The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1922-08-03

I the gummy resistance of the knob as
Fa1rchild turned it in accordance with
the directions on the paper. Finally,
a great wrench, and the bolt was
drawn grudgfngly back a strong pull,
and the safe opened.
Fairchild crouched for a moment,
staring, before he reached for the
thinner of two envelopes which lay
before him. A moment later he
Strengthened and turned toward the
light. A crinkling of paper, a quick
drawn sigh between clenched teeth;
it was a letter; his strange, quiet,
hunted-appearing father was talking
to him through the medium of ink and
paper, after death. He read:
MY Son:
Before I begin this letter to you I
must ask that you take no action
whatever until you have seen my at
torney-he will be yours from now on.
I have never mentioned him to you
before; 1t was rot necessary and
would only have brought you curiosity
which I could not have satisfied. But
now, I am afraid, the doors must be
unlocked. / am gone. You are young,
you have been a faithful son and you
r deserving Of every good fortune
that may possibly come to you. I am
praying that the years have made a
difference, and that Fortune may
smile upon you al she frowned ON me
Certainly, she can injure me- no longer.
My ace is run; I am beyond earthly
fortunes.
Therefore, when you have finished
with this, take the deeds inclosed in
the larger envelope and go to st.
Louis. There, look up Henry F. Beam
ish, attorney-at-law, in the Princess
building. He will explain them to you.
Beyond this, I fear, there is little
that car aid you. I cannot find the
strength, now that I face it, to tell
you what you may find If you follow
the lure that the other envelope holds
forth to you.
There Is always the hope that For
t tune may be kind to me at last, and
smile upon my memory by never let.
ting you know why I have been the
, sort of man you have known, and not
: the jovial, genial companion that a
father should be. But there are Ger.
tain things, my son, which defeat
man. Therefore is it not better that
: it remain behind a cloud until such
time as Fortune ray reveal it-anC
, hope that such a time will never
come? I think so-not for myself. fol
:, when you read this, I shall be gone
), but for you, that you may not be han
dicapped by the knowledge of tn.
. thing which whitened my hair ant
: aged me, long before my time.
IF he lives, and 7 am sure he does
there is n who will hurry to you
aid as soon as he knows you need him
Accept his counsels, laugh at his littl
D eccentricities If you will, but follow
r his judgment implicitly. Above all
ask him no questions that he does no
care to answer-there are things tina
I he may not deem wise to tell.
There is little more to say. Beam
I ! ish will attend to everything for you
r IL you al to go. Sell everything
that is here; the house, the furniture
the belongings. It is my wish, an.
you will need the capital-if you &c
y And h circumstances should arise t
e bring before you the story OF tina
Y which has caused me so much dark
ness, / have nothing to say In sell
extenuation. ! made one mistake
that OF fear-and In committing on
+ error. ! shouldered every blame. |
makes little difference now. / an
dead-and free. ,< j
e MY love I D you, my son. / hop
that wealth and happiness await you
Blood Of my blood lows IN your vein
land strange though It may sound 1
d you-It ID the blood Of an adventures
4 They my, once 81 the blood, fl neye
dies. Ny wish hi tI,at you succee
where 4 failed-and God be with you
d IMs . YOUR FATHER
d For 4 long moment Robert FalrchiI
/ stood STARING u the letter, ~ heal