Page:A strange, sad comedy (IA strangesadcomedy00seawiala).pdf/128



OVEMBER came, that sunny autumn month in lower Virginia, when the changing woods glow in the mellow light, and a rich, blue haze envelops the rolling uplands; when the earth lies calm and soft, wrapped in the golden brightness of the day, or the cloudless splendor of the moon-lit night. The chirp of the partridge was heard abroad in the land, and that was the sign for Farebrother's arrival. An excursion down to Virginia after partridges concealed a purpose on his part toward higher game and a more exciting pursuit.

One day, though, two or three weeks before Farebrother's arrival, the Colonel received a marked copy of a newspaper. It contained the notice of the collapse of a bank in New York, in which the Farebrother family were large stockholders.

Then came a letter from Farebrother tell-