Licking Valley courier., 1922-03-30

alarming change In him. l was re-
minded, recall, Of a friend l had
had In college who had thought he was
In perfect health and had gone to an
examiner for life insurance and had
been refused. and was trying to deny
to himself and others that anything
could be the matter. But with Corvet
| knew the trouble was not physical.
The next year his wife left him."
'The year Off Alan asked.
"That was 1897. There was no
question Of their understanding and
Infection up to the very time she so
strangely left him. She died In France
In the spring Of 1910, and Corvet's
hrst information Of her death come
to him through Q paragraph In q
newspaper"
Alan had started; Sheriff. looked at
him questloningly.
"The spring Of 1910" Alan ex-
planned, "was when l received the
bank draft for fifteen hundred
dollars"
Sheriff. nodded; he did not seem
surprised to hear this; rather It ap-
peared to be confirmation Of some
thing In his own thought.
"FOllowlng his wlfe's leaving him."
Sheriff. went on, "Corvet saw very
little Of any one. He spent most Of
his time In his own house; occasion
ally he lunched at his club, at rare
Intervals. and always Unexpectedly. he
appeared at his Office. l remember
that summer he was terribly dis
turbed because one Of his ships was
lost. The Corvet record was broken;
Corvet ship had appealed for help;
a Corvet vessel had not reached port.
:. And later In the fall, when two
deckhands were washed from another
OF his vessels and drowned, he was
again greatly wrought up, though his
ships still had a most favorable record.
In 1902 proposed to him that | buy
full ownership In the vessels partly
controlled and ally them with those
he and Spearman operated. Since
then, the Arm name has been Corvet,
Sheriff.. and Spearman.
"0ur friendship had strengthened
and rlpened during those years. The
intense activity OF Corvet's mind,
which as a younger man he had di.
rected wholly to the shipping, was
directed, after he had Isolated himself
In this way, to other things. He took
up almost feverishly an immense num-
Der OF studles-strnnge studies most
Of them for a man whose youth had
been almost violently active and who
had once been lake captain. can
not tell you what they all were
geology, ethnology. nearly score OF
subjects; he corresponded with vari
Gus scientific societies; he has given
almost the whole OF his attention tC
such things for about twenty years
But he has made very few acqualnt
ances In that time, and has kept
almost none Of his old friendships
He has lived alone In the house OF
J Astor street with only one servant
the same one all these years.
"The only house he has visited will
any frequency has been mine. He hni
always liked my wife; he had-he hai
. great affection for my daughter, who
. when she was a child, ran In and Ou
. OF his home as she pleased. My
daughter believes now that his presen
earance-whateve has hap
\ pened to hlm--ls connected In som
way with herself. do not think tina
IL So"
( Sheriff. broke OF and stood
thought for a moment; ne seemed +
consider, and TO decide that II wa
not necessary to say anything NOR
on that subject,
rs there anything In what I hav
0 told you which makes II possible 70
I you to recoilect or to explainf'
l. Alan shook his head, flushed, an
l. then grew little pale. What Sherri
u told him had excited him by the coir
y cldences II offered between events I
y Benjamin Corvet's life and his own
II had not made him "recollect
n Corvet, but II had given deanltenes
and direction to his speculatlOps q
n to Corvet's relation TO himself.
81 Sheriff. drew one OF the large chair