ago, / expect. However. there's a stair
case in here leading TO the upper
rooms"
He turned the handle and stepped in
to the room, and stepped, In a moment,
into a blaze of light. There was no
time TO ~retraet; in fact, he was too
much amazed to know what to do. For
there, facing him, and standing, look
ing steadily at him, was a figure that
might have sprung straight out of the
buried past.
1t was an old OF those
old women who seem never, by any
possibility, to have been young; who
walk with bent shoulders and feeble
steps through ones childhood. and
seem not a day older when ones hair is
gray. This old woman had q lined old
face, with a yellowish tinge in 1t, and
wisps of her gray hair had strayed out
OF place and were tumbling into her
eyes. Dull eyes they were, as though
they a looked on the world for a long
time n had found nothing particular
ly interesting. She turned, without the
least haste or t~repidation, and picked
up a lighted candle from the table,
brought it quite steadily close to the
face Of the man; turned, and set It
down again.
Master Gilbert" she said, entirely
without emotion. you've come 'ome."
Now, IL the old woman, on seeing
him, had screamed or tainted, or done
any other Of the thing swe are gener-
ally led to suppose e woman does under
the influence of fright or surprise, Gill
bert Rickerby would probably have
known what 20 do. But to be greeted
in this callous fashion, as though he
had merely returned to the house after
a casual evening stroll, when, as a mat
ter of fact, he had not seen the old
creature for years, was more than
startling: 1t was terrifying.
"But you-you didn't expect to see
me?" he began, feebly.
IT don't never expect TO see any
body" She muttered, with a short
laugh-"but they comes, all the same.
I only believes what I sees-and not
much OF that. And-oh. dear me!-the
lies people do tell" She said it all in
the same monotonous tone, and quite
without resentment, almost as though
it were a thing to be expected and made
the best of.
What lies" he asked.
"W'y-they said you was dead; they
'av bin a-layin' themselves out on
mournin' for you. Come 'ome, that
there Leathwood did, with a pack O.
lies about buryin' you. Shouldn't won
der IL they don't clay a tombstone on
you, with a burn an a trowel."
"But, look here. Jemima-I am dead"
said Gilbert, earnestly. There must
be no mistake about that; I am as dead
as the deadest door nail"
"oh-I don't mind.' she replied, with
a shrug; Fave It yer own way-please
yerself an you'll please me. 1t seems
to me. in this world, it don't matter
much whether a persons dead or alive;
they're pretty much of a muchness.
Please yerself."
But I want you. Jemima. to say
II in the old. childish way, I'm going to
play dead. I'm going"
Play away" she broke in. "You
was always a queer boy--and God
knows you 'ad enough to make you
l. r,raor To iN ~tanzau 80, - 49,
ere and say you're dead-then dead 1t
Is. ] never was one to spoil sport"
but I want you. Jeminma, to say
nothing about me-. to let them believe
that I am dead; no matter what you're
asked, you know nothing about me-"
ST shan't say anything" she replied.
IT amt worth mentioning"
He knew from old experience that he
could trust her; knew that whatever
duties she had to perform in that In
habited part of Rickerby's Folly, she
would say nothing about the strange
tenant OF the part which had been CIV
en- over to decay. So far as she was
concerned, he might wander about the
old u as much as he liked, and she
would take his presence there quite as
a matter of course.
"Sht away pi1SElIy HG uedTu
her shutting along among the dead
leaves towards the other house. He
was alone In the place In which he had
been born, and not twenty yards away,
the man who a falsely buried anoth-
err In his stead, wore black clothing in
pretended sorrow for him. 1t was a
grim thought. and made him shiyer a
little.
He took the candle and went UP
stairs. The rooms were damp and
Notwithstanding, from having long
been smut up: dust was thick every
where. He opened the door of one room
which had been his when q boy, and
set down the candle on the dressing
table.
"A queer homecoming" he muttered.
Il suppose I can shake the dust off the
bed a bit. and sleep In my clothes on
top of 1t. Well, I've slept In worse
places before now"
There was a cupboard beside the bed
"a tall. gaunt old cupboard, fitted into
a recess into the WALL. He remembered
how IL used to be a place of dread to
hbn In his childhood; the fastening of