ould be
well to mention the possibility of his leaving town for a day.

"Mrs. Owen telephoned me this morning of Professor Kelton's death. You
probably read of it in to-day's papers. Mrs. Owen is an old friend of
his, and went to Montgomery on the noon train. She asked me to meet the
Professor's granddaughter, Miss Garrison, when she comes through here in
the morning on her way home. I know her slightly, and I think I'd better
go over to Montgomery with her, if you don't mind."

"Yes, certainly; I was sorry to read of Kelton's death. Mrs. Owen will
feel it deeply. It's a blow to these old people when one of them drops
out of the ranks. I'm glad the 'Courier' printed that capital sketch of
him; much better than the 'Advertiser's.' While I think of it, I wish
you would tell Atwill that I like the idea of saying a word editorially
for these old citizens as they leave us. It gives the paper tone, and I
like to show appreciation of fine characters like Kelton."

Bassett had turned round with a letter in his hand. He unfolded it
slowly and went on, scanning it as he talked.

"I'm sorry I never knew Kelton. They say he was a very able
mathematician and astronomer. It's rather remarkable that we should have
kept him in Indiana. I suppose you may have seen him at Mrs. Owen's;
they had a common tie in their Kentucky connections. I guess there's no
tie quite like the Kentucky tie, unless it's the Virginian."

He seemed absorbed in the letter--one of a number he had taken from his
bag; then he glanced up as though waiting for Dan's reply.

"No, I never saw him at Mrs. Owen's; but I did meet him once, in
Montgomery. He was a fine old gentleman. You would hardly imagine him
ever to have been a naval officer; he was quite the elderly, spectacled
professor in his bearing and manner."

"I suppose even a man bred to the sea loses the look of a sailor if he
lives inland long enough," Bassett observed.

"I think my brief interview with him rather indicated that he had been a
man of action--the old discipline of the ship may have been in that,"
remarked Harwood. Then, fearing that he might be laying himself open to
questions that he should have to avoid answering, he said: "Kelton wrote
a good deal on astronomical subjects, and his textbooks have been
popular. Sylvia Garrison, the granddaughter, is something of a wonder
herself."

"Bright girl, is she?"

"Quite so; and very nice to look at. I met her on the train when I went
to