once, for I must away."

He folded several of them to his throbbing breast, and drove
sadly away.

. . . .

But he had not gone far when the trace of the off-hind mule
became unhitched. Dismounting, he essayed to adjust the trace;
but ere he had fairly commenced the task, the mule, a singularly
refractory animal--snorted wildly, and kicked Reginald
frightfully in the stomach. He arose with difficulty, and
tottered feebly towards his mother's house, which was near by,
falling dead in her yard, with the remark, "Dear Mother, I've
come home to die!"

"So I see," she said; "where's the mules?"

Alas! Reginald Gloverson could give no answer. In vain the
heart-stricken mother threw herself upon his inanimate form,
crying, "Oh, my son--my son! Only tell me where the mules are,
and then you may die if you want to."

In vain--in vain! Reginald had passed on.

CHAPTER II.--FUNERAL TRAPPINGS.

The mules were never found.

Reginald's heart-broken mother took the body home to her