n't refuse me. I want to do
one decent thing before I die. I've come all the way from California
just for this. Surely you'll feel better if you are my lawful wife.'

"And they said Milly thought a minute and then she says: 'I don't
believe it makes any difference with me, Dick. I've been through the
worst, and I'm used to it. But if it'll make it any easier for you,
I'll marry you. And then there's my boy; maybe it will be better for
him.'

"'Where's the boy?' says Dick; 'I want to see him.'

"So Milly went and called Richard in. And as soon as Dick saw him he
raised up on his elbow, weak as he was, and hollered out so you could
hear him in the next room.

"'Why,' says he, 'it's myself! It's myself! Stand off there where I
can see you, boy! Why, you're the man I ought to have been and
couldn't be. These lyin' doctors,' says he, 'tell me that I haven't
got a day to live, but I'm goin' to live another lifetime in you!'

"And then he fell back, gaspin' for breath, and young Richard stood
there in the middle o' the floor with his arms folded and his face
lookin' like it was made of stone.

"As soon as Dick could speak, they said he pulled Milly down and
whispered something to her, and she went over to the chair where his
clothes was hangin' and felt in the pocket of the vest and got a
little pearl ring out. They said she shook like a leaf when she saw
it. And Dick says: 'I took it away from you, Milly, twenty years ago,
for fear you'd use it for evidence against me--scoundrel that I was;
and now I'm goin' to put it on your finger again, and the parson shall
marry us fair and square. I've got the license here under my pillow.'
And Milly leaned over and lifted him and propped him up with the
pillows, and the young parson said the ceremony over 'em, with Jane
Ann and the old Squire for witnesses.

"As soon as the parson got through, Dick says: 'Boy, won't you shake
hands with your father? I wouldn't ask you before.' But Richard never
stirred. And Milly got up and went to him and laid her hand on his arm
and says: 'My son, come and speak to your father.' And he walked up
and took Dick's pore wasted hand in his strong one, and the old Squire
set there and sobbed like a child. Jane Ann said he held on to
Richard's hand and looked at him for a long time, and then he reached
under the pillow and brought out a paper, and says he: 'It's my will;
open it after I'm gone. I've squandered a lot o' money out West, but
there's a