Williams news., 1922-09-01

~ds nedr. de nOr only mad femem- | bered that she would be north at liar Dor Point this month; he had seen in one of the Petoskey papers that she and her mother were at the Sherrill summer home His business now was | taking him nearer them than he had been at any time before; and, if he wished to weaken, he might convince himself that he might learn from her | circumstances which would aid him in | his task. But he was not going to her for help; that was following in his fa- | ther's footsteps. When he knew every | thing, then-not till then-he could go | to her; for then he would know exact ly what was upon him and what he | should do.
 His visits to the people named on
 those sheets written by his father had been confusing at first; he had had
 great difficulty in tracing some of
 them at all and, afterward, he could
 uncover no certain connection either between them and Benjamin 'Corvet or between themselves. But recently he had been succeeding better in this lat ter.
 He had seen-he reckoned them over again-fourteen of the twenty-one
 named originally on Benjamin Cor
 vets lists; that is, he had seen either
 the individual originally named, or the
 surviving relative written in below the
 name crossed off. He had found that
 the crossing out of the name meant
 that the person was dead, except in
 the case of two who had left the coun-
 try and whose whereabouts were as
 unknown to their present relatives as
 they had been to Benjamin Corvet,
 and the case of one other, who was
 in an insane asylum.
 He had found that no one of the
 persons whom he saw had known Ben
 jamin Corvet personality; many of
 them did not know him at all, the
 others knew him only as name.
 But, when Alan proceeded, always
 there was one connotation with each
 of the original names; always one cir
 cumstance bound all together. When he had established that circumstance as influencing the fortunes of the first two on his lists, he had said to him. self, as the blood pricked queerly un- der the skin, that the fact might be a mere coinctdence. When he estab- lished it also as affecting the fate of the third and of the fourth and of the fifth, such explanation no longer sufficed; and he found it in common to all fourteen, sometimes as the de- ciding factor of their fate, sometimes as only slightly affecting them, but always 1t was there.
 In how many different ways, in what strange, diverse manifestations that single circumstance had spread to these people whom Alan had inter- viewed No two of them had been l affected alike, he reckoned, as he went over his notes of them. Now he was going to trace those consequences to another. To what sort of place would it bring him today and what would he find there? He knew only that it would be quite distinct from the rest.
 The driver turned aside from the road across a cleared field where ruts showed the passing of many previous crossing this, they entered the woods. Little fires for cooking burned all about them, and nearer were parked an immense number of | farm wagons and buggies, with horses | and munching grain. AL | ans guide found a place among these | for his automobile, and they got out | and went forward on foot. All about l them, seated upon the moss or walk | ing about, were Indians, family | groups among which children played. |
 Alan saw among these looking on, the bright dresses and sport coats Of summer visitors who had come to watch. The figure of a girl among these caught his attention, and he started; then swiftly he told himself that it was only his thinking of Con- stance Sherrin that made him believe this was she. But now she had seen him; she pa1ed, then quickly flushed, and leaving the group she had been with, came toward him.
 He had no choice now whether he would avoid her or not; and his hap oinesS at seeing her held him stupid, | her. Her eyes were very bright and with something more than friendly greeting; there was happi- leSs in them too. His throat shut ogether as he recognized this, and his land closed warmly over the small, trembling hand which she put out o him. All his conscious thought vas lost for the moment in the mere ealization of her presence; he stood, lolding her hand, oblivlous that there were people looking; she too seemed areless of that. Then she whitened gain and withdrew her hand; she + eemed slightly confused. He was con- used as well; it was not like this hat he had meant to greet her; he aught himself together.
 Cap in hand, he stood beside her, rying to look and to feel as any or inary acquaintance of hers would ave looked.