The L'Anse sentinel., 1922-05-05

mans face Tie man struck back
heavy blow on the side OF Alan's
head which dizzIed him bu. left him
strength 10 strike again, and his
knuckles reached the mans face once
more, but he got another heavy blow
In return. The man was graphing
no longer; he swung Alan 10 one side
and Off of him, and rolled himself
away. He scrambled 10 his feet and
dashed out through the library. across
the hall, and into the service room.
Alan got 10 his feet. dizzied and not
yet familiar with the house, he blum
dered against wall ANA had To feel
his way along 1t 10 the service room;
MS he slipped and stumbled down the
stairway, door closed loudly mt the
end of the corridor he had seen at
tho foot Of the stairs, He ran along
the corridor 10 the door II had closet
with spring lock, and seconds paS%cd
while he felt in the dark for the catch.
he found II and tore the door open.
and came out suddenly into HE cold
air Of the night in paycd paSSagc-
way beside tn" house which ted In one
direction 90 the street and in the
other to Il gate opening on the alley.
He ran forward to the street ana
looked up and down but found II emp.
tv: then he ran back 10 the alley. At
the end of the alley, whore Il inter
scctcd the cross street. the figure of
the man running away appeared sud
denly out Of the shadows, then dis
appeared; Alan. following as far as
the street, could see nothing more of
him; this street too was empty.
He ran n little farther ana looked.
then he went back to the house. The
side door had swung shut again aud
latchcd He lct himself in Mt the front
door and turned on the light in the
reading lamp IN the library. The
electric torch stil was burning on the
floor and he picked 1t mp and eXtn-
guiShed II; lie went upstairS and
brought down his shoes He had seen
a wood fire set ready for lighting in
the library, ana now he lighted II and
Sa. before It drying his wet socks be-
fore he put on his shoes He was Still
shaking and breathing fast from his
struggle with the man and his chase
after him, and by the strangencSs Of
what had taken place
When the shaft Of light from the
torch had flashed across Alan's face
in the dark library, the man had not
taken him for wha. he was--a living
person: he had taken him for u spec
ter His terror and the things he had
cried out could mean only that. The
Specter Of whom? Not of Benjamin
COrvet for one Of the things Alan
had remarked when he saw benjamin
Corvet's picture was that he himself
did not look at all like his father. Be
Sides what the man had said made IL
certain that he did not think the spec
ter was Ben for the specter had
"got Fen" Did Alan look like some
one else, then? Like whom? Evi-
he had a ghost--who had got" Ben,
in .he big mans opinion. Who could
that be?
Alan got up and went TO look nj
himself in the mirror he had seen in
the hall He was white. now that the
flush Of the fighting was going he
probably had been pale before with
excitement and over his right eve
there was n round black mark. Alan
looked down at his hands; little
skin was off one knuckle, where he
had struck the man, and his fingers
were smudgcd with, n black and sotty
dust. lie had sinudged them ON the
papers upstairs or else in feeling his
way about the dark house and NJ
some time he had touched his fore
head and left the black mark. That
had been the "hullot hole
The res. that the man had said had
been reference TO some name; Alan
had no trouble To recollect the name,
and, while he 1ld not understand it
at all, it stirred him quccrly-"the Mi
waka." What was that? The queer
excitement and questioning that the
name brought when he repeated It
TO himself was not recollection; for
he could not recall ever having heard
the name before; but it was not com
plctely strange ia him. lie could de-
fine the excitement It t-strrcd only in
that way
Sheriff. had believed that here in
this house Benjamin COrvct had left
or might have left--a memorandum, a
record, or an account of some sort
which would explain to Alan. his son,
the blight which hung over his life,
Sheriff. had said that It could have
been no mere intrigue, no vulgar per-
sonal sin; and the events of the night
had made that very certain; for plain.
ly, whatever was hidden in that house
involved some one else seriously, des-
pcratcly. There was no other way 10
explain the intrusion of the sort Of
man whom Alan had surprised there
an hour ago.
The fact that this other man
searched also did not prove that Ben
jamln Coryet had left record in the
house, as Sheriff. believed; but &c
certainly showed that another person
bclered--or fcarcd-it. Whether or
not guilt had sent benjamin Coryet