“Have been at it all my life,” Sam replied, with the air of a man of forty.
“Well, then,” Rex continued, “How would you like to see what you can do with my farm a few miles from Richmond? It was said to be a good one, I believe, before the war, but is somewhat run down. Would you like it?”
“You bet!” Sam answered, his eyes shining as he saw a chance to marry Lottie sooner than he had hoped.
He left that afternoon with Mrs. Parks and Lottie, but Mr. McPherson spent the night as he wished to question Mrs. Graham with regard to Rena, until he settled it to a certainty that she was a blood relation to Nannie, and that there had been no mistake in the distribution of Sandy’s money. Then he returned home, while Rex went to Boston, where a few days later he was joined by Mrs. Graham and with her finished the selection of furniture for the house. It was some time in January that the newly married pair took possession of their new home, where Mrs. Graham and Rex were waiting to welcome them.
Years have passed since then, bringing some changes. Tom has grown stouter and jollier, if possible, while Rena, who will always be girlish, tries to assume a matronly air on account of the two little children who call her mother. One is a boy, christened Travers McPherson, the other a girl named Nannie, for her far-removed relative, whose picture Colin insists she resembles. Irene has made up her mind to bear the inevitable gracefully and is a frequent visitor in Newton, where her still lovely face attracted the attention of a middle-aged bachelor from Boston, with a handsome house on Commonwealth Avenue, and more money than either Rex or Tom. The last I heard she was engaged to him, and Rena is to give her the wedding. Whenever I can leave my work I visit Rena and frequently meet with Mr. McPherson and Rex, the latter of whom is uncle and the other grandfather to the children. Sam Walker, lives on Mr. Travers’ farm, which, under his skilful management, is in better condition than before the war when it was called one of the best in the country. Tom’s practise has increased until Mrs. Graham no longer looks upon him as a poor man, but speaks of him with pride as “a promising lawyer, my niece’s husband.” Nearly every summer the family go to the McPherson place, where Rex joins them, and the children, with their carts and shovels, play sometimes on the beach and sometimes in the grounds, but their favorite place is in the pine-grove near the covered well, where poor Nannie met her tragic death, without which this story could never have been written.
THE END.
POPULAR NOVELS
BY
MRS. MARY J. HOLMES.