must be the oldest, and which must have been
kept for many years, contained only a list of names and addresses.
Having assured himself that there was nothing else on them, he laid
them aside. The remaining pages, which he counted as ten in number,
contained nearly a hundred brief clippings from newspapers; the
clippings had been very carefully cut out, they had been pasted with
painful regularity on the sheets, and each had been dated across its
face--dates made with many different pens and with many different inks,
but all in the same irregular handwriting as the letter which Alan had
received from Benjamin Corvet.

Alan, his fingers numb in his disappointment, turned and examined all
these pages; but they contained nothing else. He read one of the
clippings, which was dated "Feb. 1912."

The passing away of one of the oldest residents of Emmet county
occurred at the poor farm on Thursday of last week. Mr. Fred Westhouse
was one of four brothers brought by their parents into Emmet county in
1846. He established himself here as a farmer and was well known among
our people for many years. He was nearly the last of his family, which
was quite well off at one time, Mr. Westhouse's three brothers and his
father having perished in various disasters upon the lake. His wife
died two years ago. He is survived by a daughter, Mrs. Arthur Pearl,
of Flint.

He read another:

Hallford-Spens. On Tuesday last Miss Audrey Hallford, daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. Bert Hallford, of this place, was united in the bonds of holy
matrimony to Mr. Robert Spens, of Escanaba. Miss Audrey is one of our
most popular young ladies and was valedictorian of her class at the
high school graduation last year. All wish the young couple well.

He read another:

Born to Mr. and Mrs. Hal French, a daughter, Saturday afternoon last.
Miss Vera Arabella French, at her arrival weighed seven and one-half
pounds.

This clipping was dated, in Benjamin Corvet's hand, "Sturgeon Bay,
Wis., Aug. 1914." Alan put it aside in bewilderment and amaze and took
up again the sheets he first had looked at. The names and addresses on
these oldest, yellowed pages had been first written, it was plain, all
at the same time and with the same pen and ink, and each sheet in the
beginning had contained seven or eight names. Some of these original
names and even the addresses had been left unchanged, but most of them
had been scratched out and altered many