The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1922-05-04

belong? Who was he? Who was the
man who had brought him there? Had
the money ceased coming because the
person who sent 1t was dead? In
that case, connection of Alan with the
place where he belonged was per-
manently broken. Or would some other
communication from that source reach
him some time-if not money, then
something else? Would he be sent for
some day?
Externally, Alan's learning the little
that was known about himself made
no change I'm his way Of living; he
went to the town school. which COM
bined grammar and high schools
under one roof and, as he grew older,
he clerked in one of the town stores
during vacations and in the evenings.
Alan always carried his money home
as part payment Of those arrears which
had mounted up against him since the
letters ceased coming. At seventeen,
having finished high school, he was
clerking officially in Merril's general
store, when the next letter came.
1t was addressed this time not to
papa, but to Alan Conrad. He seized
it, tore it open, and a bank draft for
fifteen hundred dollars fell out. There
was no letter with the enclosure. no
word of communication /; just the draft
to the order of Alan Conrad. Ala
wrote the Chicago bank by which the
draft had been issued; their reply
showed that the draft had been pur-
chased with currency, so there was no
record of the identity Of the person
who had sent 1t. More than that
amount was due for arrears for the
seven years during which no money
was sent, ever when the total which
Alan had earned was deducted. So
Alan merely endorsed the draft owe
TO father; and that fall jim. Alan's
foster brother, went to college. But,
when Jim discovered that it not only
was possible but planned at the uni
versity for a boy to work his way
through, Alan went also.
Four wonderful years followed. In
companionship with educated people;
ideas and anners came to him which
he could not have acquired at home;
athletics Strengthened and added bear
ing to his muscular, well-formed
body his pleasant, strong young face
acquired self-reliance and s~elf-contrOl.
Life became filed with possibilities for
himself which II had lever held before.
But on his day of graduation he
had put away the enterprises ne had,
planned and the dreams he dreamed
and, conscious that his debt to father
and mother still remained unpaid. he
had returned to care for them: for
fathers health had failed and Jim, who
had opened a law office i'm Kansas
City. could do nothing to help.
No more money had followed the
draft from Chicago and there had
been no communication Of any kind
but the receipt of so considerable a
sum had revived and intensified all
Alan's speculatiOns about himself. The
vague expectation of his childhood
that sometime, In some way. he would
be "sent for: had grown during the
last six years TO q definite belief.
And now-On the afternoon before
the summons had come.
This time, as he tore open the en-
velope. he saw that beside a check,
there was writing whitman uneven
and demonstrating but plainly legible
communication In longhand. The
letter made no explanation. 1t told
him, rather than asked him, to come
to Chicago, gave minute instructions
telegraph when he started. The
check was for a hundred dollars to
pay his expenses. Check and letter
were signed by a name completely
strange To him.
He was a distinctly attractive look
ing lad, as he stood now on the station
platform Of the little town. while the
eastbound train rumbled in. and he
fingered In his pocket the letter from
Chicago.
On the train he took the letter from
his pocket and for the dozenth time
reread it. Was Covert a relatiye' Vas
he the man who had sent the remit
tances when Alan was a little boy.
and the one who later had sent the
fifteen hundred dollars? Or was he
merely a go-between. perhaps a law-
yer? There was no letterhead to give
aid In these speculations. The ad-
dress to which Alan was TO come was
in Aston street. He had never heard
the name of the street before. Was u
a business street. C0rvet's address in
some great Office building. perhaps?
AT Chicago Alan. following the
porter with his suitcase from the car.
stepped down among the crowds
hurrying 10 and from the trains. He
was not confused. he was only In.
tensely excited, Acting in implicit ac-
cord with the Instructions of the letter.
which he knew by heart. he went TO
the uniformed attendant and engaged
a taxicab--itself no small experience:
there would he no al the station
To meet him, the letter had said. He
gave the Asfor street address ard got
into the cab.
Ii had begun to snow heavily. For q
few blocks the taxicab DRIVE north
past more or less ordinary build
lngs. then turned east on a bread
boulevard where tall tile and brick
and stone structures lowered Till their