Ruby's Reward

# Ruby's Reward

"Ruby's Reward" by Mrs. Georgie Sheldon is a domestic drama serialized in this issue. The narrative opens with Ralph Carpenter, a wealthy Philadelphia businessman, on his deathbed at his estate, Forestvale. He summons his adopted nephew Walter Richardson, and reveals his long-kept secret: Walter's mother was Sadie Walcott, the love of Ralph's youth. After their separation years ago, Ralph went west and became prosperous. He later married Edmund Carpenter's mother, a fashionable but emotionally cold woman. Ralph discovered Walter years later in New York in poverty and adopted him. As Ralph dies, Edmund—Ralph's biological son—secretly searches his father's desk and discovers evidence of a will, presumably favoring Walter. Edmund's jealousy intensifies when Ralph passes away that night. The serial concludes its opening with Edmund's bitter conviction that Walter will not inherit at his expense.