“How are things going on at home?”
“Not very well. Mr. Tarbox is sick, and his daughter has installed herself in his chamber, and is not willing that my mother should see him.”
“Does that trouble you?”
“No, for I am able to provide for mother better than her husband. When I go back I shall establish her in a home of her own.”
The very next day Grant received a letter from his mother, the contents of which were most important.
We reproduce it here:
Dear Grant:
Mr. Tarbox died last week. No one anticipated that his sickness would end fatally, but I attribute it to worry of mind. It appears that his daughter, Mrs. Bartlett, succeeded some time since in inducing him to deed the farm to her. I believe the argument she used was, that should he die, I would claim a good share of it as his widow. The law would no doubt have given me a claim to some portion of it.
Mr. Tarbox had scarcely given away the property than he repented it, and tried to persuade Sophia to give it back. She didn’t exactly refuse, for she knew that he had considerable other property which he could leave her at his death. But she made delays, and raised objections, till he saw that there was no hope of recovering the farm. You know how fond he was of money, and the fact that he had alienated so large a share of his property preyed upon his mind and actually made him sick. Then his daughter came and established herself in his room.
“Give me back the farm, Sophia,” I overheard him say one day. “It’ll be yours some day, but I want to keep it while I live.”