_Dear Kate_:
I got the grandest idea. I just can't wait to tell you. I thought it all
out in the middle of the night, and I had to talk to somebody, so I got
up and went into Mrs. Cassidy's room and got in bed with her and we
talked till most morning. She was awful nice, and we talked it over and
over. Here it is now, Kate, don't you think it is wonderful? You and
Billy and Jack can live at Lake Rest when you come out! now what do you
think of it! The house is there all furnished, and Jack will do the
farming. He is just crazy about it, and he says sure he can make it pay.
Tom says he will cough up and buy the things Jack needs to start, if the
little money Jack's father left him ain't enough. You give the farm and
the house, and Jack will furnish the farming things and the work, and
you can go halves. That sounds all right, doesn't it? Anyway, even if
you don't make much the first few years, you get your living, which is
about all we get anyway, ain't it, Kate? I feel awful bad that I can't
do much, but my money all went to Jim, but I will live on eggs and
buttermilk, and every cent I make will go into the place. You can't help
but get along, Kate, and out there the old crowd will never get on to
you, nobody will ever know nothing about you, and you can begin again as
if you was new born.
Oh, I think it is grand, Kate! I can see Tom and Mrs. Cassidy and me
coming to see you on a Sunday morning, and you and Billy and Jack
waiting for us at the station when the train pulls in, and we will drive
over to the place and look at the chickens and scratch the pig and pick
the cabbage and hear about the onions, and then after supper we will set
on the porch and listen to the frogs and the whip-o-wills and see the
shadows come on the lake, and feel that everything is all right, and
Somebody must be a sure taking care of us.
Write me soon, Kate, and tell me you are as glad about this as I am.
_Nan_.