Licking Valley courier., 1922-06-01
CHAPTER XVII
Mr.. spearman Goes North.

Mr.. 6peaFmAn Ooeb NOTtu.
The message, In blurred lettering and
upon the fiimsy tissue paper OF car
bon copy-that message which had
brought tension to the offices Of Cor
vet, Sheriff. and Spearman and had
called Constance Sheriff. and her
mother downtown where further infor.
nation could be more quickly OBJ
talned-was handed to Constance by q
clerk as soon As she entered her fa-
ther's Office. She reread 1t 1t already
had been repeated to her over the tele-
phone.
"4:05 a. m. Frankfort Wireless sta.
tion has received following message
from Number 25: we have Benjamin
Corvet, of Chicago, aboard"
"You've received nothing later than
this?" she asked.
Nothing regarding Mr.. Corvet. Miss
Sheriff." the clerk replied.
"The crewT
"Yes; 1--WE have Just got the names Of
the crew." He took another copied
sheet from among the pages and Hand
ed II to her, and she looked swiftly
down the list Of names until she found
that of Alan Conrad.
Her eyes filled, binding her. a. she
put the paper down. and began to take
off her things. She had been clinging
determinedly In her thought to- the
belief, that Alan might not have been
aboard the ferry. Alan's message,
which had sent her father north to
meet the ship. had implied plainly
that some one whom Alan believed
might be Uncle Benny was on Number
25; she had been fighting, these last
few hours, against conviction that
therefore Alan must be on the ferry,
too.
She stood by the desk, az the clerk
went out, looking through the papers
which he had left with her. What she
was reading was the carbon Of the
report prepared that morning and sent,
at his rooms, to Henry, who was not
yet down. ..
The last message read: $40. Pc
toskey is calling Manitowoc. Signals
from Number 25, after becoming In
distinct, failed entirely about 5;45.
probably by failure Of ships power
to supply current. Operator appears
to have remained at Key. From o:25
to b:43 we received disconnected mes
sages, as follows: Have cleared an
other car they are sticking to
II down there :. sagine-room
crew is also sticking hell on
car deck everything smashed
2. they won't give up .
sinking now were going
|. good-by stuck to end
|. all they could -. know
that =. hand It to them ~. {.
have cleared another car sink
|. 10. -. Signals then en-
tirely ceased"
Constance had not realised, until the
reports Of the wireless messages told
her that he was gone. what compan-
lonship with Alan had come TO wsen
to her. She had accepted Y a. Al
ways to be existent, somehow com
panionship which might be interrupted
often but always to be formed again.
II amazed her to find how firm q place
he had found In her world Of those
close to her with whom she must al
ways be intimately concerned.
The telephone switchboard beside
Constance suddenly buEEed, and the
operator, plugging In connection
said: eyes, sir; at once" and through
the partitions Of the private Office on
the other side, q mans heavy tones
came to Constance. That was Hehry'i
office. and In timbre. the voice was his
but It was so strange In other charac
teristics of expression that shs waited
an instant before saying to the clerk
"Mr. Spearman has come INF"
The clerk hesltated. but the con
tinuance Of the tone from the othel
side of the partition made reply 81
perfiuous. ayes, Miss Sheriff."
Constance went to Henry's door an'
raped. He made no answer sana n,
move to open the door: so, after walt
Ing moment, she turned the knob an,
went In.
Henry was seated at his desk, facln
her, his big hands before him; on
Of them held the telephone receiver
He lifted II slowly and put II upon IN
hook beside the transmitter as h
watched her with steady. silent. al
gressive scrutiny. He did not rise
only after a moment he recollected this
, he had not done so and came 70 hi
feet. "Good morning Connie" he salt
; Come In. What's the newsr
: The Impulse which had brought hS
J into his office went from her. She ha
not seen nor heard from Henry dlrec
J ly since before Alan's telegram he
come late yesterday afternoon; 81
: had heard from her father only IN
: he had informed Henry; that was q
!, "Tve no news, Henry" she sal
: "Have your She closed the door
! hind her. moving closer to him.
"How did you happen 10 bs be
COnnie" he asked.
D Size mnde M reply hut gaEed At hi
;, studying him. The agitation which
u vas trying to conceal was not entire
u nnsequcnt to her coming In upon hlr
o Il had been ruling him before. 1t'hl
. underlaln the loudness and abuse
u Ms words which she had overhead
= That was no capriclous 0utbarst
~ temper or Irritation; II had come fro
something which had seized and he
70 him In suspense, In droad--in drea
u there was no other wuy to define h
" impression to herself, When she, h
o. opened the door and come In. he h
y looked up In dread, as though prepI
!" ng himself for whatever she mig
's announce. Now that the door ST
them In alone, he approached her VI
=. arms offered. She stepped back.