[A] NOTE--Until a homestead is commuted--proved up on--it may be relinquished by the holder without any person's or persons' consent. The woman, therefore, in this case could sell the homestead without her husband's consent. [Illustration: "Nice,--Hell! How long do you figure those church people would kite you about, if I told them _what you were_ back in--you know where?"] THE FORGED NOTE [Illustration: They stood together now upon the walkway, and suddenly he gripped her hand.] [Illustration: They regarded the clock strangely, and uttered audibly, "Eighteen minutes left," and in the meantime it tick-tocked the fatal minutes away.] THE FORGED NOTE _A Romance of the Darker Races_ BY OSCAR MICHEAUX _Author of_ "The Conquest" _ILLUSTRATED BY C.W. HELLER_ Lincoln, Nebraska WESTERN BOOK SUPPLY COMPANY 1915 [Illustration] COPYRIGHT, 1915 BY WOODRUFF BANK NOTE CO. _All rights reserved_ [Illustration: "Has it occurred to you that you have told me nothing, absolutely nothing, about yourself?" The look she gave him was severe; but he only regarded her strangely.] Press of the Woodruff Bank Note Co. Lincoln, Nebr. [Illustration: Murphy conducted a blind tiger in his loft; he also ran a crap game in connection; and it was his place that "Legs" visited frequently.] [Illustration: "I own the L. & N. Railroad."] TO ONE WHOSE NAME DOES NOT APPEAR I am leaving you and Dixie land tomorrow. It is customary perhaps to say, "Dear Old Dixie" but, since I happen to be from that little place off in the northwest, of which I have fondly told you, the _Rosebud Country_, where I am returning at once, and which is the only place that is dear to me, I could not conscientiously use the other term. Still, I am grateful, and well I should be; for, had I not spent these eighteen months down here, I could never have written _this_ story. No imagination, positively not mine, could have created "Slim", "T. Toddy", "Legs", "John Moore", et al. I really knew them. I haven't even changed their names, since what's the use? They, unless by chance, will never know, for, as I knew them, they never read. Only one of them I am sure ever owned a book. That one did, however, and that I know, for he stole my dictionary before I left the town. Whatever he expected to do with it, is a puzzle to me, but since it was leather-bound, I think he imagined it was a Bible. He was very fond of Bibles, and I recall that was the only thing he read. He is in jail now, so I understand; which is no surprise, since he visited there quite often in the six months I knew him. As to "Legs", I have no word; but since summer time has come, I am sure "Slim" has either gone into "business" or is "preaching." "T. Toddy" was pretty shaky when I saw him last, and I wouldn't be surprised if he were not now in Heaven. And still, with what he threatened to do