Why do I get the feeling the letters will be found? It would seem to me the spark that lights the fuse...
While Gran is leaving Barnswallow to August, I wonder if Albert, when he finds out about it, tries to horn in, saying August isn't of age....
Quite frankly, August needs to hightail out of there ASAP, not only does he get the ninety acres, but enough of a stake to see him through several years while he brings the farm back to life.
Gran surely wanted him to have the home what held so many memories for her, saying he was old enough now, and that meant plenty to him. She even insisted if he accepted she would stake him enough to get him through those first years. Though he had no plans to accept her financial generosity, the offer for it showed how much she loved him, and that was something he didn’t ever feel in the house he lived in, not for the past ten lonely years.
August needs to understand that no one else is going to inherit Gran's money, take the frigging stake.
It would be poetic justice if, through some unforeseen set of circumstances, neither Rob nor Albert were able to manage the homestead, death, dismemberment, rattlesnake bite, trampled under stampeding cows, or thrown off a horse. Personally, I'd be fine with any of the scenarios...or all of them...
I was the third child, the one ignored, while my brother could do no wrong, and the same with my sister. I was invisible till something went wrong, or somebody needed someone to step-and-fetchit...and this went on for years. I did year-round yard work while in high school, earning money for my own clothes and a new 10-speed bike. I moved out after graduation and on to college. Soon after my brother was lost in a hazy world of drugs, my sister married a smarter-than-anyone loser and moved nearly all across the country.
When my folks could no longer care for or provide for themselves, guess who stepped in...I don't begrudge the time spent; it made me a better person.
As they say in the show Gunsmoke, August...get the hell out of Dodge!!!