The Bemidji daily pioneer., 1922-03-25

uiN I1du IleIITS HdHdrucu Inole tuau
he had told her Of the nature of the
thing hidden which. if she could guess
| it, would Justify what he said?
She had made Alan promise to write
her, if he was not to return, regarding
what he learned; and letter came to
her on the fourth day from him in
, MaDitowoc. The post Office employees
had no recollection, he said, OF the
person who had mailed the package !;
it simply had been dropped by some
one into the receptacle for mailing
packages OF that sort. Alan, however,
was continuing his inquiries.
She wrote to him In reply; in lack
OF anything more important to tell
him, she related some Of her activities
and inquired about his. After she had
written him thus twice. he replied. de-
scribing his life on the boats pleasant
ly and humOrously; then, though she
Immediately replied, she did not hear
from him again.
A new idea had seized Constance.
Captain Caleb Stafford was named
among the lost, of course; with him
had pershed his son, boy Of three
That was all that was said, and all
that was to be learned of him, the
boy.
Alan had been three then. This was
wild, crazy speculation. The ship was
lost with all hands; only the Drum,
believed in by the superstitiOus and
the most ignorant, denied that. The
Drum said that one soul had been
saved. How could q child of three
have been saved when strong men. to
the last one. had perished? And, If he
had been saved. he was Stafford'S son.
Why should Uncle Benny have sent
him away and cared for him and then
sent for him and, himself disappear
ing, leave all he had to-Stafford's
son?
Or was he StaffOrd's son? Her
thought went back to the things which
had been sent-the things from n
mans pockets with n wedding ring
among them. She had believed that
the ring cleared the mothers name !;
might it In reality only more involve
1t? Why had it come back like this to
the nun by whom perhaps, it had been
given? Henry's words came again and
again to Constance: TITS a queer con-
Germ you've got for Ben. Leave it
alone, l tell you!" He knew then
something about Uncle Benny which
might have brought on some terrible
thing which Henry did not know but
might guess? Constance went weak
within. Uncle Benny's wife had left
him, she remembered. Was it better,
after all, to 'leave it aloneY'
A telegraph envelope addressed to
her father was on the table in the hall.
A servant told her the message had
come an hour before, and that he had
telephoned to Mr.. SherriIrs Office, but
Mr.. Sheriff. was not in. There was no
reason for her thinking that the mes
sage might be from Alan except his
presence in her thoughts, but she went
at once to the telephone and called
her father. He was In now. and he
directed her to open the message and
read 1t to him.
"Have some one" she read aloud; ;
she choked in her excitement at what
came next-"Have some one who
knew Mr.. COrvet well enough to recOg-
nizc him. even II greatly changed.
meet Carferry Number 25 Manitowoc
Wednesday this week. Alan Conrad"
Her heart was beating fast. Are
you there?" she said into the phone.
Eyes"
"Whom shall you send?'
There was m instant's silence. II
J Shall E" myself" her father said.
She hung up the receiver. Had Alan
found Uncle Benny? He had found,
apparently, some one whose resem-
blanee to the picture she had showed
him was marked enough to make him
believe that person might be Benjamin
Corvet; or ne had heard of some one
who, from the account he had received,
he thought might be. She read again
the words Of the telegram "even
If greatly changed" and she felt star
tling and terrifying warning in that
phrase.