Show V QI aw I 1 I 1 1 WP M r taw 40 17 av C r S US I 1 Q t shy IV irwia 10 coper vhf by edw ir batt er aj 24 FLESH SYNOPSIS we ith and higl ly placed in tl ti e chicago hl eago business world benja nin lorvet Is some thing of a recluse and a hastery ras tery to his associates alter after a stormy interview with his partner henry Rp spearman earman corvet seeks constance sherrill daughter of his other business partner dwren e sher rill and secures from her a p om ont ise not to marry spearman he then d sap pears baerri I 1 learns corvet has written to a certain alan conrad in blue rapids kan sas and exhibited strange aaita tion over the matter corvet s let ter summons conrad a youth of unknown parentage to chicago alan arrives in cm chi ago from a statement of 0 sherrill it seen s able e conrad onra la 3 corbet s illegitimate son corvet has deeded its 1 Is hoube and its contents to alan 1 CHAPTER IV continued 4 IN hat sherrill had told alan of I 1 Is father had been iterating iter atins itself again and again in alan s thou thoughts ts now he 1 that sherrill I 1 lad ad said that his daughter believed that corvet s d s appearance had had something to do with mith her alan I 1 ad woi dered at the moment how that could be and as he watched matched her across tl e tible and now and then exL exchanged banged a comment with her it puzzled him still moie more lie ile had opportunity to ask her when she 0 malted with him in the library after dinner was finished and her mother had bad gone upstairs but I 1 e did not see then how te to go about it I 1 in sorry sl e said to him that we can t be home donigi t hut but perhaps aou ou would rather be alone he did not answer that have you a picture here miss bliss sher rill of my father he asked uncle benny had I 1 ad nery ery few pic pie tures taken but there Is one here she went ment into the study and came back N with ith a book open at a half halftone tone picture of benjamin corvet comet alan took it from her and carried it quickly closer to the light rahe face that looked up to him from the I 1 cavity glazed page was ras regular of feature handsome in a way and forceful there were mere imagination and igor of thought in the broad smooth forehead the eyes were mere strangely moody and brooding the mouth was gentle rather kindly it was ras a queerly tin polling haunting face this was N as ir hs s father I 1 but as alan held the picture gazing down upon it the only emotion which came to him was mas realization that he felt none he had bad no emotion of any sort he could not attach to this man because he bore the name which some one had told him was his fa fliers the passions which when dreaming of his father he had felt alan stood still a moment longer then remembering the book which he held he be drew a chair up to the light he could not call up any sense that the house was his i and reid re id the short dr daj b y of his father printed on the inge opposite the portrait it summarized dumn in a few hundred words w his fati fail er ers s I 1 fe alan shut the bool boot and eat sat thought ful fill the tall clock in the I 1 all struck nine line he ile got up and went out into at tte tle hall and asked tor for his hat and t coat when they had been brought him he put them on and went rent out ile went ment down doun the steps and to the corner and turned rest w est to astor treet when he reached tl it e house of tits fa ther he stopped under a street lamp looking up at the big stern old man rion slon questioningly he could not call up any sense that the hoi boi ae e was his any more tl in he had bad been able to when sherrill had told him of it he ile own a house on that street I 1 ret yet was that in itself alay more remarkable than tha that he sj s1 sa ul I 1 I 1 eti e tl e aguet bet tl c f fri ri nd t f such people is tie tl f I sl enells no ore aa ab lt l t h e berrill I 1 tad ad told I 1 mm tin I 1 te e was ras C alts s n I 1 d called him bv name ni bieu I 1 en tl it e ov di dij 1 blat I 1 at would A they call I 1 lim im alan L C mad still or alin al in corbet lie ile i lotice I 1 x ip 13 a street to tt it e NA c st tit it li ll tei to ifon ot a hug store and tui tm i i I 1 up tl it i a ai I 1 e I 1 id i le t I 1 1 d I D to witte to f floe flo ne e it 11 kansas he be coul coull 1 not tall all tl it it i ft tl it ei ai tit d in her ther any more and tell licit mat te hid bid dis its as soon is he arrived he could not riot tell them tl it at but he coul I 1 write ta tiem em at leist tl it at I 1 ie e hid bid 11 it nied kafel and was ras well lie ile tou loucht bt a postcard in tit tl it e drug store and ciote I 1 ote just arched an lied safely im well mell to john welton in hansis ii ansis liere 11 ere was ras a little end ng machine ui ul on tl e conn coun er cr and he be dropped in a penny and got a box of matel es and put then the ti n in tit I 1 is pocket lie ile milled tl e card and turned back to astor street and he ft liked milked more swiftly ly no nov v having come to his ded slon and only shot one quick look up at the house as he approached it W th chat had his father shut himself up within that house for twenty agari ears and was ras it there still and was ras it from that that benjamin corvet curvet had fled he ile saw no one in the street and was ras certain no one was ras observing him as taking tl it e key ley from his pocked pocket he ran up the steps and unlocked the outer door holding this door open to get the light from the street lamp he be fitted the key into the inner door tl it en he be closed the outer door for ful ly a minute with fast beating heart and i a sense of expectation of he knew not what m hat he I 1 ept his hand upon the key before he turned it then he opened tl it e door and stepped into the dark ai at d silent house CHAPTER V an encounter aim alin stand ng in ta tte e darkness of tl e hall felt in I t Is pocket tor for I 1 is matches and struck one on the box the light showed the hall in front of him reaching back into some vague distant birkness dir kness and great rooms with wide mide ered doorways gaping on both sides he turned into the room upon his rigl t glanced to see that the shades were mere drawn on the windows toward the street then found the axi switch itch ar ard d turned on the electric light alan had the feeling which so often comes to one in an unfamiliar and N vacant I 1 ouse that there was as some one in the house with him he listened and seemed to hear another sound in the upper hall a footstep he ile went out quickly to the foot of the stairs and looked up them Is any one here he hl called Is any one herer here djs oice noice brought no response he w ent half way up the curve of the wide stairway and called again and its bened then fie ie fought down the feeling he had had sherrill had said there would be no one in the house and ilan man was certain there was no one so I 1 e went back to tl it e room where he had left the light the center of this room like the room next to it was ras occupied by a library table desk he pulled open some drawers in it one or two in iii I 1 blueprints and technical dr iNNIngs in them the others had only the misael lany any which accumulates in a room much used there were drivers also under the bookcases all around thi I 1 loom tl ey appeared when ben allan opened some of them to contain pam phleas of various societies and the scientific correspondence of which sherrill ind 1 ad to tol I 1 him alan felt tl it at seeing it 1 ese ege tl it ings wis wig bringing his fati fail er closer to him hev they gae gale him a little of the feeling he lia hal II 11 leen een unable to get NN wien I 1 en I 1 ie e looke I 1 it his fathers picture he ile could realize better now noi tie tl e lonely restless nin trin pursued bv by some gl ost he co lid ild n t kill taking up for distraction one subject of study after another exi iti rusting sting bic eich it in turn until I 1 e could no na longer make it en gr ss gs I 1 im tin tin ani I 1 tl it en n at eibing him self in 1 fl l P next on tl it e t p of i a 1 I 1 P est pt t 0 it gh h dri daw eis in a coiner corner tie dressing table some ome paper alan went rent oer oner to look at them thea the were inbi notices of concerts and of plays twenty bears ears old the mall mail iv of the ni rn i 1 I lei ei con corx t ts wife rife hal hat pone gone away left where her mild m lid or ae sl e 1 ersell lad 1 jd tall fai 1 the them and only picked up and put bick back there at the times since when nhen the room was duste I 1 As alan touched them hi hp saw tint that his fingers left marks in the dust on the smooth top of the chest he t atleed 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 bad been made within i a day or so they could not have been made by sherrill for alan had noticed that sherrills bands hands were slender and delicately formed car cor vet yet too was not a large man alan s own hand was ras of good size and pow erful but when he put his fingers over the marks the other man had made he found that the other hand must have been larger and more po powerful gerful than I 1 Is own had it been corvet s ant it might have been though the marl s seemed foo fresh for that for the servant sherrill ll had said had left the day conets corets disappearance was mas discover e I 1 thi s proof tint thit some one had been pra prying ing about in tl tie e I 1 louse ouse before him self ind since conet corlet hid bid gone star tied mun ar aid d ing crid cr i I 1 im tin I vilo who I 1 lad ad been beaul ng ia in bel jamin corvet s in alan s q I 1 ouse he ile pushed the slut hastily aid 1 curried i cross tl e I 1 ill to tl e room opposite in tl is room plainly benjamin cor eth lets were no signs of in he ire went rent to tie door of the room ith it turne 1 on tl e 1 fel t and looked in it was a smaller room than tie tl e others and contain a roll top desk and a bibi net rhe co er of tl it e desk m was as closed at aiu u it lie c dra drapers i ers of the cabinet x ere shut aril in 1 apparently undisturbed und stubbed lib ilio trie I 1 the coa coer er of tl e desi but it ap liel to ie le locked efter looking abour a d u t i ly y f r a key he tried trice aga n exerting a little more force and tl it is 19 tine the top went rent up easily tearing away allay the metal plate into alich 11 tie claws clans of the lock clasped in I 1 tl e I 1 0 long sere vs which had I 1 eld it he examined the lock sur I 1 and saw that the screws screw s must hile h ne been merely set into the holes car s Q gloved 0 N ed NN where here a chisel or some metal tit inclement hid bid been thrust in ea I 1 r somewhere W thin the house un n on the floor below hin a door had slammed under the top toly to force it up tl TI e pigeonholes and little drawers in the upper part of the desi as he swiftly opened them he found entirely empty he ile 1 flurried to the cabinet the draw ers of the cabinet too had been forced and very nery recently for the scars and the splinters of wood nood were viere clean and fresh these drawers and the draw ers in the lower part of tl it e desk cither either were mere empty or the papers in them had bad been disarranged and turn bled in confusion as though some one had examined them hastily and tossed them back to alan the marks of violence and roughness were the m work ork of the man with the big hands N who nho ho had left marks upon tl ti e top of the chest of drawers and the feeling that he had been in the house very recently was stronger than ever alan ran out into the hall and Us its bened he heard no sound but he went back to the little room more excited than before lor what nhat had the other man been searching for the same thines things which alan was looking for and had the other naan man got them who might the other be and what might be his tits connection with benja min corlet coi iet alan had no doubt that everything of importance must have hake been taken amab but he would make sure of that he ile took some of the pa pers from the dr drawers and began to examine e them after nearly an hour of this he had found only one article which appe appeared ired connected in any way with mith what sherrill ll had told him or with alan himself in one of the little dra drapers N ers of the dusk he fo md ind several books n nuch uch worn morn as though from being carried in a pocket tit I 1 1 0 e of tl ti ese ege cantali ed a series of enar es ing over oner several these listed an amount opposite a series of dates with only ta tie e 3 year ear ind and tie month given and alere tl ere was ras an entry for every second month alan felt his fingers trembling as he turne I 1 tl it e pages of tl it e little bo be k and aund found at tit the end of ile ll 11 e list a alani ind below in the ime sime hand but in writing which mitch had cl angel slightly with tl it e passage of eais an other date and the entry of 1500 alan looked through the little book again and put it in his pocket it was ras beyond doubt its fathers dum durn of the sums gums sent to blue rapids for alan it told I 1 tin that here he had been in his fati er s thoughts he ile grew warm at the thought as lie began putting the other things back into the drawers lie started and straightened sudden ly then he listened attentively an ani his hi skin warm an before turned com and prickled somewhere the house unmistakably on the floor below him a door had scammel I 1 some one it was ras beyond question no now for the was quite dif ferent from the feeling he had had about that lefore 1 was mas in the house with ulm IN as it his father who he had come back that though not impossible seemed improbable alan stooped quickly unlaced and stripped off his shoes and ran out into the hall to the head ot of the stairs where he looked down domn and listened from here the sound of some one amov ing about came to mm blin distinctly he could see no light below but A mien hen he ran down dom n to ta tie e turn of the stairs it became plain that there was ras a very nery d in and flickering light in the library lie ile crept on farther down the stair case ills hands were vere cold and moist from his excitement and I 1 its Is body ras ft as hot and trembling ninever va oever it was mab that was ras moving about downstairs even if he was not one who I 1 lid ad a right to be there at leist felt secure from interruption i he lie was ras going with nith heavy step from window to window where he found a shide up he pulled it down domn brusquely and with mth a violence which suggested great strength under a nervous strain a shade vl ach had been pulled down ile v i p and the man damned it as though it had startled him then after an instant he pulled it down domn again alan crept still farther down and at ITS list caught sight of him lie ile was ras a big young 1001 ing man with broad shoulders hould ers and very evident vigor alan guessed his age at thirty thirty five he was ras hind bind some he had a straight ro corel ead oner ov er daring deep set eyes his nose lips and chin were power fully formed and he was m as expensively ind very carefully dressed the bigl t by which alan saw these things camo came from a flit fit little pocket searchlight thit the man earned carried in one han ban I 1 which threw a little brilliant circle of light as he directed it and now as tl I 1 e light 11 ht chanced to tall fall on his other band hand powerful and heavily muscled alin recollected the look and size of the finger prints on the chest best of drawers upstairs he ile did not doubt that this nas was the same man who had gone through the desk but since he had already rifle 1 the deeks desks what did he want here now As the man moved out of sight alan crept on down as far as the door to the library the man min had gone on into the rear room and find alan went far enough into the library so he could see him he had pulled open one of the draw ers in the big |