The Elk Mountain pilot., 1922-05-18
CHAPTER v
An Encounter.

the hall, felt in his pocket for his
matches and struck one on the box.
The light showed the hall in front of
him, reaching back into some vague.
distant darkness, and great rooms with
wide portiered doorways gaping on
both sides. He turned into the room
upon his right. glanced to see that the
shades were drawn on the windows
toward the street, then found the
switch and turned on the electric light.
Alan had the feeling which so often
comes to one in an unfamiliar and
vacant house that there was some one
in the house with him. He listened
and seemed to hear another sound in
the upper hall, a footstep. He went
out quickly to the foot of the st;..
and looked up them.
"Is any one here?" he called. is
any one here?'
His voice brought no response. He
went half way up the curve of the wide
stairway and called again, and lis
tened; then he fought down the feeling
he had had; Sheriff. had said there
would be no one in the house, and
Alan was certain there was no one
So he went back to the room where
he had left the light.
The center of this room, like the
room next to 1t, was occupied by n
library table-desk. He pulled open
some drawers in 1t; one or two had
blueprints and technical drawings In
them; the others had only the miscel-
lany which accumulates In a room
much used. There were drawers also
under the bookcases all around the
room; they appeared, when Allan
opened some of them, to contain pam
phlets Of various societies, and the
scientific correspondence Of which
Sheriff. had told him. Alan felt that
seeing these things was bringing his
father closer to him; they gave him n
little Of the feeling he had been unable
to get when he looked at his fathers
picture. He could realize better now
the lonely. restless man. pursued by
some ghost he could not kill. taking
up for distraction one subject of study
after another exhausting each In turn
until he could no longer make 1t en-
gross him. and then absorbing him
Bel1 IN the next.
On the top of a chest of high draw
ers in a corner near the dressing
table were some papers. Alan went
over to look at them; they were invi-
tations, notices Of concerts and Of
plays twenty years old-the mail,
probably. of the morning when Corvcr's
wife had gone away, left where her
maid or she herself had laid them
and only picked up and put back there
at the times since when the room was
busted. AS Alan touched them. he
saw that his fingers left marks in the
dust on the smooth top of the chest:
he noticed that some one else had
touched the things and made marks
Of the same sort as he had made. The
freshness of these other marks star
tied him; they had been made within
day or so. They could not have
been made by Sheriff.. for Alan had
noticed that Sherrilrs hands We're
slender and delicately formed; Cor
vet, too. was not a large man; Alan's
own hand was Of good size and pow
erful, but when he put his fingers over
the marks the other man had made, he
found that the other hand must have
been larger and more powerful than
his own. Had 1t been COrvet's serv-
ant? II might have been, though the
marks seemed too fresh for that; for
the servant. Sheriff. had said had left
the day Corvet's disappearance was
discovered.
This proof that some one had been
prying about In the house before him
self and since Corvet had gone. star
tied Alan and angered him. Who had
been searching in Benjamin Corvets
in Alan's house? He pushed the
| drawers shut hastily and hurried
across the hall to the room opposite.
In this room-plainly Benjamin Cor
vets bedroom-were no signs OF in
trusion. He went to the door of the
room connecting with it, turned on
the light. and looked in. 1t was
smaller room than the others and
contained roll-top desk and cabi-
net. The cover Of the desk was closed.
and the drawers of the cabinet were
shut and apparently undisturbed. He
tried the cover Of the desk, but 1t ap-
peared to be locked; after looking
around vainly for key, he tried
| again, exerting a little more force.
and this time the top went up easily,
tearing away the metal plate into
which the claws of the lock clasped
and the two long screws which had
held 1t. He examined the lock, sur
prised, and saw that the screws must
have been merely set into the holes;
scars showed where chisel or some
metal implement had been thrust In
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