Always a visionary, easy-going, impractical little man, he had never been willing to stick at steady employment, but was always chasing rainbows and depending upon his sister for a home and means of existence.

When the Klondike gold fever struck the country he was one of the first to succumb to the disease.

And, after an argument--violent on his part and determined on Thankful's--he had left South Middleboro and gone--somewhere.

From that somewhere he had never returned.
"Yes," mused Mrs.Barnes, "those were the last words he said to me." "What did you say to him ?" asked Emily, drowsily.

She had heard the story often enough, but she asked the question as an aid to keeping awake.
"Hey?
What did I say?
Oh, I said my part, I guess.