The Ordway new era., 1922-07-14

amazed SnefTll 10 ltuAh A''''N
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 Il
score of people When Alan thought
of Corvet. alone In his silent house
he must think of him as Sollcltous
about these people; rs seeking ior
their names In the newspapers Whl'h
he took for that purpose, and as re
cording the changes in their lives. me
deaths. the births. the marriages
among these people had been OF the
lntenseSt interest to Corvet.
1t was possible that none OF these
people knew about Corvet; Alan had
not known about him in Kansas, nut
had known only that some unknown
person had sent money for his support
But he appreciated that II 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 Correts
books set Of charts of the Great
Lakes. He went and got that now and
an atlas. Opening them upon the ia
BILE, he looked up the addresses given
on Corvet's list. They were most of
them. he found. towns about the north
ern end of the lake: very few upon
other lakes-Superior and Huron
but most We're 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 Coryet had got his wealth. Alan
was feeling like one who, bound has
been suddenly unloosed. From the time
when, coming to see Coryet, he had
found Corvet gone, until now, he had
felt the Imposslbility of explaining
from anything he knew or seemed like
ly TO learn the mystery which had sur
rounded himself and which had sur
rounded Coryet. 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. Spcarman.
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
\ feeling of home" had come TO him,
which he had not had ON coming to Chi
cago. There We're Indian names and
French up there about the meetings
of the great waters. The sense that
he was of these lakes, that surge of
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 studdlng the
channels were the lands where his IA
ther had spent the most active part
of his life. There, then-these lists
now made it certain-ihat 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 go."
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 un-
til after he got there? Tie afternoons
mail was upon a stand In the hall. She
turned it over, looking through tin
vitations, social notes. She picked
from among them an envelope ad-
dressed to herself in firm. clear
hand, which. unfamiliar to her, still
queerly startled her, and tore it open.
Dear Miss Sheriff." she read,
Il am closing, for the time being.
the house which, for default OF other
ownership, / must call mine. The DOS
sibility 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 II is not
the only reason. / could not 20 away
without telling you how deeply / 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 tather's motor enter
the drive and ran 20 him with the let
ter in her hand
Hes written to Tou, then?" he said,
at sight of it.
Yes"