Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-08-05

no 20 set You NghfFt1g rods or q policy on y
can and We'll talk it over. Besides. the banks
VII! be wanting your signatures Respect
fully yours. GEORGE b. SMELL.
Bancroft slipped the letter under the blot
ter and went back mentally in review.
Never, so far as he could recall, had there
been evidence on his fathers Iart of per.
turbaticn or anxiety. Hc himself had always
bolted the doors and windows at night. never
his father. So then, if there had been an
enemy, his father mad gone about his affairs
unafro:6., OF 10 Nav York at six inl the
morning and back at six in the evening. reg
ularly as clock work. never staying in Town
over nt.ht. '. ..
He waS inclined toward SHELLS theory, that
the head clerks ears had tricked him.
Among his fathers papers he had found no
lead OF any distinction, one that would point
to a personal enemy. So far he had discov.
cred nothing but results, no beginnings. no
data as to how this or that deal had had it's
inception. only the co:sunlmatior thereof.
There was one slip of paper, undated. that
rather puzzled him: Paid Kennedy in full
This was heavily UNDERSIGNED. rs if his father
had been In an emphatic mood at the time.
But in all the papers that alone was the one
sign OF emphasis. What had provoked this
en;phasia-anger or satisfaction? at any
rate. whoever Kennedy was, ne hal been
10 pGAu III AhAl. b. oLItt, TX W QUIZ lttp tIlt' Sllp
into town: Sell might recoilcct this man
Kennedy.
There was a queer angle to the whole bust
ness: his father. living in this cheap old
house, in a village which desr:sed him, when
he might have lived like a prince: the office
within an Office. as if he were hiding. "A
miser. -And yet, as he recalled his fathers
countenance. it was not tine pinched. thin
Tipped visase of the nliser, the accepted
%.-A1, /. l,-1 l..S~ ~ - > 49,. J.
A quiet man, who spoke but little, who had
no loves, no fads. no friendships.
What was the meaning of al! these beau,i.
full books. these lovely vases there. this table
at WHICH he sat? He had never seen his
father touch a book or handle a vase. What,
then, were these things doing in this house.
which Threatened to tumble apart whenever
a storm bufieted It? There was some man.
ner of riddle. but no visible thread by which
to unravel it.
But nearly seven millions, all his own. to
do with as he pleased! He shook his head
and cleared the desk. 1t was too elusive.
The jangling Of the wired doorbell broke
in upon these cogitations. He rose. hurried
into the hall, and opened the door.
Mr.. Bancroft" asked the visitor. >
May I have half an hour of your tire?"
Hang your hat and raincoat on thespeg
and come in by the fire" said Bancroft, hos
pitably..
The visitor Invested himself of his hat. and
r%aincoat and followed his hest into the
library. He stepped up to the fire and dried
his hands.
"A good deal Of weather, I should say"
"And mighty dark at. five o'clock" was
Bancroft's COMMENT 81 imagine it's a big
storm off the coast, as the blow comes from
the southeast, Dry out and take a chair.
Selling something?" he added, returning to
his chair.
Yes" The visitor, who had recently
been the trespasser, exposed a shoe to- the
flames. When this began to steam, he re.
peated the operation with the other shoe.
Then he walked to the chair opposite the
desk, deposited the portfolio at the side of
the chair, and sat down. Yes, I have
something to sell. But whether I sell it or
not depends upon your Imagination"
(" Ah!' The young man neither smiled nor
frowned; his expression was pleasantly neu.
trail. Imagination. Ell? Well, I'll listen"
Very good. I represent a company which
on its face has the air of absurdity, because
the notion is novel and unusual. But once
upon q time the Wright brothers We're a pair
Of fools to their neighbors. Well. then, to
put it badly, I am here to sell you an ad-
v~enture-snchla as might befail the hero in a
modern novel. AS another might come to
sell you lightning rods or a policy on your
life,, I offer you a contract for battle. murder,
and sudden DEATH" The visitor spoke sober
", though there was a merry twinkle in his
blue eyes. III
The words enveloped Bancroft with a sense
Of unreality: or rather they developed this
sense which had, been stirring continuously
for recognition throughout this e1traordi-
nary day. He had fallen asleep: he was
dreaming, the stranger was the unsubstantial
creation of rudderless thought. the stuff of
dreams. And yet there was the gale rafting
the green shutters: there was the drumlike
roll OF the rain az It drove a sainst the WIN
dow panes; he could seq the water run down
the glass and through this double Aim the
occasional fash Of lightning that, revealed
the houses and trees, grotesquely out OF
shape, across the village street, 1T was late
afternoon in October, and the! black storm.
with the visase Of night. while mildly warm
and smelling Of dead leaves and withered
grasses, was gaining In furyl
All this was real. then! There was the