The spectator., 1922-04-18
CHAPT FER II
Who Is Alan conrad7


 The recipient of the letter which Benjamin Gervet had written and later so excitedly attempted to re cover. was asking himself question %rsich was almost the same as the question which Constance Sherrill had asked He was. the second morning later. waiting for the first of the two daily eastbound trains which stopped af the little Kansas town of Blue Rapids which he called home. As song as he could look back into his life, the question, who Is this person they call Alan Conrad. and what am l to Che man who writes from Chicago had been the paramount enigma of exist .euce for him. Since he was now ewenty-three. as nearly as he had been able to approximate it. and as distinct wecollection of isolated. extraordinary events went back to the time when he was five, 1t was quite eighteen years since he had first noticed the question put to the people who had him in charge: "So this is little Alan Con s8d- Who Is her'
 lht bi ttAAh letters. which were distinguished from snost others arriving at the house by having no ink writing on the envelope but just a sort of purple ar black printing like newspapers, Alan in variabiy received dollar to spend yusf as he liked To be sure, unless ~pSpa" took him to town. there was
 tsN likely enough. it went into the square iron bank. of which the key was lost : bot quite often he did spend it ac- .cwrtiing to plans agreed upon among all his friends and. in memory of these prrssions and in anticipation of the next. "Alan's dollar" became com ruunits institution among the children.
 ~who gives 1t to you. Alan?" WIS q question more often asked. as time went on. The only answer Alan could give was, Tt comes from CDcago." The post-mark on the envelope. Alan uqiced. was always Chicago; that wss all he ever could find out about ssis dollar. He was about ten years old. when. for a reason as inexplicable ss the dollars coming. the letters with 'fhe typewritten addresses and the en. closed money ceased.
 Except for the loss of the dollar at tsse end sf every second month-a loss much discussed by all the children and not accepted as permanent till ncre than two years had passed Alan felt no immediate results from 70 Chicago Papa and mama felt them xhen the farm had to he given up. and the family moved to he town. and papa went to work in the wOolen mill beside the river.
 Papa and mama. at first surprised and dIsmayed by the stopping of the sexters. still elung to the hope Of the 6asmfilar. typewriter addressed en- vwesope appearing again but when. after two years. no more money came resentment which had been steadily growing againSt the person who had sent the money began to turn against Alan: and his parents" told him ail ehey knew about him.
 In fso8 they had noticed an adver.
 
 .csrf1d: they had answered it ts The <sG1ce of the newspaper which printed tf- In response to the letter a mar <caIIed upon them and. after seeing xhem and going around te see thess Nrleuds. had made arrangements wttt eAem to take boy of three. who war Sa good health and came ~ good people. He paid in advance board fe' a year and agreed to send a certsiu nuOunt every two months after thal l1ue. The man brought the bey vuabom he called Alan Conrad. and ief' enam- For seven years the msae, agreed upon came; now x had ceased anA papa had no way of finding ths ann&-the name given by him appeares an be fictitious. and he had left ns ndaress except general delivery. ctl eaeO~-Papa knew nothing more thar tNat He had advertised in the Chi x1xo papers after the money stopped c.DusnK, and he had communicates vesfh every one named Conrad in ol sxear Chicago. but he had learned ness unx. Thus, at the age of thirteen Ann definitely knew that what Nj already had guessed-the fact that h' 0elouged somewhere else than in th' VlftIe brown house-was all that snl 0ae there could tell him; and in rnowledge gave persistence so man, aburnal questioninsA Where did h' N