Williams news., 1922-07-14

| appeared at his office. I remember that summer he was terribly dis | turbed because one of his ships was | lost. The Corvet record was broken | Corvet ship had appealed for help | a Corvet vessel had not reached port. And later in the fall, when two .deckhands were washed from another | of his vessels and drowned, he was again greatly wrought up, though his ships still had most favorable record.
 In 1902 proposed to him that I buy
 full ownership in the vessels I partly controlled and ally them with those he and Spearman operated Since
 then, the firm name has been Corvet Sherriu, and Spearman.
 "Our friendship had strengthened and ripened during those years. The intense activity of Corvet's mind, which as a younger man he had di- rected wholly to the shipping, was directed, after he had isolated himself In this way, to other things. He took up almost feverishly an immense num- Der of studies-strange studies most of them for a man whose youth had been almost violently active and who had once been lake captain I can not tell you what they all were geology, ethno1ogy, nearly a score of SuDJOCUSs ne COrTeSpOnued WlCn VaTl- ous scientific societies; he has given almost the whole of his attention to such things for about twenty years. But he has made very few acquaint- ances in that time, and has kept almost none of his old friendships. He has lived alone in the house on Astor street with only one servant the same one all these years.
 ''The only house he has visited with any frequency has been mine. He has always liked my wife; he had-he has a great affection for my daughter, who, when she was a child, ran in and out of his home as she pleased. My daughter believes now that his present disappearance has hap pened to minis connected in some way with herself. I do not think that is SO-"
 Sherrill broke off and stood in thought for a moment; ne seemed to consider, and to decide that 1t was not necessary to say anything more on that subject.
 "Is there anything in what I have told you which makes it possible for you to recollect or to explainT'
 Alan shook his head, flushed, and then grew a little pale. What Sherrill told him had excited him by the coin- cidences 1t offered between events in Benjamin Corvet's life and his own; it had not made him "recollect" Corvet, but 1t had given def1niteness and direction to his speculations as to Corvet's relation to himself.
 Sherrill drew one of the large chairs nearer to Alan and sat down facing him. He felt in an inner pocket and brought out an envelope; from the en- velope he took three pictures, and handed the smallest of them to Alan. As Alan took 1t, he saw that it was a tintype of himself as a round-faced boy of seven.
 "That is your" SherriIl asked.
 "Yes; 1t was taken by the photog- rapher in Blue Rapids"
 '.And this?'
 The second picture, Alan saw, was one that had been taken in front of the barn at the farm. It showed Alan at twelve, in overa1ls and barefooted, holding a stick over his head at which shepherd dog was jumping.
 "Yes, that Is Shep and I, MT. Sher- Till. It was taken by a man who stopped at the house for dinner one day; he liked Shep and wanted a picture of him; so he got me to make SEep jump, and he took ft-'
 "DOeSn't 1t occur to you that 1t was your picture he wanted, and that he had been sent to get it? I wanted Xour verification that these earlier pictures were of you, but this last one is easily ,recogniZable.'
 SherriH unfolded the third picture it was larger than the others and had been. folded across the middle to get it into the envelope. Alan leaned for ward to look at it.
 That Is the University of Kansas football team" he said. 'I am the second one i'm the front row; I played end my junior year and tackle when I was a senior. MT. Corvet-?"
 "Yes; MT. Corvet had these pictures | They came into my possession day be- fore yesterday, the day after Corvet disappeared I do not want to tell just yet how they did that"
 A1an's face, which had been flushed | at first with excitement, had gone quite pale, and his hands, as he ously, were cold, and his lips were | very dry. He could think of no pos- sible relationship between Benjamin | Corvet and himself, except one, which | could account for Corvet's obtaining and keeping these pictures of him | through the years.
 'I think you know who am," Alan | said.
 "You have guessed, if am not mis- | taken, that you are Corvet's son."
 The color flamed to Alan's face for | fbap JoPt if novar