Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1922-05-18

1t was something still going on. 1t had
amazed Sheriff. to learn that COrvet,
for twenty years, had kept trace of
Alan but Corvet had kept trace in the
same way and with the same secrecy
Of many other people-Of about a
score Of people. When Alan thought
of Corvet, alone in his silent house,
he must think Of him as solicitous
about these people; as seeking for
their names in the newspapers which
he took for that purpose, and as re-
cording the changes in their lives. The
deaths, the births, the marriages
among these people had been of the
intensest interest to Corvet
1t was possible that none of these
people knew about Corvet; Alan had
not known about him In Kansas, but
had known only that some unknown
person had sent money for his support
But he appreciated that it did not
matter whether they knew about him
or not; for at some point common to
all of them, the lives of these people
must have touched Corvet's life. When
Alan knew what had been that point
| of contact, he would know about Cor
vet; he would know about himself.
Alan had seen among Corvets
| books a set of charts of the Great
Lakes. He went and got that now and
an atlas. Opening them upon the ia
ble he looked up the addresses given
| N Cnrrnt'S CT Thn1, of
them, he found towns about the north
ern end of the lake; very few upon
other lakes-Superior and Huron
but most were upon or very close to
Lake Michigan. These people lived by
means of the lake; they got their sus-
tenance from it, as Corvet had lived,
and as Corvet had got his wealth. Alan
was feeling like one who, bound, has
been suddenly Embossed. From the time
when, coming to see Coryet, he had
found Corvet gone, until row, he had
felt the impossibi:ty of explaining
from anything he knew or seemed like
| ly to learn the mystery which had sur
| rounded himself and which had sur
| rounded Corvet But these names and
| addresses They indeed offered some
thing to go upon, though Luke now
was forever still, and his pockets had
told Alan nothing.
He found Emmett county on the map
and put his finger on it. Spearman,
| Wassaquam had said, came from
there. THE Land of the Drum" he
said aloud. Deep and sudden feeling
stirred in him as he traced out this
| land on the chart-the little towns and
villages, the islands and headlands,
their lights and their uneven shores.
A feeling of "hOme" had come to him,
which he had not had on coming to Chi
cagO. There were Indian names and
French up there about the meetings
of the great waters. The sense that
feeling which he had felt first in con-
versatiOn with Constance Sheriff. was
strengthened an hundredfOld
He gazed down at the lists of names
which Benjamin Corvet had kept so
carefully and so secretly; these were
his fathers people, too; these ragged
shores and the islands studding the
channels were the lands where his ia
Their had spent the most active part
Of his life. There then-these lists
now made it certain-that events had
happened by which that life had been
blighted. North, there by the meeting
of the waters, was the region of the
wrong which was done.
That's where l must go" he said
aloud. That's where l must CO."
Constance Sheriff., on the following
afternoon, received a telephone call
from her father; he was coming home
earlier than usual, he said; if she had
planned to go out, would she wait I'M
til after he got there? Tie afternoon S
mail was upon stand in the hall. She
turned it over, looking through tin
vitatiOns, social notes. She picked
from among them an envelope adj
dressed to herself in a firm, clear
hand, which, unfamiliar to her, still
queerly startled her, and tore it open.
Dear Miss Sheriff." she read,
II am closing, for the time being,
the house which, for default of other
ownership must call mine. The pos
sbility that what has occurred here
would cause you and your father anxi-
ETY. about me in case | went away
without telling you Of my intention is
the reason for this note. But 1t is not
the only reason. l could not 60 away
without telling you how deeply I APP
preciate the generosity and delicacy
you and your father have shown me
in spite Of my position here and of the
fact that l had no claim at all upon
you. l shall not forget those, even
though what happened here last night
makes 1t impossible for me to try to
see you again or even to write to you.
"ALAN CONRAD"
She heard her fathers motor enter
the drive and ran TO him with the let
ter In her hand.
Hes written to fou, then7" he said,
at sight of 1t.
"Yes."
II had a note from him this after