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Copyright bf Edwin <*i- • Wif / V HENRY SPEARMAN SYNOPSIS.--Wealthy and highly placed in the Chicago business world, Benjamin Corvet Is something of a recluse and a mystery f& his associates. After a stormy Interview with his partner, Henry Spearman, Corvet seeks Constance Sherrill, daughte/ of his other business partner, Lawrence Sherrill, and secures from her a promise not to marry Spearman. He then disappears. Sherrill learns Corvet has written to a certain Alan Conrad. In Btue Rapids, Kansas, and exhibited Btrange agitation over the matter. Covet's letter gummong Conrad, a youth of unknown parentage, to Chicago. Alan arrives in Chicago. From a statement of Sherrill it seems probable Conrad Is Corvet's illegitimate eon. Corvet has deeded his house and It* contents to Alan, who takes possession. That night Alan discovers a man ransacking the desks and bureau drawers In Corvet's apartments. The appearance of Alan tremendously agitates the intruder, who appears to thlhh him a ghost and raves of "the Mlwaka." After a struggle the man escapes. CHAPTER V.--Continued. Lian took up his hat and looked about the house; he was gotnp to return and sleep here, of course; he wes not going to leave th€ house unguarded for any long time after this, but, after what had just happened, he felt ho could leave it safely for half an hour, particularly if he left a light taming within. He did this and stepped over to the Sherrills'. The man who answered his ring recognized him at once and admitted him; in reply to Alan's question, the servant said that Mr. Sherrill had not yet returned. When Alan went to his room, the valet appeared and, finding that Alan was packing, the man offered his service. Alan let him pack and went downstairs; a motor had Just driven up to the house. It proved to have brought Constance .and her mother; Mrs. Sherrill, after ^forming Alan that Mr. Sherrill might not return until some time later, went . ,«p8tairs and did not appear again. Constance followed her mother bat, ten minutes later, came downstairs. "You're not staying here tonight?" 0he asked. "I wanted to say to your father," jyian explained, "that I believe I had fetter go over to the other house." "Are you taking any cm with youl" the Inquired. • "Any one?" •'Wi- "A servant, I meaq|f! ' f* "No." . vT;,. . "Then yoaH let tuf fendyoa a man jBrom here." "You're awfully good; bat I don't jthink I'll need anyone tonight Mr. iCorvet's--my father's man--is coming beck tomorrow, I understand. I'll get along very well until then."* She was silent a moment as she ' looked away. Her shoulders suddenly Jerked a little. "I wish you'd take aome one with you," she persisted. "I ;<on't litae to think of you alone over * there." ; "My father must have been often Alone there." t "Yes," she said. "Yes." She looked ttt him quickly, then away, checking a question. She wanted to ask, he knew, what he had discovered in that lonely JKtyJse which had so agitated him ;-lor not spean. accurately as to that. Alan determined to ask Sherrill what he liad been withholding, before he frold him all of what had happened In Corvet's house. There was one other circumstance which Sherrill had mentioned but not explained; it occurred to Alan how. "Miss Sherrill--p he checked himself. "What is Iff "This afternoon that you believed disappearance was 'X$ •>% ' •• y > frottr father tAid that Mr. Corvet's In some way con- •'W;: ' fYatfre Not 8taying Here Tonight?" • 8he Asked. *iSS» cootie she had noticed agitation in And he had intended to tell her, or, rather, her father. He had been ' rehearsing to himself the description of the man he had met there in order to ask Sherrill about him; but now . Alan knew that he was not going to *efer the matter even to Sherrill Just , jyet J Sherrill had believed that Benjamin ^ * Corvet's disappearance was from cir- Ycumstances too personal and intimate to be made a subject of public Inquiry; and what Alan had encountered in ^Corvet's house had confirmed that belief. Sherrill further had said that . Benjamin Corvet, If he had wished , Sherrill to know .those circumstances, would have told them to him; but Corf ^ ; vet had not done that; instead, he had - sent for Alan, his son. He had given his son Ids confidence. Sherrill had admitted that he was withholding from Alan, tot the being, something that he knew about Benjamin Corvet; it was nothing, he md Bald, nected with you; he said that he did not think that was so; but do you Want to tell me why you thought It?" "Yes; I will tell you." She colored quickly. "One of the last things Mr. Corvet did--in fact, the last thing we know of his. doing before he sent for you--was to come to me and warn me against one of my friends." , "Warn you, Miss Sherrill? Ho** 1. mean, warn you against what?" "Against thinking too much of hhn.n: She turned away. ij '1 think HI come to see your father; In the morning," Alan said, when Con* stance looked back to him. But you'll come <jver here for breakfast In the morning T* "You want mef "Certainly." "I'd like to come vAy mu<*h." "Then I'll expect you." She followed him To the door when he had put on his things, and he made no objection whpo she asked that the man be allowed to carry his bag around to the other house. *When he had dismissed Simons and re-entered the house on Astor street, he found no evidences of any disturbance while he had been gone. On the second floor, to *the east of the room which had been his father's, was a bedroom which evidently had been kept as a guest chamber; Alan carried his suitcase there aftd made ready for bed. The sight of .^Constance Sherrill standing .and. watching after him in concern as he started back to this house, came to him again and again and, also, her flush when she had spoken of the friend against whom Benjamin Corvet had warned her. Who was he? It had been impossible at that moment for Alan to ask her more; besides, If he had asked and she had told him, he would have learned only a name which he could dot place yet In any connection with her or with Benjamin Cdftvet. Whoever he was. It was plain that Constance Sherrill "thought of him;" lucky man, Alan said to himself. Yet Corvet had warned her not to think of him. . . . Alan turned back his bed. It1 had been for him a tremendous day. Barely twelve hours before he had come to that house, Alan Conrad from Blue Rapids, Kan., now . . . phrases from what Lawrence Sherrill had told him of his father were running through his mind as he opened the door of the room to be able to hear any noise In Benjamin Corvet's house, of which he was sole protector. The emotion roused by his first sight of the lake went through him again as he opened the window to the east. Now--he was in bed--he seemed to be standing, a specter before a man blaspheming Benjamin Corvet and the! soultf of men dead. "And the lifrle above the eye! . . . The bullet got yon! ... So it's yon that got Ben! . . . I'll get you ! . . . Yon can't save the Mlwaka !** ^ The Mlwaka! The stir of that name was stronger now even than before; it had been running through his consciousness almost constantly since he had heard It. He Jumped up and turned on the light and found a pencil. He did not know how to spell the name and it was not necessary to write it down; the name had taken on that deflnlteness and lneffaceahleness of a thing which, once heard, can never again be forgotten. But, in panic that he might forget, he wrote it, guessing at the spelling--"Mlwaka; It was a name, of course; but the name of what? It repeated and re peated Itself to him, after he got back Into bed, until its very iteration made him drowsy. Ontside, the gale whistled and shrieked. The wind, passing its las^ resistance after Its sweep across the prairies before it leaped upon the lake, battered and clamored In Its assault about the house. But as Alaji became sleepier, he heard It no longer as It rattled the windows and bowleg under the eaves and over the roof, but as out on the lake, above the roaring and Icecrunching waves, it whipped and circled with Its chill the ice-shrouded sides of struggling ships. So, with the roar of surf and gale In his ears, he went to sleep with the sole conscious connection in his mind between himself and these people, among whom Benjamin Corvet's summons had brought him, the one name "Mlwaka." Constance drove swiftly a few blocks down this boulevard; then, with a sudden, "Here we are!" she shot the car to the curb and stopped. She led Alan into one of the tallest ahd bestlooking buildings. • On several of the doors opening upon the wide marble hall where the elevator left them, Alan saw the names, "Corvet, Sherrill and Spearman." Constance led the way on past to a door farther down the corridor, which bore, merely the name, "Lawrence Sherrill"; evidently Sherrill, who had Interests aside from the shipping business, had offices connected with but not actually a part of the offices of Corvet, Sherrill and Spearman. A girl on guard at the door, saying that Mr. Sherrill had been awaiting Mr. Conrad, opened an inner door and led Alan into « large, many-windowed Sherrill Opened a Drawer and Took Out a Large, Plain Envelope. room, where Sherrill was sitting alone before a table-desk. He pulled the "visitor's chair" rather close to his desk and to his own big leather chair before asking Alan to seat himself. "You wanted to tell me, or ask me, something last night, my daughter has told me," Sherrill said cordially. "I'm sorry I wasn't home when yon came back." "I wanted to ask you, Mr. Sherrill," Alan said, "about those facts In regard to Mr. Corvet which yod mentioned to me yesterday but did not ex-, plain. You said It would not aid me to know them; but I found certain things in Mr. Corvet's house last night which made me want to know, If I could, everything you could, tell me." Sherrill opened a drawer and took out a large, plain envelope. "On the day after your father disappeared," he said, "but before I knew he was gone--or before any one except my daughter felt any alarm about him --I received a short note from him. The note was agitated, almost incoherent. It told me he had sent for you-- Alan Conrad, of Blue Rapids, Kansas --but spoke of you as though you were some one I ought to have known about, and commended you to my care. The remainder of it was merely an agitated, almost Indecipherable farewell to me. When I opened the envelope, a key had fallen out. The note made no reference to the key, but, compare Ing It with one I had in my pocket, I saw that it appeared to be a key to a safety deposit box In the vaults of a company where we both had boxes. "The note, taken In connection with my daughter's alarm about him, made It so plain that something serious had happened to Corvet, that my first thought was merely for him. Corvet was not a man with whom one could readily connect the thought of suicide; but, Alan, that was the idea I had. I hurried.at once to his house, but the bell was not answered, and I could not get In. His servant, Wassaquam, has very few friends, and the few times he has been away from home of recent years have been when he visited an acquaintance of his--the head porter in a South Side hotel. I went to the telephone in the house next door and called the hotel and found Wassaquam there. I told him over the telephone iffftn which would help Alan to about his father, or what had e of him; but perhaps Sherrill, ftmwyfm thoitnthar CHAPTER VI. j . The Deed in "Trust: • t if Alan could call! only that something was wrong, and hurried to my own home to get the key, which I had, to the Corvet house; but when I came back and let myself Into the house, I found It empty and with no sign of anything having happened. "The next morning, Alan, I went to the safe"deposit vaults as soon as they were open. I presented the numbered key and was told that it belonged to a box rented by Corvet, and that Corvet had arranged about three days before for me to have access to the box If I presented the key. I had only to sign my name In ^their book and open the box. In it, Alan, I found'the pictures of you which I showed you yesterday and the very strange communications that I qjn going to show you now." Sherrill opened the long envelope, from which several thin, folded papers fell. He picked up the largest of these, which consisted of * several sheets fastened together with a clip, and handed it to Alan without comment. A^lan, as he looked at It and turned the pages, saw that It contained two columns of typewriting carried from page to page after the manner of an account. The column to the left was an Inventory of property and profits and income by months and years, and the one to the right was a list of losses and expenditures. Beginning at an indefinite day or month in the year 1895, there was set down in a lump sum what was Indicated as the total of Benjamin Corvet's holdings at that time. To this, in sometimes undated items, the increase had been added. In the opposite column, beginning apparently from the same date la 1895, were the missing man's expenditures, Alan having ascertained that the papers contained only this account, looked up questlonlngly to Sherrill; but Sherrill, without speaking^ merely handed him the second of the papers. Alan unfolded It and saw that It was a letter written In the same hand which had written the summons he had received in Blue Rapids and had made the entries in the little memorandum book of the remittance^ had been sent to John Welton. It began simply: "Lawrence-- "This will come to you in the event that I am not able to carry out the plan upon which I am now, at last, de-. termined. You will find with this a list of my possessions. Deeds for all real estate executed and complete except for recording of the transfer at the county office; bonds, certificates, and other documents representing my ownership of properties, together with signed forms for their legal transfer to you, are in this box. These proper-, ties, in their entirety, I give to you in trust to hold for the young man now known as Alan Conrad of Blue Rapids, Kan., to deliver any part or all over to him or to continue to hold it jfll in trust for him as you shall consider to be to hls^greatest advantage. "This for the reasons which I shall have told to you or him--I. cannot know which one of you now, nor do I know how I shall tell It. But when you learn, Lawrence, think *s well of me as you can and help him to t* charitable to me. "With the greatest affection, "BENJAMIN CORVET." Alan, as he finished reading, looked up to Sherrill. bewildered and dazed. "What does it mean, Mr. Sherrill ?t-- Does It mean that he has gone away and left everything he had--everything, to me?" "If Mr, Corvet does not return, and' I-do not receive any other Instructions,, I shall take over his estate, as he Has instructed, for your advantage." "And, Mr. Sherrill, he didn't teU yW why? This Is all you know?" "Yes; you have everything now. All we can do, Alan, is to search for him In every way we can. There will be others searching for him too now; for information of his disappearance has got out. There have been reporters at the offlcd this morning making inquiries, and his disappearance will be in the afternoon papers." Sherrill put the papers back in their envelope, and the envelope back into the drawer, which he relocked. "I went over all this with Mr. Spear, man this morning," he said. "He is as much at a loss to explain it as I am.' He was silent for a few moments. "The transfer of Mr. Corvet's properties to me for you," he said suddenly, "includes, as you have seen, Corvet's interest In the firm, of 'Corvet, Sherrill & Spearman.' I went very carefully through the deeds and transfers in the deposit box, and it was plain that, while h^ had taken great care with the forms of transfer for all the properties, he had taken particular pains with whatever related to his holdings in this company and to his shipping Interests. If I make over the properties to you, Alan, I shall begin with those; for It seems to me that your father was particularly anxious that, you should take a personal as well as a financial place among the men who control the traffic of the lakes. I have told Spearman that this is my Intention. He has not been able to see it my way as yet; but he may change his views, I think, after meeting you." Sherrill got ap. Alan arose a little unsteadily. The list of properties he had read and the letter and Sherrill's statement portended so much that its meaning could not all come to him at once. He followed Sherrill through a short private corridor, flanked with files lettered "Corvet, Sherrill, and Spearman," into the large room he had seen when he came In with Constance. They crossed this, and Sherrill, without knocking, opened the door Of the office marked, "Mr. Spearman." Alan, looking on past Sherrill as the door opened, saw tlmt there were some half dozen men in the room, smoking and talking. His gaze went swiftly on past these men to the one who, half seated on the top of the flat desk, had been talking to them; and his pulse closed upon his heart with a shock; he started, choked with astonishment, the* swiftly forced himself under control. For this was the man whom he had met and whom he had fought In Benjamin Corvet's house the night •before --the big fnan surprised in his blasphemy of Corvet and of souls "In h--T* who, at sight of an apparition with a bullet hole above its eye, had cried out In his fright, "You got Ben! ; But yon won't get me--d--n you! D--n you!" Alan's shoulders drew up slightly, ind the muscles of his hands tightened, as Sherrill, led him to this man. Sherrill put his hand on th^ man's shoulder; lUi other, hand was still 09 Alan's arm. 'Henry," he satd to the man, *thl» is Alan Conrad. Alan, I want yon to know my partner, Mr. Spearman." Spearman nodded an acknowledgment, but did not put out his hand; his eyes--steady, bold, watchful eyea seemed measuring Alan attentively; and in return Alan, with bis £azg, mea**riftgh!m. . . ^ CHAPTER Ira a DOUBLE treat Peppermint Jacket over Pep» per mint % 10 for 5c Sugar jacket just Smelts in your mouth," then you get the delta* table gum centei*. And with Wrigley's three old ataevdbys also affording friendly aid to teeth, throat, breath, ap* - Jv*fi - petite and digestion. Soothing, thirst-quenchioLg. Making the next cigar ^ better. 0-So-Easy to Usa Colors Silk, Wool - and Cotton All at the Same Time Patnam Fadeless Dyes lOclW Package For AJ» DyeF l" .?« •1^ (anada Offers .Health and Wealth Corvet's Partner. The Instant of meeting, when Alan recognized in Sherrllrte partner, the man with whom he had fought in Corvet's house, was one of swift readji&t-. ment of all, tils thought--adjustment to a situation .of which he could not even have dreamed, and which left him breathless. But. for Spearman, obviously, it was not that. Following his noncommittal nod of acknowledgment of Sherrill's Introduction and his first steady scrutiny of Alan, the big, handsome man-swung himself off from the desk on which he sat and leaned against it, facing them more directly. "Oh, yes--Conrad," he said. His ton^jp^Jjearty; in it Alan could re©- 1 to thouwho have : homesteads or bought land at hey have establishedtheir own In the great l ntriilnctii there FtrM* Us4 si SIS is SM a* ton -"land, similar to that whfch thnHgh jgaanr ^tni flax alao in craat ___ jee» cettle, efieep and bofla <a equally profitable. Hundreds of farmera in Western Canada hare raiaed cropa in a single season worth more than the whole coat of their land. Healthful climate, good ceichbors, churches, echoola, rural telephone, excellent markete end ea. The climate and a agr iculture. The tiers Dalnrln*, Mlxi MM SlMk » a trnnendousappeal wishing to improve Ui almost every idnntifM for Mixed Farming id soil offer touch at IMtlaC to industrious setimprove their circumstances I of farm rC. I. MtOOGHTON, R A*m*S<..Ckiea«e.HL;J.M. M leffi Attain, aSTSSSmmSBSSm USNMSB m INS WHY HER WATCH GOES WRONG ashed given him a feeling for ships and for the lake. ' But these recollections were only what those of a three-years' child might have been. Not only did they refuse to connect themselves with anything else, but by the very finality of their isolation, they warned him that they--and perhaps a few more vague memories of similar sort--were all that recollection ever would give him. He caught himself together and turned his thoughts to the approaching visit to Sherrill--and his father's offices. Be had accepted Constance Sherrill's invitation to drive him downtown to his destination. Observing the towering buildings to his right, m was able to identify some of the more prominent structures, fa miliar Various Causes Given for Undoubted Fact That Woman's Tirnepiece Is Generally Incorrect. Punctuality Is said to be the virtue of kings, but not of women. The latter will not, however, admit their lack of It. But when a lady has kept a mere man waiting for her an Indefinitely long time her excuse, cynics declare, is really at hand: "My watch must be wrong." And, strange to say, this reason given as an excuse, different from other excuses, Is almost always vaU<L The watches of women are much less exact than those of men. An Engllshmafa, Herbert Duke, who occupied himself with this problem in profound speculations, thinks he has traced It to its source. He has observed that the same watch, when worn by his wife, runs very irregularly, whereas when worn by him it Is perfectly correct. "Now, how Is It," he asks, "that -se many women have su& & baleful Influence on watches?" Certainly mh<4i Is don to the tact that to women the watch is a less necessary tool of life than a beautiful Its looking elegant on the wrist than for Its being right; that they handle carelessly and inconsiderately this dell; cote apparatus. But there must be another more potent cause. It has be«i observed that the electricity contained In the human body exerts a direct influence on the delicate mechanism of the watch. It may be that tike small form of a woman's watch renders it very sensitive to the electro-magnetic influence . emanates from the body. Changing Figures. . "What is the population of Crimson Gulch at present?" ; • "No telling," replied Cactus Joe. •It was eighty-seven last night. But If Cactus Joe is as unforglvln* toward Three-finger Sam as he was when the poker game broke up, I reckon maybe by this time It's only elghty-slx." Cuticura for Sore Hands. • SMtk hands on retiring in the hof of Cuticura Soap, dry and rub in Cuticura Ointment Remove surplus Ointment with tissue paper. This.Is only one of the things Cuticura will do if Soap, Ointment and Talcum are used far all toilet purposes.--Advertisement. r Two Centuries Ago Recalled. One hundred and twenty years ago there were not only country towns in England, but people who Inhabited them. We were very much more gregarious; we were amused by very simple pleasures. Every town had its fair, every village its wake. The old poets have sung a hundred jolly ditties about great cudgel-playings, famous grinning through horse collars, maypole meetings, and morris dances. Dancing bears went about the country with pipe and tabor. Certain wellknown tunes were sung all over the land for hundreds of years, and high and lpw rejoiced In that simple music. An Athlete. "Although you considerably outweigh your antagonist, you seem to have had the worst of the fight," said the sympathetic old gentleman. "I was out of luck when I struck iilm," replied the man who was nursing a broken face. "Nobody tol^ me he'd been playing for years in a Jazz archestEa."r-Blrmingham Age^Herald. Her Diplomacy. "Why is it a young and pretty widow always seems to have a better chance with a man than a girl who la Just as young* and just as bretty hasl** "One reason, I think, is that a young and pretty widow has learned how to keep from changing the subject or letting it be changed when the man has started on it." Important «• Mothc Examine carefully every bottle •« CASTORIA, that famous old remedy for Infants and children, and see that It Bears the Signature of In Use for Over 30 Years. Children Cry for Fletcher's Castcxfe An Adept. "Young man, you ought to leam to shake yourself." "Why, governor^ yon .ought to see me shimmy.'f , Willing to Divide. Teacher (sternly)--Willie, give tha§ chewing gum to me. Willie--I'll let you hnve h^l| ^ 8teady, Bold, Watchful Eyes Seemetf Measuring Alan Attentively. ognlce only so much of,reserve aa might expected from Sherrlira partner who had taken an attitude at opposition. The shipmasters, looking on, could see, no doubt, not even that; except for the excitement which Alan himself could not conceal, it must appear to them only aa ordinary introduction. Alan fought sharply down the swtft rush of his blood add the tightening of his muscles. "I can say truly that I'm glad to meet yon, Mr. Spearman," he managed. There was no recognition of anything beyond the mere surface meaning of the words in Spearman's slow smile of acknowledgment, as he turned from- Alan to Sherrill. . "You cn e«e why I hare to distrust the fwaf fellow who's coma to d«im Ben Corvet's place." 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