The Chesterfield advertiser. [volume] (Chesterfield C.H., S.C.) 1884-1978, 1922-04-13
-Is any one hereY he cailsd

His voice brought no response. He
went half way up the curve of the wide
stairway and called again, and lis.
tened then he fought down the feeling
ne had had; Sheriff. had said there
would be no one I'm the house. and
Alan was certain there was no one
so he went back to the room where
he had left the light.
The center of this room. like the
room next TO 1t, was occupied by a
library table-desk. He pulled open
some drawers in 1t; one or two had
blueprints and technical drawings I'm
them; the others had only the miscel-
lany which accumulates In a room
much used. There were drawers also
under the bookcases all around the
room; they appeared, when Allan
opened some Of them, to contain pam-
phlets Of various societies, and the
scientific correspondence of which
Sherrill had told him. Alan felt that
seeing these things was bringing his
father closer to him; they gave him a
little Of the feeling he had been unable
to get when he looked at his fathers
picture. He could realize better now
the lonely. restless man. pursued by
some ghost he could not kill, taking
up for distraction one subject of study
after another, exhausting each in turn
until he could no longer make 1t en-
gross him, and then absorbing him
self In the next.
On the top Of chest Of high draw
ers In n corner near the dressing
table were some papers Alan went
over to look at them; they were inyi-
tations, notices of concerts and OF
plays twenty years old-the mail,
probably. of the morning when Corvet's
wife had gone away, left where her
maid or she herself had laid them.
and only picked up and put back there
at the times since when the room was
busted. AS Alan touched them, he
saw that his fingers left marks I'm the
dust on the smooth top Of the chest;
ne noticed that some one else had
touched the things and made marks
Of the same sort as he had made The
freshness OF these other marks star
tied him; they had been made within
day or so. They could not have
been made by Sheriff., for Alan had
noticed that Sherrill's hands were
slender and delicately formed; Cor
vet, too, was not large man; Afan's
own hand was of good size and pow-
erful, but when he put his fingers over
the marks the other mnn had made, he
found that the other hand must have
been larger and more powerful than
his Had II honr,
ant? 1t might have been, though the
marks seemed too fresh for that; for
the servant, Sheriff. had said, had left
the day Corvet's disappearance was
discovered
This proof that some one had been
prying about in the house before him
self and since COrvet had gone, star
tied Alan and angered him. Who had
been searching in benjamin Corver's
I'm Alan's house? He pushed the
drawers shut hastily and hurried
across the hall to the room opposite.
In this room-plafnly Benjamin Cor
vets 6caroHm-werc no signs of IN
trusion. He went to the door of the
room connecting 18th 1t. turned on
the light, and looked In. 1t was
smaller room than the others and
contained a roll-top desk and a cabi-
net The cover Of the desk was closed,
and the drawers OF the cabinet were
shut and apparently undisturbed. He
tried the cover Of the desk, but it ap-
reared to be locked; after looking
around vainly for a key, ne tried
again, exerting a little more force,
and this time the top went up easily,
tearing away the metal plate into
which the claws of the lock clasped
and the two long screws which had
held 1t. He examined the lock, sur
prised, and saw that the screws must
have been merely set into the holes;
scars showed where chisel or some
metal implement had been thrust I'm
under the top to force 1t up. The
and little drawers In the
upper part Of the desk, as he swiftly
opened them. he found entirely empty.
He hurried to the cabinet; the draw
ers Of the cabinet too had been forced,
and very recently; for the scars and
the spllnters Of wood were clean and
fresh. These drawers and the draw
ers in the lower part of the desk
either were empty, or the papers In
them had been disarranged and tum-
hled in confusion. as though some one
had examined them hastily and tossed
them back. To Alan, the marks Of
violence and roughness were unmis-
takably the work OF the man with the
big hands who had left marks upon
the top Of the chest OF drawers. md
the feeling that he had been in TIE
house very recently was stronger than
ever.