ed have been
considered and one which, if half the rumors were true, might have
necessitated a journey to the ends of the earth, to prove but a fool's
errand after all.

The oft-repeated question was one with which John Allan little concerned
himself. A robust son and heir had come in his late middle age to fill
all his thoughts with new interest and plans for the present and the
future. The patter of little feet of his own child on the stairs and
halls of his home, drowned the ghostly memories of other and less
welcome footfalls that had once echoed there.

He too, had heard rumors of the adventures and the misadventures of
Edgar Poe, but he did not consider it his business, as it was certainly
not his pleasure, to investigate them.

In Baltimore too, the question was asked by the kinsfolk whose
acquaintance Edgar had made during his visit there. But they had never
held themselves in the least responsible for this eccentric son of their
brother David, the actor--the black sheep of the family. Surely it was
none of _their_ business to follow him upon any chase his foolish fancy
might lead him.

But still, when the rumors that were rife reached their ears, it was
with no small degree of curiosity that they asked each other the
question: Where was Edgar Poe?--What had become of him?--Had he, as some
believed, met death upon the high seas or in a foreign land?--Was he the
real hero of stories of adventure which floated across the ocean from
Russia--from France--from Greece?

He had certainly contemplated going abroad--the Superintendent of West
Point Academy had had a letter from him sometime after he left there,
declaring his intention of seeking an appointment in the Polish army.
Had he gone, or was he, as some would have it, going in and out among
them, there in Baltimore, but unknown and unrecognized--his identity
hidden under assumed name and ingenious disguise?

Who could tell?

The wonder of it was not in the existence of the unanswered question--of
the mystery--but that the question could remain unanswered--the mystery
remain unsolved--and no attempt be made to lift the veil. That a young
man, a gentleman, of prominent connections, of handsome features and
distinguished bearing and address, of rare mental gifts and cultivation,
and of magnetic personality, could disappear from the face of the
earth--could, almost before the very eyes of his fellows, step from the
glare of the world in which he moved into t