The Long Dim TrailHooker, Forrestine C. (Forrestine Cooper)
General
The Long Dim Trail
Hooker, Forrestine C. (Forrestine Cooper)
Arizona -- Fiction; Cowboys -- Fiction; Ranch life -- Fiction; Western stories
In event of failure to agree to the terms set forth in the will,
copy of which is herewith enclosed, the entire estate is to revert
to the Prohibition Society of America. Otherwise, the estate will
pass to your son on his thirtieth birthday.
Kindly communicate with us at your earliest convenience, and
oblige, Yours very respectfully,
GOODRICH TRUST COMPANY.
P. S. Letter enclosed from Miss Grimes.
The other letter read,
_Dear Katherine:_
You have had time now to realize that my estimate of James
Glendon's character was correct. I have been at some pains and
expense during the last seven years, since you moved to Arizona, to
keep myself informed as to your husband's actions. I feel that I
was justified, and it impels me to do all I am able to assist you
after I am gone, without being of any comfort or benefit to a man
whom I despise.
You are to confer with the Trust Company regarding a school for
Donnie. It must be a school where self-respect and honour are
taught; in fact, an old-fashioned school where boys are trained in
the almost forgotten standards of an old-fashioned gentleman.
The annuity of twelve hundred dollars a year will be paid you at
the death of your husband, for I know your inflexible principles
and that you will never invoke the aid of the law to protect you by
a divorce. It is because I, myself, am opposed to the wide-spread
evil of divorce, that I am trying my best to aid you without aiding
your husband financially. I wish to prevent him from benefitting in
any way. I am confident that you will sorely need enough to provide
a roof and food in event of his death, and should I make any other
provisions for you and your child, I do not believe either of you
would benefit one cent by my legacy.
He is the type of man who has no sense of moral obligation, but I
want you to understand that you have my sympathy, and that you
always had my love.
Affectionately,
AUNT JANE GRIMES.
Glendon finished the two letters, returned them to his wife with a shrug
of his shoulders, saying, "Sweet old cat! She certainly had it in for
me from the very first day we met!"
Katherine waited for a violent tirade, but Glendon turned on his heel
and left the room. It was a relief to her, but the uncertainty was not
dispelled.
Four days went by, and then Katherine broached the topic.
"Jim, I've got to answer that letter."
He was sitting on the porch step smoking, his thoughts evidently
far-afield.
"What letter?"
"About the legacy and sending Donnie to school," was the woman's reply.
She knew that the future of the child depended on the answer she waited
from the child's father. Her hands lay in her lap, gripped tensely, her
eyes looked pleadingly at the face of the man.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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