Little sleep visited the broker's pillow that night, but the housekeeper looked fresh and cheerful in the morning.
“Has the woman no feeling?” thought the anxious father, as he watched the tranquil countenance of the woman who for five years had been in charge of his house.
When she was left alone in the house Mrs. Estabrook took from her workbasket a letter, bearing date a month previous, and read slowly the following paragraph: “I have never forgotten the wrong done me by Mr. Reynolds. He discharged me summarily from his employment and declined to give me a recommendation which would secure me a place elsewhere. I swore at the time that I would get even with him, and I have never changed my resolution. I shall not tell you what I propose to do. It is better that you should not know. But some day you will hear something that will surprise you. When that time comes, if you suspect anything, say nothing. Let matters take their course.”
The letter was signed by Willis Ford.
CHAPTER XXVI — A WESTERN CABIN
“Abner!”
The speaker was a tall, gaunt woman, in a loose, faded, calico dress, and she stood at the door of a cabin in a Western clearing.
“What yer want?” came as a reply from a tall, unhealthy-looking boy in overalls, who was sitting on a log in the yard.
“I want you to split some wood for the stove.”